Tor Books has released the cover art for the upcoming ebook release of Knife of Dreams, the eleventh book in the Wheel of Time series. Each month, beginning this past October, Tor will release the next book in the series in a variety of electronic formats. See below for a full list of links to the released books, as well as a schedule of the upcoming releases.

With each eBook, Tor is including brand new artwork for the “cover”. A different artist has been selected for each one, giving the art team at Tor a chance to provide us fans with a variety of styles.

This month, the artwork is by Michael Komarck. The ebook will be released on August 24th.

(Click each image to enlarge)

As with the previous covers that were released for the ebooks, Tor Art Director Irene Gallo has done a write up about the process behind creating this image. Be sure to check out the full article. Here’s an excerpt:

While Rand is being heroic by saving Min’s life, a fan of the series will come to the image knowing the full story is more multifaceted than that. It is a testament to Jordan’s writing that very little is simple or one-sided. While Rand is saving Min, it is an act that helps ground him, too; Rand being the Dragon isolates to the point that it’s hard to interact with people the way that he used to. Protecting them from danger at once expresses his power and reinforces his connection to close friends and loved ones. This scene is emblematic of the tightrope that Rand must walk to get to Tarmon Gai’don.

Wheel of Time eBook News and release schedule
Tor Books plans to re-release each one of the Wheel of Time novels as ebooks according to the schedule below. Each will have new cover art, specially commissioned for the eBook format. Each will feature a different artist.

• The Eye of the World: DM News | Tor.com feature | Buy from Amazon
• The Great Hunt: DM News | Tor.com Feature | Buy from Amazon
• The Dragon Reborn: DM News | Tor.com Feature | Buy from Amazon
• The Shadow Rising: Tor.com Feature | DM news | Buy from Amazon
• The Fires of Heaven:DM News | Tor.com feature | Buy from Amazon
• Lord of Chaos: DM News | Tor.com feature | Buy from Amazon
• A Crown of Swords: DM News | Tor.com Feature | Buy from Amazon
• The Path of Daggers: DM News | Tor.com Feature | Buy from Amazon
• Winter’s Heart: DM News | Tor.com Feature | Buy from Amazon
• The Crossroads of Twilight: DM News | Tor.com Feature | Buy from Amazon
• Knife of Dreams: DM News | Tor.com Feature | Available for purchase 8/24/2010
• New Spring – 09/28/10
• The Gathering Storm – 11/2/10
• From Two Rivers – 11/16/10
• To The Blight – 11/16/10
• The Hunt Begins – 11/16/10
• New Threads in the Pattern- 11/16/10

So what do you think of this new image? Leave your comments below. Remember, we’ll have a more detailed report on the overall future of the Wheel of Time print-edition covers at a later time.

Knife of Dreams, the 11th book in The Wheel of Time series, will be available in mass paperback from Tor Books the U.S. starting on Tuesday, November 28th.

If you’ve been holding out to get the paperback, or know a friend who has, this is a great chance to pick it up. If you order through our link to Amazon.com, you will be helping to support this site.

 

More Info
[ Knife of Dreams paperback ]

 

During Jordan’s recent US tour, he made time to chat with Fast Forward TV, a show dedicated to science fiction and fantasy reviews that airs in parts of Virginia and Maryland. He talks quite a bit about his experience writing the books, working on the New Spring graphic novels, and his blog that we host for him. He even manages to pronounce Jason’s name correctly.

You can download the interview in either Quicktime or MP3 format by going to Fast Forward’s website and navigating to the December episode homepage.

More info:
[ Fast Forward TV ]

Knife of Dreams comes in at #7 on Amazon.com’s Best of 2005 Editors’ Top 10 Picks for Fantasy and Science Fiction. It’s great to see Robert Jordan get broad recognition outside his fan base!

Amazon.com Top 10 Fantasy and Science Fiction Picks

Order Knife of Dreams (and support this website!)
[ Order KNIFE OF DREAMS ]
More info:
[ Knife of Dreams info page ]

Knife of Dreams is currently the #1 best-selling book in the United States. The report came from Tor today that the NEW YORK TIMES reported KoD as being at the top of their list. Some more details :

#1 – Wall Street Journal Fiction Bestsellers List (#1 Adult Hardcover
Fiction) – October 21, 2005 (debuts on list)

#2 – USA Today Bestsellers List (#1 Adult Hardcover Fiction) – October 20,
2005 (debuts on list)

#1 – The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestsellers List – October 30,
2005 (debuts on list)

Most of the books in the WoT series have been gone #1 on the list when they came out.

