Rating: 
Summary: This book highlights the problems...
Review: New part of review...
Reviews are supposed to be critical, not necessarily bad, but with some rating. Like many I love WoT through the first four books. Mine, and most others. complaint is not that the WoT is too long, too complex etc. It is has to do with the declining level of quality of the books. What Jordan used to do just as well in fifty pages (or whatqever the original short story was), now requires over 300, with very little insight added, except that all good Aes Sedai as novices apparently have to be pillow friends and pranksters. The novel could just as well be about Elayne, Egwene, Min etc. They all act same...At least can those who love to gush over all Jordan's book even admit that the level of WoT books have declined dramatically...
If you don't like reading honest criticism stick to the fan websites etc. Reviews should be written by discriminating readers to help advise future buyers. Older part of review:
If you read the story in Legends, don't bother with this book. Fortunately, I didn't read the story until after the book, so the book was OK. Certainly better than most recent WoT installments. The book highlights one of the issues I have with Jordan. He seems to have lost all story telling ability. What was once an action packed series that explored new places and advanced the story in an interesting way now laboriously meanders as Jordan feels he needs to provide every detail of every day. As WoT books have slowed, it exposed the weakness of characters and his writing. I can remember buying the third and fourth book with some disappointment because I thought for sure the story was going to end. I wish he could go back and start over from book 5 and finish the series by 8 or 9 at most. To return to this book...If you read the short story don't bother, nothing more significant or much of interest is added. There really are only more words. I wish Jordan would do the exact opposite, turn books 6-10 into short stories. Sadly, this hypothetical condensed version would still not stand up the first four books... Recommend: Martin's Fire and Ice Series, Kay's Tigana, and Song for Arbonne, Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series, and Tolkien. Slightly lesser but still good Jone's Cavern of Black Ice (and sequel), Key's Briar King
Rating: 
Summary: Same old same old
Review: As an entire novel, this is better than his last novel; however I would have given that one zero stars if I could. As an addition to his Legends short story, this is defiantly not worth the price. The back-end of this novel (the original New Spring) is fairly engaging; the additional pre-prequel is not. The politics are boring, the description of every object to minutia is mind0numbing and the characters are the same cookie-cutter characters that fill Jordan's other novels. I think I would have rather had the unemotional Aes Sedai where I could imagine their inner-thoughts then find out that they share the exact same emotional maturity as all of Jordan's other unimaginative female characters. Do not buy this novel. Buy Legends instead and enjoy the quick-read of the original New Spring along with some other excellent short stories.
Rating:
Summary: ****ARGGHHHH****
Review: I broke my New Year's resolution! I bought ANOTHER book by Robert Jordan, and have paid the price. Another piece of utterly worthless drivel, dredged up from the most putrid nauseating cesspools of "literary" achievement.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than the recent novels.
Review: I actually enjoyed this prequel, which surprised me, since the most last few books of the series have bored me to death. Jordan got back to the roots of the story, and in doing that he got back to what was enjoyable about it. There weren't so many characters and plots going on in this book that the pace had to be slowed to a couple days through the entire novel, like the most recent full length books, and you learned a great deal more about Moraine and Lan. Lan is one of my favorite characters and I like Moraine a great deal more now. I wish Jordan could go back and re-write his world from book 5 or 6 on, in the same style. His most recent book, Crossroads of Twilight, I waited until it came out in paperback then I ... skimmed it... I SKIMMED a Jordan book! *sigh*. I just couldn't stand to slog through it.
Rating:
Summary: Helped me understand a lot of what happened later
Review: I thought that this was interesting for helping the reader get the whole story of Moiraine/Suian/Lan that has been hinted at in bits and pieces. Some of the stuff was a bit repetitious/unoriginal but it was a good read and a nice addition to the series.
Rating:
Summary: Why do i keep buying these books
Review: Thats what i have been asking myself since path of daggers. Please end this series soon Please stop with the torment
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent! Well worth the Adventure
Review: First, I should state that I love the Wheel of Time series, but, amazingly, had not read the novella "New Spring". Hence, while having a general knowledge of New Spring's, this was a first pass for me. And, with it, I found an amazingly fun read. It helps that it concentrates its focus on Moiraine (my favorite Aes Sedai from the Wheel of Time series) and Lan. Besides being of a quicker pace-- and of a size more akin to standard fiction then Fantasy fiction-- then some recent WoT primary novels, it sheds valuable insight into several key facets of Wheel of Time (minor spoilers, don't read):
* a certain, fundamental Aes Sedai ritual
* The role of the Black Ajah (make sure you track who is Black Ajah)
* Some insight into the relationship/mindset of Moiraine, Siuan and Lan All in all, a great book, serving as either a good introduction to Wheel of Time, or an excellent back story to help (in my mind) ultimately tie-up some sure to be loose-ends at the end of the main Wheel of Time story.
