Knife of Dreams (Wheel of Time): 11/12 (The Wheel of Time, 11)

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This richly detailed fantasy presents fully realized, complex adventure. Recommended.” — Library Journal Perrin meets with Seanchan Banner-General Tylee Khirgan and forms an alliance to assault the Shaido Aiel in Malden. They gather supplies, including a massive amount of forkroot, which they use to spike Malden’s water supply and disable the Shaido Wise One channelers. In this, we're given the quote "The sweetness of victory and the bitterness of defeat are alike a knife of dreams." Nonetheless, in the 11th volume of the series, Robert Jordan suddenly returned to the top form of his writing. He stopped stalling and dissembling, and the effect is almost, almost as good as in “The Shadow Rising.” There are definitely fewer loooooooong descriptions. The book reads much faster than previous volumes, which was a pleasant surprise after the last somnambulic triplets. Especially the final chapters are boredom-free (it is still Mr Jordan, of course, and so fear not! we will still be informed who’s wearing what in which scene, but blessedly with less detail).

In Knife of Dreams, the eleventh novel in Robert Jordan’s #1 New York Times bestselling epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time®, Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle, is upon Rand al'Thor—and now the Dragon Reborn must confront the Dark One as humanity's only hope.

Mat reunites with Talmanes and an even larger and better equipped Band of the Red Hand. Together they launch a campaign of guerilla warfare against the Seanchan army sent by Suroth to murder Tuon. They are found by Furyk Karede, who takes over protection of Tuon and gives Mat intelligence to destroy the Seanchan force. Before returning and assuming power in Ebou Dar, Tuon completes the marriage ceremony with Mat, making him the Prince of Ravens. Sammael - Rand thinks he was killed by Mashadar when they fought in Shadar Logoth but there was no reason for the reader to believe he's dead. Confirmed in this book; not dead, and for all that Moridin and Shaidar Haran are supposed to have a tight leash on all of the Forsaken, he seems to be doing a lone wolf thing now. The group finds itself in multiple skirmishes against an enormous Seanchan force sent to kill Tuon. Mat and the Band successfully mount a guerrilla campaign against the enemy forces, making good use of fireworks-turned-artillery. Thanks to foreknowledge provided by Banner-General Furyk Karede, Mat's army is able to finally destroy the Seanchan forces sent after Tuon.

Finally, Faile is rescued by her husband! This side story has been pending for eternity! It was time to be done with it. Galina thinks she did a clever thing but then she realizes that her slavery to the Shaido has not ended. Matrim has the maximum footage in this book and the prophecy of him getting married to Tuon, the Daughter of the Nine Moons will be fulfilled. I can’t say I was a big fan of his story though. It was OK most of the time. As the very fabric of reality wears thin, all portents indicate that Tarmon Gai’don, the Last Battle, is imminent – and Rand al’Thor must ready himself to confront the Dark One. But Rand must first negotiate a truce with the Seanchan armies, as their forces increasingly sap his strength.New Spring · The Eye of the World · The Great Hunt · The Dragon Reborn · The Shadow Rising · The Fires of Heaven · Lord of Chaos · A Crown of Swords · The Path of Daggers · Winter's Heart · Crossroads of Twilight · Knife of Dreams · The Gathering Storm · Towers of Midnight · A Memory of Light Then there is the continuing shallowness of all scenes featuring our supposed villains. I've come to dread these, because they boil down to one of two scenes: A) A baddie kowtows to a higher-ranking baddie, who in turn kowtows to an even higher-ranking one, and so forth up the line, with all conversations consisting of "Obey me or else!" "Y-y-yes, Master/Mistress. . . ." or B) A group of baddies gets together, apparently to plot or give progress reports, but it boils down to abovementioned one-upmanship, without having any effect on the plot. Elayne‘s arc, who finally (!) becomes queen of Andor, mostly made me think about all the casualties. It’s truly a mystery to me how regular people, even soldiers, sacrifice their lives in a war that is ultimately about who sits on the throne, which is probably not that impactful on most of their lives – as the Seanchan occupation has proven. Fighting evil (Forsaken, shadowspawn, Darkfriends) seems a worthier cause. For a moment, he thought neither man would speak, but then Gorenellin was on his feet, tears glistening in his eyes. “The Golden Crane flies for Tarmon Gai’don,” he said softly. A confrontation between Galad Damodred, half-brother of Elayne Trakand and Gawyn Trakand on his father's side and of Rand Al'Thor on his mother's side, and Eamon Valda, Lord Captain Commander of the Whitecloaks, which ends with Galad obtaining a Heron-mark sword and rank of the slain Lord Captain Commander.

