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

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

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I got through it thinking like it was a great book
Review: I started this series in December 2001, I got to the middle of book seven in June and had to stop because I fell asleep after two pages of Elayne and Nynaeve. I had heard that book 8, The Path of Daggers, was the worst of the series so far and dreaded it. I was finally able to finish A Crown of Swords in January 2003. I bought book 8 and read the prologue not long after, but didn't pick it up to read more until late April. When I began reading chapter 1 I told myself that if I thought like it was the greatest book in the world I could get through it fine. I'm about 70 percent done with the book now and have read it since I started chapter 1 as fast or faster than The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt, my favorites. Some say that without Mat Cauthon that kills the book as well, but if you don't think about him it's a piece of cake. Also, not having him in this book gives more suspense to what happens to him at the end of book seven.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: An amazing novel
Review: In this case, my title is completely sarcastic. The Path of Daggers is amazing, in that, in 672 pages, nothing happens. I finished A Crown of Swords two weeks ago, and felt like Jordan hadn't lost his touch yet. This novel, however, did disappoint me. First, Mat Cauthon is not mentioned, and he is my favorite character. That was my greatest dismay, almost 700 pages without the most interesting character. Additionally, the first half of the novel is very slow. I don't think Rand is mentioned in the first two to three hundred pages. Once he is the novel speeds up, but it is too late. Reading about Elayne and Nynaeve was not interesting. I think the developments with Egwene are interesting, but definetly not exciting. Usually Jordan writes into great depth in the beginning of the novel, but saves the novel by having a great ending. This is the first Wheel of Time novel, that lacked that Jordan ending, which helps readers forgive his sometimes sluggish pace.

The novel did have several bright spots though. For the first time since book three, the parts of the novel concerning Perrin and Faile did not annoy the hell out of me. Maybe it was just that they were in between boring stories, but I actually looked forward to reading about them. That has never happened before. Additionally, Jordan has set up Egwene's future beautifully, and the parts of the novel concerning Rand aren't bad.

What happens. Elayne and Nynaeve journey to Camelyn, escaping the Seachan. Rand battles the Seachan. Perrin and Faile search for the Prophet. Egwene moves toward Tar Valon.

Not a great novel, not the worst I have read; just the worst I have read by Jordan.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Blood and bloody interest fading !!
Review: Not a long-time WOTimer, I started recently with Rand's wanderings. So without years between each opus, I've gone through books 1 to 7 in under 6 months. And I have to say the reading pace has SLOWED DOWN considerably in the last 2 books. Why? Well, the initial pace of the main plot has dwindled to nothing (a crawl at best), most of the characters have been reduced to stereotyped simpletons, and worst of all I now stare at PAGES AND PAGES of totally useless descriptions of various sorts, when it's not clothing (Jordan's all time fav.) it's simplistic girls-guys interactions, or even better endless discussions on what everybody thinks this or that one should do or not, etc etc etc...I'm now at Chap. 10 of Book 8, and I'm just summoning courage not to skip ENTIRE chapters when I see who's in them !! How did it go so bad, when the first 5 books were excellent, is anybody's guess, but if you read them one after the other like me, you'll be shocked at the disparity of quality WOT shows. I personally think there's too much time between books to keep the same spirit throughout, so please Mr Jordan, just shorten them (a lot), cut the useless half, and keep the fire !!
On a last note, Why has Mat disappeared when his part was so interesting? There is such a thing as suspense, but this is just ridiculous. Same happened at several key interest points (battles) when the reader is just left out guessing what's going on forever. It feels like a bad sitcom, now. The way this is going, I'm not sure I will even FINISH book 8.

Sorry if I didn't help you much !!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Utterly boring...zzzzzzzzzzz
Review: This is surely the depths of the series - it can only get better now - by way of perspective though, 50 pages of the Great Hunt had more action and told us a lot more than the whole of the Path of Daggers. A tedious and pointless exercise, Mr.Jordan.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: So this is how it's going to be, eh?
Review: ***2.5 stars***

This is book 8, and what a better time than this to take stock of the Wheel of Time series as it stands at this point. Clearly, all the subplots and minor characters have nearly destroyed what made this world interesting long ago, around book 3. Clearly, Jordan isn't capable of skillfully integrating smaller plots with larger ones and maintaining a sense of continuity and clarity. Clearly, this is developing into a very mediocre series. Additionally, it is worth noting that a frequent criticism of the critics of this series is that they can't appreciate the "subtleties and sophistication" that the series has, and this is laughable. All one need do is read the various reviews, and it quickly becomes apparent that the best-written, most well thought-out reviews come from individuals who have grown exasperated with these books, and who recognize the crippling limitations of the author....

...Path of Daggers. Frankly, I read it last week and it left so little of an impression on me that I'm not sure exactly what happened that is distinct from Crown of Swords, or Winter's Heart, which I'm in the middle of now. The best thing I can say about it is that Jordan finally kicked the habit of wasting over a hundred pages on reiterating the details of the previous books. That leaves us with just about 600 pages, and that's a good thing. I just wish those 600 pages were more interesting.

It's not all that bad, just not particularly good, either.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: They don't know what they're talking about.
Review: Anyone who gives a book in this series less than 5 stars doesn't deserve to read them. Every book surpasses the Lord of the Rings with plenty to spare and if you don't enjoy them find another book to complain about.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fun and fascinating
Review: I've been reading "The Wheel of Time" off and on since about '94. I picked up "The Eye of the World", quickly devoured it, then quickly devoured all the books through "The Fires of Heaven". I was utterly absorbed and fascinated with these books, being some of the most enjoyable reading I've ever Experienced. The world Robert Jordan built is amazing, and the main characters became almost real, like old friends.

