The Path of Daggers (Wheel of Time Series #8) by Robert Jordan

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Jordan Delivers!

For volume eight of his enduring Wheel of Time saga, Robert Jordan brings us The Path of Daggers, a distinguished new addition in what is certainly one of the most involving, complicated, and adored series in the annals of high fantasy fiction. Jordan is highly proficient at weaving an elaborate plot full of convoluted affairs and escapades, with underpinnings of conspiracies and political or magical machinations. Also involved, as always, are the Aes Sedai, women capable of using the One Power, which spins the Wheel of Time and propels the universe.

For those new to the series, a bit of background: Originally sealed away at the creation of the world, the Dark One has once again begun to touch the lives of humanity. The Aes Sedai, divided into seven houses of color, rule Tar Valon from their White Tower and live in fear of men who can channel the Power. These men, who are doomed to madness, are hunted down by the Aes Sedai and "gentled," which cuts them off from the Power so that they soon die. But prophecies of the Dragon Reborn — the one male capable of channeling the Power in order to face the Dark One — have begun to be fulfilled. At once hated and feared, and yet needed in the battle between good and evil, the Dragon Reborn is an outcast among mankind.

This tremendous tale follows the same five people who — in the series' first installment, THE EYE OF THE WORLD — left their village as teenagers to find their purpose in life and take their positions in the epic struggles. Throughout these grand adventures, allthemany characters and threads of history have become even more intertwined. When the leaders of four nations join together in a secret blood oath to hunt down and destroy Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, they know the consequences of their actions — whether they succeed or fail — will be severe. Friction is built on even the most trivial of circumstances. Elayne, Nynaeve, and Aviendha journey to retake Elayne's legitimate throne, but soon find other enemies even worse than the elite Seanchan force with whom they're still at war. A band of rogue Aes Sedai, led by Egwene al'Vere, who needs to reacquire her captured power, must somehow get to the White Tower past an army of vicious foes. Rand al'Thor, the reluctant bearer of the Dragon Reborn heritage, swears to destroy the Seanchan once and for all. But when a plague of insanity begins to threaten his people, he must confront numerous evils perpetuated against him, as his fate once again takes a decidedly influential twist.

Vast intricacies and developments, which only a series of novels this large could ever fully produce, continue to solidify with each new volume. Numerous vivid protagonists and secondary characters are illustrated with a precision of detail as they move through a wonderfully complex world. Trials and changes in fortune aren't always easily solved, as the author shows the spectrum of events playing out — events that affect not only our heroes, but also nations. Characters and situations intervene in an absorbing manner, and Jordan is remarkably capable at dropping subtle hints and foreshadowing things, which adds yet another layer of suspense to the many stories being told.

The series puts into focus just how chaotic a fully explored world can be, filled with awful predicaments, wars, suspicions, and fears in a realm where everything is suspect and nothing can be taken for granted. There are always highly stoked passions and rages about to blaze between men and women, cities are in constant conflict, and the characters' fears that the Dragon Reborn and the One Power have gone awry are deeply felt by the reader. Robert Jordan creates an intoxicating milieu constructed by the sheer grandeur of the Wheel of Time series, and fan appreciation will continue to be stirred to a near-scream of delighted expectation as readers traverse The Path of Daggers.
— Tom Piccirilli, barnesandnoble.com
— Tom Piccirilli,is the author of the critically acclaimed supernatural novel Pentacle, as well as the dark suspense mysteries Shards and The Dead Past. His short fiction has appeared in many anthologies, including Hot Blood: Fear the Fever.

From the Publisher

For millions of fans around the globe, the wait is over. Sequel to the international blockbuster bestseller A Crown of Swords, this epic volume continues one of history's greatest fictional journeys and the most extraordinary work of American fantasy ever published--The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and worldwide bestselling series--The Wheel of Time.

The phenomenal tale that is mesmerizing a generation of readers now continues.

The Seanchan invasion force is in possession of Ebou Dar. Nynaeve, Elayne, and Aviendha head for Caemlyn and Elayne's rightful throne, but on the way they discover an enemy much worse than the Seanchan.

