Rating: Summary: Why?, Great Good God Why? Review: why is so much time, even at the tail end, of this series spent on insignificant subplots at the expense of the main characters? when was the last time we had a decent chapter on Rand, Mat, or Perrin? What ever happened to Perrin's Axe/Hammer thing or Mat's scamp nature conflicting with the general's instincts in his hand? Why have the stupid broken White tower plots taken 4 books, why have they been marching for so very long with no other change? Why are have the forsaken become so far removed from the plot that Jordan had to just disjointedly throw them all in durring the last chapters to abruptly reveal to the reader exactly who they have been hiding as? What happened to The White Lions or Gawain? Everything from 6 on has been drivel that ruined the character focused plot developed in the first 6 books. I just hope there is a swift end to these painful sagas, that way my time in the library reading them will be satisfying at least.
Rating: Summary: Epic fantasy gone wild... Review: I really just shake my head when reading this book. Like so many of the rest of us avid Wheel of Timers who were captivated by Eye of the World and the rest until about book 3, 4, or 5 (depending on who you talk to), I am so frustrated to see the road this series has fallen, tripped, and stumbled down. And although I am distraught over the setbacks that plague the last few books of this series, I am not going to waste my time in this review proclaiming that Robert Jordan is dead, crying about the fact that 'Path of Daggers' contains grammatical errors, or cursing Jordan with the idea that he has sabotaged his own series, a series that he spent over a decade writing, just to make more money. Nor will I sit around and praise this book as a 5-star best-of-the-genre story, which it clearly isn't. Thinking about it, I have come to realize why this story has gone so far down hill and I will try to clarify why it has. Remember when things were simpler? Moiraine had a nice, straightforward idea of what she planned to do with the Emond's Fielders. The characters seemed like interesting, well-drawn out individuals. And the story moved along quickly, with a clear vision and purpose. Then, the world exploded. I always admired Jordan for the way he could create a story with so many different plot threads running at the same time. There was obviously a centralized story, but my interest was always peaked by all the subplots and machinations that went on in the background. They were all right under the surface of things, and you would occasionally catch a glimpse of them while concentrating on the 'main storyline'. Then, around Book 4, or 5, or 6 (again, depending on who you talk to) it seemed as if an invisible pair of scissors came out of nowhere and cut through every single plot thread and left them to dangle in the wind and be blown in a thousand different directions. And suddenly, our happy, clearly-realized storyline was suddenly kicked like an anthill and went flying. Our main characters suddenly lose their train of thought, acting in such out-of-character ways, and doing things that make the readers continuously ask themselves 'why did they do that'. Aes Sedai start popping out of the woodwork at the turn of every corner, where they are faced off by armies of Sea Folk, Ash'aman, and Wise ones; all of whom are the most uninteresting, annoying characters you've ever seen, and their names all happen to seem similar in too many ways. Forsaken are running rampant and barefoot across the continent, getting blasted by balefire and then rebirthing themselves into new names, faces, and identities. Kings, Queens, Lords, and Ladies all seem to jump in their seats in wanting to become part of the story and soon plague the series with more unnecessary faces. The Black Ajah are abound, the Seanchan are making noise, the Aiel are playing their 'ji'e'toh', and the Bowl of the Winds subplot comes out of absolutely nowhere. Everything good and true and sturdy in this series has flown out of the window. There is just too much happening in this series and its seems Jordan has totally lost the reins. What this series needs is someone to come back in and fix the shreds of all those plot threads. Some need to be cut, some need to be lengthened, and most just need to be carefully put back together. For until this happens, this story will continue to fly wildly in the breeze. Nothing hurts more in a series when the POV characters go sour. And the problem is not that Jordan has created horrible, worthless, good-for-nothing POV characters, it is that he has just made too many POV characters in general. I have tried counting the number of people who have stuck their head into this series to contribute their POVs. Over 50! It is