The Dragon returns! This is the third book of The Wheel of Time series. My impression is that this story picks up several months after The Great Hunt, as the winter season has passed. Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne are on their way back to Tar Valon with Mat so that he can be separated from the dagger he picked up in Shador Logoth in The Eye of the World. This was supposed to have been done in The Great Hunt - before the dagger was stolen with the Horn of Valere.The rest of the group is gathering news from travelers of what is happening in Toman Head and the Almoth Plain after Rand declared himself The Dragon, and many witnesses saw him battling the Dark One in the sky. Now that Rand has declared himself, no more false Dragons are appearing.
This title of this book is somewhat misleading. In book one, Moraine realizes that Rand is the Dragon. In book two, he declares himself. So, in this book, with a title like The Dragon Reborn, you would expect the main focus to be on, well, The Dragon. But, that isn't the case. Aside from a little time at the beginning, where Rand decides to set off on his own, he is mostly absent from this story. Oh, he appears briefly from time to time throughout the story, but the main focus is on all the other characters. This reminded me of one of Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality books - I think it was Being A Green Mother - where the individual the story is about doesn't even become the incarnation until the final chapter of the book (how then, is the book about that Incarnation?).
With this book, I've noticed a pattern in the storytelling which is consistent across all three books. The group is together, they get separated into two or three groups that have separate journeys, and yet, whether or not they realize it, end up in the same place.
Throughout the story, we gradually learn more about what is going on. We get more details on the Black Ajah, and what they have been responsible for in Tar Valon while the three Aes Sedai in training have been away (enslaved by the Seanchan on Toman Head). The story becomes complicated for Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne - there's a lot going on in the background. Many Aiel characters make an appearance as well, and we start to learn a bit more of their history, and why they are starting to appear.
Rand, Perrin, and Mat, the three young men from Emond's Field, all continue to have their own individual struggles. Sure, they all have trust issues with Moraine - after all, they were raised to distrust Aes Sedai, which all relates to the Breaking of the World by the men who could channel who were driven mad by the taint the Dark One placed on saidin. Despite all they have seen so far, they are all suspicious of being manipulated or controlled by the Aes Sedai.
Rand struggles with coming to terms that he is really the Dragon, and continues to have bad dreams, and wants to prove once and for all whether or not he is the Dragon, or if it is just dreams.
Perrin struggles with his ability to communicate with wolves. He tries to close them out as much as possible, but finds that there are times where he simply MUST interact with them, and the interaction in this story was very surprising.
Mat seems in an odd place during this adventure. In the past, he has been somewhat of a trouble maker, and has had distrust of Aes Sedai, and he definitely thinks mostly of himself (this is how he got in trouble with the dagger to start off with). In this story, after being healed, he seems more angry and belligerent than before, and he has a huge distrust of the Aes Seda, and wants nothing other than to be left alone to go his own way. But, he does what is right when necessary, and when asked.
With regard to Moraine and Lan, for the most part they fit their typical behavior pattern. Moraine continues to reveal things only when necessary, which has a tendency to seed more mistrust - but, she has a lifetime of information which cannot be easily divulged, so it is a difficult balance. This story is the first time we see real fear in her, which is sensed by Perrin through his extended wolf perception.
The pattern of slowness and extensive description continues. I'm sure the pace and detail could certainly have been edited down, just as could have been done for the previous two novels. I expected this installment, being the end of the first "trilogy" in the series, to have a much bigger climax, but it seemed about the same level as the previous two books.
The series continues to hold my interest, and I intend to keep reading, but my concerns about the pending slowdown which will be coming in a handful of books continues to grow. We'll see what happens when I get there.
As always, I like hearing from my readers. Have you read this series? What do you think of it?
No comments:
Post a Comment