Rating: Summary: Another great one in the series Review: The Path of Daggers the eighth book in the wheel of time series continues Robert Jordans series of great books. It continues to develop the plots and it also begins to give Rand Al Thor (one of the main characters) a kind of super human humanity. And it also develops Rand's relation ships with both friends, enimies, unknowns, and of course women. The only things that keeps the book from getting a perfect five stars are the facts that. One, the book does not mention certain caracters much if at all. And two no ofence ment the series is getting too darn long. Overall this is another great book by a great writer, and is a must read on my list.
Rating: Summary: Gives us a good setting for the next books Review: Although this book has been denounced as the worst yet, i can't wait for the next book to come out. POD is an excellent setup for the next book because of all of the plots and this unseen Nae'blis Moridin who is "playing both sides of the board." Yes this book could have been better but and is not as well written as the others, but important events to occur. Elayne has finally reached Caemlyn, Rand begins to fight the Seanchan, and Perrin is striving to get Masema to see Rand, so no matter what anyone else says this next book should be awesome.
Rating: Summary: Good book in an EXCELLENT series. Review: I really don't understand why so many people are giving this book negative reviews. I think this installment in the series was entertaining and also necessary for the progression of events in the upcoming novels. Mat was not in it, however, if you read the previous books, it is not uncommon to find that some characters and storylines are barely mentioned or left out completely. There is simply not enough room for Jordan to focus on every single story line in a 600-700 page book. Mat played a large role in the preceeding book, Crown of Swords, and will no doubt be included in the next book. Personally, I enjoy all the characters, especially Perrin (who is also not mentioned in every single book). I look forward to reading the upcoming novel and hope that it will not be too long coming out. I think this book was very good and would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of this series.
Rating: Summary: look longterm Review: What only a few people seem to realize is that Jordan is creating a whole new world. What makes this series incredible is the fact that RJ DOES pay attention to detail. Could he have written this series in 5 books? probably, but then it would have been like any other series out there. There would be nothing that set it apart from all those other mundane books on the shelves. Tons of characters, whole books dedicated to unveiling the multitude of plots, and detail-detail-detail all help to suck readers in and hold them there (even the readers who complain). As to how long Jordan is taking to write this series I have a number of thoughts. One is that he's written 8 books in 5 years, that's more then a book a year. Second, shouldn't we be happy he's taking this long? If he didn't it wouldn't be close to it's near masterpiece stature. As a final thought to all you people who keep complaining, your still reading aren't you? and if you want a series that isn't as in depth, or creative, or descriptive, or rich, I know for a fact there are lots of other stories out there to satisfy you, they're called movies, 2-4 hours and your done, all the action and speed you want, but I promise it will not be as satisfying as when we all finish this series. *just a note, I think it said in the begining on a book jacket that this series would probably be a 10-book series. Just a thought...*
Rating: Summary: left me wanting more Review: Path of daggers left me wanting more he is just whetting our appetite for his future books. While personally I wanted more the anticipation for the next book is delicious
Rating: Summary: A solid continuation to the Saga Review: This eighth volume in Jordan's epic more than lives up to expectations. After a slow start (Jordan spends 70-100 pages on the Bowl of the Winds, quite frankly a very dull plot point) Jordan ratchets it up a notch with Rand battling madness, the Seanchan and treachery.The main characters are scattered across the land so Jordan has to switch from character to character over to cover all of them. Naturally this leaves the reader a little unfulfilled, but not so much that it detracts from the book. A few observations: don't read the dustjacket, it gives things away that happen late in the book. I thumbed through book #1 after finishing 'Path'..those who claim Jordan's characters don't change are dead wrong...At the end of this book, I was clamoring for the next one. It can't be much more than a year away. I enjoyed the scenes from the POV of the Seanchan invaders, it humanizes them. From their perspective they're not in the wrong, it's the inhabitants of the land and their 'corrupt' lifestyle. I enjoy Jordan's books and I'll keep reading them. You have the right to not read them..and in fact actively dislike them. This is good reading (if a little slow at times).
