Binge Project: ‘The Wheel of Time,’ Book 11

Welcome to the Binge Project series! These Binge Projects will feature me reading or watching an entire run of comics, books, TV shows, or other media in rapid order, then writing expansively about the experience. This installment will be a slower process, as I work my way through the lengthy “The Wheel of Time” book series. 

Previously: Book 1 (The Eye of the World), Book 2 (The Great Hunt), Book 3 (The Dragon Reborn), Book 4 (The Shadow Rising), Book 5 (The Fires of Heaven), Book 6 (Lord of Chaos), Book 7 (A Crown of Swords), Book 8 (The Path of Daggers), Book 9 (Winter’s Heart), Book 10 (Crossroads of Twilight).

And now, The Wheel of Time Book 11: Knife of Dreams.

We’ve arrived, after another considerable delay on my part, at the final book in The Wheel of Time written entirely by Robert Jordan. I hoped he could go out on a high note, for his sake, and I would say he at least partially did so. Book 11 was another mixed bag, as so many entries in this series have been, with some storylines that were downright painful to get through. For Knife of Dreams, the title of “most burdensome storyline to read” was shared by those starring Perrin and Elayne. So let’s get those out of the way first.

First, Perrin, whose lengthy quest to rescue his wife finally ends in this book, a mercy long overdue. I think my biggest frustration with that plotline (other than the fact that it should have been resolved in a single book instead of over the course of what, four books?) was that it could have been done in a much better way that could have been pretty cool. Perrin cuts an imposing figure when dealing when the Seanchan, and at times, has flashes where he looks like the leader Faile always wanted him to be. But far more often, he’s an absolutely horrible commander, risking thousands of lives (and arguably even the Last Battle itself) for a personal vendetta. And no one has any problem with this! At least in Rand’s character arc of increasing coldness, there are people desperately trying to guide him and turn him onto a better path. Perrin is surrounded by enablers who act like this whole thing is totally normal and worthwhile.

You can argue that Masema is an obvious exception, particularly when we find out he manipulated Aram into trying to kill Perrin. But that whole thing fell flat to me. Despite how dragged-out Perrin’s overall plotline was, Aram turning on him was somehow incredibly rushed. Basically, we get the impression that all Masema had to do was tell Aram, “Hey, he has yellow eyes. I’m not saying that means he’s a darkfriend, but it totally means he’s a darkfriend,” and that was enough for Aram to turn from fiercest devotee to would-be assassin. Faile’s points-of-view from within the camp were probably even worse. Her almost-romance/manipulation thing with Rolan wasn’t developed very well to me, and I didn’t feel the tension well enough when Rolan and Perrin met in battle. I feel like the least her part of the storyline could have done would have been to finally reveal Morgase’s identity, considering that has also dragged on forever and there was ample opportunity.

The best thing you can say about the Perrin/Faile/Shaido stuff is that hey, at least it’s finally over. Or, at least I hope so. Apparently there are still some more Shaido (Jesus! How many of them are there?!) stragglers separated from the main pack, but I hope we can just leave them be. The Shaido limping back to the Waste, Galina resigned to spending the rest of her life in torment — that’s a pretty acceptable conclusion to me.

As with Perrin, the best you can say about Elayne’s part in Knife of Dreams is that at least her books-long quest finally ends, with her winning the crown of Andor at last. Getting there was a rough slog. At times, we get Elayne the capable ruler, who really should be a badass. But far more often, we get Elayne the hormonal pregnant woman, who’s at peak emotional and irrational levels. Worse, we have to deal with her pregnancy interfering with her ability to channel, taking away one of the most formidable aspects of the character. We find out Aviendha has a capital-t Talent, but then she just has to leave. Aviendha isn’t getting nearly enough page time for several books now, being relegated to too much of a background/supporting character for Elayne.

It all comes to a head when she and a trio of Aes Sedai go alone to confront the Black Ajah hiding in Caemlyn. Apparently the Seafolk won’t join causes like that (though Birgitte gets them to help rescue Elayne shortly after), and for some reason, no one even mentions the Kin as an option, because whatever. Here’s where Elayne goes peak irrational dumbass, refusing to allow guards or even warders to accompany her as she takes on dangerous channelers, despite knowing they probably have angreal/ter’angreal (even if she couldn’t have known more Black Ajah would show up). Surprising no one but Elayne, things don’t go well. Vandene getting revenge for her murdered sister right before dying was a strong moment, but the rest of that scene was just fucking unbearably stupid. Fuck you, Elayne. She gets captured, because of course she does. How many times in this series has a major character been captured by hostile forces? It’s a major plot point that Jordan has reused way too many times now.

Anyway, the final fight to both free Elayne and then defeat the forces attacking Caemlyn was legitimately good, followed by the much-needed resolution of Elayne gathering the requisite support to become queen. Not a moment too soon, and in fact, too late for my tastes. The character has been somewhat poisoned to me by now.

Ok! So that was a lot of ranting for a lot of words, but I swear I really did enjoy the book overall. Those two storylines sucked to me, but that still left a majority of the book that was pretty damn good, I thought. Let’s start off with a couple quick hits.