In Illian, Rand vows to throw the Seanchan back as he did once before. But signs of madness are appearing among the Asha'man.

In Ghealdan, Perrin faces the intrigues of Whitecloaks, Seanchan invaders, the scattered Shaido Aiel, and the Prophet himself. Perrin's beloved wife, Faile, may pay with her life, and Perrin himself may have to destroy his soul to save her.

Meanwhile the rebel Aes Sedai under their young Amyrlin, Egwene al'Vere, face an army that intends to keep them away from the White Tower. But Egwene is determined to unseat the usurper Elaida and reunite the Aes Sedai. She does not yet understand the price that others--and she herself--will pay.

New York Times Book Review

[With] the Wheel of Time, Jordan has come to dominate the world Tolkien began to reveal.

Book Magazine

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is more complex than the Lord of the Rings trilogy, more heavily populated than the Dune series and longer than just about anything in the world. The newest 600-page volume is the eighth in the ongoing saga.
It's a thick tale of war and magic. A young man by the name of Rand has been chosen as the Dragon Reborn, and gains the ability to channel supernatural powers. Problem is, the prophecy that empowered him also predicts his eminent descent into madness. If he doesn't die in battle or get assassinated by one of his myriad hidden enemies, he is destined to lead an alliance in the Last Battle against the Dark Lord.
Rand is only one of many characters enveloped in the book's mad miscellany of plots, details and alliances. Where Jordan skimps on description, he more than makes up for in excessive intrigue, which is the book's weakest point. A typical scene for Jordan is a half-dozen characters with equally unpronounceable names standing around trying to verbally outmaneuver each other.
While never matching the sheer epic splendor of Tolkien, Jordan does turn a good phrase. The reader is sucked along as in any decent yarn­there is always a stranger tale, a more shocking betrayal and a nastier plot just around the corner.
­Chris Barsanti

Publishers Weekly

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. (Nov.)

VOYA

In this eighth book in The Wheel of Time series, involvements multiply as the original young men and women who set out from Two Rivers continue to fulfill the legends of the ages in unforeseen and unpredictable ways, affecting the destinies of countless others around them. Rand is the center, the Dragon Reborn, and to him falls the responsibility of controlling saidin, the tainted male half of the power drawn from The True Source, while bringing together the diverse peoples and kingdoms in preparation for the penultimate showdown with the Shadow. Betrayal and intrigue abound, cultures and armies clash, and legends and prophecies come to life as this cast of thousands moves inexorably toward the center of the pattern and the Last Battle, and the Wheel of Time turns yet again.

Clearly not the last book, as had been projected with the fifth of the series, Path of Daggers builds on a history too complex to recap. The uninitiated will be hard pressed to follow the many references not explained, such as "Trollocs," ta'veren, the fall of Tear, the battle at Ebou Dar, Perrin's eyes, the Aiel shaofa, and Tel'aran'rhiod, to name just a few; but those references evoke a wonderful legacy for the legions of readers who have followed the series for years. Jordan's clear mastery of the nuances, foibles, and complexities of human psychology are evident as he choreographs the elaborately cadenced movements of Seanchan, Whitecloaks, Aiel, Aes Sedai (both white and black, tower and rebel), Sea Folk, Asha'man, Kin Folk, and the now scattered core circle of legends incarnate, Rand, Perrin, Mat, Nynaeve, and Egwene. Not Jordan's most gripping installment, this title is nonetheless essential for collections carrying the series, one of the most popular international fantasy epics ever published.

VOYA Codes: 4Q 4P J S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses,Broad general YA appeal, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9, Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12 and adults)

Library Journal

The Seanchan press their invasion in this eighth book in a best-selling fantasy series.

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Interviews & Essays

Table of Contents

Interviews & Essays

On Monday, October 19th, barnesandnoble.com welcomed Robert Jordan, author of THE PATH OF DAGGERS.

Robert Jordan: It's great to have the book done, guys. Hi!