Let's just say that the Last Battle draws near as can be seen by buildings suddenly changing corridors and rooms amongst other things. Thus, it's time for the remaining factions to decide which side they are on. However, them being fueled and driven by self-interest is complicating matters. My Lord Dragon, I will serve you where you command, but I can serve best on my native soil. I know these rebels, know where they can be trusted and where-“ Laughing, Aldragoran joined them, all three shouting at the top of their lungs. “The Golden Crane flies for Tarmon Gai’don!”Egwene's new sub-arc from inside the White Tower was great (although I would like to have seen more of it in this book). Moving along, there are actually good things to say about this book! For one, it's better than Crossroads of Twilight, and thank heavens, although this is akin to saying that getting punched in the kidney is better than being torn apart by sharks. Unfortunately, the depressing stench of that prior book makes all of the dreary, unnecessarily detailed, drawn-out moments that still exist in Knife of Dreams stand out that much worse. Crossroads broke me! Yes, the series has plenty of slow, detestable segments before that, but my heart is now drained of forgiveness. I can still enjoy the good parts. I still want to finish the series (especially since the author baton has been passed at this point). I can praise the good parts of Knife of Dreams. But it does not erase the sins of the past, and neither does it correct some of them. Rand's PoVs are always a treat to read. Unlike Perrin and Matt his PoVs are not full of self-pity and longing for his lover (and he has three women whom he loves!) or cards, dices, and Tuon. He is focused on how to defeat the Dark One and that's what I love about him. He is trying and learning from every defeat. On March 23, 2006, Jordan disclosed in a statement that he had been diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis, and that with treatment, his median life expectancy was four years, though he said he intended to beat the statistics. He later posted on his Dragonmount blog to encourage his fans not to worry about him and that he intended to have a long and fully creative life.

His breath caught, and he stretched out a hand, brushed a finger across the heavy gold signet ring on the cord. Across the crane in flight. How had she come by this? Under the Light, how? “I recognize it,” he told her, his voice suddenly hoarse. Galad confronts Eamon Valda, the leader of the Whitecloaks, for allegedly killing his stepmother Queen Morgase of Andor. Galad kills Valda in a duel and in the process becomes the leader of the Whitecloaks. He then decides to pledge his newfound following to the defeat of the Dark One at Tarmon Gai'don regardless of who the Whitecloaks must fight alongside. Today’s entry covers Chapters 20 and 21 of Knife of Dreams, in which we have half a *headdesk*, a rather slapdash coronation, and a Moment of Awesome.Things I cannot stomach are not many. Mostly, I think it is time to talk about how Mr Jordan uses corporeal punishments because they are the ultimate answer to every trouble. If throughout the series you drank every time someone is being slapped on a bare butt, you’d need a liver transplant by now. And really - am I the only one disgusted here by the fact that corporeal punishment is the automatic go-to then something must be achieved be it by anyone, be it Darkfriends or Aes Sedai? To make matters worse, this revelling in being beaten turns the book into a weird BDSM party Aiel style (if we can imagine the Aiel to party hard). The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time · The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game · Legends · The Strike at Shayol Ghul · New Spring comic · The Eye of the World comic · River of Souls · The Wheel of Time Companion · A Fire Within the Ways · Origins of the Wheel of Time And this, fellow bookworms, concludes the series as penned by the original author! Man, did I tear up when listening to that interview with Robert Jordan that is at the end of my audiobook! The plot itself is extremely rewarding – it felt like payoff galore after a few books who presented mostly progress toward that payoff. Especially satisfying was the accursed Shaido being defeated in a clever plot of Perrin‘s. (Which made up for his annoying mantra of “only Faile matters.”) Not only was it cool to see forkroot used in that large scale to render the Wise Ones useless, but finally, freaking finally, to see Galina and Sevanna, both horrible in their own right, get their due. I will note, however, that I was outraged that after helping/saving Faile and company, Roland and the other two Mera‘din were killed for their efforts. I’m all for poetic justice, like Galina, Sevanna, even Suroth experience, but that ain‘t it. My name is Nynaeve ti al’Meara Mandragoran. The message I want sent is this. My husband rides from World’s End toward Tarwin’s Gap, toward Tarmon Gai’don. Will he ride alone?”