Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this back in 2011, so you can read my old review here,  or you can keep reading for my new review which was written independently of the old one.  It is interesting what they have in common.

2016 Review:
This book is like that first breeze hitting  sailors that have been stuck in doldrums for weeks.  It promises the potential of movement,  but only promises. It isn't enough to create real movement yet.  Plot lines here and there started to get wrapped up,  but at the end I look at where we are in the story and we didn't get anywhere.  Most of the sub plots that were completed were extraneous anyway.

An example: Aram. Here is a character who we have known for most of the series.  He was developed as a significant secondary character tied to one of the main characters, Perrin. And then in this book,  in one scene,  the plot line of Aram is concluded.  I'm trying to avoid a spoiler, so I won't go into the details, but I can say that the whole plot line,  and character,  was unnecessary.  Pages of the overall series could have (and should have) been cut out.  I feel like that was the purpose of this whole book--to clear up plots and characters that should have never been created in the first place.

Was this book refreshing?  Absolutely.  Did it demonstrate the problem of the series? Yes. Did I enjoy it?  Yes,  I still like this series, so this was much appreciated. But like the stranded sailor,  the real excitement lays in the winds to come that will really get us where we want to go. And that is Tarmon Gai'don!