The Great Hunt: Book Two of 'The Wheel of Time'

I’ve been told the Wheel of Time was originally pitched as a trilogy but then cut down to a single novel, but proved so successful the trilogy was reinstated, before mutating into the bloated fourteen-volume beast it eventually became. Certainly the pacing in The Eye of the World is so bad it’s entirely plausible its story was intended to stretch over several books. You have ten percent introduction to the world and characters, then 80% travelogue, and everything gets wrapped up in the last ten percent. The Great Hunt has slightly better pacing, and a great deal more happens in it, but there’s still a lot of travelogue. And padding. Reams and reams of padding. There’s even three or four pages where Rand experiences the same thing over and over again. It makes for a dull read. The one thing I’m noticing about these books during my rereads – other than the derision of friends when I tell them I’m rereading the Wheel of Time – is that the world-building is a strange mix of identikit sword-and-sorcery and weird but interesting original touches. It also feels strangely “lived-in”, with its various parts slotting together in a way that doesn’t feel entirely the result of authorial fiat. Having said that… the characters are still as annoying as shit. Rand al’Thor reads like a thirteen year old and his friends are no better. An important minor character turns out to be a Darkfriend (ie, agents of the the Dark Lord) but it comes totally out of left-field. The actual Darkfriend the protagonists spend the entire book chasing is far too pantomime. And another character do be talking like this all the time and it do be fucking irritating. The Great Hunt is a great improvement on The Eye of the World, but that’s not exactly a high bar to clear. There are some enjoyable set-pieces and some good hooks set for later in the series. But the praise this series received back in the 1990s still astonishes me. It’s a poor piece of work – and that in genre not known for the high quality of its prose or plotting.

i was so meh about the first book but this one restored my interest in the series.

The Great Hunt is a perfect sequel. It builds on the strengths from Eye of the World (EotW), and improves on its flaws. The slow start from EotW is replaced by a plot that gets moving almost immediately. There are fewer "filler" chapters where nothing happens, making this one harder to put down.The plot threads that were left unresolved from EotW get picked up, mainly the Horn of Valere that was found in the Blight, the cursed dagger that is bound to and killing Mat, and Rand's place in the prophecies. These two items will be the focus of the plot. Mat needs the dagger to break the hold it has on him, and the Horn will summon heroes from the past. The heroes will fight for whoever uses the Horn, so its kinda important to keep it out of the wrong hands. While this is happening, invaders from across the sea called the Seanchan have arrived claiming that they are the rightful rulers of the land.The cast is split for most of the book. The boys and Loial go after the stolen Horn and dagger while the girls go to Tar Valon for training to become Aes Sedai. The characters grow a bit during their trials. Notably, Rand has to accept who he is and Nynaeve learns humility during her training. Perrin is kinda stuck, still afraid of his ability to communicate with wolves. Mat, while also stuck, at least has the curse affecting his mind to blame.On top of this, we get some worldbuilding. The cutthroat political games of Cairhein, the strict rules of the White Tower, and the thoughtful Ogier add flavor to the heroes' travels. The arrogance and cruelty of the Seanchan invaders particularly stood out with the way they treat those who can channel.

Maybe 3.5* for the book itself.While I was swept up in this book (as witnessed by the fact that I listened to the entire 681 pages {paperback length} in 2 days), there were certain features that recurred several times (and had happened in the first book) that I found intensely annoying. One was Nynaeve who continues to act as if everyone should do as she says even when she has no idea of what is going on; this aspect was a bit lessened from the first book so I am willing to concede that maybe this is just character development (or maybe she is just an annoying character). The other one that bothered me a lot was Rand's foolish insistence in ignoring the reality (unpleasant as it may be) by casting the Aes Sedai & Moiraine in particular as his enemies. This attitude was understandable at the beginning of the book but became increasingly hard to take as the story progressed. It was also a bit irritating that he never questioned what Selene might be (other than apparently mind-numbingly beautiful) but I put that down to his youth and her powers.I did find some interesting allusions in this -- the sa'angreal for example sounds suspiciously like the term used for the Holy Grail (Sangrail or Sangraal).

The Great Hunt is the second book in the Wheel of Time series. It definitely shows its age and is a very traditional fantasy epic with many known and possibly tired tropes. However, I am enjoying getting to know the characters and can't wait to see where their journey takes them. Rand is a bit of a reluctant hero and spends a lot of this book in denial; I can't wait for him to embrace his destiny. The world building is very detailed and I'm in awe at what Robert Jordan created with this series.

The second book maintains the pace and excitement of The Eyes of the World.I devoured it.Loved it.

