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rikuson1's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
It Was Okay 🙄
-★★✬☆☆ - (2.25/5.00)
My Grading Score = 45% (D)
The Dragon Reborn was an entry I was quite looking forward to getting into. For both The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt, I understood very quickly what needed to be done in them, respectively. That's not necessarily the case for this one. It felt very disjointed, and I felt I spend too much time trying to figure out what the goal of this book was overall.
If there's one thing I heard going into this book, and now finishing it, is that this entry has an infamous association with it. And you've probably heard it before at least once in regard to the title of this book, The Dragon Reborn. A book labeled The Dragon Reborn, which by this point we all is Rand Al'Thor, has little to none of him within it.
This book has essentially and in total a whopping four points of view. The 1st POV is Rand which we see little to known of but the story tries to tease us with a chapter, or a paragraph sprinkled in here or there about how he's headed off on a solo mission basically. The 2nd POV consists of Perrin, Lan, Moraine, and a new character, Faile. And their mission for basically this entire book is "catching up to Rand." The 3rd POV consist of Egwene, Alayne, and Nyneave in Tar Valon for the first chunk of their chapters continuing to learn the ways of being a Aes Sedai and then their mission and main goal is to track down the Black Aja who screwed them over in the previous book. And the 4th POV is with Matt whose first goal is basically to be a messager for Alayne to Caemlyn and then it transitions into another plot in Caemlyn which transitions into wanting to save the characters of the 3rd POV. These four, or more so, like three since Rand's POV can barely be considered one. Have events in them that were barely interesting and very few and far between for me. Between those small moments of engaging related things, it was a very very slow burn thrown in with Robert Jordan's signature over-explanation of every location the characters come in contact which only bogged the pacing down even more for me.
This book did manage to make me care more about Matt since we spend so much time with him and the return of Thom Merrilin (even though he didn't really do anything) into Matt's POV was since to see. Perrin felt like it was a lot more whiney in this book, it felt like since Rand wasn't really a focus in this book RJ took all of the whiney angst he'd usually make Rand go through and injected it into Perrin. Although this did make him a bit more of an interesting character since he's not entirely the same as Rand because of this. His relationship with this new character Faile was interesting enough to follow at first but I do feel around the end their connection and care for each other happened a bit too fast and sudden to be caring for each other like that. The girls were all about the same, and Lan, I felt didn't really do anything either, especially during the climax of the book.
Speaking of the climax, it was about the last 10% of the book, and it was engaging until the end constantly swapping POVs which made it feel very fast pace and yet another clash with Balazamon and another enemy called Be'lal. Rand obtaining Callandor was cool, I guess this is an upgrade from the Heron Mark Blade that got broken in The Great Hunt and him before this being able to conjure and wield a sword of fire which was random but, cool as nonetheless. Clash with Balazamon basically felt like a repeat of their clash in The Great Hunt and The Eye of the World. Rand didn't really seem like he struggled in this fight either and him on the run and destroy pretty effortlessly. So, although I was engaged, it did feel like we've done this before with similar results.
Verdict
The Dragon Reborn to me was confusing for the first 10% and engaging the last 10% of this 500+ page book, which, overall, that's not that good when phrased that way. Not that much engaged me for this book and is one of the weaker entries thus far for me. It's not bad,
It Was Okay
-★★✬☆☆ - (2.25/5.00)
My Grading Score = 45% (D)
The Dragon Reborn was an entry I was quite looking forward to getting into. For both The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt, I understood very quickly what needed to be done in them, respectively. That's not necessarily the case for this one. It felt very disjointed, and I felt I spend too much time trying to figure out what the goal of this book was overall.
If there's one thing I heard going into this book, and now finishing it, is that this entry has an infamous association with it. And you've probably heard it before at least once in regard to the title of this book, The Dragon Reborn. A book labeled The Dragon Reborn, which by this point we all is Rand Al'Thor, has little to none of him within it.
