Review : The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

Title : The Great Hunt Author : Robert Jordan Reading Dates : 8 Jan 2012 - 12 Jan 2012 Total Pages :681
The Wheel of Time The Eye of the World The Great Hunt The Dragon Reborn The Shadow Rising The Fires of Heaven Lord of Chaos A Crown of Swords The Path of Daggers Winter's Heart Crossroads of Twilight Knife of Dreams The Gathering Storm Towers of Midnight
From Amazon : The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. For centuries, gleemen have told of The Great Hunt of the Horn. 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. And it is stolen.

Book Review of The Great Hunt.

The Great Hunt has a slower pacing than The Eye of the World but even so I was never bored. Like the first book, there seemed to be much I missed in my prior reads of the book and now I have the luxury of re-considering the significance of some of these events and characters.

The other thing I find interesting in The Wheel of Time is how the author has me vacillating on who is my favourite among the main characters in the story. Depending on from whose point of view Jordan is writing, by turns I find myself being irritated or sympathetic to any one of the 3 main male protagonists.

On the other hand, I always find myself annoyed at how the female characters are portrayed in the story. Always with the “I know best” attitude while getting in the way of men’s plans. While the women are as strong and capable as the men in Jordan’s world, it seems rather ridiculous to me that all of them do not believe any of the men capable of doing anything without the women to lead them. So much so that I always tend to skip parts of the story which spend too much time on the female protagonists.

The best part of the book though is the ending. It was surprising the first time to see things come to a head so early on in the series that even now I wonder if there was more to it. Still, this book always leaves me with the feeling that this is but the beginning of something extraordinary. A strong incentive read the third book in the series, The Dragon Reborn.

My conclusions :

• Would I re-read the book ? Definitely.
• Would I want to read the next book in the series ? Yes.
• Would I want to own my personal copy if I didn’t already own it ? Yes.
• Who would I recommend this too? All fantasy readers.
• For those looking to read the book, would I recommend buying or borrowing the book? Buy it. The series is a keeper.

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