The Wheel grinds to a halt. (Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan)

Member Name: QueenElf

Product:	Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan
Date:	16/02/06 (647 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: For fans only.

Disadvantages: It's just a lot of padding.

Robert Jordan has finally written his penultimate book in the Wheel of Time series. Published in October 2005 by Orbit Books, “Knife of Dreams” has been eagerly awaited by his fans worldwide. I’d had the book on order since the pending release date, my local library is good for that. Unfortunately I hurt my back and couldn’t collect it straight away so the book went to the next person on the waiting list who kept it for six weeks.
I finally held in my hands at the beginning of February but put off reading it until I knew I had a few days free to read it in maybe three sittings. At nearly 800 pages I reckoned I could read it in three days. I was wrong, completely wrong. Somehow I couldn’t get into this book in the way I had always done with the previous ten books. More about that later.

In “Crossroads of Twilight “we left the main protagonists in different situations and different places. Perrin was still trying to rescue his wife, Faile, from the armies of the Shaido, (a process that started in book nine).
Mat was caught up in carrying away the heir to the throne of the Seanchan invaders in a bid to fulfil the prophecy that he would marry the “daughter of the nine moons.”
The rebel army of Aes Sedai was still outside the White Tower, with Egwene newly captured, leaving her sisters in disarray.
Rand’s wife and mother of his unborn twins, Elyane, is barely keeping hold of the fight to gain the Lion Throne, her natural birthright.
Meanwhile Rand himself has just won a victory against one of the Forsaken, and finally becomes a lover to Min, who has the power to foresee some of the future.

“Knife of Dreams” opens on the same note, with the situation unchanged. The nearly 100-page prologue is a miss-match of minor characters and doesn’t really gain anything towards the book.

Mat is featured a lot in this book, but to what ends? Perrin takes up nearly a third of the book to secure Faile’s release, joining with the Seanchan army to affect her escape.
Meanwhile Egwene is held in the White Tower, relegated to the status of a mere novice she soon finds that the tower is likely to fall with each Ajah frightened of each other.

In Caemlyn, Elayne is desperately outnumbered and with spies all around her, can she hope to prevent civil war from destroying the land?

As the seals start to fail on the Dark Lord’s prison, the very fabric of reality starts to throw the world into turmoil. The dead are seen walking in every part of the land, buildings disappear and those that stand soon become a place of confusion, with familiar corridors and doors leading nowhere.

Rand fights off an army of Trollocs and falls into a trap set by one of the forsaken, barely escaping with his life. The voice inside him, that of the Lews Therin, is slowly driving him mad, while the Ashamen are taking more control of their situation.

It’s clear that all the signs point to the last battle of Tarman Gai’don where the fate of the “Wheel of Time” will be decided forever.

Surely then this should be a very powerful book, it sounds exciting, the prelude to battle, the culmination of an epic series?
…………………………………………

I’m sorry to disappoint you; this book goes nowhere at all. It’s almost as if Jordan has finally decided to end his fantasy epic but is unsure where it will go. Either that or he is saving the beat for last.

As usual, Jordan manages to spin an interesting tale but his one weakness is dragging out a part of the story. There is hardly a mention of Rand Al’Thor in the whole book, just two minor battles fought and won? It seems that Jordan doesn’t know what to do with his main character so focuses on the friends of Rand.
Perrin should have rescued his wife long before now, taking three books to do so leaves the reader clearly frustrated, he hardly uses any of his own special powers and the whole thing just drags until you become tempted to skip whole chapters.

Mat’s journeys and his relationship with Tuon (the daughter of the nine moons), is another long drawn out part of the story and allowing Tuon to have chapters on her own thoughts is clearly just another delaying tactic.

Egwene has large parts of the narrative and her undermining of the White Tower is skilfully written; yet it’s still overlong and doesn’t seem to going anywhere fast. At least the purpose here is clear, undermining is one way to achieve her victory, but at what price to the unity of the Tower?

The one part that manages to rescue this book from obscurity is the actions of Elyane and her sidekick Birgette. After the removal of Aviendha and the absence of the Aiel, Elayne must rely on her own wits and ingenuity to secure the Lion Throne and save her people from starvation and death. For me this was without doubt the best of the book and the only part that kept me turning the pages.

At this point I would normally comment on characters and the use of prose, but I could hardly find anything worth mentioning, it’s all been said or described before.
At least in previous books there has been some sort of finale, a heated battle using the magic of both Saider and Saidan, sadly the use of any kind of power is barely mentioned or used at all. The book peters out with all the force of a damp squib.

Summary.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I ploughed through the book, not waiting in any anticipation of the next chapter. I found it a chore to read instead of a pleasure. I really expected great things from this book, the final battle just has to be better than this and so I plodded on, waiting for something to inspire me.
If Jordan can drag out a whole book then what will happen to the final book? He could well have wrapped this whole book up in about 300 pages, instead of dragging out the inevitable disappointment.
Dedicated followers will read this anyway, just to find out what happens next. If any reader can find something to like in this book, then let me know, I’d be interested to find anything worth a second glance.
I was tempted to give this one star only, why flog a dead horse?
I could only find one point in the whole book and I can’t even mention it as it would spoil the whole plot, (shaky as it is).
Dedicated fans will read this anyway, but don’t pay for it unless you are already collecting the books. After the first three books I stopped buying them, I couldn’t see myself re-reading any but the first few books.

I hate to review a poor book; I find it hard to get any enthusiasm to write a good review. Still, I made the effort to read the book and as such I thought I warn you what to expect.

My library copy carries the price of £20; Amazon is selling it at the reduced price of £11.60. My advice would be to wait for the paperback version, or get it from the library as I did and then choose if you want to buy it.
I’ll order the next one in from the library; I have better books to buy.

Thanks, as always for reading.
Lisa

Footnote.

I asked for this to be added yesterday but it seems to have jumped the queue, I had to write my review quickly so I hope it's up to scratch.

Summary: The penultimate book in an overlong series.