Robert Jordan. The Great Hunt. Tor, 1991. The Wheel of Time.
When I reviewed The Eye of the World a little over two years ago, I wrote that while I enjoyed the novel, I had no urge to run out and obtain a copy of the sequel. Finally, last week I did get a copy and have just completed it, The Great Hunt. I found it as equally gripping as the first one, once again leading to a dramatic climax.
The main characters are the same as in the first one, but there are groups of new supporting roles as this takes us further along in the adventures of Rand al’Thor. Rand has been told that he is the so-called Dragon Reborn, an apocalyptic figure who is supposed to bring about a new era after an earth-shaking battle or battles. Rand wants nothing to do with that and resists all efforts of people who might know and might want to defeat evil to persuade him otherwise.
The main person who tries to persuade him of this is Moraine, an Aes Sedai, The Aes Sedai (“servants of all”) are a kind of female holy order who can channel the power of the Creator. Some people consider them like nuns, others view them more like witches. They have all taken vows of purity and honesty, but in the course of the story we learn that some have broken those vows. We also learn more about the different “Ajahs” or societies within the order, each having a certain characteristic or specialty.
Rand spends much of this story trying to avoid any Aes Sedai and getting away from Moraine. The irony is that two of his traveling companions in the first novel have decided to join the Aes Sedai. That involves training and initiation at their headquarters/convent, the White Tower at Tar Valon. Egwene and Nynaeve are both recruited because they can channel and otherwise have some supernatural or near-supernatural abilities. We read about the psychologically intense initiation rite Nynaeve goes through to become an Aes Sekai.
There are numerous complications. One obvious one to anyone who has read the first book is that Aes Sedai normally do not marry, and yet Rand and Egwene both see the other as a potential spouse. Part of the novel involves Rand trying to locate Egwene—many of his friends think he died. At the same time, he gets distracted by other women, or perhaps I should say, females since it is not clear that a couple of them are really human.
A main story thread involves Rand and a few associates trying to obtain the Horn of Valere, a literal battle horn from ancient times which is supposed to be blown to begin the end of the current age, perhaps an echo of the “last trumpet” mentioned in I Corinthians 15:52 or the seven trumpets of Revelation. Rand had obtained it at the end of the first book, but it was stolen, so he and a group of associates including Mat and Perrin from the first book try to get it back. Along with it is an ancient dagger with some supernatural associations that Mat had owned for a while and wants back.
Both objects are morally ambiguous. Whoever blows the horn, what will he or she start? Will it destroy the world or just the evil in it? Again the dagger gives its bearer some extra power, but we all understand that power can corrupt, and previous owners of the dagger have never ended well (not unlike the rings in Lord of the Rings).
Like The Eye of the World, we follow the adventures of several different groups at the same time. Occasionally they come together, but never, it seems, for very long. We meet some more Aes Sedai and learn a lot more about the White Tower. We also are introduced to the clever and complicated politics of a few different cities.
In the city of Cairhien, Rand, the tracker Hurin, and the Ogier Loial encounter the local nobility and royalty. In the government courts of that city-state, politics is seen as a Great Game. Everyone assumes Rand does not really mean what he says and is up to something. It is not so much that things get complicated, it is more that things are always complicated there.
Author Jordan understands pacing very well. When one group may merely be resting in a village or spending days on the same path, someone else is having a life and death struggle. There are still some Trollocs and Darkfriends around, but the continent has a new adversary, too.
The Seanchan, a group from overseas though originally from the continent, have launched a naval attack to re-take what they see as their original homeland. They have women not unlike the Aes Sedai, except that they have used their knowledge to enslave others—not servants of all, but all serve them.
Besides Trollocs and their allies, we meet monster three-eyed frog creatures. The Seanchan apparently have trained some of them for battle.
A major theme of The Great Hunt is trust. Who can we really trust? Can we even trust the Creator and His plan? How do we know anyone is just not in it for himself? What if we are hurt even by “good” people. And what if it seems others are trying to use us? Even if it is for a just cause?
Yes, there is a lot of human conflict in this story, but there is also a lot of psychological conflict as well. The reader may know things that some of the characters do not know, but how can we even know which ones are truly on the side of the right? This is another sparkling tale in the Wheel of Time series. As with the first, it is a complete tale but does suggest a sequel will follow. Will I pick up the next book? Who knows? Time will tell.
P.S. I tried an experiment which I am not sure I would try again. I was watching the Amazon series while I was reading this. Season Two is basically the story of The Great Hunt. (Does that mean Amazon will take fourteen years to tell the whole story?) The TV series leaves a lot out, and modifies some of the characters and events. Min, a friend of Egwene and Nynaeve in the book, becomes a friend of Mat in the TV series. The politics of Tar Valon and Cairhien are different here. The TV series also tends to personify the evil more than the book. At times I felt like I was watching a horror movie. It serves its purpose, most of the acting was decent, but I liked the book better. I am more likely to read the next book than watch the next season on Amazon.