Rhythm of War

It is a year after the Everstorm, a powerfully destructive weather pattern created by Odium’s followers and described in the novel Words of Radiance. While Roshar experiences regular highstorms—weather phenomena that affect the entire planet on a regular schedule and follow a predictable route—the Everstorm was a one-off event that was the reverse of a normal highstorm. One of the Everstorm’s magical effects was freeing enslaved parshmen, who prefer now to be called singers.

The kingdom of Herdaz has finally fallen, creating a stream of refugees that make their way to Hearthstone, where Kaladin’s parents, Lirin and Hesina, live. Lirin, a physician, attends to a long line of refugees. Having agreed to help the Alethi smuggle the Mink, a Herdazian general, to safety, Lirin hides the man to await his rescue.

One of the Fused, who now rule the singers, arrives seeking a spy whose description matches Kaladin. Kaladin reveals himself.

The Fused is a type never before seen by the Alethi; after fighting Kaladin, the Fused runs off. The singers of Hearthstone attack Kaladin after the Fused flees, but they soon retreat.

Meanwhile, Shallan unleashes Veil, one of her magical personas—convincing disguises that are also symptoms of Shallan’s dissociative identity disorder—to intentionally get herself drugged and kidnapped.

The Mink, the general the Alethi hope to rescue and recruit, slips away from his guards. As Kaladin looks for the Mink, a massive airship arrives—the first vehicle of its kind, designed by Navani and powered by fabrials, or magical artifacts made from spren-infused gemstones. Kaladin reveals to Lirin that the Alethi will rescue the entire town from singer control, transporting the human populace to Urithiru.

Kaladin introduces his father to Dalinar and Navani—Kaladin calls them Edgedancers, or Radiants who can slide on the ground.

As the townspeople prepare for boarding, the Mink appears to speak with Dalinar. He distrusts Dalinar due to his brutal past, but he recognizes the value of allying with his old enemy against their new, shared enemy—the god Odium and his forces. The Mink agrees to join the Alethi if they save his soldiers from the Fused.

Shallan awakes blindfolded and still in her persona guise. She’s been carried to a secret location within the chasms. Her kidnappers are the Sons of Honor, a particularly devoted sect of the Vorin Church; they want Veil, the woman Shallan is disguised as, to join them. Shallan is really there to find their leader, Ialai Sadeas, a sometime adversary of the Kholin dynasty.

Kaladin and his troop of Windrunners, fighters whose spren imbue them with the same powers, protect the town from approaching Fused, engaging in one-on-one combat according to Fused tradition. Kaladin engages Leshwi, a Fused he has fought previously and whom he respects; from her fighting pattern, Kaladin realizes that the Fused are more interested in figuring out the airship than in battle. Since the fabrials running the ship are safe from observation, Kaladin orders his soldiers to fight defensively to limit casualties.

Shallan’s persona Veil claims to have copies of Navani’s fabrial inventions to convince her kidnappers to take her to Ialai, but the negotiation is interrupted by an attack by Adolin, who had been keeping watch over Shallan from a distance.

Kaladin nearly “kills” a different Fused, although the Fused cannot really die. Their bodies are vessels, so destroying one would simply force the Fused to seek another body during the next highstorm (a magical weather pattern like the Everstorm). Instead, wearied by death, Kaladin spares the Fused when it has been drained of Voidlight—the magical energy Odium’s minions tap into.

Kaladin spots the Fused who fled their fight earlier and returns to the ship to organize more protection for Dalinar.

Shallan convinces the Sons of Honor to take her with them as they flee Adolin’s ambush to Ialai’s hiding place. Shallan and Veil have decided to kill Ialai, who continues to jeopardize Dalinar’s coalition.

A Fused commander named Leshwi fights Kaladin’s friend Sigzil. Kaladin has known Sigzil since both were enslaved bridge builders known as the Bridge Four in the first book of the series. Leshwi stabs Sigzil through the chest, and her spear drains Sigzil’s Stormlight. However, in repayment for Kaladin’s earlier mercy to one the Fused that fled their duel, Leshwi does not completely drain Sigzil, allowing him the chance to heal. Kaladin then agrees to Leshwi’s duel challenge.

In the ancient tower city Urithiru, the complex mechanisms and magics of which have yet to be fully understood, Navani watches Dalinar renew Radiants’ Stormlight, hoping the process might help her discover how to fix the supposedly dead spren that originally powered Urithiru. The tower overlooks the battle at Hearthstone. One of Navani’s ardents, technically enslaved but highly respected priests of the Vorin Church who function as advisers to the nobility, points out Moash, who was also once a member of the Bridge Four, on the edge of the battlefield. Moash is a traitor who murdered Navani’s son, Elokhar. She sends word to the Windrunners.

