The Great Hunt (Robert Jordan)
5
The Great Hunt is better than the first book of the series, and in
fact I think it's my favorite of all the books I've read so far. The
reasons are many, and I will try to outline as many as I can in a
short amount of text. This book is the best in a literary sense, in
terms of what it does for the story as a whole (the whole series), in
familiarizing the reader with the artificial world, and in terms of
pure entertainment and action. Best of all, this book lays groundwork
for later books in the series in highly unpredictable ways --- one of
Jordan's trademarks. Now that I'm reading the later books in the
series, I find myself tracing back ideas and events not to the Eye of
the World, but to The Great Hunt.
Speaking just in terms of the literary quality of the material, this
book is very well-written, dramatic and epic in all proportions. The
way that Jordan describes the world (worlds, actually) that his
characters exist in is rich and poetic. I enjoy Jordan's words as
much as his stories, because they are not overly literary, but this
book combines the best of Tolkien-esque story telling with Jordan's
typical wit and "down-home" story telling skills. The plot is
well-constructed and consistent, with plenty of twists and turns. You
have to read the first book, of course, but once you have you have the
groundwork to sit back and enjoy Jordan's words, and his vivid
descriptions of every detail of the world. I think that after you
read The Great Hunt, you'll have the urge to re-read The Eye of the
World as you will have a better handle on visualizing the characters
and the world they live in.
Another way this book excels is in getting the reader familiar with
the workings of "Randland." There is much history in this book, as
well as detailed workings of the politics of the lands involved
(Cairhien, in particular). This is a key element in the unfolding of
the story, but also in understanding the motives of the various
characters, and how they carry out their machinations. Things get
very complex, and the groundwork laid by The Great Hunt is
particularly helpful in understanding why every character does what
she does later in the series.
More interesting, however, is the exposition of the workings of the
White Tower. In The Eye of the World, the White Tower is something of
an abstraction --- it very well could be something out of a Gleeman's
Tale. Tar Valon is something that the characters don't really see
in the first book. However, in The Great Hunt, the reader actually
sees the workings of the White Tower, the ceremonies of Aes Sedai, and
how these affect the characters and their own development in the
story.
And of course, you get your first Aiel encounter.
For pure entertainment and action, this book is over the top. There
is more action than in the first one, and there are more clever
devices for building that action. Much of it is like The Eye of the
World, where the reader has no idea what is "really happening," but
most of it is explained in the course of the entertainment. This book
follows a pattern that is followed up until Lord of Chaos: the
characters collect themselves in the place they ended up at the end of
the previous book, then set out on a journey, the culmination of which
comes at the very end, and then the pattern starts over in the next
book. Sounds predictable, right? Well, the way Jordan does it, you
will be on the edge of your seat the whole time. This book does not
follow the pattern I've detected in the Fires of Heaven and Lord of
Chaos, where three quarters of the book is build up for major
Earth-shaking twists in the last two hundred pages.
There is a diversity of opinion on Jordan's work, many people saying
"the later books really suck, just read the first three." However, I
also heard a friend say "Yeah, I read the first one and it was cool,
but I read the second one and it was just like the first one." I
disagree with him. This is a very different book, and you will be
well-rewarded for reading it. I only hope I can re-read it after I
finish the series for the first time.
