Rebel Book Review: The Great Hunt (Wheel Of Time Book 2)

 Pages 681

Originally published on 15th November 1990

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 Ran al'Thor, the shepherd the Aes Dedai have proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn, desperately seeks to escape his destiny. But Rand cannot run forever. 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. - Synopsis

The Great Hunt is book two of fifteen (if you include the prequel) in an Epic-Fantasy series known as the 'The Wheel of Time', a series that many believe to be the greatest series in the fantasy genre that has ever been written. I haven't finished the series yet, so my review will focus entirely on this book, and I will do my best to avoid any spoilers or vague hints. However, if you have not read the first book (and still wish to) then I would recommend caution with this review, as there may be slight spoilers.

Once again Jordan begins his book by showcasing his superb prologue writing abilities, this time titled 'In the Shadow', where we are introduced into the darker side of events and given a glimpse of what the Dark One has been up to since the climax of the previous book. Where the first books prologue was all about setting the scene for the large story that we were about to be thrown into, I felt that this prologue was specifically designed to re-assimilate us back into the world and show us that the story is far from over, as some may have suspected given the last books ending. It's quite a gripping bit of reading, helping to answer at least one large question we are all undoubtedly left with at the end of the first book.

Despite a wonderful and engaging prologue I found the next few chapters to have a far slower pace than the majority of the first book. This coupled with the often overwritten and perhaps needlessly descriptive (not in my opinion, but I could see how it would be to some readers) sentences does not work in the books favour, and can often leave you wishing that some of the writing was written a little more concisely. However, the key is to trudge through these prolix opening chapters and take in everything you read, for though it can be slightly tedious there is fantasy genre gold just on the other side!

Things soon become far more involving and The Great Hunt starts to deliver some of the things that were vaguely promised in the first book, such as a great depth of detail surrounding the saga's backstory (briefly covered in the prologue of the first book, and hinted at thereafter). We also have the pleasure of seeing the main protagonists continue to grow as they begin to unwillingly better fill the roles that have been thrust into. Rand is a great example of this. In parts of the previous book he felt as if he was relatively unimportant despite the focus on him, but with several well-placed revelations he's now much more of a stock character. He's moaning and mostly unhappy attitude from the first book is a lot more understandable now, well-rooted in a very real threat - his seemingly inevitable madness that comes with channelling Saidin, the male half of the One Power.

The two girls and friends of the three main protagonists, Egwene and Nynaeve, all from the same village of Emond's Field, split away into their own separate storyline at one point and are taken to Tar Valon to begin Aes Sedai training. This is particularly interesting as they then meet up with characters briefly introduced in the first book, all of whom seemed tied to the seemingly evermore important Rand al'Thor. Is this because he is Ta'veren, someone around whom the great Wheel of Time weaves the fate of the world? Are their feelings for him natural and of their own accord? Little do they know there is yet another woman, a mysterious woman, who has staked claim on Rand. This separate storyline is interesting in its own right, introducing some fascinating incites about the world, especially to do with the Aes Sedai, but I personally love it because it further bulks out links to Rand, Perrin and Mat.

Though The Eye of the World was clearly heavily influenced by other great fantasy works, I believe that it is in this book that we truly begin to see Jordan's own imagination heavily shining through with the introduction of some fantastic and interesting new concepts. An example of this would be the mysterious carved stones that transport people capable of using the One Power into "incomplete" potentially hellish alternative realities and parallel universes. In these scenes Jordan truly shines and I found myself unequivocally investing in his story and everything within it. I'm interested to see if/how these alternative relatives will play a bigger role in future books.

The best part of this book, much like the first, was the ending - though this is by no means because the book was over, but rather the manner in which is was ended! Certain plot elements came to a surprising conclusion, some far earlier in the series than I had expected them to. Initially I wondered what Jordan could possibly have in store for us through the next twelve books with so much already finished so soon, but then you quickly understand that all of this has left you feeling that this is but the beginning of something extraordinary. Most of all we are left with one, huge, cliffhanger of a question that had me screaming at the book; I believe this was the reason I instantly picked up the next book and began furiously reading to see what the answer to this question was (tis why I always buy the books ahead of needing them!).

There is still plenty of generic fantasy going on in this book. As always, our star is "The Reluctant Hero Who Is Tasked With Saving the World" (though as the Dragon Reborn there is a nice, new spin on this tried and tested concept). We have monsters, magic, unquestionably evil dark lords, honourable warriors, prophecies, songs, glory, and the usual loyal friends who travel together. We've seen it all before, and again that might lead people to say that Jordan is lacking in originality, but if something isn't broken then why fix it? However, in contrast to this there is much originality to be found within The Great Hunt.

So, taking everything I've said into account, I'm going to award The Great Hunt with...

4 ½  Rebel symbols out of 5!

Where the first book fell, this book stood strong, and visa-versa! The new additions to the characters and the world are outstanding, making it a slight improvement on the first book, with an ending that has me already reading the next instalment, The Dragon Reborn, only after finishing this book yesterday!