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Title: The Great Hunt
Series:
Wheel of Time #2
Author: Robert Jordan
Rating:
5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages:
1072
Words: 276K
From TarValon.net and
authored by Toral Delvar
The book begins a few weeks after the
end of The Eye of the World. Rand has remained in Fal
Dara, practicing the sword with Lan, even though he had said he
would get as far away as possible. Any plans he had to leave are
shelved when a contingent of Aes Sedai visit, the Amyrlin
Seat among them. Rand is questioned by one of them, Liandrin of
the Red Ajah, who uses the Power on him to try and get answers
to her questions. Moiraine convinces the Amyrlin, Siuan,
that Rand must be allowed to go his own way, and that she will be
there when he needs her.
Trollocs attack the town,
freeing Fain from the dungeons and taking with them
the Horn of Valere and the dagger, which are within
the same chest. They leave Dark Prophecies on the wall,
linking Luc with Isam, Lan's cousin.
Rand is brought before the Amyrlin,
Moiraine and another Aes Sedai, Verin, who has realized that
Rand must be the Dragon Reborn. They tell Rand that he was born on
Dragonmount at the end of the Aiel War, where Tam, his
father, found him. They also tell him he is the Dragon Reborn, which
he refuses to accept.
Moiraine convinces Rand to follow after
the Horn, telling him it is important that Mat gets the
dagger back. As the Aes Sedai are leaving, an arrow is shot from one
of the towers, which only just misses the Amyrlin, though it might
have been meant for Rand.
They set off after the Horn, using a
man called Hurin, who can smell violence, to locate
it. Perrin and Mat see Rand with the Dragon Banner Moiraine
gave him, and Perrin reasons that Rand can channel. Fain, meanwhile,
is beginning to show increasing abilities, which enable him to take
control of the Darkfriends and stake a Myrddraal to
a door.
Lord Ingtar, the leader of
the Shienarans, tells Rand that Moiraine has made him second in
command. Rand enters a room in a deserted village and experiences
strange flashbacks. During one night, Rand, Loial and Hurin
are transported to an alternate world via a Portal Stone. Rand
wakes to find a heron branded into his hand. Hurin is able to use his
abilities to keep on the trail, so they set off after the Horn. On
the way, they meet Lanfear, calling herself Selene. She spends
much of her time imploring Rand to seize greatness. They see a
memorial of the victory of Trollocs over Artur Hawkwing and
realize that in this world, all animal life has been destroyed.
Eventually they find another Portal Stone, which Rand uses when they
are under attack by creatures known as grolm to transfer
them back to the real world. They find they are ahead of the
Darkfriends, as Hurin had been smelling where the Darkfriends were
going to be, not where they have been. Rand and Loial sneak up on
them, and take the Horn and dagger back.
The head on to Cairhien, outside
of which they see a sa'angreal in the form of a giant great
statue which Rand feels calling to him. Rand is taken for a Lord, and
gets mixed up in Daes Dae'mar; the noble houses begin sending
him invitations, which he just burns, leading to invitations from
greater and greater Houses, eventually leading to invitations from
the King and Lord Barthanes, the King's main rival.
Rand sees Trollocs in the city, and
ends up in the Illuminators chapter house when he tries to
flee them. His actions lead to the chapter house burning down. He
meets Thom, who survived the Myrddraal in Whitebridge.
While Rand visits him, the Darkfriends steal the Horn back.
Ingtar and the rest of the Shienarans
are joined by Verin, who claims that Moiraine had sent her. They meet
an Aiel claiming to be seeking He Who Comes With the Dawn,
but Verin says they have seen no signs of him. They then catch up
with Rand and the others.
Hurin traces the Horn to the manor of
Lord Barthanes. The group uses an invitation to attend a party
Barthanes is throwing. Here, they discover that Fain has taken the
Horn through the Ways to Toman Head, on the Aryth
Ocean, where Barthanes, a Darkfriend, says he will wait for Rand. The
Waygate in Barthanes' manor is blocked by Machin Shin, which
tries to come out when they open it, although Verin insists it can't
be controlled. The following day Barthanes is found dead, his body
completely ripped apart, presumably by a gholam.