Rating: 
Summary: solid fill-in-the-gaps book but not up to par
Review: With New Spring, Jordan offers himself up to two major criticisms up front. One is for releasing a prequel when you haven't finished the first series yet and the other is for trying to grab a quick book by just padding out an already published first story. With regard to the first, I think it's pretty silly to complain about an author's choice of subject--perhaps he became inspired with something in terms of the back story and is excited to write it, perhaps he needs to flesh out the backstory before continuing with the original series, maybe he just has writer's block and is using this as a tool to work through it. Whatever his reasons, fans have no claim as to what an author writes, frustrating as that choice may be.
As for the second criticism, I haven't read the original short, so I can't speak as to how much this is "padded" and how much is really new, but since it's the first book of a projected three-book prequel, it seems the criticism once again isn't valid. Perhaps he could have made this one longer and made it a two book series, maybe he was caught by deadline, but he's obviously going well beyond the original if he's going to end up with over a thousand pages. And since many people new to Jordan might begin with this storyline, why not give them a standalone book since it's likely they haven't read the original.
So does the book stand up when considered by itself and not as a quick buck or a slap at the faithful? Yes, though in workaday rather than exciting fashion.
If you haven't read any Jordan, this isn't a bad place to start as it is a much stripped down, easier read with a lot of good information. If you are in the midst of the original series, it serves the purpose of filling in some gaps and expanding a bit on the characters, but in book one at least there is nothing essential or particularly compelling.
The book follows Moraine and Siuan (among many other familiar Aes Sedai) through their later training, their acceptance into the sisterhood, and their race against the Black Ajah to find the Dragon Reborn (it begins with the prophecy of his birth). A parallel story which eventually, unsurprisingly to fans, converges with Moraine's is that of Lan, the king of the lost city as he works his way back home from the Aiel War.
While fans obviously get a lot more information on Moraine, Siuan, and Lan, I can't say that it really deepens their characterizations much (with the single strong exception of one of the closing scenes involving Moraine). We have seen them through so many pages now in so many situations that it would be difficult to give us much more insight (as opposed to just more background information). And because we know them so well, or have heard much of this in some fashion if only in hints and bits, it doesn't read as compellingly as the other books, always a danger in writing prequels involving many of the same characters. For instance, how much anxiety can we really feel for Moraine as she faces a Black Ajah when we know she appears on the scene in book one of the original series relatively no worse for wear. The same for the other characters for whom we have no fear of death.
The characterizations themselves sometimes slide a bit into caricature or repetition. The bottom-pinching references in particular come a bit too frequently and trivialize the characters somewhat, especially if one knows them in later form.
The story itself is a bit slim for three hundred plus pages in terms of action or character development. In the other books, Jordan's richness of detail combines with a lot of action to give us thousand-plus page books. Nearly the same level of detail in a book a third the normal length means not a lot really happens. It is a less complex read as it focuses only on two storylines which eventually come together. Less complex means it's more tight, but also not as rich or stimulating. And some of the detail on specific Aes Sedai rituals or Cairhen royalty I could have done without. When Moraine is facing the trial of a 100 weaves, I began to have panic attacks that Jordan would actually go through all one hundred, weave by weave by weave. He didn't, but you know he was tempted. This same level of detail may seem a matter of course in a much longer book, but here it stands out and bogs down the book a bit.
All in all, Spring serves as a good, quick overview (almost like an outline relative to Jordan's other works) to the backstories of several major characters. With much of the exposition and necessary "meeting up" of characters out of the way, there is more room for the typical richness and characterization of the original Dragon books--I hope he attains it. Recommended but not with a lot of excitement.
Rating:
Summary: Eh. Fun Read. Exposes Jordan's Flaws as a Writer. Short.
Review: The plot of the book actually progresses in a mere 334 pages far more than it does in the recent 800+ page tomes. Which means it was far more enjoyable than other recent efforts--let's be honest, Jordan's books aren't paradigms of style, so we're in it for the plot. Meanwhile, rumor has it there are going to be another two prequels... couldn't he have fit them all into one volume similar in size to the other books in the series? I'd recommend going library or paperback on this one. But do read it if you're a fan. Brevity aside, it's fun, even if his shortcomings as a writer are a bit more evident in this one. Jordan's chief descriptive device is the height of his characters. And seventy-five percent of the women in Jordan's world are "tall as any man." I guess this is supposed to be striking. He can't describe a woman without comparing her to pretty, and most of those that populate the story seem to be lookers. Cliche and heavy-handed description abounds (even in the author bio!). But as I've said, when all was said and done, I enjoyed reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable and fills in a lot of details
Review: Filled in a lot details and questions brought up in the series especially the relationship regarding moiraine and lan. They brought up the aiel war in the beginning, although they never really got into it, so was a little disappointed in that, since I always wanted to hear about that and maybe even some stuff regarding hawkwing's time, but >_< thats just me... Finished the book in one weekend so I wish it was a little longer since it brought up almost as many more questions than answers.
| 
