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Oct 26, 2010

Ryan rated it:

We tend to root for most anti-heroes, but every now and then, authors dare to set a real stinker at the centerpiece of their stories. Sometimes it works.

Logan Mountstewart from William Boyd's Any Human Heart comes to mind. Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer qualifies, I think. And before we certify all shepherds as pure-at-heart heroes, check out Halldor Laxness's Bjartur in Independent People.

But these are all examples drawn from the literary canon. What happens when fantas More...

4 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 15, 2008

Skip rated it:

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0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2011

David rated it:

I congratulate everyone who has the perseverance to continue on while envying those who had the force of will to just forget about how this epic story is supposed to end. Here we are at book 8 and like book 7, very little of the main plot actually happens. Most of the book are again devoted to describing in excruciating detail of how the main characters tend to act and think, with very little variation, mostly accomplishing nothing except introduce filler and making characters feel one-dimension More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2010

Kat rated it:

The best thing I can say about The Path of Daggers is that it is significantly shorter than the last few novels have been -- only 700 pages (mass market paperback) compared to the 900-1100 page novels that have preceded it. There is much less of the repetitive backstory. I guess Mr. Jordan finally realized that new readers aren't jumping in at this point.

However, that's not to say that there are 700 pages of plot here, either. For again, most of the pages are devoted to minutia such More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2007

Ed B rated it:

Yeah. This is where I stopped reading Jordan's Epic series. Why? It probably had to do with the fact that I was reading them as they came out on paperback--which I was at a rate of about 1 a year until after book #6, then it was once every other year. I have a short attention span, and an even shorter memory. In the middle of this book, I realized that I had so forgotten which characters were which--and what plot line in which they were involved--that I could not identify with them anymore. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 11, 2011

Teji rated it:

I can't believe it! The publisher finally assigned an editor to Robert Jordan—it only took eight books. I expected more mind-numbing repetition. Although the plot still doesn’t advance very fast (and sometimes not at all) and there are entirely too many pointless characters, this book was much *much* tighter than the previous works. I actually feel some stirrings of optimism-- if the last few books stick to this new trend they might actually be engaging—instead of the plodding, tortuous, ped More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 11, 2011

Coligne rated it:

sarà che sono reduce dai fasti del VI e del VII, ma questo "Sentiero dei Pugnali" l'ho trovato non propriamente all'altezza dei precedenti (il sesto sopratutto)...
Nonostante, a livello di trama, succedono più cose in questo libro che nei due che lo precedono messi assieme (o quasi) ormai mi ero abituato alla quasi totale assenza di eventi importatati fino alle ultime pagine del libro, quindi trovarmi fin da subito nel vivo dell'azione mi ha un po spiazzato.
Finalmente ci leviamo dalle s More...

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May 06, 2011

Ryan rated it:

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Dec 23, 2010

Chariti rated it:

This series is brilliant. There is just the right balance of fantastical detail and speed of reading. The way the author writes, as I get more and more involved in the story, the more plausible everything seems... the perfect fantasy novel. There are rare moments where he gets a little too tied up in detailing the scene environment, but overall, this is an excellent story.
He does follow the story formula, which probably is what adds to the simplicity and readability of the storyline. Howe More...

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Jun 28, 2010

James rated it:

Book 8 of the Wheel of Time really gets a bad rap. Contrary to common wisdom, plenty happens in this book. The problem, I think, is that nothing gets resolved. (Not having any Mat, especially after the cliffhanger at the end of book 7, doesn't help either.) Is it ridiculous for a fantasy series to still be setting things up 8 books in? Especially when that series was supposed to be 6 books long? OK, yeah, it is. But taken by itself, The Path of Daggers isn't a bad story.

Oddly enough, t More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Apr 15, 2010

Mark rated it:

This review stands for the entire Wheel of Time series.

The Wheel of Time appears to be in good hands with Brandon Sanderson penning the last Book (in three parts) of Robert Jordan's epic.