Rating: Summary: So who IS whining? Review: It makes me quite upset to read all the negative reviews. Especially when people slamming RJ's grammar make their own mistakes in the same paragraph. I see two things. First, readers just get upset beacause the series isn't over. If you started reading it when it was over then everything would be ok. But RJ writes at a pace that he wants , it's his creation and we just have to live with it. Second, i believe it is wrong to think of separate books here. WOT is a series, but the books logically immediately follow each other, essentially it is one big book.Don't forget, RJ knew more or less what he would write in the end of the series when he started it. He is not inventing it along the way, not the major plot lines anyway. If you don't agree, reread the series, there are hints of things to come stretching 3-5 books ahead. One can't write that way without a master plan. And don't tell me that POD stinks because nothing important happens in it. This had to be written. Would you rather wait another 2 years and read a 1500 pages book then? Well , Mat isn't in it, so what, it's not as if the author has a case of amnesia and forgot Mat exists. Relax, Mat'll be back. It's not like RJ usually resolves the secrets in the next 50 pages as TGoodkind does. I enjoy this series precisely beacuse of its immense complexity and multitude of plots and characters. If you're creating a world, it better be complex, it better not consist of 3 heroes and the decorations. So, please, lighten up on whining. It's for Nynaeve and Co. to do...
Rating: Summary: The Path of Daggers Review: An awful book. Jordan is butchering his own series with his minutia. This book could have been written with a third of the words. Jordan seems to be suffering from a terrible case of logorrhea, as is often the case when writers lose vision. Perhaps it's time Tor books and fans of the Wheel of Time series thanked Jordan for his service and passed the torch of this series to another, more succint writer who, using Jordan's notes, would complete the final installments to this classic epic. Oh, and one last thing: there must be at least a thousand characters the reader has to deal with at this point in the series. This technique of Jordan's to center on many characters and then to have a myriad of other characters on the periphery really detracts from his original core. It also makes the Path of Daggers nearly unreadable with characters who not only have interchangeable personalities but interchangeable names (e.g., Seaine, Saerin, etc...). The travesty is that Jordan attempts to give all thousand or so of his character personalities and doesn't succeed in the slightest. It's enough for the reader to keep hundreds of characters straight in their heads, but to give them similar names and generic personalities makes the task nearly impossible.
Rating: Summary: Jordan "Jury Duty" episode Review: Robert Jordan has lost control of his nerative. It is hard to be sure whether he has written himself into a corner, or simpley felt the overwhelming need to juggle pieces around on his chessboard. It isn't quite as bad as the decline of "Incarnations of Immortality" from outstanding to intollerable, but the "Wheel of Time" is rusty and squeaking here big-time. You have to read this book to track the series, much the same way you risk jury duty if you want to vote, but surely no more than one significant thing happens per hundred pages. The book over-uses several cheap tricks. Having the characters "realize" things that are not revealed to the reader, and which are not based on observations not fully described in the text, is a cheap trick. Having characters brought back from the dead is a cheap trick. Granted it isn't beyond the socpe of the powers involved, but having it happen more than a couple of times, when you know it's even going to have to happen again (c.f. Moriane via Min's viewings) is tiresome. It lends a "what's the point" element to every confrontation. As with the line 'what with one thing and another, a year went by' from the book "The Princess Bride" 99.8 percent of the book could be replaced with the statement: "Rand isn't insane yet, and, oh yea, there is lot of backstabbing and politics taking place, especially within the ranks of the Darkfriends." Now that we know that dead forsaken can be reconstituted with warm water (little joke there) and that Moraine *has* to come back from her "aparent death" in the twisted doorway if Rand is to win in the end, I am afraid... (spoilers here?) My personal thought is that jordan is trying to write himself a loophole. He has to unmake the bore, not just patch the dark one's prison, the only thing that can unmake things is balefire. Balefire used via the two winged figures and a circle would be strong enough, turned against one of the original borers (c.f. Lewis T. who will face Rand in the flesh at the final battle) to unmake the bore. Thing is that would also unmake the breaking of the world and the entire third age. Jordan has to find a way to unmake the bore wihtout unmaking the entire event chain described in the series. Given the choice between contradicting himself, pulling a "Star Trek" 'it never happened' manuver, or introducing some surprise tidbit (the way 50's era misteries would toss in a new character in the last pages) I hope he makes the right choice. It seems book 8 is how he filled a good bit of time until he decides which cheap out he will resort to. I hope I am wrong.
Rating: Summary: Not as bad as they say . . . Review: Having only started the series in Dec1998, the story was fairly fresh in my mind when I picked up this paperback. While I find the entire series very entertaining (this one included) some things did start to annoy me: For one thing, all of the 'cold' attitudes and remarks; it's a wonder the heatwave was a problem at all; The lack of Mat, one of the more interesting characters; The betrayal of the Asha' man, where'd that come from? And lastly, the lengthy descriptions of EVERYTHING in place of action scenes that might advance the story some. Overall, there is a lack of story structure in this book that previous ones had -- a beginning, a middle, and an end. The whole end part with Rand felt tacked on to give the book some action. It isn't enough though. I didn't have to wait two years for book 8, so my expectations were not as high, maybe that's why I found it passable. It might lead to something big in the next book (hopefully).
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