The Great Hunt

This post first published October 28, 2010.

Author: Robert Jordan
Published: November 1990
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Series: The Wheel of Time #2
681 pages (mass market paperback)
 
If I keep up with this year long interval between reading each book in this series, it’s going to be a decade before I finish, haha. In all honesty though, I just got caught up with a bunch of other books I wanted to read, but I got all those out of the way and now I can focus on reading this series (and the Song of Ice and Fire series as well — love my fantasy books)!

Anyway, this is book two. I couldn’t really remember much that happened in book one because, like I said, it was over a year ago since I read it. I remembered the major characters and the gist of the plot, but a lot of details were lost to me, hence when I began book two, it took me about five chapters or so before I got back into the full swing of things. Once I did though, it was another awesome, thrilling adventure. The thing I love about this series is that each book is such an adventure, and all these adventures make up one bigger, badder, more awesome adventure. The other things I love about this series is the reincarnation concept, the destiny/fate (wheel of time/the pattern) concepts, and the Aes Sedai, who are basically like an organized group of sorceresses (Aes Sedai in general are my favourite characters)!

As the title suggests, the main plot of this book is a great hunt. In book one, Rand and his party found the legendary Horn of Valere. Legend has it that whoever blows the horn will call upon the dead heroes of the past (or their ghosts? Can’t quite remember) and they will fight on behalf of whoever blew the horn. In The Great Hunt, the Horn, as well as Mat’s ruby dagger, is stolen by Fain, a Darkfriend (one who serves the Dark One/bad guy). In a normal situation, Rand, Perrin and Mat wouldn’t accompany the mini-army that is sent out to find the Horn, but because Mat’s dagger is taken too (Mat’s life is linked to that dagger, quite literally, and he’d die without it), Rand decides he has to help Mat get it back. Plot two in the book involves Egwene, Nynavae, Elayne and Min who are at the White Tower (the Aes Sedai headquarters, I think of it) and are training to be Aes Sedai. The two plots cross paths due to a foreign army invading the western coast, and all the characters somehow get involved with it.

That’s my condensed summary. With all fantasy books, not just this series, I find it difficult to summarize a plot without making it sound overly simple or revealing everything. That’s the bare bones of the story above, but there really is a lot more going on, it’s crazy how much can fit in 681 pages, haha. Anyway, if it isn’t obvious by now, I really loved this installment of the series as well. I think I like it even more than the first one, only because this time around, I am not entering a completely new world and learning about it — this time, I am already familiar with the world and I am embarking on another journey inside it, so I don’t have to spend all this time flipping to the glossary at the back, haha. This time, I can read it, uninterrupted, and just enjoy the ride.
Also because I didn’t have to spend so much time remembering who’s who, I feel I became better acquainted with all the characters, and also I think the book in general just does a better job defining each character and his or her role. There are new characters introduced (like Selene, who Rand meets when he accidentally separates himself from the party, and she just touched a nerve! I hated her, haha, such an annoying flirt) and old characters are ‘away’ (like Lan … I love Lan, I was sad he was not really in this book much).

So yes, I really liked this book. I found it easier to read than the first one, though like I said, I think that is largely due to the fact that I am familiar with the world now. The plot has very few slow parts. The characters are always motivated to do something, so there is always something happening, always a destination to head towards. Near the end, last third of the novel, was when things got especially interesting I think, with the foreign army and all. Let’s just say the foreign army has a very strange way of dealing with Aes Sedai … Anyway, this book ended in the same style as the first one; that is, there’s this huge decision or realization that is made that makes everything you read up to now seem almost trivial, and you think, “Oh my goodness, the next book is when the real adventure is going to start!” I thought that exact same thing after finishing the first book, but now that I finished the second, I’m thinking this about the third!! (So, if the pattern holds, after I finish the third, I’ll be thinking the same thing about the fourth, haha). The endings of these books have incredible power to keep you reading, and that’s exactly what I will be doing!

My Rating:4.5/5