This is where the series really expands and comes into its own.

In all the other books so far, the main POV characters have either been together or separated and then rejoined for the climax at the end. However here they really branch out into their own unique storylines and they never really all come together again. In some ways I always feel a sense of loss at this but in another way it allows Jordan to really expand the world and lore. And the lore and sense of epicness really gets amplified here.

Rand feels more like himself in this book, definitely losing it a little but more like the character we like from the first two books. The weight of responsibility lies heavy on him though and the lack of trust he shows to everyone, even his friends from the Two Rivers, does seem a little unnatural and is probably a hint that the taint is having an affect on him. Mat’s storyline also comes more into focus here as we get hints of what’s to come from his journeys through the doors. This is also where Elayne and Nyneave get thrown together for the first time and they stay that way for quite a few books.

However Perrin’s storyline probably has equal significance to Rand’s in this book. His journey back to the Two Rivers and the effects of his being ta’veren on the whole area is brilliant. We’re in his head so everything seems natural but if you take a step back you can see the effect he has on everyone around him. Egwene’s story also takes a sharp detour here, she’s around Mat and Rand for all the book but she’s really doing her own thing and finding her place in the world, especially with the Aiel and Tel’aran’rhiod.

There are so many great moments in this book it’s almost hard to list them, but some of my absolute favourites are; the first bubble, the stone still stands and everything around that, the trips through the redstone doorways, the Road to the Spear, everything once Perrin arrives in the Two Rivers, the White Tower and the climaxes at Rhuidean and Tanchico. Honestly this has always been one of my favourites so it’s hard to limit the moments! Roll on book five.

5 stars

An enjoyable book but I think there are a few issues character wise.

There is a change in style in this book. Rand only gets a few POV’s, instead it is dominated by Perrin, Egwene and finally we get Mat’s POV. When I first read this book oh so long ago, this really threw me and I still think it somewhat clouds my enjoyment of the book. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a great book but I still find the change in Rand to be a little abrupt, he’s gone from a likeable kid in denial to full on paranoid in the space of weeks. Part of it is understandable but it just feels too sudden.

Another thing that bothers me in this book is that this is the start of our main characters not trusting each other. Perrin and Mat were best friends since they were young, along with Egwene. Egwene and Rand were basically engaged and they suddenly go to not talking to each other and siding with others against their friends? Again the shift is just too dramatic. It just feels like a writer’s tool to improve narrative rather than a natural process.

Saying all that, the story is great. It’s a bit of a travelogue again but the shape of greater story is starting to become a little clearer. The parts in the Tower were great, we’re starting to get more of a feel of Aes Sedai politics. We also meet the Aiel properly for the first time, including Aviendha, Rhuarc, and Gaul. Faile has also entered the scene. She’s a bit of a dividing character but I’ve always liked her (mostly). And as I mentioned we start getting Mat POV’s and his fabled luck comes into play. This is where we all start to love him and understand the outward and inward Mat are very different people.

Some of my favourite bits in this book: Mat defeating both Gawyn and Galad with a stick while he can barely walk, Mat’s night of gambling madness in Tar Valon and him understanding how it works in Tear, Egwene’s Accepted test, Perrin accidentally letting Faile know about Rand and the horn at the same time and her realising what is actually going on, and of course the whole end with the taking of the Stone. Though I have a few issues, overall it is still very enjoyable.

4 stars

A step up from the first book and that was already great.

This book is still dominated by the POV of Rand again though there are a few others. Rand is dealing with the psychological impact of the revelations from the end of the last book which is pretty understandable. He’s in pure denial and just wants to get the horn and dagger back and then he can go off himself and hopefully not harm anyone. However Moiraine obviously has different ideas and everyone mistaking him for a Lord, and some of the fallout from that, is one of my favourite parts of the whole book.

