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

Rating:
Summary: Starting to pick up again...
Review: This series started to wane for me after Book 5 or so...I can't really remember. One good point is that there isn't a million new characters introduced in this book like the previous ones. I hear it's supposed to get better by Book 9 so we'll see.

Rating:
Summary: tedious, drawn-out, infrequently rewarding
Review: At first I was unsure why this book had received so many poor reviews, but now that I'm almost done with it (after struggling through it for more than 2 weeks here and there, not because I have poor reading skills but because I simply could not immerse myself in the story) I can understand it more easily.

Robert Jordan began the series in a gripping manner, and that's the reason I've stuck with it so long. But I think the next book he writes should be the last without any delays. How does he expect any reader to keep up with the sheer number of characters that he has introduced in the last few books, this one especially? I think he would have fared much better had he introduced a subseries focused on some of the secondary characters or peoples rather than bringing in certain characters for a single paragraph just to give some background. In my opinion, that's a way of showing that an author completely underestimates the intelligence of his readers, giving so much background or explanations, including introducing new subplots that only complicate things, rather than leaving some of it in mystery for the readers to figure out for themselves.

Also, the characters inspire no sympathy in me. All of the women seem to be just one character with different faces. Faile and Min, for example, and Nynaeve for that matter, all bully their men and then use them for sex, acting so similarly that the only way to tell them apart is the description of their clothes and the men they are accompanying. At the beginning it was easy to sympathize with Rand, Mat, and Perrin, but I think all three characters have been written with so many alterations, particularly Rand, that any affinity for the original characters dissipated along with their evolvement. Some might call that character development, but it seems more like fitting the characters to the story than the other way around.

What happened to the trollocs, or the Ogier, or Mat? And what's with words used like "waylaided" (p. 514)? Even an inexperienced writer knows better than that.

There are two other points I'd like to address: (1) Robert Jordan is a complete, and only rarely subtle, sexist. Here are only a few examples among numerous others: One infrequently reads of a male servant, and when female servants are spoken of, it is generally in terms of releasing a man's tensions. Men rarely cook or do laundry, unless they are in an encampment where few women can be found, since armies are made up of men, and--shock!--women don't take up arms unless they are Aiel. Women, even Aes Sedai, can be taken over and bonded to an Asha'man with just a kiss. Rand can't stand women dying by his actions, but it's never explained why. And this might be somewhat trite, but does it seem to anyone else as though Robert Jordan has tried to live vicariously through his own characters, particularly regarding relationships? Mat, who was taken over by a dominatrix in book 7, and Rand, with 3 women who love him and whom he loves in return and none of the women seem to protest much? I know a couple of polygamist groups around here I could refer him to...

(2)Repeated ideas and sentences become extremely tiresome, especially when they are repeated over the course of nearly 7,000 pages, not including books 9 and 10. Okay already, we get that there's a taint on saidin. We get the fact that Mat, Perrin, and Rand each thinks himself incompetent with women but the other two very able with women. We get that Perrin doesn't like being called "Lord". We get that Taim clearly doesn't like Rand or being a subordinate of Rand's, and vice versa. Things like this don't need to be constantly rehashed, sometimes even twice in a paragraph.

There are a couple good points in the book, such as when Egwene comes into her own and actually takes control of the situation for once. However, right now I can't think of any others, and honestly, I've had the hardest time with this book in the series than any other. I suppose parts of it are essential to the continuing story, but three or four straight chapters focusing on one single battle seems excessive.

In short, read it if you want to continue with and complete the series, but don't bother if what you want is an engrossing, thought-provoking can't-put-it-down perusal.

Rating:
Summary: Path of Droll - But You Knew That Already . . .
Review: I don't know why I'm bothering writing a review for this book. Chances are if you've gotten this far in the series you know that it is struggling, but like me you're committed to finishing it.

Path of Daggers, to be blunt, is a stagnant book. The ongoing plot lines run at a snail's pace, resolving little. While the book does have its highlights, including a couple plot twists, for the most part its droll narrative. Conversations drag on as Robert Jordan goes off on tangents, a lot of time fleshing out characters and situations that are generally unimportant in the grand scale of the book. There is something frustrating about having conversation being interrupted every other line with several paragraphs of what I've come to call padding.

Obviously Jordan is trying to stretch out his series to make it longer, but to what end? The series has become bloated with far too many characters and sub plotlines, unfortunately a good deal of them have become abandoned in Path of Daggers. Jordan takes his time to jump into new characters and side plots, but almost all of them end as abruptly as they start, or are soon forgotten.

Sadly the main characters have taken a back seat in most instances. Mat is absent from this book. Perrin makes a minimal appearance, however this isn't really a surprise after he completely disappeared in one of the early books and has yet to return with a strong presence. Rand doesn't even come into the book until half way, leaving you stuck reading the plot lines of secondary characters. Of course there are so many to divide your attention with its hard to get a real feel for any of them.

One thing that is missing greatly from the series and especially this book is the interaction with the main characters and Rand. Although we are treated with some Min chapters near the end of the book, Rand is mostly surrounded by unimportant and mostly uninteresting lesser characters, while the main characters sadly have little interaction with the Dragon Reborn.

Despite its flaws, you're still going to read Path of Daggers if you're a WoT fan because you either leave the series here or finish it off. That's why this review is so pointless in my opinion. So just a little warning in advance to WoT fans - be prepared to skim through a lot of parts and when a good section comes a long, relish it.