Knife of Dreams

Ah, I just finished Knife of Dreams, and it's the best Wheel of Time book in a while. It's not that the others weren't good, but the last few have been very short. This one felt complete. I think the last three could have been made into two books, rather than three. The wait would have been longer, but I, at least, would have been more satisfied with them. Hmmm... so what can I say about KoD to whet rather than spoil... Well, the blacksmith and the hawk are reunited, though I won't say under what circumstances. The Seanchan have some gains, and some losses. We get a brief taste of Tuon's POV...and she has some interesting words to say. A word to would-be conquerors: don't bite off more than you can chew. Oh, and Thom finally shows Mat his letter from a dead woman. That part is going as expected, though it will have to be resolved in a later book: of course, they are going to the Tower of Ghenjei. Eventually. After some other matters are taken care of. That reminds me, plenty of darkfriends get what's coming to them in this book *grins*.

Things are coming to a head now, enough that I think Tarmon Gai'don will begin in full in the next book. I have a suspicion that the 13th book will be the last, but this is only a guess. It would be fitting to have 13 books. 13 Forsaken, 13 Black Ajah who left the White Tower, 13 women in a full circle of Aes Sedai... It would be more than fitting. On the other hand, I won't complain if there's more. I suppose it could even end on the next book but my feeling is that there is still too much unresolved to finish up in one book (though RJ has said that not everything will be resolved, just as there are always loose ends in real life). If my guess at 13 is correct, I expect all the players to be in place by the end of book 12, and that Tarmon Gai'don will take up all or most of book 13.