Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

Knife of Dreams was one of the best books in an excellent series. I have enjoyed Robert Jordan's writings since I was nine years of age, and have not been let down yet. Though his characters can tend to be a little one sided (mostly the women), his lands and story are so real, it feels as though I can leave my house, and go west to Toman Head, or East to the Aiel Waste.
Knife of Dreams followed a book that was often considered to be slightly less than excellent. Crossroads of Twilight was a long and drawn out, the characters fulfilling little. Mat in particular received a good portion of the time when he only managed to move about five miles out of the city. It ended with an unexpected twist, that be having Egwene being captured by the opposing Aes Sedai.
Knife of Dreams had to pick up the angry void that was left after the end of book 10. Many people were discontent with where they were left off. Jordan filled this quite well. He added many interesting new twists, along with more on Rand. Lews Therin taking over Rand’s body in order to fight off the army of trollocs was exciting. Mat’s marriage was unexpected. Egwene’s support within the tower was gratifying. And the capture of Semirhage and loss of Rand’s hand was shocking.
All in all, this is one of the best books I have ever read. Maybe one of the best written.

In my opinion the 11th book in the Wheel of Time series goes a long way to getting the series back on track. Jordan has begun to wrap up many of the story lines and by the end of the book I really felt like the world was on the edge of the last battle.

Having said that there were still some slow parts. Jordan, while an excellent writer, tends to be long winded and heavily descriptive. I like this style, but at times Jordan takes it a bit to far.

I have been a fan of the entire series, althought in the last few books very little seemed to be happening. But that changed in this book. As mentioned a number of the story lines which seemed to stagnate for the last few books were wrapped up, there was more action, and the characters seemed reinvigorated this time (plus my favorite character in the series--Mat Cauthon--was featured heavily in this book).

Like a chess game, Jordan seems to be maneuvering his characters and story toward the last battle. I am not sure he can do it in one more book (unless it is the 2000 page book he has joked about at some signings) but he is definately back on track.

I have always thought Jordan's character interesting and the story seems to be moving again so I would definately recommend this book to fans of the series. But if you don't like his long-winded style then you probably won't like this book.

Without giving anything away, I will start my review by saying this is one of the better Jordan books to come out in the past few years. Although still sluggish compared to the first five books in the WoT series, Knife of Dreams picks up the pace considerably, with events starting and FINISHING in a short amount of time. A lot of nonsensical details from Crossroads of Twighlight are explained too (think ghosts and weevils). There are flaws in the book, however. Many important events feel rushed, and because of this the core climactic scene in the book fails to satisfy. Other scenes seem completely irrelevant, as though thrown in there for filler. I also have a personal dislike for some of the main charcters, and this book puts them in an even more selfish and debasing light.

All in all, there's plenty of action and adventure in Knife of Dreams, and of course a few laugh out loud moments. There's even a *Gasp* moment, thought die-hard fans may already know what it is. So if you haven't already go buy Knife of Dreams. You'll be one step closer to The Last Battle, but hey, it's worth it, right?