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Review of The Great Hunt
Damn.
Just a one-word description to say after just finishing the book. Damn.
When I started this volume, I felt as though I was trying to relearn everything there was about these characters that I had just finished reading about, after all, I guess Jordan wanted to be certain that the reading audience was never far from the feeling that (most of) these characters were "new" to the world around them, and often regretted leaving home in the first place.
Thankfully, Jordan didn't stick to lodging that in my brain as I read through. It was nice seeing the characters act, and take responsibility for their mindsets--even if some of them strike other readers as "bitchy" or "snide."
The story follows after Eye of the World, within a short month after that volume concludes, and deals with the item recovered by the characters.
I will venture to say that while some of the action of this volume was "Dickens-like," I didn't mind it as much as in the first book. I also found the denouncement flimsy and almost anti-climatic.
I think that Jordan has painted himself into a corner with this volume; the climax of the story could have come during a later point in the series (as I've read so far, just the first two) and had a greater impact on the lives of his characters. I know that the series continues for several more books (this is, after all, book two of ten-plus volumes), it seems that the grandeur of the world now (even with Jordan's vivid descriptions) will seem flat after the epic battles and shattering events that have taken place here.
I am troubled by the way Jordan's handling of the denouncement in the first two volumes of this series, as I think it may lead into a poorly formed pattern that was pointed out in the forums (3/4 stuff, 1/4 forward series arc). If it happens too many times, I'm certain that several readers would have set the series down and said "whatever" to it.
I did enjoy this volume better than the first, and if the amount of action continues (minus the poorly drafted denouncements), I will probably end up acquiring the hardbound version of this series and pass them on to my children.