Rarely does a sequel improve upon the first book. However, I feel that The Great Hunt may have even improved upon the first book in the series. It was filled with all the same things and both the world and characters received more development. The book centered on Rand and the journey of him coming to terms with his destiny. I kept waiting for him to finally accept who he is and it was almost frustrating watching him run away from his destiny. Nynaeve also was focused on some. I went from completely loathing her to actually kind of liking her. Some new characters were also introduced, while some from the first novel took more of a back seat (Lan and Moiraine). I wished there was a little more development from Mat, but he still the same annoying and useless character he was in the first book. And anything that seemed like able about him in The Eye of the World quickly became obnoxious. I really wouldn't mind if he was killed off in the next book. But on the whole this book was really great and Robert Jordan fully discontented from the Lord of the Rings and created his own interesting world. I'm excited to read the rest of the series

Great read. Really enjoyed it. What I enjoyed was the imagery of the story telling. Robert Jordan did a great job painting the mental image in my mind of where people were, what they were doing, how they looked and felt, what buildings and landscapes looked like, and so forth. Very rarely did I find myself rereading previous paragraphs or sentences to figure out exactly what he was trying to describe (unlike Brandon Sanderson, actually).

My favorite part of The Eye of the World was when Moiraine, Rand, and comany travel through The Ways. Will this time, Liandrin take Nynaeve, Egwyene and others though. Although not as detailed as the previous book, Jordan didn't skimp on the details, and made sure that you got a good feeling of how The Ways operated, it's fantastical and magical setup, and the fear of the Black Wind.

However, before this, Rand, Hurin, and Loial travel into a "world that could be" via a portal stone. I honestly was not expecting something as fun to read as this experience, especially something as fun as The Ways, but it actually worked very, very well.

While in this world-that-could-be, they meet up with Selene, who appears to be a lady who can channel, and makes it clear that she has the hots for Rand. Rand becomes one with the void, slays a beast saving Selene, and she's all over him like white on rice. It's actually quite entertaining, because the way Jordan portrays Selene, she's quite the shapely woman.

Eventually, they leave the world-that-could-be, and find themselves getting the Horn, in Cairhien, and Jordan again creates a great city with peasants, lords, and everything inbetween. As a show of great talent, Jordan is a fantastic world builder.

Seriously, everything about this book is so great. My only complaint, is that the story felt stretched in a couple areas. As if Jordan is trying to create a thick book with some rice filler, because there is enough to notice it. But really, it's not that bad. Not enough to detract from the story. You just feel like some dialogue should get on with it, or the plot seems a tad slow in areas.

However, the Aes Sedai get more background and character building, as with the Children of the Light. You learn a bit about Ba'alzamon, Lanfear, and the Dark One, as well as a touch more of the magic system. Almost as if Jordan is teasing you to read more (it's working).

There are some great reveals, and the last quarter of the book is hard to put down. Especially the last 5-6 chapters.

Don't get me wrong; I liked the book but it sags in the middle. Things plod along, I suppose building tension. The only tension I could feel was wanting to lift the needle off of a broken record. Then, suddenly everything happens a little too neatly in four or five chapters. It's as if Robert Jordan had a goal of making it to 600 pages and then discovered he hadn't moved the plot significantly over the last 400 or so, or had a sudden deadline to meet. I mean, really... In two thousand years, nobody had ever though about how to handle the Damane problem? An epic battle happens in six pages? Six? It took as many to talk about stale bread and cheese.

great read that really adds to the drama and plot of the previous book. starts off a little slow, but quickly picks up speed and soon becomes hard to put down as the plot unfolds and branches out. This book will leave you anxious to pick up the next installment to delve deeper down the rabbit hole of this intruiging fictional universe. very engaging read as the plot thickens and the world starts to unravel further.

The second book in Robert Jordan's EPIC Wheel of Time series, The Great Hunt is a great contribution to the series. I first read this 27 years ago, and while I remembered the general storyline, I forgot the big climactic finish! The only thing that irked me a bit (and as I remember, I was irked through all the books I managed to read in this series the first time) is the main character's constant complaining about not wanting to have or use his powers. I'm hoping he grows out of the complaining eventually!

Slow read. I struggled to get through this. It seemed like the author wanted to describe everything and everyone. He spent so much time creating this world that it felt like very little actually happened. A problem I heard gets worse as the series goes on.It seemed obvious that there was more to Selene than she was letting on.Poor Rand, he desperately wants to escape his fate. He doesn't want to be the Dragon reborn, but he is.

