The Path of Daggers (The Wheel of Time, Book 8)

Rating:
Summary: This book was quite good.
Review: This was a very good book. It was well written, and had a few cool scenes. I admit that it was short, nothing relevant happened in it, and Mat was missing, but it was not so horrible. I have been reading the PoD reviews as they come out, and there is a point many people seem to be missing. Many people are comparing these books to Goodkind and Martin and Eddings, etc... and complaining that nothing seems to happen. Youve got to remeber this. This is a series which will probably go to 11 or 12 volumes. All of them are pretty long. This is nearing the end, it's winding up for a big climax. If he threw things into book 8 without all the buildup which is in book 8, people would complain that things were happening to abruptly. Also, this is a big epic saga. Mr. Goodkind's work is very good too, but its different. First of all, it was originally slated to be a four book work. Granted, based on his success he is now writing a fifth, but the point remains, more happens in most of Goodkind's books because he knew that he wanted to limit his plot to 4 books. Also, his books aren't as epic as Jordan's. I hate to say it, but Mr. Goodkind is Star Trek to Robert Jordan's Star Wars. While Jordan is writing a big, ongoing series, Goodkind's books follow the formula, a problem pops up, the characters get separated, the problem is resolved. Each book is pretty much a complete story. Its a completely different case from Jordan. And for those of You comparing Jordan to George R. R. Martin, his Song of Ice and Fire is also slated to be 4 books only. Also, you must remember that A Game of Thrones is his first book in the series. PoD is the Eight in WoT. The first 4 or 5 of Jordan's books were a lot faster paced than numbers 67&8. You gotta remember that. Robert Jordan is not all of these other authors. He's working on a big, coherent story which ultimately will be able to read like a 10,000 page book. If you look closesly, book 8 is a direct continuation of book 7. They could be one book. There is not even an explanation at the beginnig of book 8 as to why the characters are where they are, it just jumps right in. If book eight had been part of book seven, it would have looked exactly the same. I know I'm rambling, but i'm just trying to get a point across.

Rating:
Summary: Lets get moving!
Review: Three stars overall, 1 1/2 stars compared to the rest of the series...Lets face it, this is like waiting for Christmas. You want to know what you're going to get, but then it'll be over. You come away from book eight thinking; a) I hope we dont have to wait another two years, and b) the next volume better be twice as long, and actually resolve some plot points. I miss Mat. Perrin's story was one chapter long. Mr. Jordan, you captured our imagination. Now stop teasing and get on with it.

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing. This series has lost its focus.
Review: Robert Jordan once said that this series would run for 10 books. After books 7 and 8, it's become clear that he intends to keep that promise, even if he only has enough material for 6 books. The last 2, (A Crown of Swords and The Path of Daggers) have done nothing to advance the plot or draw the series any closer to conclusion. Nothing happens anymore, other than talking and whining (geesh, the characters grow more like Ally McBeal with each passing book). Jordan once wrote great action sequences, chases, battles, conflicts. It was hard to put the books down because there was ALWAYS something important happening. Now, he writes meaningless conversations to fill pages until he gets the 10 books he predicted. After 8 books, I won't abandon the series, but I won't waste my money buying the hardcovers anymore. For books nine and ten, I'll wait until they appear in paperback at the used book store. I could have forgiven one bad book (and A Crown of Swords certainly qualified), but not two in a row.

Rating:
Summary: Solid, but not up to par with the previous ones
Review: First of all, I did enjoy the book. Although it wasn't up to par with 1-6, it was still somewhat better than COS. I believe that Jordan has a problem with spreading things out too much lately, and the absence of Mat was sorely missed. It's never a good idead to leave a cliffhanger from a previous book and than totally ignore it during the next one. I very much look forward to the next one however, I just hope that it will pay much more than just lip service to the cliffhangers he has left us in POD. Also, I find it impossible to believe that at the pace the books are going now, he will finish the series in two more books. I believe it will take more in the realm of 4-6 books. Not that I have a problem with that though, I've read too far and have become too engrossed in the series to quit now, I just hope he picks thing up a bit. Problems I found with POD are that the turn of events with Egwene's group as well as Elayne's moved way too slow while Perrin's storyline was only payed lip service, which is not a good idea considering he was ignored in COS. Rand's battles with the Seanchan were a good idea, but put further detail into the battles themselves, rather than just the aftermath. The narrative was solid regarding all things having to do with Asha'man, who I have been fascinated with since their conception. I do wish that Logain and Taim, who are two characters I hope are going to have great influence in the following books, had had greater impact in this book. Not a bad book by my standards, considering most series don't keep up that level of quality for nearly as long, for that you have to give RJ credit. Reading these reviews on Amazon.com, I think it would be wise to include a preview of the upcoming book when the paperback edition is published, in order to restore the confidence of many readers. It's going to be a long two years.