in this way of writing that Jordan has caused his characters so much trouble because they spend their time on a roller coaster of POVs in that you lose sight of a character's true identity. There is no consistency. While Rand is a prominent POV in both of Books 1 and 2, he doesn't even get a full chapter to himself in the third book of the series. Perrin's POV are only seen vaguely in the first two books and then in the next two he is heading the stories with 18+ chapters, followed by his total absence in Book 5. Egwene and Mat continue to fluctuate up and down, and for what? Jordan's insistence in introducing new POV characters constantly seriously takes away from his original, most fully-realized characters. We miss out on the development of these characters while we are stuck with a POV of Cadsuane, or Sammael, or Galina, or Bayle Domon. So when we finally get back to our 'main' characters we cannot understand why they act the way they do, why they make the choices they make, and why the are just so different. Rand's POV is gone throughout book 3 and suddenly, in book 4, he seems like a different person. Or Nynaeve, who was actually a respectable character in my eyes in the early books, is seen so infrequently in her POVs that when you do actually see her through someone else eyes (mainly Elayne) she comes off in a very negative, screeching-and-crazy-lunatic way. Jordan needs to weed out, kill off, or move away from this army of useless characters. They do nothing by cause damage to the development and understanding of the main characters I wish I could go into detail on how pacing has become seriously affected in this series, but I have run out of room. In conclusion, it is not until Jordan tightens his hold on this story will it ever regain the prominence with which it once had.
Rating: Summary: i dont know why everyone says this book is bad? Review: This series gets better everybook. Some people say this book has no plot advancements,wrong.ie.the seanchan,Elayne,Ashaman,matts not in this one,My point is clear this series is good and keeps gettin better.cant wait for cot.
Rating: Summary: Yes, enough is enough Review: I agree with a previous reviewer, who said Enough is Enough. This is the last book I'll read in this series. Nothing happened in this book. Even if you plan on reading the following books in the series, skip this one. Read the fantasy series by Terry Goodkind, instead. It's far superior.
Rating: Summary: Annoyingly Slow Review: Robert Jordan would've done all his fans a big favor if he had cut half of the unnecessary detail in this book and got to the heart of the story. After coming this far in the series and investing in literally thousands of pages I found it so annoying to once again slog through scads of exposition with characters you won't remember or see again fifty pages down the line. I love this series. I wouldn't of come this far if I didn't. But this was the first in eight books that I had to put down a few times just because it was a chore. Yes, it does gain momentum three quarters of the way through, but getting there was hard. If you've read everything previous to this, no review is going to stop you. Just be prepared for a lot of dull ,and a little adventure.
Rating: Summary: Enough is Enough Review: Well, I slogged through the first 7 books, so when the 8th was presented to me I thought I might as well give this one a try too. I have come to the conclusion that I must be a masochist, and that torturing myself with these books must give me some kind of pleasure. Good ole Robbie J(as seen in his pimped out costume on the hardcover dust jackets) has lost his golden touch. Or should I say, he never found it. When I read the first book, I thought I don't understand much, and it was boring at some parts, but I'm sure it will get better once I know what's going on. I have never been more wrong in my entire life. This series starts out bad and gets worse. RJ's descriptive detail becomes unbearable torture. His characters strange (and initially interesting) quirks are so overused as to become maddening. At first, the characters seemed interesting and alive. They had depth and dimension, but inevitably become trapped in set roles. RJ has systematically killed or minimized all of his interesting characters. Moiraine is the first to go. You are interested in her knowledge and her power. So of course she has to go. And her ex-Warder, Lan, was dark and mysterious (although an obvious knockoff of Aragorn from Tolkien's LOTR) and you wonder what makes him that way. Now that he has attached himself to Nyneave, he has lost that dark, brooding quality that once made him so interesting. Mat was also a very interesting character. His comic hijinks were a relief from the monotony of the relentless, slow march of