The Wheel of Time [3] The Dragon Reborn (1991)

Now the series starts to get really good. With this third book, The Dragon Reborn, the last of the "setup trilogy" as I like to call the first three books in the series, all the somewhat disparate elements that were thrown at you in the first two books are brought together, you really start understand where the whole thing is headed, and you are invariably hooked on the series. At least I was when I first read it.

I haven't read this volume in a long time... because I'm a dork, I keep track of every book I read in an MS Access database (since 2001) and according to that the last time I read this one was back in 2005, in preparation for the release of Book 11, Knife of Dreams. Six years doesn't seem like a long time, but it was long enough for me to forget many things that happened in this volume, even though I had probably read it 6 or 7 times prior to 2005.
 

Just a taste of the awesomeness that is The Database.

Posts from here on out will start to be a bit longer, because starting with this book, there is a lot going on in each volume, along with things I didn't notice much then, but which I do now with my knowledge of events through the 13th book. I really did forget how good this book was. Definitely one of the top five in the series, in my opinion (I'll probably rate them in a separate post after the final volume is out).

Before you continue:

• This is part 3 of my The Wheel of Time retrospective
• See this blog post for an overview of the retrospective
• These blogs are most effective with your own re-read of the series
• Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

From this book until Book 7 Jordan flies at a breakneck pace and lots and lots of things happen. The world you were introduced to and the rules you had become familiar with – and which all the characters had accepted as "reality" – are bent and broken. Things begin to change; the world that existed for thousands of years without much change is different virtually overnight. And that always makes for interesting fantasy.

Characters do things that virtually no one did before. You have the Black Ajah finally announcing itself. You have Accepted leaving the White Tower on dangerous quests when Accepted never did this before – they were pretty much bound to the Tower until they were full Aes Sedai.

Lost knowledge is recovered, new talents explored. Egwene starts to become a Dreamer and Tel'aran'rhiod, the World of Dreams, is explored in-depth for the first time. Perrin enters the wolf dream and starts his own quest in learning how to live with his abilities. Black Ajah use ancient ter'angreal to access the World of Dreams as well. Moiraine and Rand use balefire, something rarely used in thousands of years. Mat and his interest in fireworks, which bears fruit much later in the series.  [Update 7/30/13: Particularly in the Last Battle, where they are one key to the success of the Light.]

The Forsaken make themselves known. Unlike the throwaway Aginor and Balthamel from The Eye of the World, who were trapped near the edge of the Bore and got out first, only to get bitch slapped by the Green Man and Rand in the space of a few pages, the ones that become known here set up shop in Illian, Tear and Andor, and when Moiraine reveals to Perrin and company on a stormy evening that Sammael rules in Illian, it's pretty creepy. Because now you start to realize the scope of what is occurring. You are entering new territory.

Thoughts Then

Let's take a step back into the past. I have distinct memories of reading this in my high school library. Why this volume more than the others, I don't know, I just have these snapshots in my mind of this novel and my high school library.

I also thought at the time that the cover for this one was a little better, though wildly inaccurate once I finished it. The Aiel are actually quite accurate with their dress – they had been shown and talked about in the previous novel, but I didn't really understand what their clothes were like until I saw them on the cover of this one. However, having Perrin and Mat (I guess that's him) there ruins it for me. I hate when the cover depicts a scene that doesn't exist in the book or is not accurate... the floating head of Ba'alzamon on the spine... really? Things like that bother me.
 

Callandor looks cool, but it's a bit too big, I think.

In the end this is the book that definitely hooked me on the series, as I mentioned earlier. I always thought it was interesting that the book titled The Dragon Reborn barely features Rand at all. Brandon Sanderson mentioned this when he re-read the series upon taking it over from Jordan, and I agree with his statements. At the time I didn't like that Rand was hardly in the book, but now it doesn't really bother me now that I'm older and understand the full scope of the series.

The Forsaken

I flew through the last quarter of this book and Chapter 55, "What is Written in Prophecy," which features the taking of Callandor, is one of the best chapters in the series. It is the only chapter that features the Forsaken Be'lal in the flesh, who is not even mentioned until this book except in glossaries. Unfortunately Be'lal's appearance is one that spans only a couple of pages, and he'll never return because he was balefired. Not as throwaway as Aginor and Balthamel, since he did take over a country first, yet disappointing all the same.

The sudden appearance and death of some Forsaken in the series is something that has always bothered me. Here we have 13 of the most powerful Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends, the ones that are whispered about in story and are a great way of cranking up the tension and mystique of the story – and some last only mere pages when they finally appear. Is it Jordan just making them out to be normal Aes Sedai? That they weren't really that powerful at all?