Rating:
Summary: Half of a book
Review: Reading this book felt like some publishing executive took Jordan's latest work and said, "this is just too big for a novel, but don't condense it, add more words and we'll make two books from it." When I got to the last page, it felt like I had just read the first half of a very padded book and that there should have been at least another 500 pages of storyline. The book barely keeps the overall plot ticking over and nothing of any real consequence happens other than to provide extra threads for the series to follow over the next ten or fifteen books. I would suspect that a person could read the series up to this one, skip this one and not lose their place in the story at all. All in all, a big disappointment from what is otherwise a very enjoyable series of books.

Rating:
Summary: It did'nt go anywhere.Waste of time and money
Review: It did'nt go anywhere. I kept waiting for something to happen that was revelant to the story line. Seemed like Mr Jordan threw the story together without much thought (except for the money)which I hope is not the case.Please bring the story to an end before I die!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Who's laughing now?
Review: I just finished reading all of the reviews that were posted before Path of Daggers was even released. All of them 5 stars, with tones of arrogance and condescension to those that would DARE question the greatness of the Wheel of Time series. If you didn't think Path of Daggers was going to be the greatest fantasy novel ever written, you were an ignornant hick with no appreciation for fine literature. Well, I just finished reading Path of Daggers which I checked out from the library. I'm afraid all of the *idiots* who had the nerve to voice dissenting opinions of this next work were dead on with their fears. Path of Daggers isn't RJ's best. It isn't even very good. A no-name author that submitted something like this to a publisher would be laughed at. No character development (they stopped growing somewhere around book 6) Stereotyped gender roles, with all men and women thinking and acting the same way (funny, I remember Jordan being praised for his descriptions of gender roles way back when) Boring scenes made worse by excruciaring descriptions (I don't care what everybody is wearing down the color of their socks,sir) and lastly more and more new characters which I suppose the readers are supposed to, for some reason, care about (Gee, I don't even care about the main characters, much less these losers) It was a chore to read, and often during a night of reading I would find myself thinking about what I was doing tomorrow, what was happening at work, my bills, etc. etc. I just thank God I didn't actually BUY this book! Whew!! I only wasted part of my life and not my money!

Rating:
Summary: Hopefully, something will happen in the next book
Review: A Path of Daggers could be skipped entirely without missing much of anything. The situation has not changed significantly since the end of book 7. The entire story of A Path of Daggers should have been in the first one hundred pages of the next book. All the plot lines continue from book 7, dragging ponderously toward events that we thought would be resolved by now. Rand is still handling politics, Perrin is timidly confronting "The Prophet", Elayne is leading a menagerie of women back to claim the Lion Throne (no one knows why she doesn't just make a gateway and get it over with), and Egwene and the Rebel Aes Sedai are trudging toward Tar Valon. Mat is hardly mentioned after the first 100 pages. The characters become unbearable as each person's point of view is perpetually examined and everyone's clothing is endlessly described. By book eight we know the characters well enough to understand their feelings without having them repeatedly explained to us. The end of the book shows great promise for number 9 however. Several new sub-plots are introduced, while others are brought to a head. Jordan has built up an extremely loyal fan base for this series, but it won't last if he tries to draw this story out any more. Jordan has said that there will be at least three more books in this series, let us hope that there will not be more than that.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best book in the series,still the best out there.
Review: This is a great book. However it does not live up to the rest of the series and not much is happaning. I could almost suspect Jordan of trying to hold off the ending of the series even longer than I expect(15th book) to make more money. If he is, he's got my money.

Rating:
Summary: We are all da'tsang.
Review: I first came upon the WOT 9 years ago with EOTR and fell in love with the saga through Vol. 5. Vol 6 started getting tedious yet enjoyable enough to be eager for vol 7 only to start wondering if Jordan was just milking this out to make money. I was at least beginning to feel like a gai'shain. I awaited the 2 or more years for POD only to discover Jordan is making me a da'stang, a despised one, by forcing me into the useless labor of reading this book. I even paid the hardcover price for this treatment rather than going to the library. It was just more words of girls who think they are Aes Sedai but really spend more time whining and catfighting and Rand turning into an annoying jerk. I almost wish he would just make another Dragonmount with himself and let Logain or Taim take over as the Dragon Reborn. We are given very little new information and very minor plot twists getting us no closer to the last battle. I would only read the next vol only to get the agony and shame over with. Please Mr. Jordan, start respecting your readers a little. The book by itself deserves only one star, but I give 2 because of the strength of the first volumes and in the quickly fading hope that vol 9 will allow us to remove the black da'stang robes. If there is even a hint of more of the same, I am finished with it. Anyone who has not started the series DON'T until the end (if there is one)to see if it is worth the agony and humiliation of vol 7 and 8. Those giving good reviews must be the 40 year old bachelors still living with their parents who spend their whole lives at Star Trek conventions and trying to be the best Dungeonmaster of all time.