Publisher : Media Books Audio Publishing
Publication Date : 1993
>> alternates between boring and brilliant
honestly this book had me so frustrated because i was alternatingly riveted and bored stiff with different parts of the book the first several hundred pages dragged on and felt overly lengthy whereas the last 200 pages flew by and thankfully made me glad that i had stuck with it if the book had been at its best throughout i surely would have given this a rating of 4 5 or 5 but the lulls really dragged me down
in the first book Eye of the World Jordan introduced to us his massive world of characters and lands our foundation now in The Great Hunt we naturally expect to build upon that and we do but not as much as i d have liked the story centers around the epic hunt for the horn but surprisingly the horn is in hand at the beginning of the book it is only when it is stolen that the real hunt begins in addition to the hunt we follow Egwene and Nynaeve the Two Rivers women to Tar Valon to begin their training as Aes Sedai as was the case in EotW the women are such strong characters that it is difficult not to appreciate them
There is an old saying here in the Borderlands Better to have one woman on your side than ten men
the character development continued to be good but seemed unbalanced weighing most heavily on Rand and at times Egwene and Nynaeve but there was much to be appreciated there particularly with the women the training in Tar Valon their friendships with Min and Elayne and in the end their hardships were by far my favorite scenes in the book in addition to the continued development there were some great new characters that were introduced but since i could spend days writing about each of them i ll skip that and just say that jordan is a master of characterization
however i was irritated that there wasn t much improvement in the maturity of the boys the Blacksmith the Swordsman and the Trickster i had really expected to see some standout development there but we still have plenty of time for that 10 books to be exact i suppose i m afraid that if it continues much longer though that i ll hate them by the time this is all over although i loved Perrin in the first book his character was stuck wallowing over his misfortunes and seemed nearly unimportant here and Rand and Mat bickering throughout didn t help either the best part of following the boys was the alternate worlds that jordan created with the Ways and the portal stones bringing a great sci fi/quantum physics feel to the books
POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT
the primary underlying theme throughout all of the travels and character development was the recognition that Rand is in fact the Dragon Reborn as the title of Book 3 suggests his reluctance to admit to his destiny almost proved that he was the only one who could fulfill the role everyone that he met acknowledged that he was ta veren along with the other boys and although i understood his hesitation i wanted to shake him and hurry him along to become who he was destined to be however i did appreciate Rand s honest vulnerability regarding his power which he was slowly coming to terms with throughout their travels
He wanted to save Mat and stop Fain but he did not want to touch saidin He was afraid to channel and he hungered for it like a starving man for food
END SPOILER ALERT
all in all i enjoyed the book and will definitely be continuing on in the series however i really hope that Jordan is able to focus the writing a little more and provide some consistency in his brilliance there is no denying that he writes well and that when it is good it is great i hope that the boys really develop into noble men rather than the annoying boy heroes that they are and i can t wait to see what is in store for the women
>> A very uneven read that s alternately exciting and bloated
Continuing directly after EYE OF THE WORLD THE GREAT HUNT tells the story of Rand and the others Rand is still running from his fate both his ability to channel the One Power and denying that he could be the Dragon Reborn To distance himself from these prophecies fate and the Aes Sedai along with the gear of being gentled he chases after the Horn of Valere when it s stolen with Perrin and Mat Meanwhile Egwene and Nynaeve begin their own path to become Aes Sedai
For some reason I m much not as able to consolidate my thoughts on THE GREAT HUNT as I was with THE EYE OF THE WORLD Perhaps this is the result of liking some parts of the book so fiercely while disliking others just as fiercely I felt a lot of drag with TGH especially through the beginning and couldn t help but think that the novel could have been quite a lot shorter without sacrificing much Simply stated the book felt bloated and kept me swinging from excitement to foot tapping boredom as I waited for the next juicy bit
That s a problem of pacing and can be disregarded for now because I want to talk a lot about what TGH did differently than EOTW and what I liked/disliked