Robert Jordan: I started thinking about what would turn into the Wheel of Time more than 15 years ago, and the first thing that I thought of that was really solid was the last scene of the last book. I could have written that 15 years ago, and if I had, it would differ from what I would write today only in the words. What happens would be exactly the same. So, I've known where I'm going from the start.

Robert Jordan: I have gone into this in some depth in other places, but basically after the Breaking, the primary language was still what is called the Old Tongue. In the period between the Breaking and the Trolloc Wars, what would become the language spoken today began to develop as a common or vulgar tongue. During the period between the Trolloc Wars and the War of the Hundred Years, that vulgar tongue supplanted the Old Tongue as the usual or everyday mode of speech, and the Old Tongue regressed to being more and more something of scholars. At the time of Artur Hawkwing, anyone who was educated, whether noble or commoner, could speak and write the Old Tongue, but in everyday life, most people used something very much like what is spoken today. And it was the simple swamp.

Robert Jordan: Not at this time, I do not. I have plans for another set of books, but not in the same universe. If a really terrific notion occurs to me for a set of stories that I would like to write, then I would go back to the universe of the Wheel of Time, but otherwise, I won't.

Robert Jordan: I think they do, but I am a simple scrivener. I go where I am sent. I am told, "Go thou, and sign!" and I go thou and sign!

Robert Jordan: Well, I think it has too many levels of importance to go into all of them here, but the one that is very clear to me is the human need for myth. We have tried to scrape away, carve away, all the myths in our lives, but we do have that need. It can be demonstrated as simply as by looking at the rise of urban legends. Humans have a deep need for myth, and fantasy literature helps to provide that, I think. Or at least to provide an outlet for that need.

Robert Jordan: The answer is it will be in the stores tomorrow! I don't really know whether another short story is possible. "New Spring" took longer than I thought it would to write, and was more difficult to do, in part because I had to leave out a few things I wanted to put in. It was beginning to turn into a 100,000-word short story. If I do write another novella or short, I don't know what area I might look at.

Robert Jordan: I'm afraid that was purely a marketing decision. Tor Books felt that there were stores and outlets that would not accept a fantasy cover. And they seemed to have been right.

Robert Jordan: Plot-driven. I know what is supposed to happen with these people, and I'm sorry I can't tell you more. I'll have to say, "Read and find out."

Robert Jordan: No, I very seldom see any of the speculation. Occasionally someone will send me printouts of things that have been posted on the web sites. The last time I saw anything like that was about a year ago. I think three times I've been sent a copy of the FAQ, and while the comments in the FAQ have changed, at least in some places, I still have the same comment myself: About a third of the speculation there is right, about a third is almost right -- it's sort of in the right direction, but they're not quite going in the direction I am -- and the remaining third is totally blue sky. but I won't tell anybody which third is which. Read and find out... I know where it's going, and I really just don't take the time to get into the web sites.

Robert Jordan: Read and find out. Ain't I a stinker?

Robert Jordan: I have a fair notion of where I intend to pick up. And I generally have a good idea of a number of things that are going to be in the book for the simple reason that every time that I sit down and list the things that I intend to put into any given book, it always turns out to be more than I can put into that book. So, there are always things leftover that I wanted to do in the preceding book. And they go into the current book.

Robert Jordan: Read and find out...

Robert Jordan: I really don't know. I occasionally have gotten approaches in the past, but the books are all so long and involved that I think it would take a 16-hour movie to do any one of the books. We'll see what happens.

Robert Jordan: I'm a genius? I just do it. I really couldn't say how. I keep it in my head, with the exception of notes on countries, cultures, that sort of thing, but the story is all in my head. It doesn't seem to be particularly difficult to hold it all.

Robert Jordan: Some of them will. Read and find out!

Robert Jordan: Oh, Mat is a lot of guys. Mat is Coyote and Trickster and a lot of other characters out of myth and legend. He's the reluctant hero, he's a lot of things. He's the bad boy on the Harley. He's a lot of legends.

