The Path of Daggers is a good book. I was initially disappointed
because this book follows a different style than its predecessors.
Long passages of mere description, with no dialog and no new
characters came up. I mean description of events, as in "They
traveled for days..." I was disappointed because those sorts of
passages don't offer the best of Jordan's writing, and by definition
(of a sort) they are not very exciting. I was wading through these
passages to get to something important. What kept my hopes up was
that this was not the sort of boring stuff that people had described
as typical of these later Wheel of Time books, so I kept up hope that
they were just wrong, and I am looking for something different from
what they were looking for. I took a two-week break from this book to
work on an important project that required a lot of reading.

I just happened to pick it back up at the point when the book got
really exciting. Then I remembered that this is a pattern in all of
the books. There is at least four hundred pages of setup in every
book since The Shadow Rising. So around page 400, things really start
to heat up. There are huge battles, described in all their exquisite
complexity that other writers wouldn't even attempt; there is Elayne's
journey to Caemlyn, where her homecoming is a very emotional scene;
and there are several climaxes. I can't really tell where the climax
of this book was. I was very excited to finish this book and move on
to the next one.

Some notes: Mat is not in this book at all. I think this is a plot
device and not just an omission on Jordan's part, just as Perrin is
completely left out of The Fires of Heaven. Things must be developing
in Ebou Dar and Jordan wants to hide that from the reader. Who knows?
Maybe he wrote a chapter or two about Ebou Dar and Harriet (his wife
and editor) thought it best left out? Also, this book is quite short
for the Wheel of Time. I really enjoyed the length of Lord of Chaos
and The Shadow Rising, because it left plenty of time for things to
happen. Also, there is still no shadowspawn. Unless I'm mistaken
even Shaidar Haran was left out of The Path of Daggers. I'm not
disappointed by that, since it's the human element of the Wheel of
Time that I enjoy, but it's a little weird. Perhaps there's an
explanation later in the story.

Another note is that this is the book where the sexual element really
picks up. As with everything, there is complexity and subtlety to it,
and if you try to see too far ahead, you'll miss a lot. I'm
specifically referring to the plight of Galina Casban, the Black/Red
Ajah Aes Sedai that the Shaido captured toward the beginning of A
Crown of Swords. Things are getting weird in that department, and I
am convinced that Jordan will use that tool skillfully.

I suggest you keep reading: for me, Jordan's going to have to do a
hell of a lot to top The Great Hunt or The Shadow Rising, so that's
not what I'm expecting from any of these books. I'm just expecting
entertainment. I enjoy complexity, and I guess some people do not.
I'm also turned off by books that put a lot of stock into non-human
characters (e.g. elves and hobbits) and powers that have no
explanation (a la Gandalf). Jordan's works really ought to be called
a sub-genre of fantasy: I call it "humanistic fantasy" in the hopes
that there are other authors I could read. Send me a note if you have
any recommendations.

This was the last book on CD I was missing for my collection. So much I had forgotten since reading the book years ago.

The best thing I can say about The Path of Daggers is that it is significantly shorter than the last few novels have been -- only 700 pages (mass market paperback) compared to the 900-1100 page novels that have preceded it. There is much less of the repetitive backstory. I guess Mr. Jordan finally realized that new readers aren't jumping in at this point.

However, that's not to say that there are 700 pages of plot here, either. For again, most of the pages are devoted to minutia such as nearly every word spoken during one of Elayne's 3 hour long rides, every thought that Perrin has while walking around his camp, etc. Most of the significant action is squeezed into the last couple of chapters. The story is still interesting, but The Path of Daggers doesn't advance it far enough.

But what's annoying me most is that the female WOT characters are the cattiest bunch of women I've ever encountered. Supposedly the Aes Sedai are dignified, cool-headed, and calm, but yet we see them constant bickering, back-biting, squabbling, thinking about their positions relative to others, and worried about what everyone else is thinking. For such powerful women, they are continually showing their shock, getting into petty disagreements, trying to out-wit each other, widening their eyes, adjusting their shawls, and smoothing their skirts (apparently this is an indication of uneasiness, though I have never actually seen an uneasy woman smoothing her skirt). And why the heck are adult women SPANKING each other?!?

I find it irritating that women leaders are portrayed this way while the powerful men are portrayed as hard, reserved, and distinguished. I'm sure that Mr. Jordan meant for his female characters to seem strong, but they just come across as bitchy. I really can't figure out why they all take each other so seriously.

This book is an absolute load of rubbish. Most of the irrelevant details need to be edited out to create a book half its size. I lost patience with my copy and threw it in the bin in disgust.

While we finally get a conclusion on the Bowl of the Winds (which started in Book 6), we unfortunately get a new situation with Faile and the Shaido (which lasts an ungodly 3.5 books!). While Crown of Swords started the downturn in the tight exposition, this was brutal in some spots. The Elayne chapters, along with the annoying bickering with the Windfinders, were nigh unreadable. What's worse, Mat is missing from the entire book (after a cliffhanger ending for him in Book 7). While Rand's scenes were interesting, there was really no movement for him in this book. A weak entry, and sadly, not the worst book of the series.