by Robert JordanFic Jordan, Robert
The Dragon Reborn is the third book in The Wheel of Time series. Picking up a few months after the Great Hunt ended, we have our heroes going seperate ways to fullfill training, to hide, or to be cured. As the book goes along, different people break off with new quests and new companions are picked up. I liked this book by far the best in the series, though I hear the next one, The Shadow Rising, is a fan favorite.
One of the things I liked most about the book is that you get to spend more time with some of the minor characters like Mat, Perrin, and Egwene as the main protagonist of the series and the other two books, Rand, leaves all parties and is only covered in brief bits throughout the book. Each quest gets a good size introduction which made the beginning a little slow, but I blew through the second half once everyone got on their way. The author interweaves the quests well and tries to inform the reader where in the timeline events are taking place.
The excitement of the second half is also my big complaint of the book. The climax of the book seemed rushed once the reader finally gets there. So far it seems this is an enourmous epic fantasy story that is broken into parts, and to make these parts seem more justified Mr. Jordan adds a little story or quest to be fullfilled in each book. In this one, it is to obtain the sword Callandor which only the Dragon Reborn can pull out of the stone holding it. Sound familiar. The act of pulling it out is an aspect of the prophecy that tells of the Dragon's return. Rand leaves the group because he has seen the sword in his dreams, and coincidence or fate lead all the others there. Jordan is heavy handed on the fate department and really spells it out to the reader. Each character is little thrilled with this as well which may account for why it feels so heavy handed. Every time something comes up, it seems someone is complaining about it.
There should be one review a month this year as I am going to really have to get dedicated before the early 2012 release of the last one.
