Book Review: Knife of Dreams

Knife of Dreams is the eleventh book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. If you're not already familar with the series, good luck reading this post.

First things first. This book is Jordans best since Lord of Chaos, though I would peg Crown of Swords just behind it. The Mat storyline finally picked up again with excellent results, though his reunion with the Band could have been better handled. I really enjoyed seeing him plot battles again. I found Tuon's recognition of this being Mat's calling highly ironic, as Robert Jordan for some reason decided to take that aspect away from Mat since Lord of Chaos. On a side note, Mat's comment about his being "a new kind of war" was simply ludicrous. Why does everyone act as if he's the first commander too not help the enemy wounded? Simply ludicrous. Rand's storyline is also interesting, as it always is, but far too short. I don't know why Jordan spends so little time with his protagonist. Lews Therin finally taking control of the Source was much appreciated as was an explanation of Rand's sickness when siezing saidin. I found Egwene's chapters surprisingly readable. I doubt I'll ever really like her character, but she was actually doing something this time around. How strange! I also found Nyneave's single chapter amazing and not just because she was limited to a single chapter. I don't think the writing was particularly well done, but that didn't seem to matter too much. I guess I'm just a sucker for doomed marches.

Not all of Jordan's plotlines fared so well. Elayne finally gains control of Andor, but her chapters remain the most boring in the entire series. I actually skipped her chapters until I was finished with the characters--the first time I've ever done this with a Wheel of Time book. Faile finished a close second to Elayne in terms of being a bone-numbing, hair-pulling bore. Luckily Perrin finally rescues her, ending the three book odyssey that no one really cared about. I really miss Perrin. He lost his soul immediately after The Shadow Rising and hasn't reclaimed it yet. Maybe being around Mat and Rand will help. How did Jordan make such a great character completely completely useless?

Unfortunately Jordan did not succeed in pulling his story out of the morass that this series has become. He swears that this next book will be his last, but unless he pulls a really cheap trick (Hey, all we needed to do to defeat the Dark One was count to one hundred backwards!) I'm envisioning a 1,300 page book. There's still just so much to do. I really wished Jordan had managed to keep himself in hand after Fires of Heaven. Up to that point, while getting longer, the books managed to be tightly woven with Jordan remaining firmly in control. With Lord of Chaos, the threads began to unravel. He continued to add character after character, each demanding a viewpoint of his own. Why the reader should care what a Windfinder thinks is beyond me. Crown of Swords, Path of Daggers, Winter's Heart, and Crossroads of Twilight were all too short and too meandering. The only real matters of import occurring in the four of them were the defeat of Sammael and the cleansing of saidin. I really think that Jordan took far too much time with these four and is now rushing to finish off the series. Based on where we are on the series, I would advocate two more books to ensure the tying up of all loose threads. If he had managed to be more economical with his words, this series really could have been finished in eleven volumes.

If you haven't read Wheel of Time, I don't suggest reading it until you've become acquainted with The Prince of Nothing by R. Scott Bakker and A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. Both series are much darker than Wheel of Time but are also far superior in terms of writing. I don't want to disparge Wheel of Time too much though. The first six books really are excellent, though perhaps this is my adolescent memory speaking with a hint of nostalgia. Being as it may, there really aren't that many fantasy series from which to choose. Jordan's work definitely belongs in the top ten. If you're already enmeshed in Wheel of Time, you might as well ride it out, though with full knowledge that the series gets progressively worse.