The Great Hunt is a perfect sequel. It builds on the strengths from Eye of the World (EotW), and improves on its flaws. The slow start from EotW is replaced by a plot that gets moving almost immediately. There are fewer "filler" chapters where nothing happens, making this one harder to put down.The plot threads that were left unresolved from EotW get picked up, mainly the Horn of Valere that was found in the Blight, the cursed dagger that is bound to and killing Mat, and Rand's place in the prophecies. These two items will be the focus of the plot. Mat needs the dagger to break the hold it has on him, and the Horn will summon heroes from the past. The heroes will fight for whoever uses the Horn, so its kinda important to keep it out of the wrong hands. While this is happening, invaders from across the sea called the Seanchan have arrived claiming that they are the rightful rulers of the land.The cast is split for most of the book. The boys and Loial go after the stolen Horn and dagger while the girls go to Tar Valon for training to become Aes Sedai. The characters grow a bit during their trials. Notably, Rand has to accept who he is and Nynaeve learns humility during her training. Perrin is kinda stuck, still afraid of his ability to communicate with wolves. Mat, while also stuck, at least has the curse affecting his mind to blame.On top of this, we get some worldbuilding. The cutthroat political games of Cairhein, the strict rules of the White Tower, and the thoughtful Ogier add flavor to the heroes' travels. The arrogance and cruelty of the Seanchan invaders particularly stood out with the way they treat those who can channel.

Probably my favorite of the series (that I got around to reading).

Much better than the first in the series. Still suffers from travelogue a bit.Rand and co want to reclaim the Great Horn that summons the dead to fight on your side (whichever side it is that blows it), which has been stolen from the city they were recuperating in. The thief appears to be none other than the Dark corrupted merchant Fain whom they've previously had dealings with. But for no explained reason Fain doesn't seem to be blowing the horn, and doesn't head straight towards his big evil master. Giving the boys a chance to be all manly, whilst the girls go off and learn how to be witches. YOu'll be unsurprised to learn events 'conspire' so that they're all in the same place at the same time.

I can't believe I'm only just now reading Robert Jordan, but I'm definitely enjoying it. I know some have criticized his portrayal of women, but so far I find the women characters far more complex and interesting than the men, and certainly more powerful!

This book was not as long as the first one. Yet, I found myself truly annoyed at the long windedness of passages from the book. Robert Jordan has an affinity for detailed explanations for EVERYTHING! Just their journey along to Torman Head took forever. Character development, like the last book, is somewhat slow but I still liked the book. On to the Dragon Reborn!

Second book of the Wheel of Time series and an excellent read. I love Mr. Jordan's descriptive style.

Loved it! Continues the story with lots of action and adventure. On to Book 3!

Full disclosure - I don't know why I am reading any more books from this series. I have a problem with repetition and in the preface Jordan writes the phrase, "the man who called himself Bors" no less than 23 times. I get it. He wants you to know the guy's name isn't really Bors. As a result of the preface, I expected nothing less in the rest of the book. There is a lot of repetition between the first and second book to "catch you up" if you didn't read the first one. However, truth be told, very little changes in the next installment of the Wheel of Time series. Everything is still over-the-top dramatic ("eyes more dead than death" p xiv). Rand al'Thor is still the reluctant hero. Trollocs are still terrible. Egwene is still conflicted and childlike. They still have this weird romance thing lingering. Probably the more interesting thing about them at this point is that they go on different journeys. Still, it wasn't enough to keep me glued to the page.And another thing! Can I just say how annoyed I am by the sheer number of groups, nations, societies and the like? Good grief! You have aielmen, arad doman, caemyl, cairhien, children of the light, darkfriends, dai shan, dreadlords, far dareis mai, eyeless, forsaken, fades, gaiden, goaban, hardan, hundred companions, lurks, manetheren, marath'damane, mydraal, halfmen, questioners, shadowmen, sea folk, taraboners, tinkers, tree killers, trollocs, tuatha'an, warders, watchers over the waves, white cloaks, women's circle, and wisdom. Let's not forget about the aes sedai who can be red, brown or blue, or the ajah who can be blue, red, white, green, brown, yellow or gray (where's the purple, orange or pink?).

As with the other book, this is simply the continuation of the story. Jordan’s works don’t have the same feel as many series, where you get a distinct story each book. Instead, his books each feel like just another chapter in the story. Adventure and Danger, Magic and Darkness, Evil Doings and Brave Deeds abound. High fantasy at its best!

Well, it now starts to come together. Boo one was a little bit boring and confusing for my liking but to my surprise I didn’t find it long. It is very rare that I enjoy a book longer than 500 pages but recently it happened more than once, not sure if it’s me or the books. Kidding, for sure it’s the good books.The story begins right where the first book finished.Rand accompanies his two friend along with a Shienarian army to retrieve the horn from dark friends. Nynaeve and Egwene are going to White Tower to become Aye Sedai. Rand is struggling with his faith but he forces to channel.I can’t decide yet what I make out of Rand, for sure he is not a strong main character. So much doubt, so much fear, and still confused about too many things, not only him.But then I think maybe that’s how it should be. To see him grow and become he needs to be, should be. I’ll wait to see what’s happening in next books, it’s just the beginning I guess.My most favorite character of book two is Nynaeve, doing everything she can to help her friends from two river. Looks like she sees herself still as their Wisdom and don’t want to give up on them. She is the voice of wisdom so many times when Egwene is all energy, excitement and worry about Rand.Soon I’ll start the third book and I’m sure will be more confused by many new characters. Hell, why there are so many already? How many more are going to be added in next 12 books?

