The Great Hunt : Book Two of 'The Wheel of Time'

Rating:
Summary: Arguably the Best of the Wheel of Time Series
Review: Robert Jordan does it again in this great book. With Rand, Loial, Perrin, Mat and more they go searching for the stolen Horn, that has Artur Hawking and his armies bound to it, but anybody can use it and then the horn and the armies are bound to that person! Also stolen is Mat's dagger from Shadar Logoth and Mat's dying.
Full of excitement, loyalty, and danger, makes this book arguably his best.

Rating:
Summary: The "Hunt" goes on... and on and on...
Review: Sometimes a hit isn't as good as the second time around. Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series debuted in the slow, ponderous "Eye of the World." The follow-up is a bit better, with a slightly better plot and some Machievellian intrigues, but Jordan's mediocre writing and glacial pace turn it into another pulpy mess.

Rand and company have arrived at the home of the Aes Sedai, the female sorceresses who now hold his fate in their collective hands -- because he can do magic, albeit by accident, they might "gentle" him. What he doesn't know is that Moraine and the Aes Sedai leader, the Amyrlin, are secretly plotting to keep him safe -- because they suspect he is the Dragon Reborn.

All the Aes Sedai intrigues are interrupted when the stronghold is invaded by trollocs and a Myrdraal -- and a message for Rand is scrawled on the wall in blood. Turns out that they were stealing the legendary Horn of Valere, which can raise dead heroes. So Rand and his friends -- including Mat, whose life is bound to a stolen dagger -- go out in search of the horn.

Robert Jordan's books are slow. Really slow. Incredibly slow -- the hero, Rand, spends a hundred pages fretting about something that never happens. He spends an entire chapter getting dressed. Long books -- Dosteyevsky, Tolkien -- are often good things, richly nuanced and full of intricate plotting. But Jordan just seems to be describing everything in detail.

The plot itself has promise -- the action scenes tend to be swift, gritty and tense; the idea of a stolen horn that can raise the dead is an intriguing one. But between it is endless pages of quibbling and personal tics, as well as dozens of minor characters who have no bearing on the plot. For example, Jordan introduces countless Aes Sedai, but only two other than Moraine have any plot purpose.

Sadly, Jordan's writing isn't up to the challenge -- he reads like a second-rate pulp writer. The force of ultimate evil is called Shai'tan (can't he come up with a better name?), and just stops short of cackling out loud. The characters all interact by flirting or bickering, usually with women expressing disdain for the men. Jordan devotes a great deal of attention to the jewelry and clothing of the characters, even devoting a paragraph to a piece of Moraine's jewelry.

The characters are more like a collection of tics and personality flaws than actual people -- Rand spends all his time worrying, but breaks out long enough to be a hero. Nynaeve and Egwene pull their hair and snipe, while Perrin feels inferior and Mat flirts. Of all the characters, Moraine is the only one who comes across as a person, especially since she keeps most of her plans to herself.

"The Great Hunt" is one of those fantasy books that could have been quite good if about three hundred pages had been whittled out of it. As it is, it's merely a sloppy book with second-rate writing.

Rating:
Summary: Better than the first
Review: TGH is a step and above the first book in the Wheel of Time series. The pacing is much better and the characters receive much more development. IMO, the Seanchan were an interesting touch, and learning more about the curious Ogier gave more depth to Loial, one of my favorite characters. The climactic battle involving the Seanchan, the Whitecloaks, the heroes summoned by the horn, as well as Rand and Ba'alzamon was amazing. in fact I could clearly visualize it in my mind. On to Dragon Reborn!

Rating:
Summary: Great Hunt is great fun
Review: The "Great Hunt" was riveting reading. In this book the glimmerings of a great story unfolds into a fantastic mesmerising web of plots. It is rare to see such a great number of plots where each thread of the story keeps you waiting on the edge of your chair (or bed). Don't read this series if you have major school or work committments, you may regret it since there are seven books each averaging around 700 pages and it's a one way street. The start of chapter one in every book bears the "Eye of the World" trademark where Jordan follows the wind into the scene of the plot in prose that reads like poetry (or is it visa versa?) The characters are full of wit and lend to a vivid story as only a master could write. If you like predictable plots then don't read this book. The great hunt is full of great creative twists (perhaps more so than the other books in the series)Somehow everything weaves into a grand finale at the end of the book while it still leaves you hanging for the next book leaving you with withdrawal syndrome when you are done. The soft-covers are flimsy and often come off, perhaps because the books are so thick. Its best to buy the hard-covers instead. Although its hard to compare great fantasy novels (by definition each will be great but different), I found the Amber series by Zelazny, Earthsea series by Le Guin, Magician series by Feist, Glen Cook's Black Company and Hyperion by Simmons as great works of Fantasy and Science Fiction. We can't leave Tolkein out of this list of course. -Shahin M. Movafagh ([e-mail] or [e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: The Great Hunt had a lot of responsibility. It was following one of the greatest fantsy epics ever. It had a lot of plot lines from the previous book to bring together. The Great Hunt did just that. It is an amazing book that fuflilled its duty and went beyond. It further develops its characters and paints such a beautiful world you can almost reach out and touch it. The length is almost nothing now. When I'm reading, the length just seems to disappear. I wish this series would never end. Its vast history almost makes Jordan's word a reality. In The Great Hunt. we find Rand al'Thor facing dramatic changes in his life and how it affects his two friends. As I was reading other comments, I realized a lot of comparison to Tolkien. Jordan stands alone in his own genre of fantasy. There are undeniably similiarities but the simple truth is Jordan has changed it into his own style and that's what makes it special. Luckily, I started the series late and I don't have to wait for the next books to come out. THIS IS A SPECTACULAR SERIES!

