Have one to sell?

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

Robert Jordan

The Path of Daggers: Book Eight of 'The Wheel of Time' (Wheel of Time, 8) Audio CD – Unabridged, November 11, 2008

by Robert Jordan (Author), Michael Kramer (Reader), Kate Reading (Reader)

7,620 ratings

Book 8 of 14: Wheel of Time

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$9.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$30.95

$20.09

$1.94

Paperback

"Please retry"

$17.74

$11.75

$9.82

Mass Market Paperback, Illustrated

"Please retry"

$9.59

$7.98

$3.06

Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

—

Digital

"Please retry"

—

The Wheel of Time is now an original series on Prime Video, starring Rosamund Pike as Moiraine!

Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters.

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

The seals of Shayol Ghul are weak now, and the Dark One reaches out. The Shadow is rising to cover humankind.

In Tar Valon, Min sees portents of hideous doom. Will the White Tower itself be broken?

In the Two Rivers, the Whitecloaks ride in pursuit of a man with golden eyes, and in pursuit of the Dragon Reborn.

In Cantorin, among the Sea Folk, High Lady Suroth plans the return of the Seanchan armies to the mainland.

In the Stone of Tear, the Lord Dragon considers his next move. It will be something no one expects, not the Black Ajah, not Tairen nobles, not Aes Sedai, not Egwene or Elayne or Nynaeve.

Against the Shadow rising stands the Dragon Reborn...

The Wheel of Time®
New Spring: The Novel
#1 The Eye of the World
#2 The Great Hunt
#3 The Dragon Reborn
#4 The Shadow Rising
#5 The Fires of Heaven
#6 Lord of Chaos
#7 A Crown of Swords
#8 The Path of Daggers
#9 Winter's Heart
#10 Crossroads of Twilight
#11 Knife of Dreams

By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
#12 The Gathering Storm
#13 Towers of Midnight
#14 A Memory of Light

By Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

By Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons
The Wheel of Time Companion

By Robert Jordan and Amy Romanczuk
Patterns of the Wheel: Coloring Art Based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

Language

English
Publisher

Macmillan Audio
Publication date

November 11, 2008
Dimensions

5.23 x 2.19 x 5.8 inches
ISBN-10

1427205086
ISBN-13

978-1427205087
See all details

Robert Jordan
7,473
Hardcover
180 offers from $2.36
Robert Jordan
7,234
Hardcover
106 offers from $2.70
Robert Jordan
9,202
Hardcover
93 offers from $9.91
Robert Jordan
7,188
Hardcover
171 offers from $2.59
Robert Jordan
9,219
Hardcover
89 offers from $12.48
Robert Jordan
7,102
Hardcover
128 offers from $3.49

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The Path of Daggers audio book is a captivating production that will engage the imagination of the listener and transport them to a far away place. Without doubt The Path of Daggers audio book is a must have for all fans of Jordan's work, as well as those who enjoy fantasy genre books in general.” ―Article Dashboard

“Robert Jordan has come to dominate the world Tolkien began to reveal....The battle scenes have the breathless urgency of firsthand experience, and the...evil laced into the forces of good, the dangers latent in any promised salvation, the sense of the unavoidable onslaught of unpredictable events bear the marks of American national experience during the last three decades.” ―The New York Times on The Wheel of Time

About the Author

ROBERT JORDAN (1948-2007) is best known for his internationally bestselling epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time®, which has sold over 40 million copies in North America and is currently being adapted for the screen. A native of Charleston, Jordan graduated from The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, with a degree in physics. He served two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army and received multiple decorations for his service.

Michael Kramer has narrated over 100 audiobooks for many bestselling authors. He read all of Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time fantasy-adventure series as well as Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive series. He received AudioFile magazine's Earphones Award for the Kent Family series by John Jakes and for Alan Fulsom's The Day After Tomorrow. Known for his “spot-on character portraits and accents, and his resonant, well-tempered voice” (AudioFile), his work includes recording books for the Library of Congress’s Talking Books program for the blind and physically handicapped.

