The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Robert Jordan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Chosen by fate to become the Dragon Reborn--savior and destroyer of his world--young Rand al'Thor attempts to outrun his destiny by joining in a mad search for the lost Horn of Valere. Continuing the story begun in The Eye of the World ( LJ 2/15/90), Jordan creates a lush, sprawling tapestry of a novel in the tradition of Tolkien and Eddings. Recommended where fantasy is popular.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
Praise for Book One of The Wheel of Time:

"The Eye of the World is the best of its genre."--The Ottawa Citizen

"A powerful novel of wide and complex scope."--Locus

"This looks very like the next major fantasy epic. It has magic and pacing and detail and human involvement, with a certain subtlety of presentation and a grand central vision. Robert Jordan...is a lot of writer!"--Andre Norton
-- Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 705 pages
• Publisher: Tor Fantasy (October 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812517725
• ISBN-13: 978-0812517729
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (343 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,697 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 2 in The Wheel of Time Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 Stars for Great Hunt. As for Wheel of Time....., October 15, 2002

By	718 Session (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

I Promise: I'm going to be spoiler free.

This is the second book in the Wheel of Time (WOT) series (after Eye of the World). It is BETTER than the first one. Jordan is really finding his legs with the series. All of the tenants of excellent fantasy are here. Jordan is a great writer who builds an incredible world with a compelling history. His characters are also incredible.

Great Hunt is a great book, but be warned: as of this writing Jordan hasn't finished WOT. The Great Hunt does not stand alone, the ending is something of a cliffhanger. My guess is the end of this series isn't going to happen until 2006 (I believe there are going to be 12 books, but I don't think there's an official word).

Is it going to be worth it? I don't think so. WOT has gotten very complicated and is becoming turgid. Sometime around Book 6, the action began to crawl. Book 8 (the last one I read) was almost 700 pages and took place over three days, AND was practically missing some important characters!

I've read the first five books twice now beacuse it is too difficult to wait a year between reading books. (And he's coming out with them once every other year at this point).

My advice: Wait until Jordan's finished them all. It's best to read them one after another. By then we'll know if it was worth the wait.

You've been warned!

My grade for the series:
1. Wheel of Time: A-
2. Great Hunt: A
3. Dragon Reborn: A+
4. Shadow Rising: A+
5. Fires of Heaven: A
6. Lord of Chaos: B
7. Crown of Swords: C+
8. Path of Daggars: C
9. Winter's Heart (haven't read, waiting for Jordon to finish)

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Second Book for this Remarkable Epic Fantasy Saga, November 29, 2000

By	Paul (New Orleans) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, Book 2) (Hardcover)

The second book in Robert Jordan's epic "Wheel of Time" saga is another fantastic book in this series. Set in the most vivid fantasy world ever created, Jordan takes readers further into this world, weaving new plotlines, introducing new characters and growing the roles of characters first met in "The Eye of the World". This series continues to work on multiple levels, containing nuances which have clearly been missed by the few critics of this series. (Critics of this series often focus on its length, reminding one of the emporer in "Amadeus", who complained that Mozart's concert had "too many notes.")

In the first book, Rand, Perrin and Mat, 3 young men from the village of Emond's Field were forced to flee from minions of the Dark One, accompanied by Egwene, a village girl who wanted adventure, and Thom Merrilin, a gleeman who had come to the village to entertain at the village's spring festival. Guided by Moiraine, a member of the mysterious order of Aes Sedai, women who can channel "saidar", the female half of the One Power, and Lan, Moiraine's Warder, the group was soon joined by Nynaeve, the village's Wisdom, who had followed them to protect the young people from her village who had been had been swept up in an Aes Sedai "scheme". The group, minus Thom, would eventually be joined by Loial, an young member of the long-lived race of Ogier, a gentle giant of a bookworm who had left home to see the world.

One of the joys of the first book was the maturing of the characters, all of whom would change in significant ways: Perrin discovered he could talk with wolves, and now has the yellow eyes of wolf, and has also run afoul of the Whitecloaks, an intolerant military order of zealots; Mat had been uttering the Old Tongue in moments of battle & stress and was then tainted by a cursed dagger from the foul city of Shadar Logoth; Egwene discovered she had the ability to channel and now desires to become an Aes Sedai; Nynaeve learned that she could already channel, having survived what only one in four women do, channeling on her own without Aes Sedai training; Nynaeve has also fallen in love with Lan, a love he also feels, but does not believe he should return; and Rand has discovered that he is a man who can channel. Men who channel inevitably go insane, and have ever since the breaking of the world some 3,000 years ago.

"The Great Hunt" picks up shortly after the end of "The Eye of the World", with everyone in the borderland town of Fal Dara. The Amyrlin Seat, Siuan Sanche, head of the female order of Aes Sedai, arrives, purportedly to meet with the three young men from Emond's Field, all of whom are "ta'veren". A person who is "ta'veren" has a certain ability to manipulate events and chance, e.g. a leader who intends to reject a treaty might end up signing it. But the Amyrlin has arrived for reasons of her own, with plans she means to make with Moiraine.