We’ve gotten to know Rodel Ituralde lately, the last of the five “great captains” to appear in the series, and I daresay my favorite. I know I have a reader who loves Bashere, but we haven’t gotten to see enough of Bashere’s military genius to suit my tastes. We’ve mostly just been told he’s tactically brilliant; Ituralde gets to really show us, and in doing so, becomes a quick favorite of mine. Elsewhere, Galad finally reenters the narrative, killing Valda in a fun fight and becoming Lord Captain Commander of the Children of the Light. In retrospect, leader of that groups feels like it was always his destiny, as both the character and the Whitecloaks suffer from a strong desire to do what’s right, but have often misguided black-and-white views that put them on the wrong side. I look forward to seeing what comes of that. Additionally, Moridin has become a very strong lead villain for the series, though I wish we could just call him Ishamael; everyone knows who he is now anyway. The news that Sammael lives confirms my initial suspicions (though I admit I wavered), so we’ll see what role he plays. Loial finally meets his pursuing mom and finally marries Erith, but as was obvious to everyone but Loial, she’ll be a cool wife who still lets him do cool stuff.

So let’s get to Mat and Tuon, who combine to provide a major arc for Knife of Dreams. Their budding relationship is often kinda great, with very unusual flirting as Tuon treats the courting more as a battle of wills. It has some cute moments along the way, with him somewhat accidentally giving her the perfect gift (a horse), and her slowly growing to have higher esteem of him as she sees him lead the Band. It ends rather thrillingly, with Tuon finally returning the marriage vow out of nowhere, then Mat and the Band fighting a well-written battle to buy her time to escape.

But in the middle, there’s the scene with Tuon briefly leashing the Aes Sedai in the camp. Tuon often seems like such a fun character, but then there’s that scene, where I found myself wanting her to die a painful death. She can be strong and quirky, but then you suddenly have to confront that she’s a horrible slaveowner who’s damn devout about owning those slaves. It’s an unusual dichotomy, and I really have no idea how to expect it to play out. She returns to Ebou Dar and kicks out Suroth at the end of this book, presumably positioning her to become empress herself. I’ll be interested to see how Sanderson handles that whole situation.

Mat’s other major plot point involves Thom finally revealing Moirane’s letter, and the birth of a plan to go find her and rescue her from the Aelfinn and Eelfinn. I’m looking forward to that a lot, as I’m really curious about the backstory of those races, but I have a feeling it won’t happen next book. Is it my imagination, or are we being set up to have a Thom/Moirane romance whenever they do get her? I feel like that would be out of nowhere, given their previous interactions. Also, I’d been curious who Noal really is, since it seemed like he was being set up to secretly be someone important. In Book 11, we find out that he’s Jain Farstrider, the often-referenced hero presumed dead, which is fun. Though Mat somehow seems to not understand that obvious hint, which is mildly annoying.

The highlight of the book for me is probably, once again, Egwene. She spends the entire book in captivity (yup, yet another instance of the captive main character), but she manages to kick all kinds of ass even while nominally being a prisoner. I really enjoyed every one of her chapters, watching her slowly build support and lay a base for resisting Elaida. I was hopeful that Knife of Dreams would end with her victory and a reunited White Tower, but perhaps in the next book; Perrin and Elayne left us with two other long-running plots that needed to be resolved first, and thank goodness they were. I’ll be interested to see how Egwene finally wins, because of course she will. Her skillful diplomacy in this book makes me think it could be bloodless, though Lelaine’s growing power among the rebels means she risks losing one group as she gains another, so it will have to be timed well. When she does win, what happens to Elaida? And when will the foretold Seanchan attack on the Tower happen? I’ll make predictions, since Egwene is my favorite. My guess right now is that the events will be related. The Seanchan will attack, the Tower and the rebels will join forces to fight them off, and Elaida will be conveniently killed off, opening the door for both sides to accept Egwene.

Rand is a relatively smaller player in this book, despite a couple big moments. The first comes when Lews Therin finally succeeds in wresting the Power from Rand — an event that was probably overdue, given how many times we’ve been told it was a struggle Rand barely won. What’s more, Lews Therin kicks ass with it, wielding the Power in ways far beyond what we’ve seen from Rand as they fight off a Trolloc army in a kickass battle. It’s a fun glimpse into Rand’s ultimate potential. I also enjoyed seeing him fight beside Logain, whom I like a lot. I did get annoyed, however, that Rand somehow doesn’t believe Logain’s warnings that Taim is up to something bad. Of course he is! How is it that Rand distrusts literally everyone but still ignores warnings about the Black Tower when Taim being evil is so obvious? Whatever.

The other big moment for Rand is of course the failed ambush by Semirhage, though she does succeed in taking off Rand’s hand. A character losing his hand in a fight?! Good thing that’s never been done! But while losing a hand is practically a cliche now, I did enjoy its aftermath, with how little Rand even cared. He keeps getting darker and colder, to the point where I don’t even know how he’ll last til Tarmon Gai’don. But I can’t wait to see it anyway. Rand’s long-term arc has been consistently impressive, despite the hiccups.

Finally, I’m going to conclude in a less obvious area: Lan and Nynaeve. I think Jordan did a poor job overall of continuing to develop Lan as a man of a broken kingdom since Book 1; a lot more time could have been spent with him feeling torn to return to Malkier before the Last Battle. But despite popping up out of almost nowhere, I loved his return to the Borderlands, particularly the rally that Nynaeve starts of Malkieri getting excited to join his final charge. Watching those characters, whom we’re meeting for the first time, as they themselves start to get jazzed for the Last Battle in turn got me crazy pumped for the Last Battle. The build-up is almost over, and epicness surely awaits.

And with that, we say goodbye to Robert Jordan. As I’ll discuss a little more eventually when doing a broader overview of the series as a whole, Jordan was a writer with impressive depth of imagination, but also a writer with several frustrating tics. He was undeniably flawed as a author, but he still created this rich and vibrant fantasy world that has kept me coming back, book after book. And so I bid him a fond farewell as the series passes to a writer I hope can end it strongly.

Bring on Brandon Sanderson.

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NEXT TIME: The Gathering Storm, Book 12 of The Wheel of Time