Although I have been reading these books for as long as I have been reading Katherine Kerr's Deverry novels, and will be reading them at least until 2012 when the final book is due out, I have enjoyed them so much that I am willing to ignore the length of time it has taken. It must be almost More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 11, 2012

Jim rated it:

With its reputation as being the second-worst WOT book, I was expecting this to be a bit of a slog, but I was actually pleasantly surprised. There are 3 or 4 chapters where nothing much is happening - particularly the continuation of the 'Bowl of Winds' story line which is resumed straight after the prologue, but in general there is no jarring change of pace between this book and the last one, like, for example, between Storm of Swords and Feast For Crows. In fact several things that we have bee More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Sanchita added it

"The Path of Daggers" by Robert Jordan was a bit of a disappointment. On the bright side, it is much thinner than all his other books. Ont he down side, though, there aren't very many interesting things that happen.

Rand is struggling against insanity. With Lewis Therin snarling in his head all the time, he begins to waver. Min stays firmly by his side. Perrin is sent to bring the Prophet of the Dragon to Rand. Faile and Berelain accompany him. Faile is captured by the Shaido. Aviendha, More...

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Feb 13, 2011

Dianna rated it:

I have to sit and think about this one. I've begun reading the series on my Nook, so they're really starting to blend into one another even more than if I was reading them one after another in paper format.

** SPOILERS WILL COMMENCE **

This book has such a strange ending. I'm in the middle of a bunch of action - Rand is fighting fellow Ashaman (Ashamen?), Egwene is poised to take the tower, and I'm looking forward to the climax of all this building up, and then just... noth More...

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Aug 06, 2010

Yichengli rated it:

I was originally a great fan of the Wheel of Time series. Robert Jordan's gift of spinning worlds into focus was quite awe-inspiring for my then-teenage self. At about book #8, however, it became quite obvious that Jordan had "sold-out" and was just cranking out as many books as fast as he can whack them out on a typewriter. Each book was a half-mix of reiteration of the same concepts from the series (power corrupts, men don't get women, vice versa, the wheel weaves, politics & war, More...

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Aug 07, 2011

D-day rated it:

The Path of Daggers is Book Eight of The Wheel of Time series and from all I have read, this and the next two books are considered by fans to be the weakest of the series. But I actually didn't find this one too bad. Part of the problem I think is that the first four or five chapters deal with the Nynaeve and Elayne subplot, perhaps the least interesting storyline, with the most annoying characters. Then we move on to Perrin's subplot, but although Perrin is an interesting character, Faile and B More...

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Sep 14, 2011

R.j. rated it:

I remember this book, from the first time I read it, as the point at which the Wheel of Time starts to recover from the mess of books 5 and 6. The truth is, it's still a mess, but it's a much more interesting mess and there's much less of the unbearably obnoxious side characters. Plus, for all that the book is horribly disorganised, there's a sense that all the different plot threads are actually moving towards more or less the same end-point which has been missing from the last couple of books More...

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Apr 17, 2011

Emma rated it:

Let me start out by saying that I have nothing against slow pacing, executed well. I enjoy Jane Austen's writing, which consists almost entirely of talk; within the fantasy genre, I loved Robin Hobb's Shaman's Crossing, which many reviewers excoriated, complaining that "nothing happened." But there is a difference between books like these and the train wreck that is "Path of Daggers"; it's the difference between slow but wonderful vs. slow, boring and tedious. Austen and Hobb More...

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Nov 06, 2010

Dan rated it:

I enjoyed this book more than some of the previous in the series. I missed seeing Mat, but that's okay. I thought the theme of this book was cool "On the heights, all paths are paved with daggers." This was very appropriate because each main character followed (Rand, Perrin, and Egwene) have all been thrust into leadership positions. Each of their paths is indeed paved with daggers and they have to be very careful what they do and how they do it. I like to see how they develop as More...

