The Dragon Reborn
Ratings685
Average rating4.2
Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters.
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
Winter has stopped the war—almost—yet men are dying, calling out for the Dragon. But where is he? In the Heart of the Stone lies the next great test of the Dragon reborn.
The Wheel of Time*®New Spring: The Novel
The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords
The Path of Daggers
Winter's Heart
Crossroads of Twilight
Knife of Dreams
By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
Towers of Midnight
A Memory of Light
By Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
By Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons
The Wheel of Time Companion
By Robert Jordan and *Amy RomanczukPatterns of the Wheel: Coloring Art Based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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The Dragon Reborn is an excellent third book in the series. Seeing the group split and the different directions the characters take, while they all ultimately reconvene at the end, is interesting. This is kinda what was done in book 2, and I hope the series breaks from this moving forward to avoid being formulaic, but only time will tell.
It’s good to see the girls develop separate personalities and experience conflict, although the hair-tugging aspect was a bit odd. I began to wonder if that was how she channeled her magic. The intrigue in the tower shows that it’s not a very safe place, and I suspect we’ll see that other Aes Sedai have been turned to the Black Ajah. I like that they have obvious wishes for revenge against several of the people who have wronged them, and they struggle not to enact that vengeance, especially since Nynaeve is especially prone to having a hot temper.
I’m also glad to see Mat back on his feet after pretty much an entire book lying down, waiting to die. It’s almost like Jordan didn’t know what to do with him, and so he put him on the back burner.
Rand is going crazy, but this needs to be slowed down if this is gonna last 10 more books. I don’t know how many were planned at this point, but the burn rate seems to be kind of fast. Are they going to fight a new Forsaken in each book? In some ways, he’s the least interesting character since he has plot armor and we kinda already know the outline of how it’s going to end, even if we don’t know specifics yet. I’m glad the story focused more on other characters and hope that Rand’s thread can become more interesting later.
Overall, a great third book, can’t wait to start the fourth installment!
The best book in the series so far.
This book has all the positives from the previous ones and more.
The highlight of this book is in my opinion the minimal amount of Rand's POV. Throughout this book we could learn more from the side characters that were shadowed by Rand in the first book. Mainly we get a deep dive into Egwene's, Perrin's and Mat's POV's, which I loved. Mat was so overlooked in the first two novels due to the dagger, but now that we got to see him in action he got such a great glow up. Perrin is still as cute as in the previous books, but now on the main stage. And Egwene is getting more powerful and wise than before, shes such a bad ass.
Once again I had the feeling the climax was a bit rushed, but still a great ending. But I do hope that we get to appreciate future stakes battles more. Let us get a taste of an epic conclusion pls.
All in all the best book so far in a series that I'm loving.
Can't wait to keep on reading.
Final rating: 3.25
Rand went missing in this book and I wasn’t a fan of that. He is the most interesting character and I felt robbed.
Uhhh such a great read. 3 pages full of notes on how much I am loving the plot! Finally we get to see some of Perrin. Egwene completely steals the show for me! My boy Mat didn't disappoint.
Overall very confused about why this book is called Dragon Reborn with only 3 chapters of Rand lol
Can't wait to see what's ahead!
Uhhh such a great read. 3 pages full of notes on how much I am loving the plot! Finally we get to see some of Perrin. Egwene completely steals the show for me! My boy Mat didn't disappoint.
Overall very confused about why this book is called Dragon Reborn with only 3 chapters of Rand lol
Can't wait to see what's ahead!
Jak na razie wszystkie 3 książki miały taki sam schemat. Przez pierwsze 80-90% jest kilka drobnych, ciekawych momentów, a pomiędzy nimi oceany szlamu, w których nic się nie dzieje. Potem przez ostatnie 10-20% fabuła płynie wartko i naprawdę dobrze się to czyta. Nadal uważam, że te książki można by o wiele skrócić i byłyby tylko lepsze.
Gdyby nie to, że słucham ich jako audiobooki, gdy chodzę na zakupy albo gdy jadę gdzieś tramwajem, nie kontynuowałbym.
Better than book 2. The Jordan quirks are still there and still annoying. But the different story arcs were more consistently interesting compared to the first 2 books, and the finale was also better. I was definitely impressed with the quality improvements in some areas, I felt much more balanced and there was an improved pace to the story. But it still has long plain descriptions, juvenile relationships and conflict, a weird gender dynamic with heavy undertones of repressed sexuality, and the main plot is just good and evil. It can still be fun despite all this. I'll say I hope future books have setting/culture changes because each place feels the same and the people act the same with paper-thin cosmetic changes.
