Ranking the interludes in Rhythm of War

Of all of the books I've ranked thus far, this has been the most surprising by far. At this stage in the Stormlight Archive, we've moved fairly far from the original goal of the interlude chapters, and our rankings will reflect that.

I will rank Rhythm of War's interludes under the same conditions I’ve been ranking the other books in this series:

1. Did we explore a new part of Roshar?
2. Did we learn more about something we already knew?
3. Was it good?

Exploration and discovery through novel perspectives was the original intent behind interludes, and watching their purpose evolve with Sanderson’s writing is a journey onto itself. 

Let’s have that journey continue with ranking the interludes of Rhythm of War!

I-1: Sylphrena

We’re off to an okay start here. I-1 is our first view through the eyes of Sylphrena, and teaches us a bit more about bondsmiths and connection. We also get a bit of a catch up on the events of Dawnshard, which feels a little ironic, since the folks who will skip an interlude chapter are more than likely the same who will skip a novella. 

I am struggling between an A-tier or B-tier ranking. There is a lot to like about this interlude: new perspectives, light Cosmere science, and a little backfill on “off screen” activity. It’s also just a good read and that fleshes out Syl as a character. When I compare it to other highly ranked interludes however, it lacks. There’s not a lot of exploration, we are more adding color and shading to the larger lore painting. 

I will aire on the side of positivity and says it's a good interlude. 

I-1: Sylphrena is an A-tier interlude.

I-2: Sja-anat

Another good interlude; keeping up with the spren POV, we get to experience the perspective of Sja-anat for the first time. We get quite a few key pieces of lore here: we get more detail about the bonding of corrupted spren, we see confirmations that not all of the unmade are fully under Odiums control, we learn about the goals of the Ghostbloods. Jam packed. 

Again, we’re not exploring Roshar too much, but we are learning a lot through a novel perspective. These words are accepted.

I-2: Sja-anat is an A-tier interlude.

I-3: Into the Fire

If we were ranking chapters for their value to the storytelling of the Stormlight Archive, this interlude would be up there on the list. Since we are ranking interludes based on their exploration of Roshar and it’s lore, it is not.

At this stage in the books, Taravagian interludes share the same fate as the early Szeth interludes: interesting offscreen looks at a character that serve as plot delivery, not exploration.

I-3: Into the Fire is a good chapter, but a D-tier interlude.

I-4: Vyre

Keen eyed readers will notice that after the Way of Kings tier list, I dropped the F-tier. This was actually accidental, and I just committed to it. I subscribe to the F-Moash camp, so this will be a F-tier in spirit. But how is I-4: Vyre as an interlude? 

This chapter does a great job at showing the change that Moash is undergoing, something that Odium calls out directly. Through this exploration of Moash’s character growth, we learn about Odium’s relationship with Kaladin, and how concerned the god is about him, and gives us some Connection-related lore. These peaks at the larger workings of the Cosmere are slowly helping us build up the magic system in subtle ways. We’ll lose some points from a novelty perspective; this isn’t our first Moash POV, and our brief time with the Singers in Kholinar doesn't net us a ton of new information.

Not great, but still okay, I-4: Vyre is a B-tier interlude. 

I-5: Lift

Storms this interlude is an emotional rollercoaster. Any time Lift is in the mix there is a certain levity to the situation, but the line abouts being afraid her mother won’t recognize her if she grows up wrecks me everytime. But how is it as an interlude? 

In the spirit of Moash’s character exploration counting, I have to give points to this chapter for fleshing out Lift. We learn more about her curse and boon, especially the notes about Cultivation’s intervention. There are other smaller hints and previews about the mechanics of the attack on Urithiru and at glance at the Ghostbloods, but these are too subtle to earn big points. 

Despite me wanting to take a dig at Moash, I will also rank I-5: Lift as a B-tier interlude.

I-6: A Boon and a Curse

I have to put my thumb on the scale a bit here. This is another example of a Taravangian chapter that lends itself more to offscreen plot progression than lore building. The difference here is how good this chapter is. We get to see the vulnerability of the Shards in an unprecedented manner here in such a brilliant way as we watch the genius of Taravangian’s boon and curse finally take root.

