Author: Robert Jordan
Publisher: Orbit
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Release date: November 15th, 1990
Pages: 672
Goodreads page: here
TW: -
My rating: 4/5 ⭐
Publisher: Orbit
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Release date: November 15th, 1990
Pages: 672
Goodreads page: here
TW: -
My rating: 4/5 ⭐
Synopsis
The Forsaken are loose, the Horn of Valere has been found and the Dead are rising from their dreamless sleep. The Prophecies are being fulfilled - but Rand al'Thor, the shepherd the Aes Sedai have proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn, desperately seeks to escape his destiny.
Rand cannot run for ever. With every passing day the Dark One grows in strength and strives to shatter his ancient prison, to break the Wheel, to bring an end to Time and sunder the weave of the Pattern.
And the Pattern demands the Dragon.
My thoughts
Happy to say I loved this sequel more than The Eye of the World! I wasn't planning on picking The Great Hunt anytime soon, but after watching the first season of the TV show, that I absolutely love by the way (even though it wasn't near perfect and some stuff annoyed me but still), I couldn't wait to get back into The Wheel of Time series.
One thing that always surprises me with these books, is how easy it is to read this series. It's an old one, started in the 90s, and yet, the writing was simple and easy to get through, and even though the 700/800 pages per book could be intimidating, it was definitely easier to get through them than I first expected. That kind of writing is not my favorite type, but I can appreciate its simplicity when it's about a rich and complex fantasy world (hello Sanderson!).
“Some men […] choose to seek greatness, while others are forced to it. It is always better to choose than to be forced. A man who is forced is never completely his own master. He must dance on the strings of those who forced him.”The plot of The Great Hunt was great, starting just after the events of the first book. It was immediatly fast-paced, intriguing and we discovered so much more of the world of The Wheel of Time. The world-building in this series was really the best part, there were so many things to discover everytime, new cultures, new magic stuff, new towns, the world was so rich and complex, it was truly the work of an artist. The plot also kept me intrigued through the whole book, which was clearly an improvment compared to The Eye of the World where I felt the plot draggued with too many repetitions through hundred of pages. Here, there were many arcs to follow, so many new things, places, people to learn and it wasn't repetitive at all.
The characters were my least favorite part of this series though. I'm sorry but Rand is still a no from me. He was so annoying all the time, and always choosing the most stupid decisions ever. Mat and Perrin weren't better in this one to be quite honest, even though I would have preferred a bit more pages about these two.
And unfortunately, Moiraine and Lan were barely there in this book, which was a shame because I was so eager to learn more about them at the end of The Eye of the World. We learned more about the Aes Sedai which was great and so interesting, but we didn't learn enough in my opinion. I was so ready for all the Aes Sedai's politics and I truly hope it will be a big part of the next book!
“Knowing serves no real purpose, but then, neither does not knowing. Myself, I always prefer knowing to not.”I was happy to read about Nynaeve and Egwene though and their new friendships in the White Tower. Their arc was my favorite with the best intrigue in my opinion, and it was really hard to put down the book at times. One thing annoyed me about their arc, that I didn't find very realistic but well, we'll see how it will improve in the next books.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Great Hunt. It was a fantastic journey in a great and dense fantasy world and I can't wait to read the rest of the series now!
