Knife of Dreams

Robert Jordan's eleventh Wheel of Time novel — and the last he completed before his death in 2007 — finally delivers on storylines that had been building for thousands of pages. Perrin's desperate military campaign to rescue Faile, Elayne's fight for the Lion Throne, Egwene's subtle rebellion from inside her prison in the White Tower, and Rand's confrontation with darkening reality all move with genuine momentum and real stakes. Readers and reviewers widely called it a return to form. There is no reviewing around the obvious: this requires ten prior novels of investment, and Jordan's prose is dense even at its best. Violence is present throughout but not graphic; the romantic elements are largely chaste. For series readers, it is a deeply satisfying and bittersweet entry — the last word from Jordan himself before Brandon Sanderson completed the series.