I should have reviewed this more soon after reading it, as the boundaries between one instalment and the next have become a bit blurred. I think I have to admit that I don't really know how this one compares with the others. The story goes on, more slowly than in the first few books, but there's no end in sight any time soon. See book 1 for longer review of whole series. ( )

Previously during one of the rereads before Gathering Storm, I cited that Jordan had Hubris. Well this book far more shows that Hubris then any prior book. What a disservice.

This is before Jordan showed any signs of his illness. So where does the blame lie for such a poor book. Where before we have intricate plots ever more involved, here we have a whole bunch of peanuts.

You have to crack a lot of shelves to get through to the meat and then it ends up being a whole lot of bother.

When you open this book, you note that it is smaller than the others of the series, and then you start reading and notice that type is not dense. By the end of the book you have paid full price for half a book.

You note this more as you read the plot lines Jordan has given us and start seeing a great deal of nothing. It is a travelogue of places we have yet to see. There is action eventually but still, much of what was told could have taken half the space, and some of the plot lines that should be here, are not.

The first fifty pages, after seven complete books, is a reverse of time. Mat experiences the Seachan landing in Ebou Dar, and we go back through it with the Aes Sedai who had already left in the seventh book.

Once again time is played with and Jordan does not care.

Speaking of Mat, well that is all we can do, he is not in this book, just as Perrin was missed before. Egwene, hardly worth a mention for the chapters that are devoted to her, even as we know a Forsaken is in her midst.

Rand, who is still the main protagonist, has a hundred or so pages of good, but with the time scale off, and the battle he tries to fight, maps are sorely needed. The little vignettes during this campaign, do not do justice what the entire campaign was to do.

So we get to the end and realize we paid full price for another transition book, even less fulfilling then before.

You have to read this to get further in the series, and because the series is good. But Jordan and his memory still should be chastised. If this was the first book in the series, the series would have died then. ( )

Previously during one of the rereads before Gathering Storm, I cited that Jordan had Hubris. Well this book far more shows that Hubris then any prior book. What a disservice.

This is before Jordan showed any signs of his illness. So where does the blame lie for such a poor book. Where before we have intricate plots ever more involved, here we have a whole bunch of peanuts.

You have to crack a lot of shelves to get through to the meat and then it ends up being a whole lot of bother.

When you open this book, you note that it is smaller than the others of the series, and then you start reading and notice that type is not dense. By the end of the book you have paid full price for half a book.

You note this more as you read the plot lines Jordan has given us and start seeing a great deal of nothing. It is a travelogue of places we have yet to see. There is action eventually but still, much of what was told could have taken half the space, and some of the plot lines that should be here, are not.

The first fifty pages, after seven complete books, is a reverse of time. Mat experiences the Seachan landing in Ebou Dar, and we go back through it with the Aes Sedai who had already left in the seventh book.

Once again time is played with and Jordan does not care.

Speaking of Mat, well that is all we can do, he is not in this book, just as Perrin was missed before. Egwene, hardly worth a mention for the chapters that are devoted to her, even as we know a Forsaken is in her midst.

Rand, who is still the main protagonist, has a hundred or so pages of good, but with the time scale off, and the battle he tries to fight, maps are sorely needed. The little vignettes during this campaign, do not do justice what the entire campaign was to do.

So we get to the end and realize we paid full price for another transition book, even less fulfilling then before.

You have to read this to get further in the series, and because the series is good. But Jordan and his memory still should be chastised. If this was the first book in the series, the series would have died then. ( )

The Path of Daggers (The Wheel of Time, Book 8) by Robert Jordan (1998)

I've been bogged down with this book for a very long time. It seems like it's all description and very, very little action. I never got to anticipate the next books, because I still haven't finished this one.