Rhythm of War recap

A year into open war with the god Odium, the coalition and the enemy fight a grinding campaign of raids while Dalinar seeks a way to win. The Fused seize the tower city of Urithiru, suppressing its guardian spirit and trapping Navani, Kaladin, and others inside an occupied stronghold. Navani, held captive, matches wits with the brilliant Fused scholar Raboniel over the secret nature of Light, a duel of science that leads to a weapon able to kill even immortals. Kaladin, worn down and unable to fight openly, shelters survivors in the tower's depths and finally speaks the Fourth Ideal of his order, coming into new power. Far away, Adolin and Shallan travel into the realm of the spren to win an alliance, Adolin standing trial to earn the honorspren's aid and drawing his dead sword back toward life. In the climax Navani bonds the tower's guardian and becomes a Bondsmith, reclaiming Urithiru. Then comes the war's great turn: the dying King Taravangian outmaneuvers Odium, kills him, and seizes his power, becoming a new and far more dangerous god of hatred just as a contest of champions is set to decide everything.

Previously: A reborn Knight Radiant named Kaladin rose from slavery to lead Bridge Four; the artist Shallan Davar became a Lightweaver; and Highprince Dalinar Kholin, guided by storm-visions, reunited his people and recovered the lost city of Urithiru. When the cornered Parshendi summoned a second, dark storm, the world's docile parshmen awoke into the returning enemy's soldiers, and the true Desolation began. Facing the god of hatred, Odium, and his immortal Fused warriors, Dalinar's fragile coalition fought to unite the world's monarchs through an ancient portal network. Dalinar confronted the atrocities of his own forgotten past and grew into a Bondsmith bonded to the spirit of the storm, refusing Odium's temptation and declaring himself Unity to turn back the enemy at the battle of Thaylen Field. But the cost was steep: the Alethi capital fell and King Elhokar was murdered by his embittered former guard Moash, who now serves the enemy; Jasnah took the throne; and the seemingly gentle King Taravangian, still trusted, secretly swore himself to Odium. The awakened singers became a living people again, some free, many enslaved to the Fused, and Odium began steering the war toward a decisive contest of champions.

About a year after the stand at Thaylen Field, the war has settled into a grinding campaign of raids and skirmishes between the coalition and Odium's forces, with neither side able to land a decisive blow. Dalinar searches history and his storm-visions for a strategy that could actually win against a god, while the terms of a future contest of champions loom over everything. Kaladin, exhausted by years of battle and haunted by those he has failed, is pulled back from the front lines and struggles with his own darkness. Navani drives the coalition's scientists to unlock new uses of the mechanical magic that powers their world. Adolin and Shallan prepare for a diplomatic mission into the strange realm of the spren to seek allies, and the enemy quietly sets in motion a bold plan to strike at the heart of the coalition's power.

The enemy seizes the tower city of Urithiru itself. The Fused suppress the ancient guardian that protects the tower and its knights, crippling the Radiants stationed there and trapping Navani, Kaladin, and many others inside an occupied stronghold. Unable to fight openly, Kaladin goes underground, hiding and protecting the wounded and the helpless while the enemy hunts him. Navani is taken captive and forced into a wary collaboration with a brilliant Fused scholar who is fascinated by the true nature of the world's Light. Far away, Adolin and Shallan reach the fortress of the honorspren in the spren realm, where Adolin makes the audacious choice to put himself on trial to win their aid for humanity, and Shallan hunts a hidden traitor within their own party while wrestling with buried pieces of her past.

The struggle inside the occupied tower becomes a contest of wits and will. Navani, held prisoner, matches the Fused scholar discovery for discovery in a dangerous study of Light that edges toward a weapon capable of killing even the immortals. Kaladin's guerrilla resistance in the tower's depths pushes him toward the next oath of his order and a reckoning with what he is willing to sacrifice. Adolin's trial before the honorspren forces both sides to weigh humanity's broken faith with the spren, and his strange devotion to his lifeless blade begins to bear unexpected fruit. Shallan closes in on the traitor among them and on long-hidden truths about herself, while Venli quietly steers her people toward a bid for freedom. On every front the pieces move toward a simultaneous crisis.

Everything breaks at once. Navani bonds the tower's guardian spirit and rises as a new Bondsmith, restoring Urithiru's defenses and driving the enemy out, though the Fused scholar and her daughter die in the reckoning. Kaladin speaks the Fourth Ideal, accepting that he cannot protect everyone, and comes into greater power, but his former friend Moash murders the beloved bridgeman Teft, a loss that guts him even in victory. In the spren realm Adolin's trial wins a measure of alliance and revives his once-dead sword, and Shallan resolves more of her hidden past and the secret society hunting her. Venli leads a group of her people toward freedom. Then the war turns on a single stroke: as the god of hatred moves to cast aside the dying King Taravangian, Taravangian instead outmaneuvers and kills him, seizing the divine power and becoming a new, far more cunning god of hatred. With a contest of champions set to decide the war on a fixed near-future date, the coalition faces an enemy deadlier than the one it thought it was fighting.

The battle for Urithiru is won at bitter cost. Navani, after a long captive contest of intellect with the Fused scholar Raboniel, bonds the tower's guardian spirit and rises as a new Bondsmith, restoring the city's ancient defenses and purging the enemy from it; Raboniel and her daughter die in the process. Kaladin, having spoken the Fourth Ideal and accepting that he cannot save everyone, defeats the enemy in the tower, though his former friend Moash murders the beloved bridgeman Teft, a wound that will not heal. In the spren realm, Adolin's trial wins a measure of alliance and revives his once-dead blade, while Shallan confronts more of her hidden past and the secret society hunting her. Venli quietly leads a group of her people toward freedom. But the book's true turn is catastrophic: as Odium, the god of hatred, moves to discard the ailing King Taravangian, Taravangian instead outmaneuvers and kills him, seizing the divine power for himself. The coalition's most cunning traitor is now a god, one who blends ruthlessness with a terrible sense of compassion, and far more dangerous than his predecessor. A formal contest of champions has been agreed to settle the war on a fixed near-future date, and the newly ascended enemy will spend the interval bending the world toward his design.