Thom's girlfriend is killed by men working for the king who
was suspicious of his involvement with Rand and his presence at
Barthanes party. Thom kills the king.
They try a Waygate outside a
nearby stedding. In here they meet more Aiel, which is unusual,
as Aiel never leave the Waste. Mat tells Rand they are searching
for him, as he is the only Aiel they know. Rand is not amused. Loial
is nervous, since he doesn't have permission to be outside his
own stedding. He meets a female Ogier, Erith, who he
is attracted to. The Waygate outside is also blocked by Machin
Shin. They try using a Portal Stone. Something goes wrong when
traveling through the Stone, enabling them all to experience many
lives they could have led if circumstances had been different. In
each of them, Rand is defeated, hearing the words "I have won
again Lews Therin" as he dies. They arrive in Toman Head in
autumn, having actually lost time due to their use of the Portal
Stone.
In Falme, Fain meets with
the Seanchan High Lord, Turak, claiming to be a
descendant of men who kept their oaths to Artur Hawkwing. Fain gives
him the chest with the Horn and dagger in it, though he is only
interested in the dagger. The High Lord opens it and intends to
present it to the Empress. Bayle Domon is also taken
to see Turak, as one of the Seanchan, Egeanin, believes that his
interest in the Age of Legends may prove interesting.
The girls head for Tar Valon,
beginning lessons in the use of the Power on the journey. It becomes
apparent that Nynaeve cannot channel unless she is angry,
but when she does, she is very strong. Egwene starts having
dreams of Rand, and one of the Aes Sedai, Anaiya, suspects she
may be a Dreamer. In Tar Valon, Egwene befriends Elayne and Min,
and meets Elayne's brother, Gawyn, and their half
brother, Galad, who Egwene is immediately attracted to. She also
sees Logain, who looks utterly forlorn. Both Gawyn and Galad
fall for Egwene. Nynaeve is raised immediately to Accepted. Passing
three times through a ter'angreal that is perhaps connected
to Tel'aran'rhiod, she first fights Aginor. She is then
forced to abandon the Two Rivers, then Lan, in order to prove
her desire to be Aes Sedai.
Liandrin comes to tell Egwene and
Nynaeve that their friends are in danger and that they are both
needed to help them. They agree to go with her through the Ways,
bringing Elayne and Min with them. When they come out of the Ways,
they are met by a group of Seanchan and it becomes apparent that
Liandrin belongs to the Black Ajah. Nynaeve and Elayne escape
but Egwene and Min are captured. Egwene has a collar fastened
to her neck, which gives another woman total control over her. She is
told she is a damane and the woman her sul'dam.
Nynaeve and Elayne stay around to try
and figure a way to rescue Egwene. Nynaeve eventually discovers a way
to use the Power to remove the collars; these make her angry enough
to channel just by looking at them. Nynaeve arranges with Bayle Domon
to take them away from the area. They release one damane and
capture her sul'dam by using the collar, much to
the sul'dam's surprise. They then go to rescue Egwene.
Moiraine visits with two old Aes
Sedai, Vandene and Adeleas, who she believes to know
more about Dark Prophecy than anyone else. Whilst there, they are
attacked by a Draghkar that is warded in some way so that
Aes Sedai cannot detect it. They believe this means it was sent by
one of the Black Ajah.
