Rating: 
Summary: Not his greatest but...
Review: still nothing to look down your nose at. This is a short book but I hope you are not expecting him to cramp his style so that he fits into a page number bracket. If he did that is writing would be truly artificial. On top of that many complain about the twists and turns of the plot and then complain that nothing happened in this book. NOTHING HAPPENED! If you look closely a plethora of things happened, especially with Verin and several other characters who have had little new plot in a while. And what about the women. Their life is not going to be easy considering who is pursuing them.
Rating: 
Summary: Vital piece of the puzzle - and GOOD!
Review: If you enjoy the standard sci-fi/fantasy trilogies where everything mystery is revealed as soon as you turn to the next page, don't read this series. The Path of Daggers is a neccesary (sp?) part of the series - without this book, Jordan could not continue! This book give the series remarkable flexibility - anything could happen in Winter's Heart (November 2000). All throughout the series, future events are hinted at. Foretellings in Book 1 come true in book 5, a viewing in book three comes true in book 7, etc. I'm wondering what events will occur in Winter's Heart that have been hinted at previously. I have it on good authority that we'll find out more about Mazrim Taim - and That, I am really looking forward to! Jordan's series is well composed and I keep on re-reading the books, piecing together storylines and trying to predict what comes up next.This bok just makes me wish that I had been introduced to the series after it was written (I got in at The Dragon Reborn) because I can't wait to find out what happens next!
Rating: 
Summary: This is the book that never ends...
Review: This is the book that never ends. Yes, it goes on and on, my friends. Jordan started writing it not knowing what it was and he continued writing it forever just because.... If you know the rest of the song, you know how it ends, or doesn't! I started the series enjoying every book. But alas, I now curse the 'friend' who introduced the series to me. Jordan turned one of my favorite characters into a wimpering shadow of herself, and is taken up repeating himself. Has anyone noticed how even the picture of Robert Jordan has changed? I do believe he's a little too involved with his book. Has he taken on the ego of his main character? I'll take up reading his books again when I hear he's winding it up. I just hope he does it before he passes on to the big library in the sky!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book is great. It brings out the character's defining points and it also gives more insight into what is to come in the next novel(s). I can hardly wait. Definitely worth owning and a great addition to the series.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Greatest fantasy series of all time
Review: If you are an avid sci fi/fantasy addict like me then you know this feeling: You are nearing the end of the 3rd and last book in a series and are dreading it, because it will mean that you will have to leave the characters and world you have grown attached to and no longer be able to eavesdrop on their lives. That is one of the things I love about Jordans WOT series of books (now heading towards #9), I have such a huge, multi-faceted world at my fingertips that I can explore to my hearts content, not in just a few short books. I personally hope that Mr. Jordan continues the series for several more books, after all, is there a rule that all fantasy series have to be 3 books? Alot of the reviews below complain about the length of the series and hope that he wraps it up soon. If you don't like the series, why are you "suffering" through 8 books? And, if it is so bad why do you care if he finishes soon or not! Put it down and read something else! Go ahead and buy your bottle of Nighttrain in the brown paper bag and get your quick fix while the rest of us wait for the master vintor to distill yet another vintage wine. I highly recommend this series to any fan of high fantasy.
Rating: 
Summary: Send a message - don't buy the next one
Review: Having been an avid reader of TWOT in the begining, I have given up and plan not to buy another book. The author has either run out of ideas or decided that he is just going to profit from the stupidity of the gullible population hooked of the previously good work. No new developments, no plot to speak of, boring repetetivness of phrases used in previous books, just plain cheap imitation of fantasy prose. Perhaps if no one buys the next book, it will send a strong enough message to the author - I for one hope so.
Rating:
Summary: Painful reading
Review: Thank goodness the Bowl of Winds thing is over. The Bowl of Winds storyline really began to show how poor this series was becoming. Come on - the world is turning arrid and hot because of the influences of evil? I haven't seen or read THAT one in a thousand different books and movies and it just seemed to come out of nowhere. Does anybody remember what a Myrdraal looks like? Barely a peep out of one for three or four books now. I loved the first two books in this series, even though in a broad sense they were predictable. The third was a dozer (was that where they introduced the dopey "Bubbles of evil" nonsense), then after reading the fourth, I thought, "WOW!" The way the history of the Aiel was revealed took my breath away. Somewhere early in Book 5 I realized that things were going wrong. The plot wasn't moving. I feared a return to the pacing of Book 3. We should be so lucky. The series has turned even worse. Jordan either has lost interest or lost the magic touch. Either way, the series is doomed. Put simply, Jordan simply CAN'T come up with better material in this series. I think he emptied his imagination into the first four books and now has nothing left to offer. I believe someone compared this series to the Iliad. Homer knew when to quit. Jordan doesn't. There's less low-quality filler in a cheap hotdog.
