Book Talk: Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan

This is my year for epic fantasy series with Tolkien's Lord of the Ring, Stewart's Merlin Trilogy as well as The Wheel of Time.  I read the first book, The Eye of the World, as part of a Dare Challenge,  back in 2010 and didn't expect I'd end up reading only one book a year in the 14 book saga.  I love stories with ensemble casts and is probably why I prefer to read series books over stand alone stories.  But it's oh so hard to leave that imaginary world once it's over which is probably why I reread these books over and over again.  

I'm currently on book# 11 in the Wheel of Time -- Knife of Dreams and I'm assuming if you haven't read the books by now, you won't mind spoilers.  

"The dead are walking, men die impossible deaths, and it seems as though reality itself has become unstable: All are signs of the imminence of Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle, when Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, must confront the Dark One as humanity's only hope. But Rand dares not fight until he possesses all the surviving seals on the Dark One's prison and has dealt with the Seanchan, who threaten to overrun all nations this side of the Aryth Ocean and increasingly seem too entrenched to be fought off. But his attempt to make a truce with the Seanchan is shadowed by treachery that may cost him everything. Whatever the price, though, he must have that truce. And he faces other dangers.    The winds of time have become a storm, and things that everyone believes are fixed in place forever are changing before their eyes. Even the White Tower itself is no longer a place of safety. Now Rand, Perrin and Mat, Egwene and Elayne, Nynaeve and Lan, and even Loial, must ride those storm winds, or the Dark One will triumph."


Multiple story lines are coming together, reaching a fevered pitch and the characters are finally making progress, which makes me want to dive into the next book, but I'll hold off for a while. Although  Rand is still battling for control with Lews, he's defeated the fake daughter of the nine moons.  Perrin finally rescued Faile, and Matt, bless him, has gotten the girl.  Tuon saw the man through the eyes of his faithful warriors, and pledged herself to him. He's not sure if it was a good idea or not, but the dice quite tumbling in his head for a while. We still have a lot of braid pulling with Nynaeve and she left Lan at the farthest edges of the Borderland in hopes of helping him survive.  Elayne is doing the best she can to win over the 10 houses and the aes sedai are plotting against each other and with each other.  Loial's mother finally caught up with him and Egwene is trapped in the White Tower.    There is quite a bit of gate time traveling and  I still don't see how they managed to move thousands of men so fast even with the gate.  

I'm looking forward to diving back into the Wheel of Time with all my favorite characters!