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published 1998; hardback 1998, Tor Books
Shoot high, aim low. After the seventh book in the Wheel of Time series, A Crown of Swords (which my husband likes to call A Crown of Suck), anything Robert Jordan could come up with in the next book was bound to be better. The Path of Daggers, while not as exciting as earlier works like The Eye of the World, doesn't disappoint in this respect.
Unlike its predecessor, The Path of Daggers doesn't spend its first 200 pages recapping what went on in the last installment (which wasn't much, anyway). Happily, it gets right to the action, including an excellent scene in which Elayne and Nynaeve finally get to use the Bowl of the Winds. Egwene also begins to consolidate her hold on the Amyrlin Seat, outthinking her Aes Sedai handlers in a virtuoso performance of cunning manipulation that had me cheering her on. Even Faile was somewhat tolerable, and usually after her first appearance I'm hoping that something large and heavy falls on her, like a Trolloc.
The men don't fare quite so well in this outing. Rand zips his army around here and there, talking to his invisible friend Lews Therin and wondering if he's going mad, which he probably is. While I like Perrin as a character, I don't remember much about what he did in this volume, so it couldn't have been much. Mat is totally absent; while I know many fans will be disappointed by this, I actually thought it was a positive, but that's just me.
In between the good stuff, however, there's way too much uninteresting posturing going on among the Wise Ones, Aes Sedai, the Knitting Circle, and the Sea Folk Windfinders. I grew weary of the various members of these groups glaring at each other, rattling their jewelry and/or flouncing their shawls at each other, and making each other serve weird penances. I also don't like the fact that new characters are still being introduced, including what appear to be two new Forsaken. Is there ever going to be an end to this?
The Path of Daggers isn't bad. It furthers the story, keeps the fluff to a minimum, and has occasional flashes of what made the series so good in the first place. If this is the kind of work Jordan can produce when he takes an extra year to do it in, he should take two next time. His fans should be willing to wait.
Review by Sara Lipowitz
Reviewed November 29, 1998
ISBN 0312857691
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