The Wheel of Time crosstalk: Is The Great Hunt a good book?

The Great Hunt is the second novel in Robert Jordan’s 14-book The Wheel of Time series. Is it worth the read? A Wheel of Time veteran and newbie are here to provide the definitive answer.

DAN: As with The Eye of the World, overall I liked reading The Great Hunt. But as with The Eye of the World, I had some issues, more than I did with the first book. A lot of the The Great Hunt seemed to be marking time. I know it’s hard to see where a 14-book series is going just two entries in, but at least a third of this novel seemed to drag pretty hard.

I enjoyed the opening, with Rand al’Thor working through the aftermath of besting Ba’alzamon (or so he thought) and training at Fal Dara, the last major city the group visited in The Eye of the World. I liked meeting the Amyrlin Seat and learning more about the Aes Sedai, since as important as they clearly are to the series I felt like we didn’t get a ton about their history and organization before.

But once the quest to recover the Horn of Valere got underway, I found my attention wandering. A lot of this stretch was devoted to Rand learning to use his powers, which I’m sure is very important, but it was sorta dull.

Also, Rand, buddy, this Selene woman is clearly evil. I know he’s, like, 16 or something, but watching him make moon eyes at Selene — who fit into a pretty obnoxious “super-beautiful seduction goddess” stereotype, by the way — when she was obviously trying to manipulate him into being some kind of Dark Lord was frustrating. Although it’s probably easier to spot that from my vantage point as a long-time fantasy reader. Should I cut Rand some slack there?

For me, the book didn’t really get exciting until Egwene and Min were captured by the  Seanchan, a people who enslave Aes Sedai and anyone else who can use the One Power. Now here was someone I could root against, and for; I loved watching Egwene, Min, Nynaeve and Elayne figure a way out of this impossible situation. I thought the final third or so of the book was very strong, but getting there could be a slog.

What parts of The Great Hunt stood out to you, Corey?

COREY: Oh boy Dan, do I have bad news for you. If you feel like The Great Hunt dragged in sections, wait until the circus shows up in couple books. I’m currently on the sixth book in the series myself, and thus far I’d consider The Great Hunt one of the more action-packed entries into the series.

Overall, I quite enjoyed The Great Hunt. For me, this was the first book in the series where the scope really began to expand. From introducing the Seanchan to the portal stones to the Aiel, it felt like the scope was growing to pretty epic proportions. I remain fascinated by the Forsaken, as they appear to be less of a cohesive team and more of a collection of powerful evildoers out for themselves. They trust each other even less than they trust our heroes.

For sure, it was immediately clear to everyone but Rand that Selene was not on the level, but it didn’t bother me too much. As you said, Rand was a simple country farm boy thrust into the big bad world, and Selene is called one of the most beautiful women in all of history. What teenager wouldn’t be blinded by that?

At any rate, The Wheel of Time is full of segments that become more believable as you learn more about the characters, and this is one of those times.

And yes, when the Seanchan show up properly, the book really does kick off. The only thing I didn’t like about that plot was how it seemed to introduce the old fantasy trope of needing to visit every corner of the map for some random reason. While I appreciate exploring new countries or cultures, at times it can feel a bit ham-fisted.

Like Padan Fain, the Seanchan were interesting to me because, while evil, they weren’t aligned with the Dark One. Making everyone black or white is dull sometimes, so I like the wild cards.

As for the Aes Sedai, I’ll admit I’m fairly bored of them at this point. If I have to hear one more person say the Aes Sedai are mysterious and whatnot, I’m gonna tug my braid. I get it, they’re aloof, but aside from Moraine, who’s clearly an outlier among them, we hardly ever see them do anything with their powers. You’re telling me that out of a thousand Aes Sedai in the world, Moraine’s the only one out in the world doing anything? That sounds like an organization living off its past accomplishments, not one actively contributing to the world around it.

I’ll also admit, I was fairly surprised that Mat ended up blowing the Horn of Valere. That seemed like the sort of ‘break the glass in case of emergency’ weapon that wouldn’t be used until the last book of the series.

Overall though, I felt like this book also played it fairly ‘safe’ in much the same way Eye of the World played it safe. Sure, there are some original concepts introduced here, but it’s not until later in the series that the books really start to diverge from some of your typical fantasy trappings. Did you get that impression as well?

Also, THOM!