Knife of Dreams: Robert Jordan’s Last Hurrah

This is the last Wheel of Time book written by Robert Jordan before his tragic passing. It’s an incredible loss. Thankfully, the man went out with one hell of a bang.

The Wheel of Time turns and ages come and pass. Egwene has been taken by the White Tower and begins to wage a silent war from within. Perrin goes to make an alliance with the Seanchan in order to defeat the Shaido and rescue his wife. Mat continues his adventures with Tuon and the others. All the while, Rand descends further into darkness as he desperately tries to prepare for the Last Battle.

After going through the Slump, Knife of Dreams is a much needed breath of fresh air. Not just because the plot is actually moving now. This is one of the most entertaining and engaging books in the series. I would argue the most! This is my favorite book in the series!

Most of the plotlines are enjoyable in this book. Egwene waging a silent war against Elaida is the perfect encapsulation of her character arc as well as a great exploration of what the Red has done to the White Tower. Mat and Tuon have genuinely good romantic chemistry and the scenes they share are solid. Perrin brings the Shaido to an extremely cathartic end. It’s all fantastic, well worth the effort of getting through the Slump.

The best of them all was the ‘Flight of the Golden Crane’ chapter. Seeing Lan’s destiny finally begin to manifest and seeing Nynaeve go full Aes Sedai manipulator to help him was the perfect way to wrap up her arc and properly begin his. It was so effectively done that it actually made me tear up.

And then there’s Elayne. She continues to be the worst character. All she does fails in the most explosive manner possible, forcing other characters to take the blame and clean up the mess, yet everyone treats her as if she’s an infallible genius. She all but got her throne by accident. I actively hoped for something terrible to happen to her, but I was blue-balled at every turn.

I don’t care how this story actually ends. I’m just gonna pretend that terrible things happen to Elayne.

On a more positive note, this book was just plain funny. I don’t know why, the jokes just worked for me this time around. There were multiple lines that gave me a good hearty chuckle. I know Wheel of Time isn’t supposed to be a comedy, I just felt like that was worth pointing out.

It’s kind of unfair how good Knife of Dreams is. After the three books in the Slump, I would have accepted decent. Instead, Robert Jordan decided to go above and beyond and release his best work. His passing was abrupt and extremely tragic. But at least, in the end, he managed to overcome his own little slump.

And thankfully, there was a man willing to carry on his work and finish Jordan’s work.