If this chapter was any less thrilling, it would have landed on the D-tier pile. As it stands, I feel good about putting I-6: A Boon and a Curse at a C-tier. 

I-7: Szeth

Character development is a big theme with the interludes in Rhythm of War. In I-7 : Szeth, we get to see, well, Szeth get his turn. At this stage you know where I’m at with this kind of chapter as a not great interlude, and so I will highlight instead what I like. 

We get to see the intentional relationship between Szeth and his spren, which is something we don’t really see in other Radiant bonds. I am unsure if this is how all Skybreakers develop their relationship with their spren, but it's a unique take on the bond that is refreshing to see in an interlude. 

Still though, the majority of this chapter is offscreen plot keeps me at arms length. I don’t want to knock it down to D-tier since we do get some lore building. 

I-7: Szeth is a C-tier interlude.

I-8: Chiri-Chiri

Back on track here. I-8 is another example of catch up from Dawnshard, but Sanderson manages to accomplish it within the bounds of a great interlude. We get a novel perspective, via Chiri-Chiri, we learn a lot about the intelligence of Larkins, even witnessing their ability to develop speech. I think there is a going to be a lot more Chiri-Chiri and Larkin action in the future, and this interlude opens the door wide open for that.

While I enjoyed the chapter quite a bit, I can’t see myself giving it more than an A-tier. I think if I was ranking these in pure isolation of the books themselves, you might see this interlude becoming an S-tier of just Rhythm of War, but it doesn’t hold a sphere to the other S-tiers in their class.

I-8: Chiri-Chri is an A-tier interlude.

I-9: The Sword

I’ll keep this one short since I don’t have much to say on it’s exploration of Roshar. It’s a great plot-interlude (ploterlude?) but doesn't do much for us otherwise.

I-9: The Sword is a D-tier interlude.

I-10: Hesina and I-11: Adin

A great example of Ploterludes, this pair of interludes only really serves to progress the offscreen plot we couldn’t see from the perspectives of our mainline characters. Again, this is okay. I actually really enjoy reading interludes that are set up this way. That being said, we have a job to do.

I-10 and I-11 are D-tier interludes, but get an honorable mention for having novel perspectives.

I-12: Vulnerable

This is a really cool chapter. At this stage, interludes are required reading to understand what’s going on in the books, which is a change from their original vision. There is so much build up for what will happen by the end of this book from this one interlude, but we also get to learn quite a bit of lore on Shards. 

Near end of era books in the Cosmere are great because Sanderson really starts to open up about big mechanics or motivations that extend beyond the scope of the stories being told. We get to look in to the foundational lore of what’s going on Roshar, and gain a deeper understanding of Shards and their inner workings. I love it.

While I can’t ascend to give I-12: Vulnerable a S-tier, I will give it a strong A-tier.

Reflections and catchup

As of the writing of this article we are a mere 3 days away from the official release of Wind and Truth.

We've ranked four massive books worth of interludes and we have the final stretch ahead of us. To save those from spoilers, I will taking my time with the final book in the Stormlight Archive, and waiting to publish the conclusion to this series until a few weeks post launch, maybe even as much as a month.

Rhythm of War was the first book in the Stormlight Archive where I didn't rank a single interlude in the S-tier. That doesn't mean these chapters were "bad", its that the purpose of the interlude chapters has changed over the course of the series.

Originally, we saw interludes serve as a means of exploring parts of Roshar that we couldn't see from the perspectives of the main cast. We explored new characters from different cultures, and saw the conflict brewing on Roshar from different perspectives. They help flesh out the world in ways that were tasteful diversions from the main story.

As the series developed, we saw this morph in to a way of conveying key offscreen events that furthered the plot and added suspense and drama to the flow of the book. This adds a lot to the pacing of the books, but ranges far for their original intent.

I have no idea what to expect for Wind and Truth's interludes. I suspect that we'll see more and more "ploterludes", but I also see a lot of room for expanding the scope of the interludes to go beyond Roshar and bring in the greater Cosmere in to the story. I bet we'll see a lot of big picture Cosmere concepts floated around, and I honestly can't wait to dive in.

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