Rating:
Summary: Better than Book 1, but closer to the downfall of the series
Review: The Great Hunt is an epic fantasy novel that continues the story begun in The Eye of the World. The book follows the adventures of the same group of village boys (and girls) and, thankfully unlike The Eye of the World, this book doesn't start as a retread of The Lord of the Rings in any fashion. The unique storyline and the fact that characters are developed more three-dimensionally makes this novel even more enjoyable than the first novel. There's plenty of action, intrigue and suspense and the novel as a whole has more direction. Also, The Great Hunt ends much more satisfyingly than rushed and disjointed conclusion of The Eye of the World.

As with the Eye of the World, I give The Great Hunt 5 stars and place it among the top fantasy novels every written, and I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys them, but always with the caveat placed on the later books. Sadly, Jordan has either begun milking his story line for more books and money, or he has created so many loose-ends and characters that he's unsure where to go with it. By Book 10, the handful of main characters from Book 1 have multiplied into literally a hundred that you have a difficult time keeping track of. But again, the series started off so fantastically that I still occasionally reread the first 3-4 books. Book 5 is the pivot that marks the downfall for me. You can actually read the first 3 books and they stand alone very well and can feel like a complete trilogy. Book 4 is better than the first three, but it doesn't give you the apparent resolution that book 3 gives so it's not a good book to stop on. Yet, if you're daring, you can move on, but it'll probably be to your own disappointment.


Rating:
Summary: Downward Spiral Starts Here
Review: The most important question I can pose to Mr. Jordan is; `What about the `Wheel of Time' is so relevant to the human condition and literature, that almost 10,000 pages of text is necessary to convey the background of these fictional characters in an imaginary world?'

Absolutely nothing.

Make no mistake; Mr. Jordan is not an excellent writer by any means. His series has no signs of intricate plot construction. He seems more interested in expressing his exact idea of what the reader should imagine in each scene, then allowing the reader to use their own creativity to imagine certain scenes. Honestly, I cannot see any reason to spend over half a chapter describing characters that may only appear four times in minor roles throughout the entire series. There is absolutely nothing wrong, in my opinion, with crafting a description for a major or minor character that is less than one paragraph that conveys all important information. It almost seems as if Robert Jordan wanted to publish a list of physical statistics for each character covering blood type, height in centimeters, weight, shade of eyes, history of their wardrobe, a summary of their genetic lineage and perhaps a list of personality quirks. Nothing wrong with that either, as long as the overall story benefits from this information.

After reading the entire series and going back to read the first books, Mr. Jordan's flaws become more and more apparent. I find myself wishing that Tor had used an editor that could give the writing in this book enough direction so that the major events themselves don't become the only reasons for reading.



Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is the sequel to The Eye of the World, to which it is superior in a number of ways. Once again the heroes find themselves trailing around half of their continent, but this time rather than being chased, they are doing the chasing - after the Horn of Valere and Mat's knife, and then after Egwene. What this effectively means in terms of atmosphere is that we have a much clearer feeling that this book has a definite goal in mind and is heading towards that goal with a lot of purpose and a fair bit of pace. With most of the character and world introductions out of the way, Jordan devotes this book to developing the story and characters further, particularly Rand and Egwene. Mat could do with some more development, but what is here is more than satisfying enough.

It is in this book that the series really starts to get underway. Here, many of the apparent throw-away characters and sub-plots begin to connect with the core, in particular Min and Elayne, cameo players in Eye, become major characters and Jordan doesn't waste too much time achieving that either. Even Bayle Domon (you know, the ship captain from Eye) makes a reappearance. By far the most important developments though are Rand's realisation that he is the Dragon Reborn, and the way he deals with that. This also leads to plenty of great moments for the Rand fans out there, as he rapidly, if reluctantly, starts to fill this exulted role. There's also a great and touching moment when Ingtar reveals his true motives, which I won't spoil for you.

But don't think there is nothing new in this book. On the contrary, we get to meet an empire from across the ocean, our first non-battle encounter with a Forsaken, and we even go to parallel universes.

And by the end of this lot, you're probably shaking you're head and saying "that sounds like a mess!" it's not, believe me. The Wheel of Time probably doesn't get any more tightly plotted than this installment, and it doesn't get much better, particularly not from a literary point of view.

Rating:
Summary: Its getting better!
Review: This was good, some of the best fantasy that I have ever read. It is an improvement to the Eye of the World. It continues to follow the tradtional fantasy guides that the Eye of the World started with. The plot improves and gets more complicated. There are new forces, enemies, whatever you may call them that enter the book and the idea of the Hunt for the Horn of Valere was good. The end of the book also has good drama and action. Three forces come together in battle, and the battle scene is awesome. The final charge, the invaders from over the sea and...well I won't spoil it, you should read it for yourself. If you have read the Eye of the World, you will have to start with that. The Great Hunt is good and anyone who enjoys traditional fantasy should try this.