An appropriate beginning point is with the characters EOTW really attempted an almost egalitarian approach to coverage of the cast I think this was forsaken a little in TGH This story is mostly Rand s story with strong sub sections given to Egwene and Nynaeve For this story Perrin Mat and even Lan and Moiraine are marginalized quite a lot with a few very fun exceptions This split both worked for me and didn t Much like everything in this particular book I think Rand very much needed the development because I did complain in my EOTW review that he was bland dull boring Here at least he really embraces the role of reluctant hero and yes I do mean to be ironic/funny here it s nerd humor That being said I was really ready for Rand to plunge into action and heroics after EOTW so being treated to an extra 700 pages of I don t want it was a little hard on me Still I like Rand a lot better than I did before so I suppose the purpose was served Also I totally get a kick out of Rand s inevitable descent into lunacy It s probably just mean how much I look forward to this
I think the cast focus worked for Nynaeve too She s probably one of those characters one either really loves or hates I found that she universally thrilled me throughout this book Despite her ridiculous temper she s actually very wise Keeping in mind she s very accomplished for one so young I just enjoy having her around She s one of the characters I look forward to seeing grow But she s already had some very excellent scenes Particularly I loved the tests she had to endure of past present and future
I even felt that I could endure the teasingly little story I got building the incredibly strange jealousy and tension between the Moiraine/Lan bond because of the Nynaeve/Lan romance I want more of this please
I don t think the focus on certain cast members worked for Mat at all In fact the only things I can really remember for Mat other than a few bantering scenes are negative Especially coming from EOTW where Mat gets the short end of the stick and acts like a petulant child and ass for most of the book he needed more in TGH to redeem himself So for now I still am not going to be converting to loving Mat anytime soon Perrin may have faced a similar problem except I came away with such a positive feeling from him in the first book that it works to the opposite effect So lucky for Perrin not lucky for Mat Also Perrin has those adorably allies the wolves who I can never attribute anything negative to In fact when they revealed Perrin s name I was a mess Why am I such a mess when the wolves are involved I m not entirely sure Jordan just knows how to hit all the right buttons with me when he s involved I even forgive his reticence much more easily than Rand s
Although All the negatives here are matched by positives Compared to EOTW I think quite a few scenes in TGH were incredibly more memorable For one the dreams were quite a lot creepier eyeless Perrin and stabbed Mat and the What Might Be chapter was just made of amazing
But that s TGH all around for me I react really strongly on some things and just don t care about others at all
>> An epic adventure in every way just as good as the first one
Plot Summary Rand al Thor has faced the Dark One and lived and although he accepts his ability to channel the One Power he denies that he is the Dragon Reborn When the Horn of Valere is stolen Rand is desperate to escape the Aes Sedai so he joins the soldiers who vow to bring it back along with Mat and Perrin Meanwhile Egwene and Nynaeve travel to Tar Valon to begin their training to becoming Aes Sedai Their divergent paths converge at the end in another climactic finale
The scope of this series is already melting my brain and I m only two books in so far It s not the best fantasy I ve ever read but it s certainly entertaining and the sheer size of it lends it strength The Great Hunt is just over 700 pages and a lot of action takes place therein Action is definitely where Robert Jordan excels He crafts wonderfully evil bad guys who are always huffing down the necks of Rand and his friends The tension hums constantly and this is the second book to end with a big clash and bang I would have a hard time finishing these books in a timely manner if I wasn t propelled by the relentless plot Once I immerse myself into this world I become hooked
The character development is okay although it s a bit spotty in places For instance Perrin and Mat are in the thick of things but I don t feel like they ve progressed in any way They just go with the flow without growing personally Rand gets the most face time obviously but he spends much of this book in denial which is isn t my favorite way to spend time with someone I think Egwene and Nynaeve had the best story arc this time while Moiraine and Lan were barely present
I think the title of book three says it all The Dragon Reborn Book Three of The Wheel of Time I ll be glad when Rand isn t trying to run from his destiny because it s always more interesting when characters are proactive rather than passive