As Kaladin and Leshwi duel, they hear screams coming from the town: The new Fused is accosting townspeople, angering both combatants’ sense of honor. Leshwi indicates that Kaladin should stop the other Fused.

Ialai Sadeas knows that Shallan has come to kill her on the order of the Ghostbloods, a mysterious ancient organization. Ialai hints that she has discovered the Ghostbloods’ larger plan—something related to other worlds. Ialai tells Shallan she can find more information if she seeks out the rarest among her wines. As Adolin’s guards take her from the room, Ialai collapses and dies.

The attack on townspeople is a trap for Kaladin—the new Fused takes a hostage and challenges Kaladin to a fight inside a burning building where a Fused fabrial prevents Kaladin from using his powers. Kaladin surprises the Fused by being a skilled fighter without his Radiant abilities; he kills the Fused and all but one of his men. Lift, a young Edgedancer, rescues the hostage and takes the fabrial to Navani for study.

Shallan realizes that Ialai was killed by one of Shallan and Adolin’s trusted soldiers, which means they have been infiltrated by a spy.

Ialai’s clue about a unique vintage allows Shallan’s spren, Pattern, to find a hidden notebook with Ialai’s notes about the Ghostbloods and their goals.

Moash taunts Kaladin for protecting men like Roshone, the man responsible for the death of Kaladin’s brother, instead of seeking vengeance. Moash tries to convince Kaladin to choose one of two dark paths—death or Odium, who can remove Kaladin’s pain. Kaladin suddenly experiences battle shock, which leaves him frozen. As a bright light and a vision appear, Moash flees and the light fades.

On board the airship, Kaladin’s spren, Syl, and his friend Teft confront Kaladin about his battle shock, but he brushes them off.

Navani studies the unfamiliar fabrial that cut off Kaladin’s powers. An unknown person contacts her and calls her a killer for imprisoning spren in fabrial gemstones.

Shallan shares with Adolin her concern over the traitor who killed Ialai and tells him about the Ghostbloods.

On the airship flight to the Shattered Plains, with Syl’s encouragement, Kaladin asks another honorspren to consider bonding with Rlain, the parshman who joined the Alethi. However, the spren considers Rlain an enemy.

After receiving battle reports, Dalinar decides to remove Kaladin from active service due to his battle shock symptoms. Insisting that Kaladin still has value, Dalinar encourages him to train Windrunners or become an envoy, but Kaladin instead wants to step back and consider his options.

Venli, who is the last surviving singer of those who fought the Alethi on the Shattered Plains (in the previous book in the series) and who helped bring about the return of the Fused to their world, prepares Leshwi’s household for her return.

Venli is now a Regal, or a singer who has taken oaths with a voidspren. Voidspren (which are spren that originate from Odium) normally corrupt and control a singer’s perspective, but Venli secretly also bonded a regular spren, making her a Radiant and immune to the voidspren’s influence.

Venli is frustrated that the Fused also use singers—to her, it’s the same as the way the Alethi enslaved them. She has been recruiting other singers unhappy with the Fused. Now, Venli has inserted one of these recruits into Leshwi’s household as a new servant.

When Leshwi returns, she orders Venli to join her, anxious about a sudden turn in the war.

Upon returning to Urithiru, Kaladin has a panic attack in his rooms but pulls himself together when Adolin appears. Adolin hopes to get Kaladin to spend time with friends rather than being alone.

At a wine bar with Adolin and Shallan, another of Shallan’s personas, named Radiant, expresses concern for Shallan’s well-being and mental health challenges. In response, Kaladin describes his feelings about his perceived demotion. Adolin, struggling to understand how to help both, asks Kaladin for advice. At the end of the night, Kaladin acknowledges that it is time for him to return to his homeland, adding to his sense of loss.

In her brothers’ rooms, Shallan finds Mraize, the leader of the Ghostbloods. Mraize’s presence is a power play, illustrating the power the secretive organization has over Shallan and her family.

Mraize reveals to Shallan that the Ghostbloods have a plan to transport the ability to use the power and magic of Stormlight and trade it with those from other worlds. He promises to reveal more if Shallan travels to Shadesmar, the realm of the spren, and finds a powerful man named Restares. Shallan’s persona Veil, hoping that Mraize’s secrets might force Shallan to face her past, is in favor of accepting the mission.

The leadership of the Fused is comprised of a council of nine Fused who have been encased in stone columns. When the Nine gather the other Fused, the Pursuer—the Fused whose body was killed by Kaladin—requests the right to kill Kaladin, as he has done with every human who has ever killed him. However, Leshwi also request the right to kill Kaladin, and the Nine approve Leshwi’s petition instead of the Pursuer’s.

Raboniel, a recently re-awoken Fused, proposes a mission that would turn the tide of the war: invading and occupying the tower city Urithiru. To do this, the Fused will need to corrupt the Sibling, one of the three most powerful spren on Roshar. The Sibling used to power the tower and limit Fused magic there; corrupting it will dampen Radiant rather than Fused powers.

Leshwi presents Venli and several other servants as a gift to Raboniel; Venli will be Raboniel’s spy.

Weeks after the rescue of Hearthstone refugees, Kaladin’s depression eases, and he considers what he will do once removed from service. He seeks advice from Zahel, a swordmaster ardent, but after a duel and a discussion of Kaladin’s religious beliefs, Zahel tells Kaladin that the ardentia priesthood is not for him.

Kaladin informs Rlain, the parshman that has joined the Alethi side, that an honorspren will bond him. However, when Rlain discovers that the spren was ordered to consider the bond, Rlain rejects it, not wishing to bond a spren that does not respect Rlain for his own honor.

Navani studies a strange Voidlight-infused gemstone that had belonged to her first husband, Gavilar, giving it to two of her scholars to conduct tests. Navani then meets her family and the Mink for a private council.

Having studied a map of troop movements, the Mink concludes that Dalinar’s preferred plan to retake Alethkar from the Fused is unfeasible. The general suggests instead taking the kingdom of Emul from Odium.

Navani’s daughter, Jasnah, supports the Mink’s plan. She argues that if they retake and stabilize Emul, they could access the nation of Shinovar, which is separated from the rest of the continent by mountains and is thus culturally distinctive. Jasnah believes that the Shin may know more about Dalinar’s visionary powers. This convinces Dalinar. Jasnah also informs Dalinar and Navani that she will move forward with her proposal to free all enslaved people, despite the social upheaval it will cause.

On the Shattered Plains, Kaladin greets Navani’s airship, which contains the people of Hearthstone, including his parents. He leads them on a tour of the Urithiru tower, ending in the area that has been prepared for the people of Hearthstone, including the rooms he has specially set aside for his family.

At his spren Syl’s urging, Kaladin tells his parents about leaving the military. In response, his father, Lirin, asks him to return to his studies as a surgeon. Kaladin agrees.

Navani and her scholars puzzle over the still dormant spren of the tower. Navani also realizes the Fused may have ways to attack the tower that the Alethi do not know, so she increases tower defenses. Meanwhile, the ardents assigned to design a lift elevator for the tower are learning to turn Stormlight into mechanical energy. Navani takes this project’s leader to see another how gemstone-equipped windmills and weights harness energy from highstorms, suggesting combining this technology with the lift research.

At the council of monarchs, Navani finds it hard to conceal her contempt for Taravangian, the king of Kharbranth and Jah Keved, whose loyalty to the rest of the allies comes and goes. Taravangian explodes, stating that he would betray them all over again because he acts to save his people. However, after this outburst, Taravangian surprises the other monarchs when he agrees to the plan to attack Emul, leading Navani and Dalinar to suspect he might be planning some other treachery. The discussion moves on to another issue: The allies forces need more Radiants, but fewer and fewer spren are willing to bond. Sigzil, the knight now leading the Windrunners in Kaladin’s place, suggests sending an envoy to the honorspren to apologize for humanity’s past wrongs and to appeal to their honor. Shallan suggests she and Adolin lead the envoy mission. Dalinar asks Navani to remain in Urithiru during the Emul mission to watch over the tower.

During a highstorm, Kaladin’s spren, Syl, asks the Stormfather, one of the three most powerful spren on Roshar, to give her the ability to feel what Kaladin feels so she can understand and help him. The Stormfather refuses. Syl tells Dalinar about the failed request after the storm; Dalinar advises Syl to be present for Kaladin, even when Kaladin pushes her away.

Sja-Anat, one of the nine Unmade—the most powerful Odium-based spren on Roshar—works secretly against Odium despite her service to him. She sends three spren to Urithiru: two as decoys and one to meet with Mraize. Odium confronts her about the two he sees and tells Sja-Anat to pay more attention to Taravangian.

Taravangian has made a secret deal with Cultivation—one of the Shards, godlike beings that created Roshar—that gives him intellect and compassion, but never at the same time. In practice, he has days of genius-level intellect and days of dementia. On one of the genius days, he developed the Diagram, a complex plan to unite mankind; since then, he has led a group also called the Diagram in executing this plan with ruthlessness. One of the steps in the Diagram is making an alliance with Odium.

Now, Taravangian will enact his final betrayal of the monarch council: Following Odium’s orders, Taravangian’s troops will attack allied forces from behind, trapping them between enemies. Taravangian says goodbye to his most trusted Diagram followers, orders his daughter to disavow him in the aftermath, and burns his copy of the Diagram.