Kramer also works as an actor in the Washington, D.C. area, where he lives with his wife, Jennifer Mendenhall (a.k.a. Kate Reading), and their two children. He has appeared as Lord Rivers in Richard III at The Shakespeare Theatre, Howie/Merlin in The Kennedy Center’s production of The Light of Excalibur, Sam Riggs and Frederick Savage in Woody Allen’s Central Park West/Riverside Drive, and Dr. Qari Shah in Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul at Theatre J.

Kate Reading is the recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards and has been named by AudioFile magazine as a “Voice of the Century,” as well as the Best Voice in Science Fiction & Fantasy in 2008 and 2009 and Best Voice in Biography & Culture in 2010. She has narrated works by such authors as Jane Austen, Robert Jordan, Edith Wharton, and Sophie Kinsella. Reading has performed at numerous theaters in Washington D.C. and received a Helen Hayes Award for her performance in Aunt Dan and Lemon. AudioFile magazine reports that, "With subtle control of characters and sense of pacing, Kate’s performances are a consistent pleasure."

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Macmillan Audio; Unabridged edition (November 11, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1427205086
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1427205087
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.08 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.23 x 2.19 x 5.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #903,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9,606 in Sword & Sorcery Fantasy (Books)
- #10,424 in Fantasy Action & Adventure
- #19,193 in Epic Fantasy (Books)

Customer Reviews:
7,620 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Robert Jordan

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Robert Jordan was born in 1948 in Charleston. He was a graduate of the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, with a degree in physics, and served two tours in Vietnam. His hobbies included hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool and pipe collecting. He died in September 2007.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

7,620 global ratings

5 star		67%
4 star		22%
3 star		9%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Mainer

Bit slow but okay

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 20, 2022

Verified Purchase

This book took me a little longer to finish even if it's a bit shorter than the previous ones. Parts of it really dragged as there's more setup than action here. As always, I love the Rand and Perrin chapters though I miss Mat. The rest were just okay. I noticed that I'm starting to skim some of the repetitive description, but I can only take so much and I don't think I'm missing much. On to Winter's Heart.

Helpful

Bryan Desmond

'To destroy or be destroyed. When that's your choice, is there a difference?'

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

So ends the eighth book of the Wheel of Time. I'm marking this one on the low end of four stars. I will warn that there may be slight, slight spoilers below. If you don't want to know things like who is still alive, or who is in this book, I'd steer clear. Otherwise, I will keep any major spoilers contained and marked, which I've done in my recent reviews for this series.

So here I am. In the middle of the series. I think I can now say that I've reached the point that fans often refer to as the slump. The infamous slowing of pace that readers often point to in (and this is up for debate) books seven through ten. I want to address the so called slump, seeing as how it's such a pervasive topic when this series comes up.

Firstly, and you'll hear this a lot, the slump really isn't so bad for readers now a days for one simple reason; we don't have to wait for the books to come out. I can absolutely see why waiting for these books would be somewhat tortuous, especially seeing as how Jordan likes to end the books with a bang; often with some twist or large plot-changing event. So revving the pace way up at the end only to have your readers waiting for a couple years on your next installment is understandably frustrating. Be that as it may, I don't have to wait. And while I'll be reading something else before I go on, I could jump right into Winter's Heart if I wanted to. So that's one big part of it. The other is that I simply think it's overstated. Now, the next couple books could slow to a mind-numbing crawl, forcing me to eat my words, but even so, thus far the slowing of pace has not been so bad. It has been noticeable, but not nearly as noticeable as I anticipated. Yes, events have slowed. One of the biggest contributing factors to that is that our characters are so spread out. It may be ten chapters before you get back to a certain plot line. It's just the nature of the beast when it comes to these huge epics. I guess I also benefit from having anticipated it, but it really just isn't that bad. The Wheel of Time has never been a series of lightning fast pacing. Jordan is a very descriptive writer; he has been from the beginning. And sometimes that means a slower pace. However it also means a larger payoff, a bigger reward, when the weaves come together. And as I've mentioned before, I'm so invested in this world and story at this point that I'm willing to read through slower bits to see how the story unfolds. The Path of Daggers also happens to be the shortest book in the series, and it looks like Winter's Heart isn't much longer. So it's hard to get upset about a slower pace when I feel like I'm finishing the book rather quickly. Okay, that's enough about that.