But before any of these plans can be implemented, a sudden raid by Trollocs and Myrddraal, minions of the Dark One, results in the freeing of the peddler Padan Fain, a Darkfriend who had been altered to hunt for Rand, Perrin and Mat, and who had been further changed by following them into cursed Shadar Logoth. The raid resulted in Fain stealing Mat's tainted dagger, and the Horn of Valere, which is locked in its own box. Whoever sounds the Horn of Valere will bring forth heroes of legend who will fight for the Light against the Dark One. Or so it is believed. In truth, these heroes will fight for whoever sounds it.

Rand, Mat and Perrin, accompanied by Loial, set out to recover the Horn and Mat's cursed dagger. Mat is still linked to the dagger and it is needed for him to be fully Healed by Aes Sedai. They will be joined by Verin, an Aes Sedai who has motivations of her own. On this journey, Rand will meet a beautiful woman, Selene, who has also has motivations of her own.

Egwene and Nynaeve head to the White Tower in Tar Valon, to begin training to be Aes Sedai. They will also meet an Aes Sedai with private motivations, Liandrin. They become friends with Elayne, Daughter-Heir of Andor, and Min, a young woman capable of seeing auras around people, both of whom we briefly met in Book One.

But people who are "ta'veren" have a way of drawing to them people of whom they have need and our characters may well meet before this book is over.

In this book, readers learn the fate of Thom Merrilin, the missing gleeman; learn about the mysterious invaders called Seanchan; meet up with ship captain Bayle Doman again; learn more about the mysterious Aes Sedai; get involved with "The Game of Houses" in Cairhein; witness the plots of Darkfriends and Ba'alzamon; and meet an Aiel for the first time.

Jordan has created the most fully realized fantasy world to date, and it is a pleasure to visit again. With stong, complex characters, including numerous strong female characters, vital cultures, and skillful, intelligent word crafting, this series cannot be recommended enough.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Generally great fun, with some mis-steps, July 30, 2005

By	Craig MACKINNON (Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

After the skill, fun, and sheer size of the first book in the Wheel of Time series, I eagerly looked forward to the second book. I won't say I was disappointed - many authors slip a little in a second book in the series - the book is nowhere near the fun, the pace, or the interest of the first book. The story: the Horn of Valere is stolen by Darkfriends, as is Mat's soul-stealing dagger. Lord Ingtar takes charge of a group of Shienar's finest in an effort to find and retreive the artifacts. Our three male heroes - Rand, Perrin, and Mat - go along with the Lancers. Meanwhile, our two female heroes - Nynaeve and Egwene - accompany the Aes Sedai witch to Tar Valon, the stronghold of the Aes Sedai, to start their training.

So, what is the problem with the book? Firstly, Jordan felt the need to "regress" his characters somewhat. One would think that the boys and girls who had crossed the world, defended the Eye of the World from the evil one, and had survived numerous battles, would have gained in maturity. And they do so throughout the first book, but their characters are back in their mid-EotW form at the beginning of the second book. Mat is childishly selfish, Egwene is wide-eyed innocent, Nynaeve is a petulant bully, etc. In fact, they stay at this stunted level of development through most of this book. The character of Nynaeve is especially hard to take - she consistently holds to ideas she has seen proven false, she tries to bully everyone into agreeing with her and vows awful revenge when they don't, etc. And yet all the characters seem to think she's wonderful, including the ageless Warder king-heir who must have better offers from scullery maids than the histrionics Nynaeve consistently offers. Yet he is supposed to be in love with her? Did I miss something?

Part of the problem is that, in an attempt to keep his splintered cast alive, he feels the need to touch base with each of the characters too often. While the meat of this book is clearly Rand's pursuit of the Horn of Valere, Jordan will jump back for a chapter here and there following the girls training in Tar Valon. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have much reason for any of these interludes except to try and keep the characters in the story. The book would have been better served if he had followed the Tolkien route of sticking with one group of people for the long haul, then taking the other characters through the same time all at once in later chapters. It would have cut down on the annoying repetitiveness surrounding the Tar Valon chapters.

Basically, there's too much filler. When the action is humming along, and the characters are doing something, Jordan's prose shines. We are in a foreign land but we never feel like outsiders (at least, only as much as the characters) because he does so well in describing events. Each new ethnic group we meet is fully developed and unique. Carhein is a wonderfully decadent society, the Seanchan slavers are logical and terrible in the way they've developed their society, and the Whitecloaks are finally given something interesting to do (and are presented not as a spiteful nemesis force but a trans-national entity with their own goals that are simply at odds with Rand's quest). The last 150 pages are barn-burning (better than anything in Book 1) and leave the reader anxious to lay his hands on the next sequel. If the book was 200 pages shorter, it would have been a great story. As it is, it's weighed down and the filler detracts from the rest of the book, but still recommended and it was certainly good enough to convince me to stick with the series into Book 3.