4.00/5.00
The Dragon Reborn is a journey of the characters, their self-discovery, their emotional growth, of adventure, and of learning their own power. It is in this part of the book where Robert Jordan has delivered an exceptional story. The worldbuilding/magic system development has some jaw dropping moments, just as I hoped. The story of Nyneave, Egwene and Elayne is the most interesting and the most satisfying, with Mat's character development being quite spectacular.
On the down side, Robert Jordan really cannot write Romance.... and I didn't get the glorious ending that I wanted, it was good, but not as glorious as the Great Hunt.
WorldbuildingThere is a ton of magic system development in this, balefire, the FUCKING quantum mechanics of Mat!, Black Ajah, dream world, tar-angreal... there is so much here! This book deserves the high score. Story/PlotWhile I think Nyneave-Egwene-Elayne and Mat-Thom story lines were very impressive, I think the Perrin plot is a big miss. It started off great but went into boring territory and slid into downright cringe moments where the Falcon romance started.. Ughhhh... Robert Jordan cannot write romance. And how many are we going to "kill" Ba'alzamon? And how many will we split and rejoin and try again ? Dialogue/ProseThe prose in this book is similar to the books before, but I didn't feel any particular example stood out to me. I also noticed a lot of repetitive descriptions..... I always enjoy Robert Jordan's painting a picture with words approach, and I get that he wants us to experience this story as we would if we were a third person observer of events. I am mostly okay with this.. but the writing could have been better.. the last couple chapters could have been more glorious and more poetic.. Character DevSolid character development for all character development for all! Even if Rand's POV is like only 3% of the book I though his state of mind and his "madness" was so well depicted. I loved the scene where he just attacks some people with a flaming sword in paranoia! I also totally get his anger and frustration at the end and how his defeat of Ishamael finally made him accept himself. "I am the Dragon Reborn!" MAT MAT MAT, I loved this character! no more words needed. Emotional ImpactI would say my emotional impact is a bit low, I was really thrown off by the Perrin storyline and the cringe-worthy romance, and the repetitive killing of Ba'alzamon... And I am a bit disappointed at how the last few chapters didn't really deliver the glory of the Great Hunt, but it could have!
The third installation of the series delves deeper into the supporting characters, particularly Mat who spent half of the first book and most of the second sick.
I liked the way Jordan weaves the tale in this book, bringing the individual stories to the end of the book. The world continues to grow. There is still a lot still in mystery and lots of room to grow. That said, I still find myself wondering how this story manages to go another eleven books to conclude the epic tale.
forgot to write a review for this one
it's good, not as good as The Eye of the World but better than The Great Hunt. a lot of characterization happened and I liked the return to the small intimate group like in the first book. the ending was also really good.
The WoT books keep getting better and better. 4.5 stars, especially the latter half of the book. Loving the Aiel so far.
I honestly couldn't tell you what the overall plot arc of this book was. I know how it started and ended and I know several things that happened it it but the focus of many characters for the whole book had little to do with what could be called the climax.
This one was a bit less intense than book 2, but still far more engaging than book 1, hence 4 stars.
After TEoTW I had serious doubts that I would continue the series, but now I'm positively hooked. I have no idea how I'm going to squeeze SFFBC reads into my WOT binging in the next few months )))
3 stars only because Rand was barely in it.
Characters still make stupid choices
No one on this series has a brain
How many Inns do they have to visit?!
Like the world.
I am so conflicted about this book.
I spent the majority of reading it pissed off and/or confused.
Here's why (this is going to be a long one, sorry):
Characters - Almost all of the main characters are detestable. Arrogant, ignorant, rude, stubborn, impulsive and ungrateful. Think about their behaviour and tell me it's not true. Could you imagine having to travel with these people, or even spend a day with them, throwing tantrums about everything?
I am tired of characters who keep insisting that they will not be manipulated, while being manipulative. Of characters who demand to be told everything, while being unwilling to share anything themselves, or even to ask a question in a normal tone.
I'm even more tired of rude women, waving long-handled wooden spoons, yelling and bossing men around. In the entire book, there were exactly 2 notable women, who could be considered somewhat reasonable - Moiraine and Elayne (and even Elayne was quite arrogant at times). All the others grated on my nerves endlessly.
The characters were the main reason for my displeasure with this book, and this series so far. I have always found them somewhat annoying, but until this moment I was hoping for some sort of growth, for some sort of an arc. I'm starting to doubt there will ever be any. At this point, if any of them died, I wouldn't care one bit.
Relationships - The author seems to be unable to write human relationships of any sort. The love subplots, the arguments, the day to day communication between people - all of those are written choppy and clunky. None of it is believable. Every time I feel as though we are missing the setup for what we are looking at. It makes it feel unnatural and frustrating.
Pretty much none of the behaviour people exhibited made sense. It seems as though it was added there to serve the plot (not that it did in most cases), without a second thought of whether it made sense or not. Can anyone show me the setup for Egwene and Nynaeve's fight, please? Or the point of it, for that matter?
I understand that human communication is often complicated. But the author seems content to just show us conflicts and arguments, and call it bonding between characters. Completely omitting any actual endearing moments between them. Can you show me one scene in this book that displays any acts of warmth or kindness? Any friendly conversation between people?
Too much of... everything - Too many named characters and places. Too much repetitiveness. I lost the track of named inns and named innkeepers, of named random characters met on the road. Not all of whom were needed and mostly bloated the storyline unnecessarily.
What happened to the white cloaks we read about in the beginning? Why put them in the book at all? What happened to Thom? If you think about it, did he have any prominent role in this book? If he wasn't in it, would anything change?
I am tired of reading about the embroidery of dresses and shirts, or the silverwork on boots, or the cut of trousers... As an example, around the 80% mark of the book, the author has written the description of the garments in a given city 3 times from 3 different characters. In detail! Followed by 3 pages(!!!) description of the city. Which was already described prior to it... Who the hell needs that??
Creating an atmosphere is important and I love it. But this was too much. It felt like a filler, and artificially dragged the plot.
Rushed ending - To contrast the above, the ending went really quick, and I wanted more, because it was well written. But a lot was omitted. As though the author was tired of describing the town, so he just wanted to be rid of the ending as fast as possible.
The one thing that saves this book is the plot. I am curious about what is going to happen next, and all the above didn't diminish my interest. I will continue with the next book as a single last chance for this series.
Sorry for the long review.
I enjoyed 80% of this novel. Definitely another step-up compared to its predecessor but hampered by this series's long-form storytelling structure.
Read the full review on my website.
The author does something interesting with Rand, as we as readers don't follow his perspective for 95% of the book but instead we see how the world reacts towards Rand and the ramifications that it entails. It's a pretty bold decision by the author, but he superbly pulled it off.
It's my favorite of the series so far because it handles the different perspectives and interwoven narratives so well that it allows you to have a clear picture of everything that goes on in the story; our protagonists are once again separated, but they inevitably converge once again by the climax of the story (following the established formula), yet I find it way more compelling this time around due to how the author manages to balance the perspective of each character and how it plays out in the world. For instance, we can have one of our parties encounter something that halts their journey, while another party encounters that same thing along the way, but they go about it differently; it allows each “cause & effect” (a recurring theme) to make the world seem more “alive”.
Mat became my favorite character and I can't wait to see more of him as well as the disadventures he may end up in; He brings something completely different to the table, as he doesn't necessarily aspire to be a hero, accomplish something grandiose or help save the world, but rather acts through self-interest and whether there is money involved...or does he? He might appear to act selfishly, but we learn throughout his journey that he truly has a heart of gold. Also, he not only brought us the best fight of the series so far but also almost every moment/interaction/dialogue coming from him is either hilarious, cool, or charming. To bad that almost everyone doesn't give him the time of day (and most often than not, it works for his advantage).
I really liked the ending, not because of the sheer epicness of it all, but because it served as the “closure” to the lingering feelings of the previous book, while also allowing Rand to overcome his fear and truly accept his destiny without being pushed to do so.
OOF this one was kind of a miss for me. I won't get too far into the plot to avoid spoilers for the previous books.
I was so bored through the majority of this book. I did not understand why it was so long. The entire book felt like it was just the characters all travelling to Tear. While this allowed Jordan to dial into some of the dream magic found in this world, I didn't feel like it needed to be as long as it was. I also felt like maybe the reader shouldn't follow so many POVs. Knowing that everyone was going to Tear but didn't know the rest were felt more annoying than fun. Also, we hardly got any of Rand's POV, which I'm a little more conflicted on. For most of the book, I was incredibly annoyed by this. However by the end, I kind of understood more while this happened.
This book is getting 3 stars instead of 2 solely because of the last chunk. I felt like the ending kind of redeemed itself. The action ramped up and we got to see some pretty cool magic. I really hope the next book is faster paced.
TW: animal abuse, animal death, anxiety, assault, attempted murder, blood, death, emesis, fire, hallucinations, hostages, kidnapping, murder, torture (mentioned), violence, war (mentioned)