I love Mat as a character but I forgot that he’s actually pretty unlikeable in these first couple of books. Once you get in his head you know what he says and does are two very different things but here all you see is the whining. Perrin is also dealing with his own issues with the wolves so is pretty caught up in that. Other than that though he really is quite placid and static character wise which I never really picked up on before.

We also got quite a bit of Egwene and Nynaeve in this book which was good. We finally get to see the White Tower and some of the internal machinations of the Aes Sedai. The testing to be raised to being Accepted is very interesting though Nynaeve’s is not quite as good as Egwene’s in the next book. Min and Elayne also have a bigger part to play though you still wouldn’t have known the part they will play just yet. We also meet the Seanchan for the first time and what they do with the Damane is probably even more horrifying than I remembered.

I also forgot the importance of dreams in this series. It’s actually quite an unusual concept as in this world people can literally invade other people’s and they can also work almost like prophecy or glimpses into the future. It gets even more complicated as the series progresses and I’m trying to think of any other books that has anything remotely similar and drawing a blank.

This book has some of my favourite moments in the whole series, and in no particular order we have Rand’s meeting with the Amyrlin Seat, the party in Cairhien, flicker flicker (anyone who’s read it knows what I mean), Blademaster and the whole end of the book. Honestly the whole book flies along and it just a joy to read again. Roll on the Dragon Reborn.

5 stars

Still one of the best opening books to a series.

Five friends are living a quiet and uneventful life in a very remote and rural part of the world. However a few strangers arrive, and their remote village is attacked by creatures out of legend, and their lives are suddenly and dramatically overturned and they are forced to flee their village to find help from the mysterious and distrusted Aes Sedai, women wielding the one power. To their dismay, they find themselves the centre of events that have been building for thousands of years and will have profound effects on the whole world.

This book, and the whole series being honest, is going to be tough to review, simply because I’ve read the books so many times. I first started reading these in the early nineties when I was a teenager, I believe the first four or five were out, and I used to re-read the whole series as each new book came out. I did this up to books nine or ten. I’m pretty sure I’m in double digits on reading this book. It’s been over a decade since I last read them though so it’s nice going back to the world, one that really cemented my love of the fantasy genre.

Most of the book is from the POV of Rand Al’Thor, a young sheepherder from Emond’s Field. He’s very likeable, totally naive, but they all are and it makes sense considering how young they are. We also get a few chapters from Perrin, the blacksmith’s apprentice and one of Rand’s best friends and Nynaeve, the Wisdom of her village despite her being only in her early twenties. The Emond Fielders are rounded out by Matt, a bit of a rascal and the other best friend, and Egwene, Rand’s kind of betrothed who wants adventure and more than what a village can hold. The stranger’s who come to the village are Moiraine, and Aes Sedai on the search for a legend reborn, and Lan her warder and an exceptional warrior.

The prologue is simply the best of its kind I’ve ever read and I’ve read quite a few. Initially you have no idea what it’s about but the sense of awe and epicness is there from the start, though even by the end of the book you don’t totally get what it’s about. There are so many clues and easter eggs throughout that don’t get resolved until the last book that still leaves me in awe of Robert Jordan’s skill. It’s a bit of a slow burn initially but honestly that’s needed to get where they all came from and what their lives had been like before Winternight. From then on it is a bit of a travelogue but the world is so interesting, so much history behind it, that you are kept engaged throughout.

There are a few things that have first book syndrome about them, a couple of things Moiraine does that are never done again comes to mind but that’s understandable. There is a fairly definitive end here I think in case it wasn’t ever continued but I think we would have all felt short changed if that had been the case. On the negative side of things, Jordan’s love for description is already very present and it only gets worse from here on in, and already the power dynamics of the characters and the interactions between male and female are a bit jarring.

I’m loving being back in Randland, yes there are a lot of stereotypes here, at least at the start, but even here it is made its own and evolves into something very unique. The age and history of the world that has been created feels real and you just want to learn more and more about it. This is basically just a very long introduction and it expands from here on in. Very much looking forward to starting the journey again.

5 stars