Then there are the themes in the book. Everything needed for a perfect dish of dark, grim fantasy is here. Magic? Check. Betrayal? Aplenty. Violence? You can literally hear the screams of dying men. A flawed hero? There's more than one flawed hero here.
It's a testament to the writer's storytelling and plot-twisting skills that he's able to get his characters into so much trouble and then get them out, all without giving his readers the impression that he's being overly partial.
The fighting is hats off, badass! The descriptions of sex are just as vivid as the gruesome literary pictures of broken skulls, disemboweled soldiers, hamstrung men and women, and decapitated men lying in pools of blood and gore.
The world is amazing. For a small book, the author cleverly does a lot of rather unique world-building. It's not vast Midkemia, truth be told. This one is more straightforward, more streamlined, very different.
One would be forgiven for thinking the story predictable, but the author has an unusual way of churning up the norm and making it look extraordinary.
Meanwhile, Aes Sedai plotting thickens, serving as a perfect backdrop to the eventual facing off of The Dragon Reborn Rand al'Thor and the Forsaken Sammael.
Rhythm of War is simply astounding! There are plenty of surprises from arguably the Epic Fantasy Read of 2020
De Castell writes a New Fantasy, a world in which his characters can be whatever they want to be regardless of whatever and whoever stands in their way
How the author has managed to create vivid realism with mysterious, otherworldly intrigues and elements is quite beyond me. It's a perfect blend of Grimdark and traditional fantasy. Game of Thrones and Throne of Glass meet. Martin weds Maas. It's the perfect literary combo.
The quick pacing allows a lot of action to be crammed between pages, and Brandon Sanderson has duly obliged.
The characters enjoyed the dizzying heights of triumph, often side by side with the despairing depths of defeat.
Not the biggest climax of an ending, but a very satisfying one. The Prophet of Akhran is written at a quick pace, with even more thrill and action than the last book. All the forces meet finally in an all-deciding clash, with plenty of intra-faction politics. The main antagonists are admittedly laid off with too […]
