Rating: 
Summary: Back to basics
Review: It's prequel number one (of three) for Jordan as the end of the Wheel of Time recedes ever farther from sight. Leaving aside the necessity or otherwise of further bloating an already mammoth series, examined on its own merits _New Spring_ has more to recommend it than the last few instalments in the series proper. Without the need to buoy up a multiplicity of storylines, Jordan produces a fast-paced, engaging tale. It's Lan and Moiraine: The Early Years, essentially; set twenty years before the other books, this deals with Gitara's Foretelling of the Dragon's rebirth, and how a young Cairhienin Accepted gains the shawl and finds her Warder. The problem is the very 'expansion' that is responsible for this tale being republished. The original 'New Spring' novella from _Legends_ is included here with few changes (bar some extra incidents on the road to Chachin), and as such remains well worth the read - if you don't already own a copy of _Legends_. The new material tacked onto the beginning, however, will appeal only to real WoT masochists. An account of Siuan and Moiraine's ascent from Accepted to full sisters, it's sometimes entertaining in its portrait of the series' key players in their youth, but on the whole it's too redolent of the later books in the WoT - full of unmemorable characters and info-dump exposition, devoid of tension or much in the way of humour. Newcomers should go to _The Eye of the World_ and its immediate successors, where the exploration of the White Tower is pulled off far more gradually and elegantly. Fans will probably buy this one anyway, but be warned: if you've read the excellent original story, there's little new here.
Rating: 
Summary: Much Better Than I Expected
Review: Like so many of the 1-star reviewers, I too was not thrilled that Robert Jordan had deviated from the main series to write a prequel. I've been engulfing The Wheel of Time Series since discovering it by accident several years ago, yet the last two novels have been major disappointments. That being said, New Spring was like a breath of fresh air. The novel takes us back to the early days of Moiraine Damodred and Siuan Sanche when they were just Accepted, not full Aes Sedai. In addition, we get a better understanding of Lan Mandragoran's past and how he became warder to Moiraine. Take this novel for what it is; that is, a peak at the past of very important charcters and what has motivated them to set in motion the return of the Dragon Reborn.
Rating: 
Summary: Please wrap it up
Review: I agree that Mr Jordan should not be releasing sequels before the series is finished. What's next, special edition re-writes of the existing books?
Rating:
Summary: what is going on?
Review: I just can't believe that a prequel would be written before the story is finished...unless the author wants us privy to information so that he can finish the series...finally. I just want the series done...I am tired of reading the same small details over and over and over...Light! Blood and Ashes! Fish Guts! At least "Nineave?" is not flipping her braid around again. I really do enjoy the story...it is just that it is so bogged down in the same details that I find myself flipping through pages to get to some action. At least this book...as my husband pointed out, is not so long. so that's a good thing.
Rating:
Summary: Worth reading, but not as good as the other books
Review: I have to confess that while I found the first 7 books of the Wheel of Time impossible to put down, I didn't experience that with this book. It was a good story, and a must-read for any Wheel of Time fan, but it's not in the same league with most of the other books. Worst of all is this nagging feeling...why is Robert Jordan writing prequels when he could be finishing the series? This annoyed me constantly while reading the book and it detracted from my enjoyment of the book. I would rather have seen the next book come out sooner than read this.
Rating: 
Summary: love Moraine, you will love the book
Review: While it was refreshing to avoid the deluge of new characters and sub-sub plotlines, the book forcibly reminded me that Jordan is still firmly in "stretch-mode," milking this cash-cow for all it's worth. If you were hoping for something out of the Age of Legends or the Two Rivers characters... sorry. Jordan does throw in a couple of tidbits about al'Lan, but his part remains relatively small. However, if you like the women putting each other on pedestals and shopping... that remains a core element of this book, and you will be well satisfied.
Rating:
Summary: A Glimpse of the Past
Review: New Spring reminded me why I started reading the Wheel of Time series in the first place. It's nice to be reminded how well Jordan can delvelop characters when he's only dealing with a few, rather than the 624 he's been dealing with in the last couple of books. Although this is an extension of the novella Jordan wrote for Legends, I found it refreshing and I hope he can head back towards this style with the next Wheel of Time book.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally, Moiraine again!
