| The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time) | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Jordan
Publisher: Orbit
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 6968
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 718
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.7
ISBN: 1857230272
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781857230277
ASIN: 1857230272
Publication Date: June 25, 1992
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 25 | | NEXT » |
A significant improvement over the first book September 26, 2008
The Great Hunt is the second volume in Robert Jordan's gigantic, rainforest-devastating Wheel of Time series. It was originally published in late 1990 and like the first volume, The Eye of the World, was an immediate big seller.
The story picks up a month or so after The Eye of the World. Rand al'Thor has discovered he can channel the One Power and thus is doomed to go insane and die, wreaking terrible destruction at the same time. Normally it would be the responsibility of the Aes Sedai sisterhood to 'gentle' him, remove his ability to channel, but Rand's Aes Sedai mentor, Moiraine, and the head of the sisterhood, Siuan Sanche, believe that he is the Dragon Reborn, the long-prophesied saviour who will defeat the Dark One at the Last Battle. As such, they have no choice but to let him go free. When the twisted, insane Padan Fain steals the legendary Horn of Valere and the cursed dagger from Shadar Logoth upon which the life of Rand's friend Mat depends, a band of hunters are assembled to track Fain down and reclaim the dagger. Meanwhile, Egwene and Nynaeve travel to Tar Valon to begin their training as Aes Sedai, but find danger lurking even within the walls of the White Tower. In the far west, on Toman Head, rumours speak of the arrival of strangers who apparently use the One Power in battle and use savage beasts in combat, strangers who will not rest until all the lands are under their control...again.
The Great Hunt sees a notable widening of the scope of the world seen in the first book. Whilst the first novel perhaps veered too close to Lord of the Rings' characters and structure to be entirely comfortable, the sequel takes off in a completely different direction. Whilst the series' slightly irritating tendency to be obsessed with 'plot coupons' gets its start here, it does give the book a classical quest structure and deals with the parallel timelines as the core group from the first book gets split up and we follow them separately until their reunion at the end. Jordan also introduces a whole new threat in the form of the Seanchan, a powerful empire ruling a continent beyond the western ocean who now want to reclaim the homeland of their founder (Artur Hawkwing's son). This out-of-left-field threat does an excellent job of shaking things up, whilst the suspicious timing (the Seanchan invasion occurs at the same time the forces of the Shadow are gaining strength in the world) is later revealed as deliberate. The characters are deepened and made more interesting, particularly Rand and Perrin who are shown to grow and change as a result of the revelations they have discovered and the things they have suffered in the first novel. However, we also get to see the Dumb Aes Sedai plot trope get the first of many wearying outings, as Nynaeve, Elayne and Egwene get led into a trap which couldn't be any more painfully obvious. Only their relative youth and naivete makes it convincing in this book; the fact that Elayne is still falling for these things as late as Book 11 is rather more dubious.
The Great Hunt (****) is a notable improvement on the first book, taking the world, story and characters in refreshing and interesting new directions. Jordan's mastery of his enormous narrative is evident here, and even a certain economy (not a word normally associated with the verbose Jordan) of plotting can be detected as some major storylines are rattled through in just a few pages (the Seanchan themselves, surprisingly, don't appear until the book is more than halfway done). The novel is published by Orbit in the UK and Tor in the USA, and is followed by The Dragon Reborn.
A good read by WOT standards May 19, 2008
Many of the characters improve in Book 2, after the rather silly last 200 pages of book 1. It starts with a very edgy prologue, and then is essentially a story of the hunt for the horn. The story starts to get more interesting in the second half as Nynaeve develops as an interesting character. Moiraine plots as always. Rand grapples with his problems. The Seanchan introduction in the last half really improves the book, which is falling into the same sleepy inn / road / town pattern of the first book in the first half.
One criticism with this and the first book is "the ways". I don't really approve a deux au machina which enables characters to reach a certain place in record time, as it seems to be just a substitute for good writing. I understand if others dont share my contempt of this.
 amazing! May 7, 2008
i find it hard not to get to carried away with this series....i forget the difference between reality and the amazing world jordan has created! but it!
Second Book in the Wheel of Time December 31, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Robert Jordan was born in 1948 in Charleston, South Carolina, in a house built in 1797. He was a graduate of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, with a degree in physics. He served two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army; among his decorations are the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star with "V", and two Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry. It was the report of his sad death, aged 58 on September 16, 2007 that caused me to look back through his books and in particular the tremendous Wheel of Time series
The Great Hunt is the second book in an adventure that covers thousands of pages, more probably than even the author envisaged. Robert Jordan's series just grew and grew. I loved all of the books and this second one in the series just makes you want more and more. The books themselves are large volumes, several hundred pages each and there are almost a dozen of them, so you can understand the enormity of the task the author had set himself.
Some of the previous reviews reflect the differing tastes of readers. Some say that this epic series went on too long, others loved it and cried for more. I think I was somewhere in between. To me they were what I would call mood books. By that I mean I would read anything up to half a book and then maybe leave it for a while and read something else. Not something I would normally do with a book but with the Wheel of Time books, the plot always seemed to stay fresh in the mind and the thread could be picked up again several days later, or even longer.
One of the problems, if indeed it is a problem is that with such large volumes and such an epic storyline there are bound to be a large number of characters and keeping track of them all is sometimes a problem, but a small price to pay for the enjoyment the books bring to the reader.
building the foundations December 8, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After swiftly reading the first book in the series i quickly ordered my copy from amazon of 'the Great Hunt'. I have read alot of the reviews on this page maintaining that the plot is slow. I never once doubted the pace of the book, it kept me wanting to read more every time i put it down. You get a real sense that Jordan is 'building..' a rich story line which is the foundation for later installments. This was a great follow up to the first book and builds on even better books to come.
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