The Path of Daggers

✍ Scribed by Robert Jordan

• Publisher: Tor
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 393 KB
• Edition: 1st ed
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

Robert Jordan's bestselling Wheel of Time epic is one of the most popular fantasy series of all time for a reason. Jordan's world is rich and complex, and he's assembled an endearing, involving core of characters while mapping out an ambitious and engaging story arc.
But with the previous book, Crown of Swords, and now with Path of Daggers, the series is in a bit of a holding pattern. Path continues the halting gait of the current plot line: Rand is still on the brink of losing it, all the while juggling the political machinations around him and again taking to the field against the Seanchan. The rest of the Two Rivers kids and company don't seem to be moving much faster. Egwene continues to slowly consolidate her hold as the "true" Amyrlin (finally getting closer to Tar Valon and the inevitable confrontation with Elaida), and Nynaeve and Elayne keep on wandering toward the Lion Throne, again on the run from the Seanchan. Mat Cauthon is barely mentioned, and fellow ta'veren Perrin keeps busy with politics in Ghealdan. The ending does provide promise, though, that book nine might match the pace and passion of the previous books.
If you're already hooked, you could sooner overcome a weave of Compulsion than avoid picking up a copy of Path of Daggers. But if you're new to the series, start at the beginning with the engrossing, much-better-paced Eye of the World. --Paul Hughes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The eighth book of Jordan's bestselling The Wheel of Time saga (A Crown of Swords, etc.) opens with a renewed invasion by the Seanchans, a conquering race whose arsenal includes man-carrying flying reptiles and enslaved female magic-workers as well as powerful soldiers, many of whom have joined the Seanchans out of fear of the Dragon Reborn. The Dragon himself, Rand al'Thor, appears in only a small part of the narrative, but during that time he endures the ugly experience of seeing his magic kill his friends, heightening his fear that his destiny is to slay everyone he cares about. The first third of the book is a little slower paced than is usual for Jordan, emphasizing the growth of relationships, but the action picks up soon enough. More compact than some previous volumes in the saga, this one has the virtues readers have come to expect from the author: meticulous world-building; deft use of multiple viewpoints; highly original and intelligent systems of magic; an admirable wit; and a continuous awareness of the fate of the turnip farmer or peddler caught in the path of the heroes' armies. Unlike some authors of megasagas, Jordan chooses his words with care, creating people and events that have earned him an enormous readership. For sheer imagination and storytelling skill, if not quite for mythic resonance, The Wheel of Time now rivals Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. 500,000 first printing; $500,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The Seanchan press their invasion in this eighth book in a best-selling fantasy series.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The eighth installment of Jordan's high-fantasy epic, The Wheel of Time, is more convoluted than any of its predecessors, making it something to slog through rather than the fun fest that devotees expect. As usual, various narrative threads proceed in tandem, but this time, they are not interwoven sufficiently to focus the tale. Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, continues to gather followers; Elayne makes it to Caemlyn to claim her throne; Egwene solidifies her position as the Amyrlin Seat and declares war on Elaida, the usurper to the Seat at the White Tower; Perrin is off doing his stuff; no one knows where Mat is; the Aiel Wise Ones still have Aes Sedai as prisoners; the diverse Aes Sedai groups continue to plot and search out the Black Ajahs among them; the Dark One remains somewhat in the background, his minions showing up only a few times; and rumors--the streets of Tar Valon ran red with blood because of rebel Aes Sedai; there were no rebels and no division of the White Tower; the Black Tower had been broken by Aes Sedai designs; the Dragon Reborn was bound to the Amyrlin Seat, etc., etc., etc.--run rampant. Whew! Jordan's many fans will want to read this episode, anyway, and await whatever follows its cliff-hanging ending. Sally Estes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"Robert Jordan has come to dominate the world Tolkien began to reveal....The battle scenes have the breathless urgency of firsthand experience, and the...evil laced into the forces of good, the dangers latent in any promised salvation, the sense of the unavoidable onslaught of unpredictable events bear the marks of American national experience during the last three decades." --The New York Times on The Wheel of Time
-- Review

"Robert Jordan has come to dominate the world Tolkien began to reveal."--The New York Times