Review: To my mind, WoT went astray when Moiraine "died", and will become a good series when Moiraine comes back... dead for 5 books so far, but someday she'll be back. Supersticious, I know, but it neatly coincides with when WoT went off track, and when it (hope hope hope...) will be thrilling again. Oddly enough, I found this prequel fun to read, in spite of how much Crossroads of Twilight let me down, and how negatively I approached the "prequel" notion, just dragging the series and money-making on. I approached this book very negatively, but I enjoyed it very much. Really, what is fun about this book is less major characters, less plotlines, less perspectives. RJ can really pull you into a scene, but when he has hundreds of characters going in the main series, it gets drowned out in details... too many words painting scenes, pulling you in here, pulling you in there, over and over, with nothing left over for plot, suspense, ... anything. In this prequel, with more of a stand-alone focus, RJ can be at his best, without having to switch characters so much that it becomes an indifferent blur. I especially appreciated this after Crossroads of Twilight. I don't want to spoil any plot elements in this book, but it has plenty of fun details about life in the Tower, including the test for the Shawl. If you simply love the world Jordan has created, this book has interesting details. But I loved it for a return to the old days, with fewer characters, and more space and care given to each plot, rather than splitering in a hundred directions. This is a neat, self-contained novel that is fun to read for its own sake, not just to satisfy addiction like the recent WoT books have been.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: ENOUGH OF THESE 1 STAR REVIEWS. YOU PEOPLE ARE JUST JEALOUS OF MR. JORDANS WRITING CAPABILITIES. THIS BOOK BROUGHT A LOT OF THINGS TOGETHER AS FAR AS HOW LAN AND MORAINE MET AND WHY SHE WAS LOOKING FOR RAND IN EYE OF THE WORLD. THERE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE TWO MORE PREQUELS, ACCORDING TO MR. JORDAN, WHICH I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO. TRUST ME PEOPLE. WHEN THE WHEEL OF TIME COMES TO A CLOSE, WHICH IT WILL IN A COUPLE OF YEARS, THE SAME PEOPLE WHO GAVE 1 STAR REVIEWS WILL BE WHINING AND COMPLAINING BECAUSE THERE ARE NO MORE BOOKS TO READ. ENJOY THE BEST FANTASY HAS TO OFFER. I HAVE READ MANY FANTASY BOOKS FROM GOODKIND TO MARTIN AND NOTHING COMPARES TO THE WHEEL OF TIME. JORDAN IS THE MASTER OF FANTASY WRITING.
Rating:
Summary: Nice to see some focus out of RJ
Review: Like many fans, I have been critical of the dwindling quality of the more recent volumes in WOT and have read the last few after borrowing them from the library (this one included, which may be a factor in my more favorable rating). I always thought the series began to drag under the weight of its own plot sometime around book 6 (The Lord of Chaos) or even book 5 (The Fires of Heaven). While those two volumes, overall, were excellent, it seemed that the plot, subplots, secondary, tertiary, and even main characters began to expand at an alarming rate. The story seemed to be losing its focus and momentum. The following four books bore this out as they reaped the harvest of this bloated plot and slowed advancement of the story down to a glacial pace. Jordan's defenders accused me of just wanting "action" and sword-fights and unable to appreciate the finer subtleties of RJ's political maneuverings and complex plot. New Spring the Novel has finally crystallized for me what I like about RJ's earlier works and what seems lacking from his later ones: focus. New Spring only tells the story from two character viewpoints, just Moiraine's and Lan's. RJ's slow, meticulous and wordy narrative does not lend itself to constantly switching between the umpteenth minor character who's name we confuse with another character's similar sounding name. It needs to build up slowly and enfold the reader in another world and character viewpoint. Constantly switching between other storylines and characters breaks the spell, not to mention the fact that it doesn't allow the verbose author much opportunity to advance the story. NS didn't have wall to wall action. Quite the contrary. But it did enthrall and draw me in like no RJ novel has in quite a long time. That's what WOT has been missing lately, not complexity for complexity's sake, or a blood bath action fest, just plain and simple focus on a single story and telling it.
| 
