There are few disappointments greater than a bait and switch.  When I had scanned on Amazon that Robert Jordan was releasing a new novel, I automatically assumed that it was the next installment in The Wheel of Time.  Like many other people I thought wrong, it is actually a prequel to the series.  Doubly disappointing (at first) is it is largely a rework and lengthening of a story he submitted in the first Legends collection.  Given I have not read (yet ironically own) this book I can not compare directly how this variant of the story might be better or worse. 

Given my initial disappointment, does New Spring deliver the literary goods.  For the most part yes, but many of Jordan’s writing foibles are glaring.

Much of Jordan’s recent literary endeavors, New Spring suffer from his problem with over descriptive prose and perpetual comments on how men are different than women.  Unlike the Wheel of Time we, generally, know how this novel is going to end.  Thus he des not have the ability or time to write himself in to a corner.  This is a concern I have with his efforts in the greater WoT series.  Also with the short page count he has to keep the plot moving.  It is my belief much of the useless prose on side characters could have been applied to the last 75 pages to flesh out the climax of the novel.  It feels very rushed and instead of some muddled action it could have led to much suspense.  The basic plot goal of the book (How Moiraine met Lan) is accomplished, but the plotting to set it up was slightly plodding.

The two primary characters are Moiraine and Lan.  While Moiraine is allegedly dead in the greater series I thought it might be nice to see this character again in action.  I came a way feeling slightly at odds with how I thought she might have been as an accepted and then a young Aes Sedai.  Given her serious nature in the WoT novels her more impetuous and immaturity made her almost seem like another character with the same name.  Jordan does share the backgrounds with Moiraine and Lan which were not particularly discussed in the WoT and that was a major plus.

There are some familiar faces appearing in the prequel.  Suinan plays a solid secondary role and her relationship with Moiraine is fully fleshed out.  There are a number of tertiary characters who make an appearance, though one that looms large in the recent WoT novels Cadsuane.  Jordan raises some serious issues with her that I did not see and makes me look forward to the next novel…whenever he feels gracious enough to finish it.

New Spring is not a great novel.  It is certainly better than several of the previous Wheel of Time novels and it did in the end win over my initial disappointment..  Had Jordan added more effort into the final 75 pages and removed his usual gratuitous descriptions during the course of the novel this could have been a much better effort.  Also it felt like he was a little incongruous, particularly with Moiraine, in how they were circa Rand’s birth and how she was introduced in the WoT.  Fans of the series will appreciate New Spring and it might be a good starter into the series for the new reader.  For anyone else, it might not be as intriguing of a read.