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For those that did not, this book should renew your faith in Robert Jordan's writing. I won't give away any spoilers here, but this book is an excellent return to action. Though I personally enjoyed 10, I know many did not.
This series should come with a warning lable, "Starts fast, gets you hooked, then sucks." I've been struggling to try and finish this wreck just to find out what happens; this latest development is the straw that broke the camels back, I'm done. This book is better than the last few, but since it doesn't really resolve much it is not worth it. I regret ever having picked up the EYE OF THE WORLD. I just found out that this series will drag on for another three books. Are you f***ing kidding me.
The book arrived quite quickly and was in terrific condition, as stated in the description.
Egwene begins undermining Elaida's control of the White Tower as she run the Rebellion from the world of dreams. "Knife of Dreams" finally begins to tie up several storylines which have taken place in the previous books. Rand schemes the truce with the Seanchan at the same time he prepares a massive surprise for them.If you came all the way from the first book to the tenth, don't miss "Knfe of Dreams". Elaine begins to see the civil war in Andor is about to finish, either having her as the queen or not. Though it seems that with this pace "A Memory of Light" will have to be gigantic (and it will be three books afterall), the book keeps us focused and eager to know what's coming next, just like with the others.Perrin's attempts to rescue Faile finally come to an end, as well as Mat's escape from the Seanchan. Thom Merrilin finally reveals the contents of the letter Moiraine left him.
Occasionally things happen, although of course the book is divided between five major subplots (Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, and Elayne, or six if you count Faile), interspersed with some minor ones as well, and so while they may resolve their private conflicts, it remains unclear why, say, Faile's capture and rescue or Elayne's gaining the Lion Throne is important in the great scheme of the series. And then he's formed a partial mind-meld with FOUR different women. Well, then the books started to slow down, and I lost interest. Of course the wait time contributes to the irritation readers feel, but it doesn't cloud their judgment; the bad books are bad, whether you have to wait in between or not.Unfortunately, I would put Knife of Dreams into that category, although it is an improvement over, say, Path of Daggers. First there's the insane Lews Therin (and another guy). Do what I did--skip #10 (maybe #8 or #9 as well), and get #11 from the library. It is mildly entertaining. I'm beginning to suspect that Jordan actually created a matriarchal-type society to express his views on why (in his opinion) women are catty and incompetent and men should rule all.
I've read a fair bit of fantasy, and am used to telepathic communication and the like. First of all, I'd like to clear up the misconception that the series is meant to be read all at once and even the terrible books are decent if you're not waiting a couple years for each one. Like in the previous tomes, scenes containing action are countered by the continuing focus on irrelevant power struggles between irrelevant female characters, complete with skirt-smoothing (elevated by Jordan to an infallible barometer of female agitation), arm-crossing (always "beneath her breasts" as if we were confused about where these crossed arms were going, above her head maybe) and spanking, of all things. Not that his men do much better, of course, but at least they don't smooth their skirts.Then there is the continuing shallowness of all scenes featuring our supposed villains. While I'm now re-engaged enough to continue, my experience is proof that having them all (well, the first 10 anyway) available at once doesn't solve Jordan's problems. Healthy relationships, among women or between men and women, are nonexistent (Elayne and Aviendha are as close as it gets, so of course Jordan separates them); instead we get "I care about this person, but he/she is so hard to deal with." Endlessly. The sad truth is that Jordan can't write political intrigue no matter how hard he tries. I started reading the Wheel of Time in 2003, and for the first six books I ran out to get the sequel as soon as I finished the one before it.
Then there's the matter with seeing Mat and Perrin whenever he thinks about them (all three try to push these visions away rather than using them for anything useful). Any one of these elements would be standard for fantasy; ALL of them is overdone. But Jordan overdoes it. I've come to dread these, because they boil down to one of two scenes: A) A baddie kowtows to a higher-ranking baddie, who in turn kowtows to an even higher-ranking one, and so forth up the line, with all conversations consisting of "Obey me or else." "Y-y-yes, Master/Mistress." or B) A group of baddies gets together, apparently to plot or give progress reports, but it boils down to abovementioned one-upmanship, without having any effect on the plot.And the circus that seems to be going on inside the main characters' heads. They are all the same person, and not a likeable one at that.
We can't relate.Despite that whole mess, though (and numerous other weaknesses other reviewers have remarked on, and I will refrain from repeating), the book is worth reading if you're planning to see this epic through. Then of course there's Mat with his dice and other people's memories, and Perrin and his wolves and his constant, irritating "sniffing" of people's emotions. In the meanwhile, read some GRR Martin and find out what REAL political intrigue looks like. He and Min are now having bizarre interactions in which they don't say or do anything, just sort of toss emotions back and forth. finally, this year, thanks to the intrepid Amazon reviewers, I realized I could skip #9-10 entirely, read online summaries, and continue to Knife of Dreams.
Let's take a look at Rand's head, for instance. All she (meaning every woman in the book) seems to care about is garnering power and deference from others, and therefore every woman in the book spends most of her time trying to one-up every other woman in the book. It's certainly readable. His strength is in action-adventure, which drew all of us in to the series in the first place but is sadly lacking here.Now let me add my voice to the chorus expressing disgust for Jordan's portrayal of women.
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