Knife of Dreams Review

In a way, Knife of Dreams feels like an ending, though there remain three more books to finish out my reread of Wheel of Time.  It is the last book written by Robert Jordan – the others were finished by Brandon Sanderson.  More, after several books where it seems a half-dozen different plotlines are advanced incrementally and intermittently, Knife of Dreams draws a few of these to a conclusion, or at least the beginning of a conclusion, setting the stage for the coming Last Battle.  Even here, though, it seems clear the pieces are not in place for the twelfth book to be the last one in the series, and I must think Jordan knew that.

It’s a fitting last outing for Jordan, highlighting his distinguishing skills: ability to manage a large cast, embrace multiple perspectives, advance intertwining plot threads, bring secondary and tertiary characters to life, provide a sense of foreboding balanced with a glimmer of hope.  These are what makes Wheel of Time stand out from other longform fantasy series, and Knife of Dreams in particular features an ideal balance between the various plots and viewpoints, giving it a stronger pacing than its predecessors.  All the major characters have perspectives, and their respective plots are advanced in key ways, through the novel’s course.  While I can appreciate certain books focusing on certain characters, having the broad representation in Knife of Dreams worked better for me.  It made the story more dynamic, and the book feel more complete.

We get something different out of the stories we read each time we read them – that’s a major part of why rereads are valuable, quite aside from the enjoyment of retreading a favorite series – and it’s been interesting, throughout this Wheel of Time reread, to notice where my memory of the books differs from what actually happens.  I noticed that in several places in Knife of Dreams, especially with how or to what extent certain plots are resolved.  Perrin’s battle to free his wife, for instance, I recall being a much longer battle scene, though the battle scene itself is relatively short.  I suppose the protracted lead-up and preparation for the battle was connected in my mind with the battle itself.  Of course, I’d simply forgotten numerous details about how plots are resolved, even though I remembered the resolutions.  Exactly how Mat and Tuon end up where they need to be for the next book, for instance, or how Elayne resolves her bid to be queen of Andor.

Speaking of Elayne’s plot, I would assert that it might be the weakest of the plots Knife of Dreams follows.  Elayne is a difficult character to sympathize with, at times, making obvious mistakes at multiple intervals that somehow turn out for the best (perhaps she is a ta’veren, too).  More questionably from a writing perspective, the resolution to her plot is somewhat vague.  The outcome is clear, but precisely what finally tips decisions the way they need to go is left ambiguous.  Not intentionally, I think – the writing suggests it should be straightforward – but it is not made quite clear to the reader.  Some implication is present, but that’s all, and it seems tenuous at best.

Maybe I’m projecting because I know when they were published, but it seems like one can perceive how Jordan’s relationship to his writing and the series changed over time.  Somehow, Knife of Dreams is clearly of the same mindset and (real world) time period as New Spring.  Knife of Dreams feels a bit like a return to form for Jordan, after some struggling in a few of its immediate predecessors (relatively speaking, of course – Jordan’s “struggles” are still compelling, and far superior to what many others could accomplish at their best).  That somehow makes it all the more a shame that he did not live to finish the series, being able to see the outline of that climax and conclusion as it’s suggested by the eleventh installment, and yet it is also satisfying that his last novel remains such a fine example of his craft, and that, even to this eleventh book, he continued to improve.  There are still three more books to go, but Tarmon Gaidan is fast approaching.  In book time, anyway.  At my pace, I won’t be getting to Memory of Light until…August?  Something like that.  But Knife of Dreams continues to prove how worthwhile this endeavor is.