Rating:
Summary: Mind-numbingly bad
Review: To everyone that has given this book over three stars: you're a bunch of bandwagon morons. This book fails on almost every literary level. The story moves nowhere, the characters are static and whiny (and I mean they ALL whine), and repetitive themes abound. Case in point: Rand: "Man I wish I knew how to handle women, I don't know how Matt and Perrin do it." Perrin: "Gee, I can't figure women out. How do Rand and Matt do it?" Matt: "God women annoy the hell out of me! What is it that Rand and Perrin do that I don't?" ...Or some very close derivative. Unless I'm slightly mistaken, this happens in EVERY book by each character, that is if the character is mentioned ever, specifically Matt. This equals no character development. Again I say, for epic fantasy read Martin which is, instead of mind-numbing, mind-blowing. Best...ever...period.
Rating:
Summary: Caveats abound
Review: I really like this series and to a much lesser degree, this book but I feel like for every good thing about this book I have to include a "but". But what? The eighth book in what is starting to feel like an endless series, I got this when it came out and didn't read it for two years while working on other books (especially since I wasn't overwhelmed by book seven, where I can't remember a darn thing that happened), alas that meant that I had forgotten most of the minor continuing plotlines (there are lots) and all the minor characters (even more of them). The glossary is absolutely pathetic, the one in the first few books was great, giving you loads of information, it was updated for each book, here you're given a slew of characters (sort of like being a teacup with a firehose aimed at you) with little immediate explanation, it's assumed you'll know everything, I guess. With that out of the way, you dive into the book and it's fairly enjoyable, Jordan has lost none of his gift for writing, his prose is remarkably detailed, sometimes overly so but he really knows how to immerse you in his world, though he skimps on weird details at times (at what point did it start snowing nonstop?). His characters are like friends of the family, after eight books you feel you know them pretty well. Alas that's also part of the problem, little new is being revealed to us here it's the characters just in a new situation which is entertaining but not revelatory. And he tends to harp on the same theme: men versus women. Yes we know that men don't understand women and women don't understand men and that when people fall in love the person they fall in love with both frustrates and exhilerates them. After eight books you think that they would have come to the conclusion that there is no conclusion without reminding us of it every three pages? The plots aren't as well integrated as before, Perrin's is utterly useless for the most part (except towards the end, when stuff starts happening), after a promising start Elayne's peters into nothing (except towards the end again) but Rand's remains as gripping as always, mostly as his fight with insanity is taken up another notch and he edges even closer to losing it. The battle scenes are well done, even if we've been here before, most of the characters don't get involved in the fights anyhow. Jordan keeps little explosions of intrigue to move us along and even when pacing is nonexistent it keeps you reading. The Forsaken are fun as always, even if it is getting annoying that the Dark One keeps resurrecting most of them everytime they get killed (I wonder if Jordan realized he offed too many too fast, the body count was getting high at one point as Rand went on a bit of a rampage). But lesser plots are just confusing, most of the renegade Aiel I couldn't even keep straight without a scorecard and I keep forgetting which Aes Sedai are Black Ajah and which are just plotting and there's just too many chacters with similar names sharing the same scenes. And Mat doesn't even appear (the biggest offense, second only to Min not appearing and Rand not even showing up until we're halfway down). Bottom line after all that: you've made up your mind here without my help. If you're hooked like me you're going to keep reading even if it feels like Jordan fell asleep at the keyboard because there's just enough good stuff to make us think that he can pull a decent ending out of all of this yet. And if you hate it, well you do, nothing wrong with that. For the new reader, start from the beginning, maybe wait until the series is finished. Me, I'll be waiting for book nine, and maybe things'll start happening.
Rating:
Summary: I just don't care anymore
Review: Like so many others, I got totally caught up in the series with the first four books. I struggled throught books five and six and never really made it throught book seven. I was hoping this installment would get me interested again, but alas, Jordan seems to be more intent on bring in the bucks than winding up this story. I'm tired...and there are so many other books to read. Mr. Jordan, I'm sorry but I just can NOT continue to follow this endless, boring tale. Good luck with your life and now I'll get on with mine.
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