Maybe there's some truth to that. What's interesting is that earlier Loial says not much is known about Be'lal. Perhaps there's a reason for that. Perhaps he wasn't that great of an Aes Sedai in the first place, and too eager or headstrong, unlike the few other original Forsaken that are still around by Book 13. Anyway, more on that in the future blogs.

The Two Rivers Folk

I really liked Mat in this book, because this is where the Mat we all know and love emerges and comes into his own. In the previous two books he's under the influence of the ruby dagger from Shadar Logoth, and you never really get the full sense of his place in the storyline. But here he becomes the trickster and the gambler, realizes how his luck works and glimmers of his future military endeavors peek through during his attempt to enter the Stone of Tear.

Perrin starts to come into his own here as well, entering the wolf dream and meeting Faile, his future wife. I always thought his purpose in the story was to bring all the beasts to the Last Battle... I don't think that's entirely accurate now, but we'll see how that works out in the final novel.  [Update 7/30/13: I was correct.  He's essentially there to watch Rand's back and do the things that Rand is unable to do (like kill a woman).]  But seeing him get back to blacksmithing while in Tear was a great scene, and his struggle between axe and hammer begins here, culminating much later in Book 13.

As for Rand... he truly becomes the Dragon Reborn here. So really, this entire book shows each person from the Two Rivers edging into their place in the saga. Even Egwene and Nynaeve, forging their way into a new age of Aes Sedai.

Other Random Thoughts

Rather than get too deep into the happenings of the novel when you can read it for yourself, I figured I'd just relate some observations and "dohs!" (i.e. things I had forgotten about since I last read the book; there will be plenty of these in the next 3 or 4 books I'm sure).

Verin – I didn't realize how much Verin had been involved with the ta'veren and Black Ajah from the start. She knew Rand was the Dragon Reborn at the beginning of The Great Hunt, along with Siuan and Moiraine. I had forgotten about all that since I hadn't read these early books in so long. Knowing her fate in Book 12, The Gathering Storm, it creates a whole new layer to the story that wasn't there before. Especially considering that in this book she gives Egwene the initial list of Black Ajah and the ring she uses to enter Tel'aran'rhiod.

Faile – You know, I actually used to like Faile, when she first appeared in the series. The part where she says her name is Mandarb is pure comedy gold and made me laugh out loud along with Perrin. I always liked how their relationship grew. All that pretty much ended when she was captured by the Shaido later on in the series, but it's nice to see her and Perrin weren't always annoying.

Elaida – Funny how she was involved in the ritual of Egwene becoming Accepted, knowing that Egwene eventually replaces her as Amyrlin. Had forgotten that as well.

Aiel – Did not remember at all that Gaul was the Aiel Perrin freed from the cage in Remen. They've been together for a long time. And Aviendha meeting with Nynaeve, Elayne and Egwene on their way to Tear? Completely forgot that whole sequence. I must be getting Alzheimer's or something, geez.

Noam – Couldn't remember where Noam/Boundless was from exactly (this is resolved in Book 13, Towers of Midnight), but now it all comes back to me. Perrin's eventual reconciliation with his abilities makes more sense now.

Kindle Bookmarks and Notes

I would also like to mention that in reading through The Dragon Reborn on Kindle, I discovered how useful the bookmark and note features of the device can be. Many times I'd read a spot and think that I should mention it in the blog, or just wanted to add a note for later reference. You can bookmark and note a title as you read and later look at all your bookmarks and notes across all titles in one file.
 

My Kindle is pretty awesome.
Just like The Database.

This was a very useful feature for this blog about this volume. I didn't use it for the first two because not as much stood out for me to talk about. I'm sure I'll be using it for each volume going forward, though.

Editions

A couple of notes about my copies of this book (or lack of copies) to end with.

This is the one volume of the series where I'm currently missing the hardcover. I have all the others but this one. Why I never got it when I went back and bought the early volumes, I'm not sure, but I will be ordering it soon so that I have them all when the final book comes out next year.  [Update 7/30/13: I finally bought the hardcover a few months ago.  My collection is now complete.]

Also, I was among many who had the paperback version of The Dragon Reborn where the cover fell off because of poor glue. There is an entry about it in the WoT FAQ that describes how you can fix it, but it's somewhat involved just for a paperback. I ended up just taping the inside of both sides of the cover after the first reading. I'd post a picture, but I donated it to a library, so I don't have it anymore.