Mat, Rand, Perrin, Ingtar and Hurin
enter Falme, to try and retrieve the dagger and the Horn, after Verin
warns them that the Seanchan may sense a man channeling. They go to
the house of the ruling Seanchan lord. Rand kills him, and they
escape with the dagger and the Horn. Rand sees Egwene and decides he
cannot leave her behind. Ingtar reveals that he is a Darkfriend, but
wishes to return to the Light, and stays behind to prevent them being
caught. They end up between two large armed groups: Whitecloaks,
led by Geofram Bornhald and Seanchan. Mat blows the Horn to
enable them to escape safely. The Heroes, led by Artur Hawkwing,
appear, claiming to know Rand and telling him they need the Dragon
Banner to be able to fight. Perrin raises it and the Seanchan are
driven back. Rand is involved in a fight of his own,
against Ba'alzamon. This duel is visible in the sky, with the
pattern of their fight influencing the battle below. Eventually, Rand
decides to let Ba'alzamon strike him, so that he can strike
Ba'alzamon, who disappears.
Rand is severely wounded, and Min,
Elayne and Egwene are drawn to him. Min keeps him warm, and is
greeted by Lanfear, who tells her that Rand is hers.
Ok, this shows Jordan's writing in top form! In the first book the
characters really annoyed me on several occasions but in this book, I
don't think it happened once. Yes, they were still them, but the
fingernails on chalkboard aspect wasn't there. A big part of it is
that they're going their separate ways and aren't in one big group,
where everything gets ratcheted up annoyance-wise. I don't think I'm
going to have as much to say about this book as the previous, but
here I go.
As I mentioned, the characters were much more palatable. It helps
that Matt is pretty much sick and out of commission for the entire
book because of not having the dagger. His obsession with getting it
back makes him more focused, less mischievous and not a dick. Nynaeve
isn't a witch the entire time because she's getting a solid dose of
humility with starting her training as an Aes Sedai. I in no way
advocate violence against women, but my goodness, Nynaeve makes me
want to stuff a sock in her mouth and spank her til she cries. But
she's not nearly so insufferable this time around. We also get to see
just how smart she is when the rescue for Egwene happens. I needed to
see another side of her and thankfully Jordan provides that. I think
Rand is the one who changes the most though and as the main Main
Character, he needed to. He's maturing and growing up and beginning
to take on some of the responsibility that the Dragon Reborn is going
to have to shoulder.
Darkfriends and the Black Ajah and the Seanchan and the Forsaken. The
book starts off with a gathering of darkfriends, with hints that some
extremely powerful people are part of the dark cabal. Jordan moves
Darkfriends from a group of hick villagers who lust after power (like
we saw in the first book) to a real Cabal of the powerful. The Black
Ajah goes from being something that nobody really believes to having
it shoved in our faces with the selling of the girls to the Seanchan
by one of the Black Ajah. They haven't really amped up their threat
level in terms of power but have definitely made their move into the
larger storyline. The Forsaken, namely Lanfear and Balzaman, show
just how divided the Forsaken are, with each having their own goals
alongside trying to return the Dark Lord from his prison. Finally,
the Seanchan and their chained, trained and battle ready slave women
who can channel. I found it almost heartbreaking to know that the
descendants of this worlds version of King Arthur had turned into a
stratified slave society.
The world continues to grow at a very organic pace. As our various
groups of villagers go out into the greater world, they learn about
the world they inhabit and we as readers are along for the ride. I
think Jordan made the right choice with starting out with ignorant
characters, as it doesn't feel like we're having information shoved
down our throat. What the characters learn, we learn. It is also
becoming apparent that this world does nothing but cycle through
Ages. Thankfully we readers aren't running for our lives so we have
time to think about what “X” could mean AND we have several
viewpoints all feeding us input. It is no wonder this series spawned
a rabid fandom that thrived on speculation.
To do the whole Wheel thing, I'll end where I began with this review.
Jordan's writing is as good as I could ask for. Not once during these
1000 pages was I bored, or confused or overwhelmed. I might not have
understood everything but I was never flailing. It takes consummate
skill as an author to guide your readers like that and Jordan showed
a deft and masterful hand that way. I ended up giving this the Best
Book of the Year tag as I enjoyed every part. I suspect several of
these WoT books will get that tag this year :-)
★★★★★
