The Great Hunt

Executive Summary: Not quite as good as the first book, but still quite enjoyable, especially on this reread. I think I enjoyed it more the second time because I was in on all the secrets and foreshadowing this time.Audiobook: Excellent as expected. There are more female POV chapters in this book than their were in [b:The Eye of the World 228665 The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time, #1) Robert Jordan https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337818095s/228665.jpg 2008238], so it's a little more evenly balanced between Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Both do a great job. The hours just fly by.Full ReviewMy original review talked about a slow start. I'm not really sure what I meant by that though. This book has one of the best prologues of the series. Dubbed the “Darkfriend social” by fans, we get a ton of foreshadowing and clues to events that don't unfold until later in the series. Maybe I didn't appreciate it as much the first time as I did on this reread. There are a few slower parts in first half or so, mostly time spent traveling around, but those were never very long or all that slow for me.I think the real highlight here is we start to broaden the POVs out away from Rand. I like him, and at the core it's really his story, but the reason I love this series is all the depth and subplots. Nynaeve continues to get on my nerves a bit, but there is part of this book towards then end that reminded me of why she becomes one of my favorite characters later in the series. It's just a shame Mr. Jordan made her so frustrating for so long.I'm a sucker for the magic school trope, and even though there isn't much of it here, I do like the glimpse we get into the novice program of the Aes Sedai. Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve all appear to be way more powerful than everyone else, but don't really know what the heck they are doing.We also get a bit more depth to Mat and Perrin foreshadowing some of their stories to come, that really make this series more than just Rand's tale.Out in the world we get to meet some great new characters and catch up with some old ones. We learn about traveling stones and alternative universes a bit, adding even more depth to an already epic tale.Then there are the Seanchan. Just their name makes me mad. The kind of things depicted here show that fantasy can be used to show the cruelty mankind is capable while still telling an entertaining story. I know [a:George R.R. Martin 346732 George R.R. Martin https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg] made his name for gritty realism, but there are some darker elements here 5 years before [b:A Game of Thrones 13496 A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) George R.R. Martin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1436732693s/13496.jpg 1466917] was published. It's nowhere close to Grimdark, but certainly darker than Lord of the Rings, which detractors often call this a copy of.The ending of this book was really great, and I already can't wait to jump into [b:The Dragon Reborn 34897 The Dragon Reborn (Wheel of Time, #3) Robert Jordan https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1437224137s/34897.jpg 791061] next month.

I read about 2/3 of the book, and I just couldn't take it any more. Take the whole 13 books of the series and make it into one and you might get a good story, the way it is is just too BORING!

The main plot is much more blend then the first book, the character development is too slow. You can see that something amazing is going to happen, but based on the writing style, you can bet it's not going to be in this book.