Book Review: The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

This is the second book of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (and finished by Brandon Sanderson). I'll probably read at least the first 3 to mentally prepare myself for the new TV series. This one follows straight after The Eye of the World and continues the adventures of Rand, Perrin, Mat, and the others in their struggle to stay alive and figure out why the Dark One is hunting them.

Read on for my review. I avoid major spoilers for this book, but assume you've read the prior ones.

Overall Impression

This is probably the third time I read this, though I think of the first three books it is the one I enjoyed the least. It does excel at what it sets out to do, but there are some minor qualms I have about the plot and characters in comparison to the prior novel. That being said, there are some fascinating new topics introduced as part of the setting and a lot of foreshadowing of things to come.

Plot

Of the first three books, this is probably the one I remember the least of. I remember the premise and how it ended and that was pretty much it. As I read through it I found myself rediscovering a lot of neat little details I had forgotten about. This book in particular, is a little more straightforward than the prior one. There is a clear goal, which involves a minor spoiler: recover the Horn. From there it's just a long chase by the main characters, taking interesting twists and turns as they reach various places. 

Like the prior novel, we split viewpoints several times and start following multiple threads that eventually meet up. Egwene and Nynaeve leave for Tar Valon, to begin their studies as Aes Sedai, while Rand, Perrin, and Mat chase after the Horn. One of the jarring things to me is how much emphasis there is about the trouble in Toman Head, on the other side of the map, and the hoops the story has to go through to get the characters there. In the end, it all works out and we see some neat tie-ins to the Prophecies of the Dragon.

Characters

The cast of characters is fairly well established and we see many of the same faces from the prior book, plus a few new additions in the form of prominent (if for now secondary) characters. We also get more viewpoint characters than before, seeing the story from Rand, Perrin, Egwene, Nynaeve, Padan Fain, and many more. Many of the main characters see substantial growth, notably Rand, Egwene, and Nynaeve.

One of the characters I feel changed abruptly was Mat. In the prior book, he was almost solely defined by the dagger and his suspicion. Remove that and you have almost a clean slate that in this book is taken over by a more gambling/trickster spirit that will follow him for the rest of the series. The change between the prior book and the start of this one feels a bit jarring with him, in comparison to some of the others who feel like natural continuations of where they left off.

Setting / World Building

There are a lot of interesting aspects to the setting revealed in this book. One of the chief ones is the Seanchan people. These come from across the ocean and have an asian-inspired culture. They are very different from the rest of the people and come as conquerors. They were somewhat foreshadowed in the prior book and even here they hint at "the Return" so we know we'll see more of them. They have chained women who can channel and creatures wholly unlike anything the people in the Westlands have seen, including what appears to be an elephant (though most are more akin to monsters).

There is also a bit of a deeper dive at saidar and saidin, particularly since Egwene and Nynaeve are starting their training in the One Power. But in addition to that sort of magic, we also see some new things, including the mystery of the Horn of Valere, hints at Dreaming, and the portal stones. I had completely forgotten about the portal stones between my rereads. They are a really cool concept of providing a way to travel between alternate realities, but overshadowed by how the story develops. Similarly to the Ways, they serve a plot point in this book, but we will discover better ways to get around as the story progresses.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a good book. It's not as strong as The Eye of the World, but does a good job of continuing the story and setting up some interesting threads that we will want to see resolved in the series. The reluctant hero is a big part of this particular book, but we see some payoffs with epic scenes near the end that cement their role in the story. It is a must read for fans of The Wheel of Time as it sets the stage for more to come.