There's not too much I can say about the story that doesn't dive into spoiler territory at this point. Jordan has woven many threads into this thing, many threads. And I enjoy reading about each one. I was glad to have Perrin get some great chapters here. Egwene's story is more interesting by the chapter, and as usual I can't get enough Rand chapters. I'm always a bit disappointed to leave one behind. I was surprised and a little bummed to have no Mat POVs at all in this one. I expect he'll have a fair bit next book to make up for it. Fingers crossed. Eight down and six to go.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Judy Chun

Another chapter in The Wheel of Time

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 19, 2022

Verified Purchase

If you haven’t read any of this series, start with book one- The Eye of the World. They need to be read in order- all 14 of them. I reread them at least twice a year and enjoy them all every time. He was by far the best fantasy writer out there. We lost much when we lost him. Do yourself a favor and start the series. You will love the characters and each one gets his turn to be the central character. Enjoy and spread the news. We always buy the first book at the used bookstores to give to a new reader. It is great to have someone to discuss the stories with.

Helpful

High Fantasy Reader

Better than I thought it would be

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 9, 2009

Verified Purchase

Because of the abundance of negative and mediocre reviews here, I was weary when picking up this book, expecting the worst of the series. To my surprise, I actually found this one quite enjoyable, moreso than "Lord of Chaos" or "A Crown of Swords."

I decided to skip making a review of "A Crown of Swords" and go straight to this book, because...well, there wasn't really anything to say about ACoS. It was pretty much the same as LoC. In fact, if LoC hadn't been so doggone fat with description and pointless details, I think that it, Crown of Swords, and Path of Daggers could have been combined into two books, rather than three.

Robert Jordan's biggest flaw as a writer, I think, is that he doesn't know what to focus on. He has such a great story, world, and characters, yet he spends his time on the wrong things entirely. A lot more story, action, and character development could be packed in if the more mundane happenings and excess description was gotten rid of. Oftentimes, however, he tends to skip over details that I actually want to read about, such as Elayne's test to become Accepted, or her relationship with Rand, or Rand's interaction with his Asha'man, to name a few. It is tantalizing to think of what a glorious, 5-star series this could have been and remained if this one problem had been gotten rid of.

What I think is provoking so much negative feedback for these books, more than anything else, is the slow progress. I suffer a lot less from this, since I started the series later than most readers and can read the books back to back, but when these books were being published, series' loyalists had to wait up to two or three years between books after Lord of Chaos was published, and little enough progress is made in each one.

But then, the Wheel of Time never has been a series for immediate action and gratification. These are slow-paced books that were written to be satisfying in the long run, rather than in the immediate, and if you go in thirsting for action and excitement and nothing else, you might be disappointed. On the flipside, I've found that going back and reading the series over, after reading several books in, makes for a much richer experience than the first time.

The first time reading, most characters seem really minor, and get brushed aside easily and forgotten. After reading through several books and getting an idea of who the characters are and where they're going, I can really savor the storylines and character interaction, as well as the staggering complexity of the plot. I'd advise new readers of this series to do the same, read several books in, then go back and start a second time. It makes everything better.

Anyway, "Path of Daggers" benefited in no small manner from its slightly better focus. Elayne is more prominent in this book than any other character, which counts for quite a bit with me, as she doesn't get on my nerves the way that most of Jordan's female characters do. I personally found Egwene's POV to the be the most boring, as it moves sluggishly and is too preoccupied with politics to be very enjoyable. The plot itself takes place over the time frame of about one month. Then again, I guess all the plotlines are too slow to one extent or another, even in the shortest book of the series. (Not counting the prequel.)

All and all, it's a good book, though it could do with a lot less bitchy secondary characters (Cadsuane, Nynaeve, the Maidens) and with more Rand, Mat, and Elayne. I'd also like to see more focus on the excellent and colorful magic system, the One Power. It deserves more of a forefront in the series and more frequent use than it is getting.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

eBook formatting distracting

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

Hello - I love the Wheel of Time series and just downloaded this eBook on Kindle. I've found the formatting of this eBook is different than the previous 7 in the series - there is a space after every paragraph. This makes reading dialogue challenging and also hard to follow the story at times as it will jump from one plot point to another and there is no indication of the jump via the formatting. I spoke with Amazon customer service and they recommended I write a review so it can be passed along to the publisher. I'm hoping this can be fixed and I can get the formatting updated on my copy. Thank you.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

PT007

Imaginative, unpredictable and amazing read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 27, 2020

Verified Purchase

This series of books is the best I have read. Each book I have found hard to put down, this one has been no different.