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Aug 02, 2010

Erin rated it:

Well, I finally picked up on my "listen-through" of of Wheel of time, now that the library has had the book on CD in for that last 9 months or so. Maybe more. In any case, the book is fun but is so complicated that it's really hard to stop and start reading and the books are way too long, especially if you're listening, to reread the whole series. In any case, now is a good time to start listening, as the readers are fabulous, and with Brandon Sanderson on the job of finishing the s More...

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Aug 03, 2010

Erin rated it:

Well, I finally picked up on my "listen-through" of of Wheel of time, now that the library has had the book on CD in for that last 9 months or so. Maybe more. In any case, the book is fun but is so complicated that it's really hard to stop and start reading and the books are way too long, especially if you're listening, to reread the whole series. In any case, now is a good time to start listening, as the readers are fabulous, and with Brandon Sanderson on the job of finishing the s More...

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May 26, 2011

Claire rated it:

For some reason this book is smaller than the others - less pages - and the print is bigger. I guess the publishers must have been hassling Jordan to relase the next tome. Events are still crawling forwards at the slowest rate of knots with hammer heavy hints of what is to go wrong in the near future. Rand has ceased to be a likeable character and I have given up trying to keep everyone's name in my head. The best part of this book, I think, is the near sister ritual - it speaks to me as a d More...

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Feb 23, 2010

Peter rated it:

Like so many others, I have become incredibly disillusioned with this series. So far this is the worst book of the series. I have listened to the entire series again on audiobooks. I think it is even worse in this medium since Jordan's constant repetition is Spoken to Me and I can't really skim over it. As usual the women are one dimension, angry, manipulating, secretive, seductive, untrustworthy or not trusting of their friends, or there lovers. How can love and relationship really blossom More...

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Jun 07, 2011

Michael rated it:

The continuation of Rand al'Thor's conquest to unite the lands before the final battle. The Wheel of Time series seems to grip me like few sagas can, and I enjoy the world crafted by the late Robert Jordan. I admit that at times his explanations can be wordy or overly simple, but that is hard thing to balance and moving beyond it the story is whole and complete. With enough main characters to seem like a Peter F. Hamilton book, The Wheel of Time is epic fantasy by definition.
Path of Dagg More...

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May 03, 2009

Nick rated it:

OK every time I think of this series I have to vent. When I was in middle school I loved the initial 4-5 volumes. When this thing started, it was only supposed to have eight books total and everything moved along at a nice pace so it stayed interesting.

By the time this one came out it was clear the author had no intention of EVER doing the ending. Now there's something like twelve books total and the author is dead. Boy would I ever feel like a sucker if I had continued to follow More...

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Oct 28, 2011

Filippy rated it:

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Oct 25, 2011

02sclawson rated it:

THE PATH OF DAGGERS is really interesting, if a little slow. The story line, or plot, is cool, but it drags on. Not to say it isn't good, because it is a great book. I wouldn't recommend it though, unless you have read the eight books that are before it. I would recommend that though, as this story is a really good story. It has new elements that make it completely different. Some elements, like the Dark One, make the story what it is. Others, like the One Power (which is a lot like m More...

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Jun 22, 2011

Jenna rated it:

I love names and meanings, and the Wheel of Time world is scattered through with well-named characters:

Rand 'rim (of a shield)'
Elayne 'torch'
Verin 'truth'

Perrin is possibly derived from Pierre (the French form of Peter, meaning 'rock'). Mat, as far as I can guess, is meant to be similar to Matthew ('gift of God'), perhaps combined with something else.

The difficulty is that some of the names are hard to trace. Egwene comes close to Eugene, mea More...

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Aug 04, 2011

Mark rated it:

Feeling more concrete than book 7, book 8 has a few real events that make you feel like something is actually happening, something absent from most of the later books in the Wheel of Time. The book opens with an event that would have been better placed at the end of book seven. This is the precursor to the general feel of the later books of being stories randomly chopped into book-like chunks. After the pleasure of having something important finally bloody happen, I was then subjected to a milli More...

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Oct 23, 2009

Colin rated it:

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