I really just shake my head when reading this book. Like so many of the rest of us avid Wheel of Timers who were captivated by Eye of the World and the rest until about book 3, 4, or 5 (depending on who you talk to), I am so frustrated to see the road this series has fallen, tripped, and stumbled down. And although I am distraught over the setbacks that plague the last few books of this series, I am not going to waste my time in this review proclaiming that Robert Jordan is dead, crying about the fact that 'Path of Daggers' contains grammatical errors, or cursing Jordan with the idea that he has sabotaged his own series, a series that he spent over a decade writing, just to make more money. Nor will I sit around and praise this book as a 5-star best-of-the-genre story, which it clearly isn�t. Thinking about it, I have come to realize why this story has gone so far down hill and I will try to clarify why it has.
Remember when things were simpler? Moiraine had a nice, straightforward idea of what she planned to do with the Emond�s Fielders. The characters seemed like interesting, well-drawn out individuals. And the story moved along quickly, with a clear vision and purpose.
Then, the world exploded.
I always admired Jordan for the way he could create a story with so many different plot threads running at the same time. There was obviously a centralized story, but my interest was always peaked by all the subplots and machinations that went on in the background. They were all right under the surface of things, and you would occasionally catch a glimpse of them while concentrating on the �main storyline�. Then, around Book 4, or 5, or 6 (again, depending on who you talk to) it seemed as if an invisible pair of scissors came out of nowhere and cut through every single plot thread and left them to dangle in the wind and be blown in a thousand different directions. And suddenly, our happy, clearly-realized storyline was suddenly kicked like an anthill and went flying. Our main characters suddenly lose their train of thought, acting in such out-of-character ways, and doing things that make the readers continuously ask themselves �why did they do that�. Aes Sedai start popping out of the woodwork at the turn of every corner, where they are faced off by armies of Sea Folk, Ash�aman, and Wise ones; all of whom are the most uninteresting, annoying characters you�ve ever seen, and their names all happen to seem similar in too many ways. Forsaken are running rampant and barefoot across the continent, getting blasted by balefire and then rebirthing themselves into new names, faces, and identities. Kings, Queens, Lords, and Ladies all seem to jump in their seats in wanting to become part of the story and soon plague the series with more unnecessary faces. The Black Ajah are abound, the Seanchan are making noise, the Aiel are playing their �ji�e�toh�, and the Bowl of the Winds subplot comes out of absolutely nowhere. Everything good and true and sturdy in this series has flown out of the window. There is just too much happening in this series and its seems Jordan has totally lost the reins. What this series needs is someone to come back in and fix the shreds of all those plot threads. Some need to be cut, some need to be lengthened, and most just need to be carefully put back together. For until this happens, this story will continue to fly wildly in the breeze.
Nothing hurts more in a series when the POV characters go sour. And the problem is not that Jordan has created horrible, worthless, good-for-nothing POV characters, it is that he has just made too many POV characters in general. I have tried counting the number of people who have stuck their head into this series to contribute their POVs. Over 50! It is in this way of writing that Jordan has caused his characters so much trouble because they spend their time on a roller coaster of POVs in that you lose sight of a character�s true identity. There is no consistency. While Rand is a prominent POV in both of Books 1 and 2, he doesn�t even get a full chapter to himself in the third book of the series. Perrin�s POV are only seen vaguely in the first two books and then in the next two he is heading the stories with 18+ chapters, followed by his total absence in Book 5. Egwene and Mat continue to fluctuate up and down, and for what? Jordan�s insistence in introducing new POV characters constantly seriously takes away from his original, most fully-realized characters. We miss out on the development of these characters while we are stuck with a POV of Cadsuane, or Sammael, or Galina, or Bayle Domon. So when we finally get back to our �main� characters we cannot understand why they act the way they do, why they make the choices they make, and why the are just so different. Rand�s POV is gone throughout book 3 and suddenly, in book 4, he seems like a different person. Or Nynaeve, who was actually a respectable character in my eyes in the early books, is seen so infrequently in her POVs that when you do actually see her through someone else eyes (mainly Elayne) she comes off in a very negative, screeching-and-crazy-lunatic way. Jordan needs to weed out, kill off, or move away from this army of useless characters. They do nothing by cause damage to the development and understanding of the main characters
I wish I could go into detail on how pacing has become seriously affected in this series, but I have run out of room. In conclusion, it is not until Jordan tightens his hold on this story will it ever regain the prominence with which it once had.
