Much plot, little story. (The Path of Daggers - Robert Jordan)

Member Name: Bryn Pearson

Product:	The Path of Daggers - Robert Jordan
Date:	11/04/02 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: um, well you will need it to read book 9.

Disadvantages: vry dull, almost nothing seems to happen.

Book eight in the Wheel of Time series. If you haven't read the others, this book isn't going to make any sense at all, and this op may be challenging (I will do my best, but how do you describe the eighth book in a series for someone who has read none of the eight?)

The Wheel of time series is huge - 9 books at the moment, probably another three to come. There are many, many characters, each spawning their own little plot lines. There is big war coming, but in the meantime, there are many sides fighting with each other, jockying for position and making strange alliances. There are many small countries, many cultures many prohecies. Book eight seems to be a fill in, and us such, is a swine to read but will undoubtedly be vital for getting us all to book 9, if we feel enclined to go.

Nothing much seems to actually happen in this book - some people fight, some people die, some armies invade and are repulsed, but I found it very hard to engage with any of the sparsely recounted action. Most of the main characters seem to be travelling somewhere, which means that hopefully in the next book they will all be nicely positioned to 'do stuff'.

The inevitable forray into the plot lines, with as much detail as I think you can stomach.

Rand al Thor - Dragon Reborn, trying to unite the continent to face the last great battle with the evil one - there are prophecies, he thinks its his destiny. He might well be going mad. He's certianly becoming a very cold, unsympathetic figure, which doesn't make the books any more readable. He fights people. It isn't that exciting, or compelling, mostly he seems to just arrange things and worry.

Perrin Aybarra (can talk to wolves)and Faile Bashere Aybarra (his wife), sent out with Berelaine (Queen of a small country)to deal with the Prophet (mad man trying to enforce his rule in Rand's name.) They find him, but little else actually happens. They also meet a character y
ou haven't seen since the first book - you have to pay attention with this series. This plot line is largely a waste of some good characters.

Elayne (Princess and magic user, in love with Rand) Nynaeve(magic user) Lan (Probably dying, married to Nynaeve) and Avienda (magic user, also in love with Rand) have collected a vast number of women from different cultures, all of whom have the potential to weild magic, they travel slowly, nothing of any note seems to happen to them. Elayne is about to reclaim her throne, otherwise this plot line is painfully static.

Egwene (young magic user from same village as Rand) is in charge, in theory at least, of a large number of magic using women. Nothing very memorable happens to her either.

Elaida (magic user, used to serve Elayne's mother.) Has the White Tower (home of the female magic users) she wants to rule, to drag in all the rebels (Nynaeve, Elayne, Egwene and their followers) she wants to capture Rand, she wants to get rid of the men Rand is having trained to do magic, but none of it seems to be working. This is a moderatly intreresting plot line which crops up now and then, not really explored enough for my liking given that its the only thing of any real interest going on.

The Seanchen - a very military set from a distant land, who claim to be descended from a man who once ruled the continent where the action is set. They invade, we get some insight into who and how they are, but again, not really enough.

Furthermore, the book deals with dozens of apparently minor characters doing things - not all of which are obvious, some of which will undoubtedly have huge impact on the plot in later books. This is very frustrating - from the previous seven you know full well that reading closely is vital, but so much of the book is tedious that its very hard to stick with.

Book 8 suffers very much from too mcuh plot and not enough story. Nothing at all seems to happen, buty
ou are inundated with small details that you might, or might not, need to know for later on. It isn't a good book, it isn't that much fun to read, it is largely very frustrating and is an all time low in what has otherwise been a pretty good through to excellent series. I was disappointed, by this exersize in not being able to see the woods for the trees.

What it reminded me of most was the way that somewhere in Tolkein's "The Two Towers" everyone tends to grind to a halt, because nothing is actually happening and everyone is just slowly plodding from a to b. It's like that, only for about 700 pages. If you mean to read the whole series, you have to read it, there is no escape. However, unless book 9 turns out to be astoundingly good, I'm not inclined to recomend reading the whole series - tis a lot o work and I am beginning to feel it might not be worth it after all.

Summary: