Reactions to Knife of Dreams

[Fifth of Daybreak]

Hey guys, I'm only three years late, you still want my reactions right? Right?

 Unfortunately, I did finish the series up that year, so my reactions won't be as fresh and now has the benefit of hindsight, however, seeing as how I'm coming back to the forums I think it's only right that I take the time to finish up some of the things I left behind. Thankfully, I just finished listening to the series again, so it's pretty fresh in my mind. 

 

There was a lot of action in this book, which I think was a giant relief for me. I did not enjoy Crossroads of Twilight very much, and was glad to see things get moving again. At the same token, this is when the tragedy of RJ's death really struck me. With everything finally culminating and his meticulously crafted stories finally coming together, it's truly heart wrenching. 

 

I'm using the Wiki as a slight refresher (I'm on aMoL now in my listen through, so I has been at least a few weeks since I finished it again) so I'm going to use the same format it does and go character by character. 

 

Mat

Can I just take a second here to appreciate the beauty that is Talmanes? Out of all the side characters throughout the series, he grew on me the most, and this is when he really started to shine. Oh yeah, talking about Mat. 

 

Mat's arc was probably my favorite. I've been gearing up for artillery warfare for a while, and this was a great first start for it. It was nice to finally get confirmation that Moraine was coming back. I never expected that reveal and resolution to take as long as it did.

 

I really enjoyed the dynamic between Tuon and Mat, especially following the cringe fest that was Tylin. My favorite part of the book absolutely was when Tuon married him back and used his own words. I guffawed, chortled, giggled, and literally laughed out loud when this happened. Especially since she just up and leaves right after that. Mat will never understand his wife, not like Perrin does.

 

Rand.

Rand's chapters put me on edge. RJ did a great job building up the rage and fury inside Rand, making him less and less relatable even as you want to connect with the main protagonist. The growing conflict between Lews Therin and Rand continued to confuse me, even after Semirhage's reveals what's going on. It seems as though it's still a byproduct of the taint, so it didn't make sense for me that Rand's condition would continue to deteriorate. 

 

Cadsuane remains the ultimate badass and my favorite female character. (Apologies to Argent.)

 

The confrontation with Semirhage I felt didn't really live up to the tension that was foreshadowing it. I'd have a problem with it, except that it was Nynaeve and Cadsuane who mitigated the disaster, and I'm alright with that. There has been more than enough proof of both their competency and the strength of their ter'angreal that it didn't ruin the tension too much for me.

 

Egwene

Still wasn't the biggest Egwene fan. I felt like the power balance between her and the rebel hall was still far too skewed, even after Egwene had proven she was at least as adept at manipulation as the hall was. I'm going to call it up to more of my problems with how the aes sedai are portrayed and not spend a lot of time thinking about. Lelaine and Romanda get enough screen time without me fixating on them. I was pretty happy to see Egwene get captured though. It showed she was still flawed as a leader, and an aes sedai. Too much competency was starting to ruin Egwene's arc. 

Siuan, keep giving me boatfulls of fish metaphors. They've become my favorite and least favorite part of the series simultaneously. I know it will never happen, but I'd totally buy a copy of "Siuan Sanche's Wisdom from the Sea-a fish metaphor for every situation."

 

Perrin.

Finally we get down to business with the Shaido. This bogged the series down for way too long. I appreciate the growth that Perrin went to, but at some point I just wanted to move onto more important things than defeating an enemy for the second time. Tylee was my favorite part of this arc and one of the only Seanchan I felt I could relate to. Aram's demise just felt like a waste to me. I feel like his entire character could be cut from the series and nothing would be lost. Good riddance to Masema too. I could have been done with him after the Great Hunt. 

 

Surprisingly, I found the Faile chapters more interesting than Perrin's. I think she really had a lot of growth as a character and made up for her insufferable attitude in earlier books. Though I was incredibly depressed when the brotherless died. She seemed to get over that rather quickly, and I was honestly expecting some sort of Ta'veren event to bring the brotherless under Perrin's banner. 

 

Elayne

Elayne is still boring. You have to capture the throne you are next in line for? Oh good. Rand's already gotten so many of those he didn't even want your throne. Wake me up when you stop acting like a spoiled child and start acting like a ruler. There's no reason Egwene should be showing more sense and leadership skills than someone who was literally raised for the position.

 

Loial

It's nice to have a fantasy wedding that doesn't end in bloodshed. 

 

Galad

 

I take back everything bad I've ever said about the White Cloaks. With him as Lord Captain Commander I was actually excited about their future involvement in the series. 

 

Lan/Nynaeve

I didn't really understand why Lan all of a sudden just decided he wanted to ditch his wife and go ride to his death. The timing seemed strange. This did allow for my favorite Nynaeve scene in the whole series though. She finally embraced her Aes Sedai side, manipulated Lan deftly, and re-established Malkier as a kingdom (in a way.) Deal with it Aan'allein

 

The black tower

 

Taim's a bad guy. This is my shocked face. 

 

I think that about covers it for this book. I'm probably going to give it at least a week before I move on to the next one.