This book has essentially and in total a whopping four points of view. The 1st POV is Rand which we see little to known of but the story tries to tease us with a chapter, or a paragraph sprinkled in here or there about how he's headed off on a solo mission basically. The 2nd POV consists of Perrin, Lan, Moraine, and a new character, Faile. And their mission for basically this entire book is "catching up to Rand." The 3rd POV consist of Egwene, Alayne, and Nyneave in Tar Valon for the first chunk of their chapters continuing to learn the ways of being a Aes Sedai and then their mission and main goal is to track down the Black Aja who screwed them over in the previous book. And the 4th POV is with Matt whose first goal is basically to be a messager for Alayne to Caemlyn and then it transitions into another plot in Caemlyn which transitions into wanting to save the characters of the 3rd POV. These four, or more so, like three since Rand's POV can barely be considered one. Have events in them that were barely interesting and very few and far between for me. Between those small moments of engaging related things, it was a very very slow burn thrown in with Robert Jordan's signature over-explanation of every location the characters come in contact which only bogged the pacing down even more for me.
This book did manage to make me care more about Matt since we spend so much time with him and the return of Thom Merrilin (even though he didn't really do anything) into Matt's POV was since to see. Perrin felt like it was a lot more whiney in this book, it felt like since Rand wasn't really a focus in this book RJ took all of the whiney angst he'd usually make Rand go through and injected it into Perrin. Although this did make him a bit more of an interesting character since he's not entirely the same as Rand because of this. His relationship with this new character Faile was interesting enough to follow at first but I do feel around the end their connection and care for each other happened a bit too fast and sudden to be caring for each other like that. The girls were all about the same, and Lan, I felt didn't really do anything either, especially during the climax of the book.
Speaking of the climax, it was about the last 10% of the book, and it was engaging until the end constantly swapping POVs which made it feel very fast pace and yet another clash with Balazamon and another enemy called Be'lal. Rand obtaining Callandor was cool, I guess this is an upgrade from the Heron Mark Blade that got broken in The Great Hunt and him before this being able to conjure and wield a sword of fire which was random but, cool as nonetheless. Clash with Balazamon basically felt like a repeat of their clash in The Great Hunt and The Eye of the World. Rand didn't really seem like he struggled in this fight either and him on the run and destroy pretty effortlessly. So, although I was engaged, it did feel like we've done this before with similar results.
Verdict
The Dragon Reborn to me was confusing for the first 10% and engaging the last 10% of this 500+ page book, which, overall, that's not that good when phrased that way. Not that much engaged me for this book and is one of the weaker entries thus far for me. It's not bad,
It Was Okay
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship
Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, and War
mattiedancer's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Writing: 3⭐️/5
On one hand, Jordan knows he’s writing books that are very long and people may need reminders of certain things. On the other hand, Jordan’s repetitive phrases and facts really, really exhaust me (if Nynaeve tugs on her hair one more time…). All in all, the book is serviceable to the plot, demonstrating great control at times, and at others lacking a certain something something.
Characters: 3.5⭐️/5
*Some Spoilers*
I am incredibly torn. Nynaeve and Mat continue to grow as characters, fleshing out their flaws and motives to be truly interesting characters. Rand even offers some growth – even if it is foul and unhealthy at times – with his passages becoming more unhinged, but also more interesting. However, it feels like we get a huge step back with Perrin, who reads during much of this novel like a carbon copy of Book-Two Rand. So much so that I wonder if Jordan knew how to make Perrin have an internal struggle that different from Rands. Egwene as well begins to act like a petulant child in a way that felt unnatural and unsmooth. I will say that at the end of the day, the characters are still fascinating and kept me reading.
Plot: 3.75⭐️/5
*Some Spoilers*
We have a couple illegal tropes to charge Jordan with, mainly the “Adults are Useless” trope. I found it incredibly hard to believe that the Amyrlin Seat would have encouraged three untrained Accepted Aes Sedai students to chase after the Black Ajah with little thought to how untrained they are. Other than that though, I didn’t have a huge problem with any of the overarching plot. In comparison to the previous book, I thought this felt less stuffed with fluff. I enjoyed the traveling, I enjoyed the switching perspectives, and I enjoyed the pace (mostly).
Who Should Read This Book?
- Those who read book one and two of The Wheel of Time (The Eye of the World)
Content Warnings?
- Confinement, kidnapping, toxic relationships, toxic friendships, blood, gore, abuse, war, misogyny, sexism, death, murder, injury, injury detail, fire, emotional abuse, gaslighting, mentions of slavery,
Post-Reading Rating: 4.5⭐️/5
Oh, I am worried for Faile.
Final Rating: 3.5⭐️/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Slavery
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