the plot . So of course, Mat being a character with whom you can relate, and who is actually able to maintain your interest, he has to go. He leaves book 7 trapped under a pile of rocks, and seems to stay there for the rest of the next book. Perrin, an initially boring and flat character took an unusual step upward in the scheme of things to become the wolf/man. But his hesitation and fright about this transformation did not do it justice. All he did was whine about how he didn't want to change. When he finally accepted that facet of himself, he met Faile, his future wife. By the time she gets done with him he is a whipped, subservient shadow of his former self. As for the women of these books, (including Faile) they are all very nearly misogynic, unrealistic portrayals of femininity. Most of them are shrewish and overbearing. If its one thing they hate its wool-headed men. Mr. Jordan, just in case you're reading this, if I hear that expression one more time, I'm going to come down to Charleston and beat you to death with all nine books, hardcover edition. And finally, the main character, Rand is reduced to a whiny little git. All he does is complain how hard it is to be him, how he always hurts the women he loves, and how no one could possibly understand what hes going through. Believe me Rand, after reading 100000000000 pages of your angst, I have a pretty good idea. (Notice how easy it is to reduce thousands of pages of character development to two sentences. Jordan could probably do the same thing if he didn't feel that describing the color and style of every suit Rand wore was essential to his development) The only interesting development Rand had seen for at least three books was the voice of Lews Therin. Of course this development added an interesting dimension to what had become an uninteresting and flat character, so it had to be done away with. If you are looking for a bland book with predictable and two-dimensional characters, meticulous and long-winded descriptions of everything down to the type of embroidery that the character is wearing( "the wide black fox collar and cuffs on her red-and-white gown were pretty, but she was not sure that they added anymore to its warmth than the pearls on her sleeves" we didn't need to know that!) this is the book for you. He skillfully weaves all of these things together with anticlimactic endings, and a complex world where you never know quite why the Mistress of the Ships to the Atha'an Miere is ranked above a Wavemistress, Windfinder, Cargomaster, and a Sailmistress and even if you did, you could never remember all the names. Get out while you still can!
Rating: Summary: Not as bad as you may think Review: TPOD, was slow paced, i admit, but I liked that, because it really shows you that the ending is near (twelve books maximum, from what jordan said in a recent interview). And certain parts, like for example, Rand's battle against the Seanchan was just amazing. People seem to forget the pros in the story and only look for the cons. The recent books HAVE changed, but were they supposed to remain the same? Rand, who has now become the leader of a huge army and is heading towards madness and a battle against the dark one, is he still supposed to be the joyful and youthful man he was in The Eye of the World? Now THAT would be terrible. Could you imagine Rand leading men into wars and still fearing that he might injure a man? The characters have rather become more interesting, unlike what many think. The story becomes deeper and deeper as the ending approaches. No other author has come near to creating a world as huge as Jordan's. And with so many details, how is this series supposed to be face-paced? If you really want easy-to-read, face-paced books, go for harry potter. No, I am not dissing Harry, but it is face-paced, and in my opinion, too fast. Now, I have pointed out a few pros, but there are some cons. I do not like the fact that there are now THOUSANDS of named characters in this story. There are just a few main ones, but the secondary characters, there are just too many to keep track of them. How am i supposed to know how to differ Alis from Alise? Which one is which? And there are many such cases where you don't know who's who. But that, being just a minor detail, does not put me off from reading the Wheel of Time. I, for one, unlike many of you, am eager to read the next installments, and I thank Jordan for giving me hours upon hours of enjoyment. -------The reason I gave this book 4 stars is because i believe 3 is the average fantasy book, and 5 is perfect. It is far better than average, but not that close to perfect. I suggest you haters look for pros instead of cons. You might save yourself from ridding yourself of this series... 12 books... can't wait till book 12!