So thank you, Tor, for making a shoddy printing of The Dragon Reborn and making me ghetto tape it together so it didn't look like I was reading a stolen book.

Next:

Book 4 – The Shadow Rising
 
Previous:

Book 2 – The Great Hunt
Book 1 – The Eye of the World
Retrospective Overview

The Wheel of Time [2] The Great Hunt (1990)

In this second book of the series, we start off knowing who Rand is for sure.  I mean, we knew it in the first book – this archetypical fantasy story is generally predictable, some unknown person is actually a wizard or king and is destined for great things, yadda yadda – but now we know from the get go and frame the story in a different context.  In this book the world begins to expand, we travel from one end of the "Randland" continent to the other, the Seanchan are introduced, Mat's purpose in the series grows apparent and the females from the Two Rivers become major characters in their own right.

I like to think of the first three books in the series as the "setup trilogy."  Like the first act in a play.  They essentially do nothing but set the stage for the rest of the series, by educating the reader about the world and how it works and by introducing nearly all of the major players.  Robert Jordan has said that the ending of Book 3, The Dragon Reborn, was supposed to be the ending of the very first book when he originally planned the series out.  Obviously that didn't work out, as we all know how expansive and verbose Jordan can be.  But in reading so many fantasy and science fiction series in the past, more often than not a "Book 1" is usually chunky with setup, or is nothing more than a very long prologue to the rest of the action, and in this instance it got spread across three books.

Before you continue:

• This is part 2 of my The Wheel of Time retrospective
• See this blog post for an overview of the retrospective
• These blogs are most effective with your own re-read of the series
• Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES

Thoughts Then

I got this book not long after finishing The Eye of the World, but I don't recall where I got it or what I was doing then.  I probably just got it at the same place, Star Realm, along with the third book.  That or a place called Little Professor Books, which used to be in a shopping center near my high school in Nebraska.  Little Professor was actually a pretty crappy bookstore, as they were small and had a poor selection compared to the bigger players at the time like Waldenbooks... then mega stores like Borders and Barnes & Noble came along and many of the Little Professor stores went out of business.  It appears there are still a few left according to the internet, but none in Nebraska.

Before there was Borders... there was Little Professor.

Anyway, I do remember reading through this one much quicker than The Eye of the World.  The Hunt for the Horn was a good hook to pull the reader in, as Jordan was able to make it feel like a very important and revered item at the beginning of the book – something I've always been impressed with.  Usually in fantasy you get a few books worth of stories about some relic to build its mythology and mystique, then when it eventually appears in the story it seems that much more awesome.  The Eye of the World had very little of that leading up to finding the Horn of Valere at the Eye of the World.  But its discovery puts you firmly on the path of Tarmon Gai'don and there's no looking back.  The pace was swift and it didn't take me long to read through it, considering I read during much of my free time in high school.

I remember thinking at the time that the whole Seanchan invasion was strange, as they were driven away and eventually didn't return until the very end of Book 7, A Crown of Swords, which wasn't published for another 4 years (I was reading this for the first time in 1992).  There were hints in the intervening books that they might be back, but no one really knew and there weren't online communities or anything like that to discuss theories.  The internet as we know it now did not exist at the time and I only had a few friends in school that I could discuss the books with.  Other than that I was in my own little world.

Thoughts Now

Reading it now, I find I enjoy it more that The Eye of the World, but it still has those "forgotten" elements that disappear and rarely return later in the series, which is an inconsistency for me.  The Horn disappears from the series after this book, the Ways are rarely touched again, portal stones forgotten, etc.  Hurin, a major character in this book, vanishes soon after in the next book and doesn't return until way later in Book 12, The Gathering Storm.  I had actually forgotten about Hurin over the years.  I rather liked him and wish he had had a greater role throughout the series.

I haven't read this volume in many years, and even though I read the crap out of  it the first 6-7 years I was into the series, I had since totally forgotten about the whole sequence in Cairhien.  The Daes Dae'mar chapter is particularly well done, and is a great introduction to the kind of intrigue that proliferates throughout the series and what Rand has to deal with when he starts interacting with the different lands and leaders as the Dragon Reborn.

The reappearance of Thom Merrilin was one of my favorite parts of the book, as his interaction with Rand highlights how much different Rand is at this point vs. when they parted ways in Book 1.  The capture of Egwene by the Seanchan laid the foundation for the strong leader she eventually becomes, being ones of the "trials" she goes through to become one of the new generation of Aes Sedai.  When I think back on the series it's pretty amazing the trials she goes through – Seanchan damane, Aiel Wise One pupil, Amyrlin Seat of the rebels, prisoner of the White Tower.

