Rating: 4 out of 5
The Dragon Reborn… Yes, he’s here! And it looks like he’s ready to assume the important mantle that everyone’s been waiting for. But, of course, in Mr Jordan’s universe things are never that simple. In this way, Rand loses the little bit of respectability in the eyes of at least this reader. Perrin and Mat are also relatively lacklustre and in general I couldn’t wait until their chapters passed.
The part that I really did enjoy was that of the young women: Ninaeve, Elaine, and Egwene. They have grown a lot compared to the previous stories and guileless would-be enchantresses have turned into skillful planners. Not everything goes the way they want it to, but I found their story the most compelling.
That’s not to say that the story goes entirely unpredictably. Yet, the author manages to pull a few clever tricks and some of the revelations made in the course of this book did surprise me, also leaving a lot of potential for future titles. This also gives me some hope for Rand in the future as it seemed that by the end of this book, he was a touch more understanding of everything that’s going on.
