Saturday, October 29, 2005

Knife of Dreams(MAJOR spoilers!!!)

Joe, I am writing this post just for you....actually, does anyone else even read this journal?! haha!!!
So, Knife of Dreams. Book 11. Wheel of Time. If you don't want to know, you've read too far already!
*happy face*
I loved this book.
In fact, I am pretty sure I squealed with delight on more than one occassion. =)
First major smiley point; Prologue; Galad Damodred kills Eamon Valda and becomes, essentially, the Lord Captain Commander of the Children of the Light. Go relatives of Moiraine! woot!
I was like...did I miss something? Am I going crazy?! Did RJ just bring the Whitecloaks one step closer to actually, oh, I don't know, aligning with someone besides themselves for the last battle??!?! Neat.

First eyepopper; also prologue; Semirhage has just slaughtered the entire royal family in Seandar! That makes Tuon, officially, the Empress of Seanchan...it's just that nobody knows it yet! *wide eyes*
(About time we saw something happen with Semirhage, masquerading as Anath)
I love it. =)

The rest are not neccesarily in order. I just want to say that just in case! =P

#1 Moment that made tears come to my eyes; Nynaeve sending Lan off to the blight (ultimately to take back lost Malkier.) YES!!!!! You know the line...My husband, Lan Mandragoran rides to Tarmon Gai'don, does he ride alone? MALKIERI RIDES FOR TARMON GAI'DON!!! Woot! woot! You should see me, sitting there in my bed, crying, shaking my fist, saying all the lines outloud!! haha!!

#1 Moment that made me scream, jump up and down, dance for joy around the room, and holler "I Knew it.....I KNEW IT" ; Thom shows Moiraine's letter to Mat, confirming what we have suspected, that she is not dead, but trapped somewhere most likely in the land of the Aelfinn or Eelfinn.
I have been speculating for sometime that Mat would have to be involved in her rescue, because he is the only one who ever wins at the game of Snakes and Foxes ( though it's by cheating =P)
Also, I've been convinced it had to be through the Tower of Genghi (sp?) which Birgitte pointed out to Perrin in the wolf dream, when she helped him, and which we saw in book two when Rand, Thom and Mat were on Bayle Domon's boat...somewhere near Whitebridge?
I have just BEEN WAITING for some fool to mention the tower, and for those guys to remember that they already KNOW where it is. Sheesh! Catch up fellas!!! I didn't know the letter would be the key, I just wasn't sure how Mat was going to figure out he needed to go there! A whole lotta WOOT!! Moiraine is my favorite character, and nothing ( I mean absolutely nothing) gives me the happy happy joy joy feeling like her impending return.
Besides, the people who thought she was dead drove me crazy. I mean, she is Min's ONLY vision, that EVER would have failed. Min is gonna flip when she finds out....I can't wait!

#1 Finally, can we get on with it now moment; Elayne takes the Andoran throne. The borderlanders just sitting there is driving me batty. They can't move without the houses besieging Caemlyn thinking they are attacking, when all they want is to find Rand. For any resolution, she had to take the darn throne already!

Also good to know, is the Aes Sedai who was killing everyone off in the palace. I mean, for crying out loud, there isn't anyone left alive that can channel besides the windfinders. Seems like it anyway.

#1 *gasp* ; Rand's hand is gone!!! What the...?!?! At least Semirhage is captured, although that doesn't make me feel better. You've seen how our good guys are about letting the Forsaken get away. Moghedien much? At least Asmodean proved to be useful.

Big Yay!!!! Faile is finally saved. I actually like Berelain now, and Galina gets what's coming to her. What a load off! Also, Tuon and Mat are actually married now? Wowza, Prince of Ravens huh? hehe.

Random points:
Less of Cadsuane in this book, which I like because she drives me completely insane, whether Rand needs her or not. She might be right, but I hate stubborn people who act like God's gift. Cadsuane *knows* that Cadsuane knows everything. Can't wait till Moiraine gets thrown back into that mess. Plus, I think her being alive will be good for him. Remember how he always remembers her first, and aches at her name being the top of his "list."
How far have we gone since Elayne got pregnant? Is there a due date for the short people? Enquiring minds want to know.
Who the heck is Messana already? Does anyone know? OBVIOUSLY it is not Elaida, who coincidently also drives me insane =), but it must be a shocker if he is saving it for the last book.
Are Perrin's people EVER going to find out that Maighdin is, in fact, Morgase, the recent queen of Andor?!?! This is also bothering me. A lot. I don't know why.
I also want Perrin to find out who Balwer *was*, but I guess you can't have it all.
I am going to be one of those people having a breakdown when the series ends, over all the things not revealed.
At least I can sleep nights, knowing Moiraine is about to make a star-studded come back. =)

There's too much to cover,these are just some of the more major points, but in general, I loved this book. It was the best book in...I don't even know how many. I don't have as much criticism as Joe anyway, I just love the books, even when they are slow. This book definitely rises above the last few though, in my humble opinion.
I loved the end of book 9, but over all, I just enjoyed this book the most of any I have read in the past few years, and that is saying a lot, since I didn't dislike the others.

2 comments:

Joe said...

It's not that I didn't like the book. It's just that it didn't blow me away...except for the Moiraine revelation. I really never connected that tower by Shadar Logoth with Ghenji.

I did really enjoy the Nyneave scene with the Malkieri ride again. Lan's going to have an army.

Anonymous said...

I'm a bad, bad WoT fan. I've had the borrowed paperback for CoT sitting on my bookshelf for at least six months now, and I still haven't finished the prologue. What can I say? Low expectations plus many priorities make for little reading. I'll try to get caught up now that I know there's a good book waiting.

-aviendha/tizziness