This is a reread as I originally read this book back when it came out. The Eye of the World set up this world, and The Great Hunt really starts the adventure. Rand is still struggling to reconcile his role, while Mat and Perrin are dealing with the changes they've undergone because of the dagger and being a wolfbrother. The girls are in the tower adjusting to becoming Aes Sedai while Moiraine and Lan are mostly out of sight. Mostly, it's the boys chasing Paidan Fain to retrieve the Horn of Valere and the dagger for Mat. While a bit slow at the beginning, the story quickly hits its stride and we have epic battles, danger, monsters, and new cultures. We get lots of Lolial and some of a Stedding, meet some Aiel, and greet some old friends. Rand is drawn into the Great Game much to his dismay. There's Black Ajah and the Forsaken. I really disliked the character of Celene the first time I read this and I still don't like her. The book moves along at a good pace, with interesting details and worldbuilding. It's a thoroughly satisfying read.

This is second book in the series, the path and flow are better than the first one since some of the characters are build in the first book. The story telling is also better.

The story and characters slowly grow as the epic begins to shape its longer arc. While still filled with epic fantasy tropes (the reluctant hero, the Chosen One, evil avatars, coming of age, hidden peaceful land where Power has no sway), it adds complex cultures and societies -- particularly the Seanchan (who one loves to hate for their inhumanity -- yet one uncomfortably understood where it comes to literally chaining those who once misused the One Power for selfish inhumane purposes). As with "The Wheel of Time," all the climactic action occurs quickly in the last pages of this multi-hundred-page work -- as if this section was fully conceptualized by the author before the rest, and what comes before is filler leading up to it. Still, the clear prose (excluding rare moments of repetition) makes this a page-turner and entertaining.

The Great Hunt is the sequel to Eye of the World, second book in Robert Jordan's epic series. The story continues to follow the protagonist Rand Al'Thor and his friends, as it introduces new characters and expands the story. Rand starts in Shienar, where the last book left off, training and preparing to go off on his own and keep the Aes Sedai away from him. But then dark friends invade, free the villain Fain, and steal the Horn of Valere along with Mat's very dangerous knife, and Rand, Perrin, Mat, and Loial go with a Shienarian military group to retrieve it. There's an added story of a ship's captain and a group of Whitecloaks, neither of which really pay off. And there's a major new story of a mysterious invading force from across the sea, conquering parts of the west coast aided by strange beasts and women who can channel the One Power but who are essentially enslaved. The women of the first book (Nynaeve, Egwene, Min, and Elayne) get mixed up in this, and it all comes to a head in the finale.I'm not sure I can manage 12 more volumes of this. The books are unnecessarily long- both so far have involved extensive travel around the continent, described in excruciating detail. It also bothers me that the main characters all seem to have Plot Armor, so it's hard to fear for anyone's safety. Part of this is tied to the conceit of the series, that there is a Pattern that is being woven, and that our heroes are just doing what they are meant to do by Destiny, as has been done in past turnings of the Wheel. Seems like there's a lack of free will then, which is uninteresting, but of course it also means nobody's part in the Pattern is going to be cut short by an arrow through the heart. I was also bothered by the strange appearance of a new character Selene, who is quite significant in the middle of the book but then disappears- I presume we'll see her again in a future volume.On the plus side, Jordan is incredibly inventive. This world has magic bursting out of everywhere, much of it quite innovative and interesting. And he's not afraid to invent more characters at any time. Maybe I'll limp along like this, liking the books well enough to start the next one, without committing whole heartedly.

I believe that I have read this book twice before. I listened to it this time, and the recording is superb. Kate Reading and Michael Kramer perform excellently, and bring the characters out with different voices for most of the characters.

After this reading through, Verin and Nynaeve have become two of my favorite characters. When I first read the series, these characters annoyed me or I found them boring. Now, I find them very interesting.

There are several striking parts to this book that drew me in. Jordan does an excellent job of making me care about the characters and the perils that they go through.

So my attempt to read Wheel Of Time via Audible continues. This was a BIG improvement on the first book. Stuff actually happens. The plot moves along much quicker and the world is developed further. I still occasionally wanted to slap Rand for the whiny teenager bit but far less and there were hopeful signs at the end. Perrin and Matt get very little development in this at all but I'm guessing that is to come. Ninaeve, Egwane etc also get some character development and I found Egwane's slavery at the end really upset me. I still t