Knife of Dreams (or the most exciting thing that happened to me all week :( )
Another lazy week has flashed by me again so once again it must be time for me to create a blog entry.
I exaggerate a little bit on the excitement part but not by much. For those not in the know "Knife of Dreams" is the 11the book in Robert Jordan's neverending Wheel of Time series, and it was finally released October 11th. The day that I went out and promptly purchased it.
I've been a die-hard fan of the series since high school, and when the books used to come out regularly every year I would wait in great anticipation. It was always something I looked forward to in the Fall. Of course the delays between books got longer, and the series stretched on with no ending in sight. I still defended it to the all the numerous people who were tired of the series going nowhere. I remember a friend joking with me that the Big Bad Guy was just going to get tired of waiting for the Last Battle and go home giving up his plans to destroy the world.
The 10th book "Crossroads of Twilight" really put a damper for me on the series though. Firstly most of the book takes place at the same time as the climatic events of the previous one. The main character Rand, and the huge event that he was a part of is hardly mentioned at all. Secondly there was no wrap up at all of any kind anywhere. Only more questions, and mysteries brought up. Secondly not to sound sexist, but almost the entire book consisted of the various female characters and their strained relationships with other female characters. There was absolutely no action in this book of any kind.
So then Robert Jordan after that book chooses to start writing a prequel novel to his series, "New Spring". To be fair I haven't read it, but I hear it's pretty good. So you might say I was a little worried when I purchased "Knife of Dreams".
Now I'd imagine that after all that build up people are going to expect me to say something like "It was the greatest book I've ever read", but unfortunately I can't do that. The prologue actually begins the book fantastically with the death of a minor character that I've hated and the reappearance of another one that I've missed. It slows down though as the book begins with more of the same man vs. woman hijinks that we've come to expect in the series. To top that off almost none of the major characters are together so he's forced to jump between them constantly. There's a few relevations here along with some loose threads tied up. I always like it in a book when the characters finally uncover the evildoer who has been hiding right under their noses. Especially when the reader has known for a few books already, and they're practically screaming at the characters to smarten up. There's a pretty huge event near the middle of the book that oddly passes by very quickly, and some definite foreshadowing to the end of the series thankfully. Maddeningly though some of the characters learn about something they have to do in a letter about half way through the book, but they never mention it again. This involved a plot line that I've been dying to learn more about, and in my opinion it's resolution would have been an awesome ending to this book.
Although I have complaints about this series as do most of the people who read it I would definitely recommend it for any fan of fantasy. Robert Jordan is a good author with a real skill at slowly giving us information as the characters get deeper into the world. The world and it's politics is probably the most detailed one that I've ever read in a fantasy novel. Honestly I must've liked the book as I stayed up till 6 a.m. a few nights reading it.
Now the next big book I can't wait for is "Feast of Crows" by George R.R. Martin. This is another series that has taken forever to come out. I honestly can't remember when the last book was released, but it was utterly fantastic. It was about a thousand pages and I read it in one day. What's funny is that this book ended up being so long that he had to split it into two parts along character and geographical lines. Originally he wasn't even going to write this book instead having some time pass for the characters before the next book began.
I'm glad he wrote it though and I can't wait till November for it to come out. Looking forward to more of the mayhem, main character's dying suddenly, and the political backstabbery. Anyways I'm sure I'll write more about it when it comes out.
I exaggerate a little bit on the excitement part but not by much. For those not in the know "Knife of Dreams" is the 11the book in Robert Jordan's neverending Wheel of Time series, and it was finally released October 11th. The day that I went out and promptly purchased it.
I've been a die-hard fan of the series since high school, and when the books used to come out regularly every year I would wait in great anticipation. It was always something I looked forward to in the Fall. Of course the delays between books got longer, and the series stretched on with no ending in sight. I still defended it to the all the numerous people who were tired of the series going nowhere. I remember a friend joking with me that the Big Bad Guy was just going to get tired of waiting for the Last Battle and go home giving up his plans to destroy the world.
The 10th book "Crossroads of Twilight" really put a damper for me on the series though. Firstly most of the book takes place at the same time as the climatic events of the previous one. The main character Rand, and the huge event that he was a part of is hardly mentioned at all. Secondly there was no wrap up at all of any kind anywhere. Only more questions, and mysteries brought up. Secondly not to sound sexist, but almost the entire book consisted of the various female characters and their strained relationships with other female characters. There was absolutely no action in this book of any kind.
So then Robert Jordan after that book chooses to start writing a prequel novel to his series, "New Spring". To be fair I haven't read it, but I hear it's pretty good. So you might say I was a little worried when I purchased "Knife of Dreams".
Now I'd imagine that after all that build up people are going to expect me to say something like "It was the greatest book I've ever read", but unfortunately I can't do that. The prologue actually begins the book fantastically with the death of a minor character that I've hated and the reappearance of another one that I've missed. It slows down though as the book begins with more of the same man vs. woman hijinks that we've come to expect in the series. To top that off almost none of the major characters are together so he's forced to jump between them constantly. There's a few relevations here along with some loose threads tied up. I always like it in a book when the characters finally uncover the evildoer who has been hiding right under their noses. Especially when the reader has known for a few books already, and they're practically screaming at the characters to smarten up. There's a pretty huge event near the middle of the book that oddly passes by very quickly, and some definite foreshadowing to the end of the series thankfully. Maddeningly though some of the characters learn about something they have to do in a letter about half way through the book, but they never mention it again. This involved a plot line that I've been dying to learn more about, and in my opinion it's resolution would have been an awesome ending to this book.
Although I have complaints about this series as do most of the people who read it I would definitely recommend it for any fan of fantasy. Robert Jordan is a good author with a real skill at slowly giving us information as the characters get deeper into the world. The world and it's politics is probably the most detailed one that I've ever read in a fantasy novel. Honestly I must've liked the book as I stayed up till 6 a.m. a few nights reading it.
Now the next big book I can't wait for is "Feast of Crows" by George R.R. Martin. This is another series that has taken forever to come out. I honestly can't remember when the last book was released, but it was utterly fantastic. It was about a thousand pages and I read it in one day. What's funny is that this book ended up being so long that he had to split it into two parts along character and geographical lines. Originally he wasn't even going to write this book instead having some time pass for the characters before the next book began.
I'm glad he wrote it though and I can't wait till November for it to come out. Looking forward to more of the mayhem, main character's dying suddenly, and the political backstabbery. Anyways I'm sure I'll write more about it when it comes out.
posted by Eman at 3:49 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home