Knife of Dreams

August 25, 2026   

Knife of Dreams

Rating 3 of 5

Knife of Dreams is the eleventh book in Robert Jordans famous Wheel of Time book series. It is the last novel in the series authored by Robert Jordan.

My reviews of the series

As these stories are rather long, rather then review the plot I’m just going to refer Wikipedia for a plot summary.

This is an average book that could have been a good book if it had been edited and combined into a single book with Winter’s Heart and Crossroads of Twilight.

It starts out as a big of a slog and then picks up in the last third.

A lot actually happens in this book which is nice change from the other two.

Honestly the story is getting a bit hard for me to recall. I had to read the wikipedia page to remind myself what happened in the book.

One recollection is that this book goes a little to far with everyone spanking each other. Why are the characters constantly hitting each other in some form of corporal punishment? It goes a little over the top.

The part of the story I found the weakest was the ending of the the siege at Caemlyn. Elayne’s attempt to capture Black Ajah that have been in the city the whole time was just too formula and kind of dumb. The siege and Caemlyn just never felt like that risky a part of the story Elayne is just hanging out and Caemlyn, finally finds the black Ajah and leads are army to victory, :yawn:. It just was never a compelling plot.

Mats victories with the band against the Seanchan just feel to easy, he blasts them with superior technology and weapons. His movements are interesting and its fun to see him get to play the Hero after being a bit of a heel for a few books, but you somewhat wish his victories were not so compelling or come so easily.

The book does give Tuon and his relationship a little depth. She sees him as an odd part of her journey to dominate Randland rather then as a real mate. It’s a bit hard to puzzle out why she stays with him but its not as odd as it is in the earlier books.

After eleven books the series now transitions to a new author. Its a change I’m looking forward to. Like a TV show that goes on for a few too many seasons the Wheel of Time is in need of some fresh authorship. Robert Jordan’s writing can get a bit muddled at times and the character list in the story gets too long and its all very hard to follow at times. I think if it was just more Robert Jordan I would have read the plot summaries online and ended my reading of the novels, but I’ll finish it now. After eleven books there’s no turning back.