The blowing of the Horn at the end of the book is one of the iconic moments of the series and anyone who has read the series knows it will happen again at the end, during the Last Battle, by Mat (unless something very unexpected happens in the final volume [Update 7/30/13: It is blown by another.  Mat's "death" in Book 5, The Fires of Heaven, severed his tie to the Horn.]).  This is another method of broadening the world for future volumes, as the Heroes of the Horn factor into the series later on, particularly with Birgitte Silverbow and Tel'aran'rhiod, the World of Dreams (we'll get into this in the next post for Book 3).  Having to wait so long to see the Horn blown again sucks, but that will only make it that much more awesome when it does finally happen next year.  [Update 7/30/13: And yes, it is very awesome.  One of great moments of the series.]

The Abysmal Cover

I know I didn't care for the cover during my first read, but I haven't really cared for any of them.  This is one of the worst ones, though... how anyone at Tor thought this was a decent and even-close-to-being-accurate cover is beyond me.  Loial is a joke, not even close to the descriptions.  I guess Darrell K. Sweet thought he could just paint a taller dude with pointy ears and a book in his hands and call it a day.  Selene (Lanfear) is ugly, not even close to the breathtakingly beautiful woman she is described as.

The best thing about this cover are the rocks.

And don't get me started on the Trollocs on the back cover... they are just humans with horned helmets on! Unbelievable. General displeasure over the covers of the series even prompted me to ask Robert Jordan about it, the one time I met him at a signing. More on that in the Book 11 post.

Sweet's covers are good for fantasy like Piers Anthony's Xanth, but The Wheel of Time has always deserved much more, something with a lot more realism.  Tor redeemed itself a little with the new eBook covers (which are used for the number icons at the top of this and other posts).  The new one for The Great Hunt is the same scene, but 5 billion times better.

So thank you, Kekai Kotaki, for painting a proper cover for The Great Hunt.

Damn, this is so much better.  The Trollocs look awesome.

Next:

Book 3 – The Dragon Reborn
 
Previous:

Book 1 – The Eye of the World
Retrospective Overview

The Wheel of Time [1] The Eye of the World (1990)

I distinctly remember buying this book in 1992, the paperback version. I got it at Star Realm, a comic / gaming store in Papillion, NE. The place wasn't too far from my high school and I would go there often. Why I bought it exactly, I don't remember. Most likely it was just due to the thickness of the book (I was into anything that looked epic enough) and the blurb from Piers Anthony on the back. It also helped that it was from Tor, which was publishing a lot of good stuff at the time. I do remember that the one thing that annoyed me at the time (and still does) was that there was no real "synopsis" on the back of the paperback... Tor does this with many of their paperback versions and I've never really liked that.

I recall also getting a CD on the same day, from a local CD shop near Star Realm (I can't remember the name of the shop). I do remember that it was the same one that I went to bright and early on the day of release for Metallica's self-titled "black album" in 1991 (still have the cardboard box, remember when CDs were packaged with those?). Anyway, the CD I got was Testament's The Ritual. Since that day whenever I listen to that album I think of The Eye of the World.

Before you continue:

• This is part 1 of my The Wheel of Time retrospective
• See this blog post for an overview of the retrospective
• These blogs are most effective with your own re-read of the series
• Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES

Thoughts Then

I don't remember all too much about the initial read of it, just bits and pieces, so this will be fairly short. It was so long ago, nearly 20 years (I really can't believe it's been that long). I know I liked it, because I went out and got the next two volumes when I had some money (didn't have a regular job yet). I remember understanding what was going on right away – there was none of that confusion you sometimes get when thrust into a new world, nor was it a book that needed a re-read to really understand it. It was a simple adventure, epic in scope, the kind I liked.

I also remember thinking the cover was somewhat lame, though in the end it is one of the better ones by Darrell K. Sweet. Most Wheel of Time (WoT) readers will tell you that the Sweet covers for the US editions blow. The cover for The Eye of the World was definitely not why I bought the book, as it's boring for a fantasy cover. Just a bunch of people on horses. The only really cool part was the Draghkar hovering near the moon, which unfortunately is obscured by the title on the paperback version.

Thanks for covering up the Draghkar, Tor!

Thoughts Now

Re-reading it now, I love seeing all the references to later occurrences in the series, particularly around the visions Min has. When you first read the book those things are interesting, but you have no context with which to place them. But there are things that are foreshadowed in the first book that happen in Books 12 and 13. At the very least it shows that Jordan kept meticulous track of everything he put on paper and what was going on in the world. No detail was unimportant.

