The Great Hunt: 2/12 (The Wheel of Time)

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And men cried out to the Creator, saying, O Light of the Heavens, Light of the World, let the Promised One be born of the mountain, according to the Prophecies, as he was in Ages past and will be in Ages to come. Let the Prince of the Morning sing to the land that green things will grow and the valleys give forth lambs. Let the arm of the Lord of the Dawn shelter us from the Dark, and the great sword of justice defend us. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time."

The worldbuilding in this book was simply fantastic, and the great worldbuilding ties in directly with the development of some great characters and villains. This book finally gives us some more adequate explanations regarding the magic system as well, which was much needed, and it is actually extremely interesting and even more creative than I remember (I read this book a LONG time ago). We get to know people from all different regions of this world, ranging from the mysterious Aes Sedai, the Whitecloaks, the Seanchan, and a whole number of people from different cities and cultures all over.Erith gave it to me.” Loial watched the yellow petals spin. “She really is very pretty, even if Mat does not see it.”

The Great Hunt was an epic sequel. It improved on the things that I thought were not done as well in The Eye of the World, but on the flip-side it came with it's own fair share of mishaps. I can't wait to see what will happen in The Dragon Reborn. This is good Epic High Fantasy. Sure there are smaller stories arcs being told but there are prophecies to be confronted and evil to destroy. There are epic journeys that need to be taken and bad guys all over the place, some of them even think they are the good guys White Cloaks I’m looking at you. Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burns us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last battle, and his blood shall give us the Light."In pursuit of the thieves, Rand al’Thor is determined to keep the Horn out of the grasp of The Dark One. But he has also learned that he is The Dragon Reborn?the Champion of Light destined to stand against the Shadow time and again. It is a duty and a destiny that requires Rand to uncover and master extraordinary capabilities he never imagined he possessed.

Chapter 47 has three points of view, two of which are from Rand al'Thor's POV. His first is 30% of the chapter and his second is 65% of the chapter. Not here,” Loial said slowly. “Obviously not here. ‘From Stone to Stone run the lines of it, between the worlds that might be.’ I’ve been thinking on it, and I believe I know what ‘the worlds that might be’ are. Maybe I do. Worlds our world might have been if things had happened differently. Maybe that’s why it is all so . . . washed- out looking. Because it’s an ‘if,’ a ‘maybe.’ Just a shadow of the real world. In this world, I think, the Trollocs won. Maybe that’s why we have not seen any villages or people.” So we get to watch her numerous failed attempts to entice Dragon Reborn into seeking glory for himself. This, of course, doesn’t mean the characters ever stopped being empathizing. Even when I was infuriated by some of the character’s actions, I feel like their attitudes were understandable; if I were in their shoes I’ll do a much poorer job than them. The characters—for better or worse—were well-written. Two books into the series and I’ve come to know their personality and inner voices really well. Jordan, in general, is slow in progression. Development in plot, world-building, characterizations, and actions was all there; they were just relatively much slower than most books these days. I loved reading Rand and the characters starting to grow up; it was quite satisfying seeing their slow development. New characters also appeared and most of them were great, interesting, and complex. Now the Horn itself is found: the Horn of Valere long thought only legend, the Horn which will raise the dead heroes of the ages.Shaken at finding Trollocs in the heart of Fal Dara keep, he did the form so badly Lan would have stalked off in disgust. That’s not true,” Mat said, straightening abruptly. “Marisa Ayellin thinks I’m handsome. She told me so more than once.” The ending of this book was fantastic, and everything you would hope for in a conclusion to a fantasy story. Unfortunately it was a bit similar to the first book, but I suspect that was done intentionally and I'm certain there is something I am missing that will make me have an "Ah-Ha!" moment later in the series. For now, though, my favorite character will have to be Rand and Loial, not saying that there weren’t any other characters—Perrin, Lan—I liked but those two and their heartwarming friendship with each other were one of the main highlights of the book for me. World-building grew in complexities and details; Jordan’s world-building captivated me and I love reading every lore, magic system, and prophecy in this book. In the first book, the world-building felt it borrowed too much from Tolkien, this book seems to have moved the world-building away from Tolkien’s and I’m glad for its originality.