So I was looking for gifts for some hard to shop for people and just happened to stumble over this book. I have the other 10 books in the series so this was a perfect stocking stuffer for me as my husband has a hard time finding stuff to put in it (and this year he was too busy to go shopping without me). Anyway, the book came in time for Christmas even though I only ordered it only 10 days before Christmas.

Back in 1998, Robert Jordan was asked to contribute a short (ish) story set in his Wheel of Time world to Robert Silverberg's Legends anthology, along with a number of other authors such as Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Ursula K. LeGuin, George RR Martin, Raymond E. Feist and Tad Williams. Jordan decided to write the story of the first meeting of two of his pivotal characters, Moiraine Damodred and Lan Mandragoran, and their first steps on the road that would eventually lead them twenty years later to the Two Rivers and the discovery of the Dragon Reborn.

This was a big test for Jordan, whose narrative skills run (obviously) to massive novels packed with detail. Jordan himself acknowledged it was a challenge, but surprisingly it was one he rose to. In less than 100 pages, New Spring introduced some new characters, featured a major new city we hadn't seen before in the main series (Chachin, the capital of Kandor) and featured some fairly important plot twists that set up events later in the series. It was an economy of storytelling that I suspect most people thought Jordan was incapable of.

However, in 2003 Jordan announced he was taking a break from writing the main Wheel of Time sequence to expand New Spring into a novel, adding several tens of thousands of words of new material. Fan reaction was somewhat bemused, but given the negative reaction to Crossroads of Twilight Jordan taking some time off from the series to refresh his creative batteries seemed like a good idea, and the next main novel, Knife of Dreams was a vast improvement. In the meantime, New Spring: A Novel was released in early 2004 and was greeted with indifference. Its sales were not stellar (it's by far the most common Wheel of Time book to run across in remaindered stores), and the critical reaction was generally muted.

The novel version of the book is three times the length of the short story. The opening sequence is set during the Battle of the Shining Walls and we see what Lan was up to during the battle. We also get to see the much-reported moment when Moiraine and Siuan learn that the Dragon has returned, and then the political machinations in the Tower that follow the battle and Moiraine and Siuan's raising to the rank of full Aes Sedai. The original version of New Spring, expanded with some extra material, makes up the latter third of the novel and remains a rattling good read.

Unfortunately, the new material at the start of the book is almost totally superfluous to requirements. Yes, it's amusing to see how the White Tower initiates handle the almost overnight transition from callow Accepted to wise Aes Sedai, and the test for the shawl is vaguely interesting. Trivia-minded fans may also enjoy spotting all the references to other Aes Sedai from the later books and what they are up to at this point in time. The big problem is that the revelation of the Dragon's Rebirth, as reported in The Great Hunt, was ominous and powerful. Here Moiraine and Siuan's reaction is extremely muted, to say the least, and there is no real tension in their storyline as a result (not helped by the traditional prequel problem of the readers knowing who is going to survive the story). It's not until we reach the novella version of the story that any sense of momentum and tension kicks in.

New Spring (***) is readable enough and has some points of interest for major Wheel of Time fans, but it is also packed with unnecessary padding. Nevertheless, the original novella remains readable and compelling, and despite its short length still raises the overall quality of this book.

Many were angry when this book appeared - what was Jordan doing writing a prequel novellette when the main story was still incomplete? (this book was released between Books 10 and 11 of the main narrative) On hindsight, there is some justification to this charge, as Jordan passed away before completing his magnum opus. However, upon (finally) reading this book, I can see why he wanted to write it, and the tone and pace is reminiscent of the early WoT books - it's fast, has lots of action and intrigue, and more occurs in this 300-page book than in any of 1000-page books 6-10 of the main storyline.

This book basically sets the scene for Morraine's search for the Dragon Reborn. In the first WoT book, she and Lan have been together for many years, trying to find the baby/boy/man who is prophesised to fight the Dark One at the Final Battle. How does Morraine know where to look? Why do she and Siaun (the eventual head of the Aes Sedei) seem to be the only ones convinced of the Dragon's existence? How did Morraine and her warder Lan come together (especially as he is actually a King, albeit of a kingdom long lost to the Dark One's Blight)? How did Siuan know about the Black Ajah (when she set Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne to hunt it)? Read this book to find out the answers!

As I mentioned, there is lots here to like - although short, there is still lots of plotting, intrigue, and action. There are some inspired parts, such as switching between Lan's and Morraine's perspectives as they first travel together (before Lan in bonded). Unfortunately, there are many of the typical annoyances - for example, Morraine becomes a vindictive brat through the latter half of the book. But the positives outweigh the negatives and it's a fun read.

As for when this book should be read, it would be best to read it more-or-less when it was written (i.e. after Book 10). It could probably be read earlier (say, anytime after the deposition of Siuan and the splitting of the White Tower), but certainly shouldn't be read as your entry into Jordan's world - too many things are taken for granted as common knowledge of the reader.

A goodbook but far too expensive on the Amazon site.I found out afterwards that I coiuld have pruchased for half the price and no postage.

I didn't get this book untill I had all the other books. This one I liked more then some of the other becasue the books not so big, I dont like to set a book down untill I am done reading.

Now just waiting on the last book. I wonder how wierd its going to be to read a book from the same series but diffrent auther.