Rating: Summary: Most Weakest Volume! Review: There has been a fair bit of controversy surrounding The Path of Daggers, mostly centering on how many readers (including myself) felt that the book was incomplete and the ending rushed. Indeed, if you look at the typeface (hardcover), it's quite a bit larger than the previous books, indicating that POD has far less words than they do despite a similar number of printed pages. Also, between books 7 and POD, RJ wrote a novella 'New Spring'(which is quite good, and takes place before book 1) for an anthology (Legends)and contributed a great deal to 'The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time' (a enciclopedia-like book on the series up thru book 7, and also quite good, except for the art work; and a questionable move in itself since the series isn't even done yet.) So RJ had a lot on his plate while attempting to complete POD, and my feeling has always been that the felt a lot of pressure to put out a new book, and so he cut short the manuscript to relieve some of that pressure. Not a lot happens in POD; most of the book sets up events to come in the next volume. That doesnt' mean there weren't some interesting developments, but most readers' disappointment with the book can be summed up in 2 words: Where's Mat? PLOTTING: There are 4 main plot threads. Perrin's thread gets the least amount of play, which is dissappointing, especially with what the jacket blurb hints at. After about 10 or so pages of the Sea Folk women arguing at the Aes Sedai and Vice Versa, I got seriously bored, although the unravelling Traveling thread was quite exciting. There was a lot of build-up for Egwene's 'coup', but the payoff seemed pretty weak. I mean, all she had to do was declare war? Finally, battle scenes tend to confure me after a while, and I think RJ should have glossed over some of that stuff to concentrate on Perrin's problems. CHARACTERIZATION: At this point, we know the main characters about as well as we're ever going to know them, so we have to look at the minor characters for insights. Verin's POV at the start of the book is revealing in the sence that we realize how little we know about her and her motives, and Cadsuane is still quite the mystery, too. The Illianer/Tairen/Cairhienin nobles aren't very distinguishable - they all run toghether like chalk graffiti in the rain, and I get the sense that RJ doesen't care much about them anyway. Characters I'd like to read more about: Elyas Machera, Logain, Jahar Narishma, Mesaana, and the Daughter of the Nine Moons (who isn't in this book). PACING: The length of time we spend with Elayne and Nynaeve's bunch is interminable; after the 20th argument about the littlest thing, you just want them to get on with it already! The Egwene thread is also quite slow; there really isn't a lot of action in POD. It's basically a bunch of people standing around talking. RJ juggles the threads with his usual skill, but he can't generate much tension when there isn't anything happening. The ending feels tacked-on, like RJ needed something to close the book with, but it comes out of thin air, has barely any foreshadowing, and is remarkably unsatisfying. BEST SCENE: This has to be the scene when Elayne unravels her Traveling thread with nearly disastrous results. RJ has never written a more suspenseful passage, even though you know intellectually that they'll be all right. MOST POV: Well...I don't think there's a clear winner here. Maybe Egwene. Maybe Rand. It'd be close, and I'm not going to count pages or anything. I do know who has the least amount of time... OVERALL: There are long passages in POD that feel a great deal longer. Without Mat's presence to liven things up, POD isn't a particulary engaging book, and it's RJ weakest effort. Perhaps we are victoms of higher expectations; the previous books were outstanding, and it's asking a lot of an author to match that standard of quality. But RJ weakest effort is sill lots better than what I could write, so I should cut him some slack. Sorry for my rambling on, and making the review so long. Hope it helps!
Rating: Summary: 1 is too generous Review: Ick! One of the worst books I have ever read. Totally pathetic! Dont't buy new, hardcover, paperback, or even used. This book was a waste of paper. It was the lowest point of this series yet. :x
Rating: Summary: Another installment in the best fantasy of all time Review: Some may think that the lack of finalization with the many subplots is a fault; I, however, feel the Jordan has masterfully (and entertainingly) continued them. The complexity of his novels is astounding; his characters and their world seem so real. I recommend this if you have read and enjoyed the other novels in the series, for it is a great next installment to the greatest fantasy series of all time, in my opinion.
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