Then "Lord of Chaos" came out. This book was long and tedious, until the spectacular ending. It took me a long time to finish it and I did not enjoy it on the same level as the previous books. Then "Chrown of Swords" came out, and I read the first 4 or 5 chapters, but never finished it. It was moving slowly, like "Lord of Chaos". I also got caught up in a lot of the reviews where everyone was complaining about the pace and the overall plot not coming to conclusion. So I gave up on "The Wheel of Time" for a while, putting my attention eslewhere.

Then this Christmas my wife's 16 year old sister (who I turned on to "The Wheel of Time") gave me "The Path of Daggers" as a Christmas present (extremely thoughtful, she looked at the ones I already had and bought the right one). So I was compelled to read it right away, even without having finished "A Crown of Swords".

So far "The Path of Daggers" as been great (I've read about half). I feel compelled to write a review now before I've finished it, due to all of the scathing reviews here on Amazon.com. So far, "The Path of Daggers" has a lot of cool stuff - action, intrigue, interesting character interaction, spectacular magic, fascinating creatures (Seanchan creatures in particular). I don't know where all of the comments of "nothing happens" come from. I feel that, once again, I am absorbed into Robert Jordan's rich and complex world.

Now, I was one of the many people that were getting impatient with the pace of these middle books, after all I never did finish "A Crown of Swords". But now I'm fully back into it. I think the main reason is that I was probably burnt out on the "The Wheel of Time" by the time "Lord of Chaos" came out. A lot of the stuff in RJ's world was becoming old hat. Then I put it down for about 4 years and got back into it because of receiving "The Path of Daggers" as a present. And, presto! It is all fresh and fascinating again.

What I think is happening is people are completely unaccomstumed to an epic series this long. They get hooked initially, then eagerly await the exciting conclusion, which still isn't coming after 10 books. Plus, I believe people get burnt out on the series, due to it's length, just like I did.

So my advice is for people compelled to continue reading the series to simply put it aside for a while if they are getting bored or impatient. I've done just that, and now I am thoroughly enjoying "The Path of Daggers".

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Boring more than anything else
Review: This installment, as well as everything after Book 4, maybe 5, is far too flaccid to inspire any real ire--but I suspect what others have voiced--that Jordan is just dragging this out because he has either A)lost control of his characters and story or B) is just interested in making more books for more money or C)has completion anxiety in the worst way.

The only cool thing that happens in this whole book is when Elayne tries to untie her weave and drops a One Power nuke in the beginning of the book. Other than that, nothing happens of any interest. Rand gets mad, a few more Aes Sedai kneel, the girls continue their boring trip to Caemlyn, etc. The end seems to give a few juicy hooks, White Tower War, Logain bonding a Red Sister?, and such, but I have seen it before and am suspicious the next title will live up to it.

The overall problem is that Jordan has abandoned any true artistic reasons to be writing this at all. The first few books had questions of good and evil, kin identity, duty vs. desire. That has largely been abandoned for a themeless "trash novel" style where nothing resonates with any moral issue. The endless cast of people who drop in and out is baffling beyond belief. How much gilding can there be in one description? Does anybody care how many slashes of color this or that lady's dress has?

I am still left to wonder why, oh why, did Jordan toss out the most compelling theme in this whole saga for a few cheap battles? He set up Rand's indentity questions so well in the first few novels, and has yet to have Rand reconfront Tam al'Thor at all. He has also not shown sufficient reason why this hasn't happened, trying to pass it off with a cheap statement or so that Rand doesn't want to put Emonds Field in danger. Bad call Mr Jordan--the worst of all. I have been waiting for the confrontation for so long I don't care anymore. You lost your window of opportunity to tackle the most important theme in the whole saga. Overall, this book is a stinker, but I like the world Jordan has set up and it is enough to keep me going. Barely. He has attempted what no other fantasy author has tried--I must commend him for the mere effort--but it seems he reveals more and more why no other author has tried it with each passing tome.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The climax of a great story
Review: The path of the Daggers is about a man that who was reborn in a later time. The Man must defeat the person that he and 100 others have imprisoned in a secret place. The guy that is in there is breaking free of the prison slowly but it is giving him time to correct the things he has to in the world before he does escape to give him the greater advantage in the last battle between good and bad. The author of this book is Robert Jordan but his real name is James Oliver Rigney, Jr. He has written the series of the "wheel of time" he has also written some of the Conan series. The resins that I gave this book the evaluation that I did is because the book was not as good as the ones that came before it. It took a lot of time for him to get to the point of the story and he went on and on about other caricatures and left some out way too much. Over the entire book was good and I still will read his next on but it needs to be better than the path of the daggers

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I've hit a roadblock
Review: This is the last book of the series I've read. Oddly enough, I bought book 9 when it came out but yet to have open it (to read, that is). I've also preordered book 10. Mind control? Eh...

Why 3 stars? Well, I do remember enjoying the book when I did read it. A testament to Robert Jordans ability to create a very complex and detailed world is the reason why, I believe. No other author I've read have woven such a delicate web of relationships between the 100 or so central characters and thousands of other supporting characters. You can't help but be lost in the details of the world when you are reading this series.

So why not 5 stars? Well, once I put down the book and got caught up in work related issues for about a week, I really didn't feel the wanting to pick up the book again. It's been oh...around 2 years since I last read this series.

On a side not - G.R.R. Martin. I know his name has been mentioned countless times on numerous reviews. Lovely book which I gave 5 stars, but I never had the need to reread the 3 books thusfar 6 or 7 times like I did for the first 6 books of WoT.


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