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Knife of Dreams (2009 initial read; 2010 re-read) Larry Send a noteboard - 13/05/2010 03:27:53 PM
Obviously, since this book was first released in 2005, that I am not re-reading this for the first time in ten years or more. In fact, I did not first read Knife of Dreams until October 2009 and that was more of a cursory glance than a full read, since I had a review of the twelfth book, The Gathering Storm, to write for the day of its US release last year. So this is more of a "fresh" impression commentary rather than comparing past and present takes on the novel.

From what I've gathered, Knife of Dreams was lauded back in 2005-2006 as a sort of "return to form" for Jordan. The MMPB page count reached 860, so perhaps if "return to form" means writing a bunch of pages, then this book achieved that goal admirably. If "return to form" also means that the author continues to repeat too many descriptive details of his characters and having an over-reliance on "national" stereotypes to substitute for uniform substantive character development, then maybe Knife of Dreams accomplished this as well.

But on the whole, this was a better reading experience than the previous two novels. There were some long-awaited (and long-delayed) subplot resolutions that take place here. There was a slightly greater sense of urgency, whenever the characters did not stop to sip their peppermint-flavored tea served on a silver service. And there was one romantic relationship that managed to outdo Stephanie Meyers' travesties. In a world (again, plug in that late, great movie trailer guy's voice) where virtually all relationships feel light as a feather and stiff as a board (those readers in their mid-30s to mid-40s might get that reference), the interplay between the mischievous Mat and his bride-to-be, the Seanchan Daughter of the Nine Moons, Tuon, is actually well done. When it seems some characters *cough*Rand*cough* fall in love (or have someone fall in love with him) at the drop of the hat, this budding romance was not as offensive to read, although there were a few times where it felt as though the relationship was taking place more due to "prophecy" influences than anything "natural."
However, the Mat/Tuon scenes are pretty much the sole highlights on this novel. Although he wasn't off-screen as much as in the previous volume, Crossroads of Twilight, Rand appears in a handful (pun?) of chapters and outside of one confrontation with a Forsaken in disguise, his chapters pretty much only detail that he's "hard" and wants to get "harder." If only character Viagra were available to him, then perhaps he would have accomplished this. Very little character development here outside of the above-mentioned "hand" issue and the "hardness."

Egwene's time as a captive in the White Tower was slightly interesting, but it felt a bit too abbreviated and rushed in places (a strange thing to say about this series, where a paragraph substitutes for a well-worded phrase or sentence). It is obvious that her travails are meant to show a marked difference between her ability to "embrace" pain and the unwillingness of the Tower Aes Sedai to confront their fears. It's just that the way her chapters were interspersed among other subplots led to this sense of there being a solid, cohesive development (this is rectified in the most recent book, I should note).

Elayne's scenes could have used more cowbell, if not more bath. The murder-mystery plot was rather clumsy to read and its resolution was so melodramatic that I think I heard Wilkie Collins yelling that he wants his moonstone back. The problem with trying to have a political intrigue subplot is that if the intrigue is not there, the political aspect (especially if it's for an imagined "country" like Andor) is going to fall flat and that is what I think has happened with Elayne's chapters the past three novels. Just not much interest in reading about these maneuverings, even if I suspect this was more to give her something to do until the big Last Battle breaks out in the storyline near future.
So while there is a slight uptick in plot "movement, on the whole Knife of Dreams is at best a tolerable novel and at worst, a melodramatic volume that makes readers roll their eyes at certain events. While I enjoyed it somewhat more than the previous few volumes, this is far from a "good" novel. The majority of the subplots failed to engage me as a reader, the prose continues to be pedestrian to clunky, and the characterizations still are more 2D than dynamic in character. Although I can understand why many fans of the series enjoy this volume, for myself it was just another description-heavy lull in a plot storm that may end up failing to make this series a worthwhile (re)read.

And since I already reviewed The Gathering Storm only a little over six months ago, my final WoT volume to be covered in this series will be the novel-size expansion of the novella prequel, New Spring. That commentary will be up in the next few hours.
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie

Je suis méchant.
Original post, with possible comments here as well
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Re-reading WoT Ten Years Later - 16/04/2010 06:07:40 AM 2861 Views
The Eye of the World (1997-2000, 2010 reads) - 16/04/2010 06:08:54 AM 1325 Views
Ah, jumping on Roberts' bandwagon... - 16/04/2010 09:17:08 AM 1066 Views
- 16/04/2010 03:32:41 PM 993 Views
Re: The Eye of the World (1997-2000, 2010 reads) - 16/04/2010 06:29:53 PM 1052 Views
I think you misrepresent me - 16/04/2010 11:15:34 PM 950 Views
Re: I think you misrepresent me - 17/04/2010 02:56:53 PM 974 Views
Re: I think you misrepresent me - 17/04/2010 09:45:25 PM 920 Views
Re: I think you misrepresent me - 17/04/2010 10:59:20 PM 1077 Views
MA in History? Is there a more useless degree? - 16/04/2010 09:56:36 PM 911 Views
PhD or MA in Classics - 16/04/2010 10:15:51 PM 863 Views
Yes, whatever degree you have/are studying for - 16/04/2010 11:12:55 PM 905 Views
MBA. Sorry - 17/04/2010 04:38:03 AM 926 Views
There's lots of jokes about MBAs, unfortunately - 17/04/2010 09:46:28 PM 925 Views
Interestingly, I disliked EotW because of its 'youth appeal' - 17/04/2010 12:33:55 AM 1030 Views
Funny how takes can change, huh? - 17/04/2010 12:55:05 AM 1029 Views
Funny, I started my own first-ever reread not long ago. - 17/04/2010 02:16:35 AM 1000 Views
Must be something in the water, no? - 17/04/2010 02:28:23 AM 1016 Views
Gah! - 18/04/2010 12:30:17 PM 901 Views
I thought you meant it! - 18/04/2010 05:29:55 PM 1015 Views
Pfft! - 18/04/2010 08:11:36 PM 913 Views
I'm glad I didn't start with EotW - 19/04/2010 04:16:03 PM 877 Views
Seems Tor is now tweeting about this commentary - 19/04/2010 06:31:39 PM 1089 Views
Re: Re-reading WoT Ten Years Later - 16/04/2010 06:26:51 PM 1013 Views
It'll be interesting to see if I hit a "wall" - 16/04/2010 11:13:55 PM 921 Views
Aww... - 16/04/2010 07:58:27 PM 1013 Views
That's next month or June - 16/04/2010 11:12:02 PM 878 Views
Be sure to send me a noteboard then . - 17/04/2010 03:45:46 AM 900 Views
Oh, I'd post it at this site as well, perhaps - 17/04/2010 03:51:19 AM 853 Views
Yeah, but I only lurk in the OF when I'm interested in getting new books... - 17/04/2010 04:00:14 AM 867 Views
Ah - 17/04/2010 09:47:37 PM 872 Views
Malazan 9 is out? - 17/04/2010 09:58:23 PM 742 Views
Been out for several months - 17/04/2010 10:24:15 PM 845 Views
Can anybody please explain to me - 17/04/2010 08:45:18 PM 1062 Views
It's hard to explain - 17/04/2010 09:42:16 PM 1104 Views
was thinking the same thing *NM* - 18/04/2010 03:59:36 PM 601 Views
Re: Can anybody please explain to me - 19/04/2010 04:17:39 PM 752 Views
The more posts from this larry guy I read, the more I think......... - 18/04/2010 08:56:34 AM 1040 Views
Interesting metatextual analysis there - 18/04/2010 09:47:43 AM 1066 Views
Nice, but in the future... - 18/04/2010 04:04:07 PM 944 Views
I know... - 18/04/2010 08:11:18 PM 897 Views
If you don't like WoT....Don't read it - 19/04/2010 12:36:06 AM 864 Views
Aren't you being a bit presumptuous there? - 19/04/2010 12:53:00 AM 1279 Views
... - 19/04/2010 12:59:33 AM 1037 Views
Re: ... - 21/04/2010 03:41:08 AM 1005 Views
Re: The more posts from this larry guy I read, the more I think......... - 18/04/2010 10:26:12 AM 1050 Views
I am disappoint - 19/04/2010 01:17:20 AM 1039 Views
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Who the hell are you? What the hell are you doing here? - 19/04/2010 06:48:56 PM 1033 Views
Oh crap, a troll! - 02/05/2010 08:53:36 PM 874 Views
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I guess I'm just weird. - 19/04/2010 06:44:59 PM 1108 Views
If anything, I suspect my reaction is the minority one - 19/04/2010 09:20:25 PM 1047 Views
It's interesting you thought this about The Great Hunt. - 19/04/2010 07:06:57 PM 850 Views
Yeah, I almost gave up this series after The Eye of the World too. *NM* - 19/04/2010 08:38:25 PM 535 Views
My actual introduction to the series was A Crown of Swords - 19/04/2010 09:26:19 PM 984 Views
By the way... - 19/04/2010 09:44:59 PM 782 Views
Ah, that. - 19/04/2010 09:53:02 PM 867 Views
My experience has been different: - 19/04/2010 09:04:27 PM 970 Views
That may indeed be the case - 19/04/2010 09:27:36 PM 1158 Views
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I just think of bath porn - 08/05/2010 03:12:29 PM 1020 Views
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