I love the way the characters develop and the detail around each individual group. So many smaller stories in one.

I am binge reading this series, I think I would have found it quite difficult waiting for the next one to be published. I love fantasy and these books will appeal to any teens and adults that like a good fantasy read. I imagine I will have a cup of tea and download the next one.

2 people found this helpful

JRC Salter

Get on with it!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 26, 2012

Verified Purchase

So we have now come to a point in the Wheel of Time series where there are so many characters, so many plot lines, so many things going on that Jordan feels he has to spend literally half the book reintroducing us to everything. Aside from using the Bowl of the winds (finally!) at the beginning, nothing happens for the first half. Rand himself doesn't appear until around 48% of the way through. Then we actually get a large scale battle and it's quite good, but can't match the excitement of Dumai's Well's.

Basically, the whole book is a mess. Like the last couple, there is no clear direction, but unlike any of the others, this feels like it's missing a few pages. We seem to completely skip Rand's first encounter with the Seanchan and move on to the next. We get virtually no insight into how Rand feels about being an actual king which I would have thought would be a major thing considering how Jordan tells us every tiny thing happening inside the characters' heads. Some of the plot is told retrospectively in the thoughts of characters which is a HUGE authorial mistake and goes against the general rule of 'show, don't tell'.

Having said this, however, the good bits are good. Egwene begins to assert her authority over the Hall, Perrin and Faile begin to get along better, Rand uses Callandor for the first time since Shadow Rising, to remarkable and devastating effect. But most of these things could easily have been used in either the Crown of Swords or Winter's Heart. The only reason I can think of for this book to exist would be just to have the cliff hangers and open endings Path of Daggers has. Even though they are good hooks to get you to buy the next book, doesn't mean an entire book should be written as an excuse to write them; the endings would be difficult to fit into Crown of Swords, but would work as a beginning to Winter's Heart. Rand defeating Sammael and becoming King of Illian in Crown of Swords feels like a natural ending, but Jordan could have easily have Rand go against the Seanchan in that book. The two-battle ending worked in Fires of Heaven and could do so here as well. The usage of the Bowl of the Winds could have worked in Crown of Swords too. The rest of Path of Daggers could have acted as the beginning to Winter's Heart.

So, all in all, this, along with Crossroads of Twilight, is one of two books I've read that doesn't need to exist at all. Read only as a means to progress the story and speed read most of it to get it done faster.

8 people found this helpful

Graham

Felt like filler

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

There’s a lot of build up in this and people moving about but mostly it feels like the wheels were kept spinning for things to happen later. This could have been a far shorter book.

One person found this helpful

RL

Another great book in the series

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

Some decent progression of the plot in this one, and in the last 10 chapters it really picks up the pace and gets very intriguing. Shorter than the previous couple of entries, it's a nice read for around 2 weeks. The main downside is at times way too lengthy descriptions of every person and location in each chapter, it doesn't necessarily drag but there are certain parts that just don't seem necessary to set the scene.

J. Bond

Epic Breadth

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 9, 2010

Verified Purchase

Many rate this, the eight book, in the progression of ther Wheel of Time series as being "in a holding pattern", however, I have found this section of the saga to be much more readable, it comes in just shy of 100 pages less than either volume six or seven, and see's the narrative come along in several of the concurrent story arcs.

However, as ever, Jordon's approach to progressing the story can be somewhat jagged, he will dedicate three solid chapters of over twenty pages a piece to one story arc, and then switch to a different arc without much warning.

This writing style, to the uninitiated, does appear to be "a holding pattern", but the story is anything but. As finally decisive action takes place in the epic that is The Wheel of Time.

One person found this helpful

See all reviews

Follow the Author

The Path of Daggers: Book Eight of 'The Wheel of Time' (Wheel of Time, 8) Audio CD – Unabridged, November 11, 2008

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Robert Jordan

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries