If you like: epic adult fantasy, high fantasy, stories that have those middle ages/medieval/renaissance vibes about them, magic, adventures, world-building, classic fantasy tropes (that are tropes for a reason: because we love them)
Similar Reads: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien / The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles) by Patrick Rothfuss / Assassin’s Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy) by Robin Hobb
I was unsure of whether anyone cared for a quick review of the next two books in The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan, and I was surprised to see that there was actually some interest. So, let’s do a quick review!
The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, #2) // Rating: ✫✫✫✫/5
“By ship and horse the stories spread, by merchant wagon and man on foot, told and retold, changing yet always alike at the heart …”
It’s tricky trying to provide a synopsis of the next in a series without spoiling things for the everyone else. So bear with me. I’ll do my best.
The Great Hunt: Quick Synopsis
The Great Hunt, Book 2 of The Wheel of Time series, picks right up where the first left off. The first book left off with the reader sort of thinking, “Rand has succeeded! He killed the Dark Lord and good has reigned over evil and all is well!” But then, as a reader of this series, you also know there are 13 more books to go, so things are never so simple.
This second book’s main focus is exactly as the title implies: the Great Hunt of the ages that has now begun and was prophesied long ago to one day occur. The Horn of Valere has been stolen from our little group of traveling main characters, and a Great Hunt has begun, not just by our friends but by others, as prophecies foretold. Along with the horn, a dangerous dagger has also been stolen, and Rand’s friend Mat must be reunited with the dagger quickly if he’s to remain alive (he has as unfortunate bond with this dagger and he and the dagger both must make it to Tar Valon if there’s any hope in him being saved).
What else? There are Darkfriends everywhere, along with a creepy, cultish group of individuals called Whitecloaks that are the equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan (isn’t that reassuring), and no city is really safe anymore.
Where do Rand’s friends stand? Well, Egwayne, Nynaeve, and Elayne make it to Tar Valon to become Aes Sedai, but even there, things don’t go according to plan. Mat has his own dagger troubles to deal with; if he doesn’t get reunited with the dagger and taken to Tar Valon for help, he’ll die. And then there’s Perrin, one of my favorites. He’s struggling with his newfound duality of being a normal human – and an apprenticed blacksmith – and being … part wolf? It’s endearing, to me, but Perrin doesn’t seem to think so.
Overall Thoughts
This one was good. It was just as much of a page-turner as the first one but there were a few parts (more towards the middle) where I felt things were moving a bit slowly. (“We’re all on the hunt for the horn! … We’re walking all over the world to find the horn! … More walking and traveling and fighting to find the horn!”) This was my only reason to dock it one star. In the end, I of course immediately picked up Book 3 and started reading.
Which brings us to …
The Dragon Reborn (The Wheel of Time, #3) // Rating: ✫✫✫✫/5
“Death comes to us all; we can only choose how to face it when it comes.”
The Dragon Reborn: Quick Synopsis
The Dragon Reborn, Book 3 of The Wheel of Time series, of course picks up right were the second one left off! (Because of course.) The title gives things away a bit, and from your reading of the first book, this shouldn’t be much of a spoiler, but … spoiler: Rand is the Dragon Reborn and he tells us every handful of pages something along the lines of, “Light! I just can’t be!” But you are, Rand, you are.
So Book 3’s focus is really Rand. Rand is the Dragon Reborn and he’s having a really hard time coming to terms with it. For starters, Book 2 left off with us thinking, “Did he do it again? Did he kill the Dark Lord for good?” And then we’re like, “No, this is Book 2, so no, of course he didn’t.” But Rand questions everything and then gets really fed up with all the senseless bloodshed and constant tug-of-war between good and evil. He gets to a point where he throws up his hands, separates from everyone he loves (he doesn’t want them to get hurt in the process), and decides to pursue the Dark Lord until he can make an end to it all, even if it means that he dies in the process.
Where is everyone else? Well, Egwayne, Nynaeve, and Elayne have their own issues to deal with. Coming out of Book 2, they’re a bit worse for wear but they’ve been made stronger through their experiences, at least, I think. They’re ready to find Rand and either help him or save him. Mat is still alive and the girls have sent him on a mission that he’s determined to complete. Mat isn’t exactly the smartest of the bunch, bless his heart, but he comes through in the end. Perrin and the rest of the crew (old friends and some new characters!) are chasing after Rand (who is determined to keep everyone away) in the hopes that they might be able to stop him from doing something stupid. Common theme here, I think … this is not the first time someone needs to stop someone else from doing something stupid.
Overall Thoughts
This one was a bit slower than the first and second, but I’m starting to see a trend here in Jordan’s writing. Those last one hundred or so pages really start picking up speed and leave us cursing him as we fumble around on Amazon, or Abebooks, or Barnes & Noble, or whatever online bookstore your heart loves so much, and order the next book in the series.
There’s a lot going on in this book that is to like. We get some new characters, we continue to hang out with the old ones (and some of our favorites), and prophesies and different elements of the story are expanded further. A new “middle” world is sort of introduced, or at least further developed, and that world is the one of dreams. This plays a big role in Perrin’s life as well as that of Egwyane’s and Rand’s. It’s an extra layer that we didn’t fully have before, and it plays a big enough roll that it’s often left me having strange dreams of my own (the lucid kind where I find myself wondering while in the dream whether it’s real or not real … whether it’s another layer of real life that I just hadn’t had access to before …). Kind of creepy to say the least. But also interesting. The psyche is a strange place.
So here we are, at the end of Book 3 and waiting for Book 4 to arrive in the mailbox (or, more realistically, on the front doorstep because these books absolutely do not fit in mailboxes). Until next time, happy reading, bookworms!
JUST A GIRL WITH A BOOK 