It is expected that KoD will be #1 on the London Times as well, but that’s still speculation on our part.

Congratulations, RJ!

You should not be reading this article. Go out and buy KNIFE OF DREAMS, the 11th book in the Wheel of Time series. It is now available in every bookstore in the US and Canada. If it’s not in local bookstore, then your local bookstore is either behind the times or is actually a cooking store.

After you’ve read the book, be sure to come back and discuss everything on our message boards. Also, check out Robert Jordan’s US tour schedule to see if he’s coming to a city near you. If you go to one, be sure to send us a report and some photos!

More Info
[ Knife of Dreams Info page ]
[ Order Knife of Dreams ]
[ Robert Jordan book tour info ]

Booklist has posted their review of Knife of Dreams. Here’s the full review:

The eleventh volume of that most colossal contemporary fantasy saga, The Wheel of Time, mostly develops things in preparation for the next and final volume. Despite rumors of Rand al’Thor’s death spreading across the land, he is alive, and so are his five companions from Two Rivers, although it can hardly be said that people with so much at stake are also well. The Seanchan invasion hasn’t turned the land into a replica of China, circa 1900–50, and so the fleets of the Athan Miere are putting to sea with, it would seem, an eye to seeing that they do so. Jordan brings dozens of minor places, from taverns to battlefields, vividly to life, and sees to it that the intrigues among the magic-wielding women of the Aes Sedai continue with a fervor and ferocity that is positively Byzantine and would make a sociology faculty blanch. Nor is it all a matter of the old Ajahs against the Darkfriends of the Black Ajah––not when the issue at stake is who is to control magic in the world to come if it isn’t going to be the Dragon Reborn. That latter possibility, of course, looms over all the uprisings and downsittings in Jordan’s superlatively executed world and its worthy company of characters.

So far KoD has been receiving very strong reviews from both the media and fans. As more early reviews roll in, we’ll post them here.

Pre-Order Knife of Dreams (and support this website!)
[ Pre-Order KNIFE OF DREAMS ]

More info:
[ Our Knife of Dreams review ]
[ Knife of Dreams info page ]

Update: There apparently was a snafu of some sort on the early release. The auction and the bookstore website now say the auction will be cancelled and a new one started with delivery on October 11.

The Other Change of Hobbit, a Berkeley, CA bookstore, is auctioning a signed copy of Knife of Dreams on eBay. Tor donated the book and authorized its early release. The full sales price goes to Habitat for Humanity International for Hurricane Katrina relief.

The auction ends September 18 at 7:00p PDT.

More info
[ Knife of Dreams eBay auction ]
[ The Other Change of Hobbit website ]
[ Knife of Dreams info page ]
[ Official Knife of Dreams website ]

Publisher’s Weekly magazine released their “starred” review of Knife of Dreams. Here it is:

The previous book in Jordan’s massive Wheel of Time, Crossroads of Twilight, may have come out in 2003, but don’t let that fool you; the 11th tome in this epic fantasy is the one Jordan fans have been eagerly awaiting for the better part of a decade. The breakneck pace, lyrical beauty and astonishing scope of the early Wheel of Time volumes established Jordan as one of the top writers in the Tolkien tradition. While more recent entries have maintained that beauty and scope, the pace has slowed to a crawl as the central characters dispersed in six directions. In contrast, the latest explodes with motion, as multiple plot lines either conclude or advance, and the march to Tarmon Gai’don–the climactic last battle between the Dragon Reborn and the Dark One–begins in earnest. Jordan has said that readers will be sweating by the end of the book, and he’s probably right. Sweating or not, they’ll also be dreading the long year or two before the 12th installment.

–Publishers Weekly, starred review, September 12, 2005

In addition to our review, various other websites and fans have begun posting their reviews of book 11. With under a month to go before the book is published, expect to see more reviews on a weekly basis.

Pre-Order Knife of Dreams (and support this website!)
[ Pre-Order KNIFE OF DREAMS ]

More info:
[ Our Knife of Dreams review ]
[ Knife of Dreams info page ]

Tor Books released to us today the artwork that will be found on the back of the Knife of Dreams book cover. Here it is:

The artwork is by Darryl K. Sweet, who has done all of the cover artwork for the previous 11 Wheel of Time novels (including the prequel New Spring). Sweet has also painted several other images for the series such as images for the WoT card game from a few years back, and a the cover for Dragon Magazine.

The Asha’man shown in the image is DKS’s take on Jur Grady.

Pre-Order Knife of Dreams (and support this website!)
[ Pre-Order KNIFE OF DREAMS ]

More info:
[ Knife of Dreams info page ]