The Wheel of Time: The Great Hunt

I'm not sure how Robert Jordan did it, but he did it well; the end of The Great Hunt is incredibly epic. I had to even pause for a moment from reading to be able to grasp the grandness what is the final chapters of the book.

I now notice I read the previous part of the series all the way back in last year's October. I didn't mean to have a such long break between them, and it certainly didn't take four months to read the second book -- barely a week.

In The Great Hunt, Rand and others chase the darkfriends who stole the Horn of Valere, which was found at the end of the previous installation of the series. During the journey, Rand's character grows as he slowly accepts the fact that he is really the Dragon Reborn, the one who will fight the Dark One and break the world once again. Rand's skill with sword also increases -- eventually claiming the right to bear a heron-mark sword -- and the sword forms are introduced.

"He [Rand] recognized the forms the High Lord used; they were a little different from what he had been taught, but not enough. The Swallow Takes Flight met Parting the Silk. Moon on the Water met The Wood Grouse Dances. Ribbon in the Air met Stones Falling From the Cliff. They moved about the room as in a dance, and their music was steel against steel."

The forms are a quite unique way of describing melee combat; I haven't met this type of telling in any other fantasy book I've read so far. And it works. Obviously, it is used only when Rand is fighting as he's the only one of the main characters who's been taught any sword forms. But that's fine, better to savor it in smaller bits.

Mat and Perrin don't see as much development as Rand. Mat's ruby dagger has been stolen with the Horn and he's slowly dying for being separated from it. Perring tentatively uses his ability speak with wolves couple times but that's about it. Nynaeve and Egwene get some attention too, as they enter the White Tower to become Aes Sedai.

It's intriguing how many different factions there are in The Wheel of Time. (I guess the world is just called the world.) A dozen states and nations, which all seem to be mostly only on their own side. And then there are the darkfriends, found everywhere, and they all serve the Dark One, although, they're don't really care about each other's welfare that much, being evil and all.

The next part of the series is called The Dragon Reborn. On the cover, Rand seems to be grabbing Callandor, which is a sa'angreal, an Aes Sedai item, in the form of a sword meant for male use if I recall correctly. His father's heron-mark sword kind of melted useless in The Great Hunt, so what would be a better for a new one than one that is "powerful enough to destroy a city with one blow."

Also, I must I say I don't really appreciate the cover art of The Wheel of Time series, done by Darrell K. Sweet. It's alright, but I've seen better.