The thing that strikes me the most now about this first volume is how sparse everything seems. There are only a handful of characters to keep track of. Virtually chapter focuses on our main 3 protagonists (Rand, Mat and Perrin), something that essentially stops about halfway through the series, and the story moves along at a brisk pace. Loial (one of my favorite characters) – the Ogier that is sadly ignored in the second half of the series – is here in abundance. The verbose description that Jordan is known for later in the series is still here, but it's not half as bad as Books 8-11.

In the early years of the series I re-read the first few books many times, and logically I've read this book the most of any. Yet for all that, I don't have much more to say on it in general. It's a decent book, but really only stands out because it's "the beginning." There are no moments in the book that I consider to be iconic in terms of the entire series, other than the prologue about the creation of Dragonmount. In regards to where it ranks with others it's in the middle of the pack for me. It gives you a taste of the world Jordan created and eases you into it, but really only scratches the surface.

Those That Were Forgotten

The things that bother me about The Eye of the World now, though, are that some elements almost seem out of place in the grand scheme of the entire series. The scene with the Green Man and the Eye of the World at the end feels awkward to me, mainly because it's hardly ever referenced again for the rest of the series, aside from The Shadow Rising, where most of that is sufficiently explained.  But it still feels out of place in some respects. Same thing with the Blight – they never return to the Blight (except in dreams) until the very end of the 13th book, when they are prepping for the Last Battle. Thirteen books is too long to wait for something to be brought up again. Obviously Jordan didn't imagine the series would span so many books. But still.

Maybe there will be a final reference to the Green Man or the Eye in the last book. Perhaps they'll go by the spot where the Green Man died and took root, and visit the tree that he became. That would be a great homage to the first time Rand learned who he truly was and bring the series full circle. I truly hope Jordan left notes for that to be added in.  [Update 7/30/13: There was nothing of the sort.  The Green Man and Eye are never mentioned in the final volume.]

There was also all that hoopla about Mat and the ruby dagger, which was fixed in Book 3 and barely mentioned again after that. I like Mat, but his purpose in the story doesn't become apparent until the next book, whereas you can tell what Rand and Perrin will become in this one.

Another forgotten element is Padan Fain, who was a central Darkfriend in the first half of the series, but vanished in the second half, much like Loial. The series gets so expansive that many of the elements that drew me in initially are pushed to the wayside. I am sure Padan Fain will make a final appearance in the last book... like the Green Man, it would bring things full circle, as he was such an integral part of the first half of the series.  [Update 7/30/13: Padan Fain's appearance was nothing more than a quick cameo where he died.  A bit disappointing.]

Friends

This book may be the most important WoT book to me out of any of them for the mere fact that it was because of this book that I made some really great friends in high school. My father was in the Air Force and we moved around a lot. When I was very young I didn't have much trouble making new friends every year or two, but when I became a teenager and entered high school I was a bit more shy (we all remember those awkward years, especially those who were "dorks" like me) and didn't make friends easily.

Cue The Eye of the World. During lunch at high school in Nebraska, I used to just read instead of eating in the cafeteria. I'd snack on something, but I much rather preferred just to spend the hour reading on my own. I was the dork that carried a novel with him from class to class, using any spare time to read a page here and there. I was consumed with reading during those years and read tons. Sometimes during lunch I would read in the library. Other times I would read in The Pits, large depressions in the main entry area of the high school, where students could sit and hang out.

My high school, where it all began... The Pits are just inside those doors.

During one lunch, I sat in The Pits reading this book. A guy was sitting nearby and struck up a conversation about the book. His name was Brian Watson and he had read it as well, and liked it. We talked a bit about WoT and other series like Dune and Forgotten Realms (he was a big fan of the Dark Elf series by R.A. Salvatore, I believe I borrowed them from him once), and I realized he was in one of my classes. Brian eventually introduced me to a really good friend I had for many years in Nebraska, Matt Kucera, and through him I made many other great friendships. Brian and I never really became good friends – we saw each other occasionally after sophomore year, but didn't hang out much outside school – and it could have just as easily been some other fantasy or sci-fi book that would have prompted him to talk to me, but it was The Eye of the World, and that was the first time a book I was reading had started a friendship.

So thank you, Robert Jordan, for that, and for introducing me to your world.

Next:

Book 2 – The Great Hunt

Previous:

Retrospective Overview