Robert Jordan: THE PATH OF DAGGEERS will be in stores on October 20th -- mere hours from now! Even as we speak, the book is being stacked, I have no doubt, on the shelves of stores all over the country! So, if you go to your bookstore tomorrow, I am certain you won't be disappointed.

Robert Jordan: Remember that Rand believes that the more interest he shows in his family, and in any of the people of the two rivers, the more he makes them a target. If his enemies believe that they hurt Rand by hurting Tam or hurting the two rivers, then they will, so Rand has set himself on a course of pretending to have forgotten his past. Pretending to have grown beyond his rude country beginnings. He thinks he has to make his enemies believe that the two rivers no longer mean anything to him. And the same for Tam.

Robert Jordan: Read and find out...more is coming. Read and find out.

Robert Jordan: No. I have to do a little writing before the title becomes clear to me. I don't start off with a title. That always comes to me at some point during the writing. Something that seems to fit the specific book.

Robert Jordan: Not on your life.

Robert Jordan: That is one of the gifts. She can draw as much strength as she needs -- as a matter of fact, she could take it all. In other words, she could kill him.

Robert Jordan: Well, you don't have to wait a few days...all you have to wait is a few hours! And, no, I'm not going to give you any special insights. You may have come across an acronym -- RAFO. Need I say more?

Robert Jordan: I think it's much more accurate than most of the previous covers.

Robert Jordan: It's quite possible, but we'll see what happens. It's still a few years in the future, after all.

Robert Jordan: I had the basis of it before I began writing, and a good part of how it fit together. Other parts were added in when I realized that there was a question to be answered -- something that I had to decide here and now, how this worked. But I have now quite a large file describing the one power and how it works, and the things that can be done with it and the things that can't be done, and the exceptions to the rules and all that. It would probably be 300 pages if I printed it out, maybe a little more, but I never have. It's just a computer file at the moment.

Robert Jordan: It's possible. And I'm not going to give anybody any clues or hints -- you guys ought to know me better than that by now!

Robert Jordan: If I take responsibility, can I get photographs?

Robert Jordan: I hope the next book will not take as long. "New Spring" took several months to write, and I also spent several months working on the illustrated guide. So those, between the two of them, took a lot more time than I thought it was going to. That delayed this book considerably.

Robert Jordan: My advice to someone trying to write fantasy is, go see a psychiatrist. As far as how I developed it, I certainly didn't have a deadline set. Many years ago, more than 15, not as many as 20, certain ideas started poking around in my head, rubbing against one another, and this slowly became what is the Wheel of Time. I really don't know that I could explain it any better than that. At least not if I don't go on for hours. For that matter, if I go on for hours, I'm not sure I can explain it any better than that.

Robert Jordan: No, she wasn't, and you're welcome.

Robert Jordan: I did not know the series would be this long in the beginning. When I first went to my publisher, I told him, I know the beginning, and I know the ending, and I know what I want to happen in-between, but I'm not sure I know how long it will take me to get from the beginning to the end. Now, don't laugh, but I said to him, "It's going to be at least three or four books, and it might be as many as five or six."

Robert Jordan: I'm not really clear. When I finished A CROWN OF SWORDS, I said it would take me at least three books more to finish. Now that I have completed THE PATH OF DAGGERS, it looks like it will take me at least three more book s to finish. Believe me, guys, I'm trying as hard as I can to get there as fast as I can.

Robert Jordan: Read and find out.

Robert Jordan: Oh... Oh... Oh! Does the phrase RAFO seem familiar to you at all? Take heart, all will be revealed eventually! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

Robert Jordan: Well, thank you very much, I try! And as far as the other, read and find out. If I tell you guys everything up front, you're going to say, "Jeez, there's no reason to read the book, we know it already!"

Robert Jordan: Read and find out, guys.

Robert Jordan: Such a bond would be possible, but an Ogier would find it a very strange thing to be asked to do. I can't think of an Ogier on this side of the Aryth Ocean who would be willing to accept.

Robert Jordan: Thank you guys for coming. I'm sorry I couldn't get to everyone's question, but there were a lot of questions -- a lot! Thanks again, I enjoyed it, guys.