Reviews with content warning for Death - The Great Hunt

The Great Hunt é o Segundo volume de The Wheel of Time e eu continuo gostando bastante da história. A meu ver os personagens não são ponto forte da obra, é difícil gostar da maioria deles, porém Moiraine e Rand continuam sendo meus preferidos. Gosto de Moraine por ela ser badass, moralmente cinza e ambígua. Rand gosto porque a jornada de fazendeiro a chosen one é algo que me interessa. Gosto da resistência dele, de não querer ser o chosen one, a pura negação.

Nesse aspecto a storyline dele a partir do final do primeiro livro até o final desse segundo onde existe, talvez, o começo da aceitação por parte de Rand para mim foram os pontos altos. Realmente me instigou a continuar lendo. Também gostei de quando Rand conta a Matt e Perin que podia channel o um poder e que Moiraine queria que ele fosse o Dragon. Porém o livro teve problemas que me impediram de desfrutar completamente. O encontro e as cenas de Rand com Selene, que acredito ser a Forsaken Lanfear disfarçada, foram chatas e irritantes. A trope do personagem masculino que esquece o cérebro perto de uma mulher bonita é cansada e irritante. As cenas de Rand com Selene realmente atrapalharam o passo do livro deixando mais arrastado. Outra storyline particularmente chata para mim foi a captura de Egwene e Min. Egwene foi usada como uma damane, uma usuária do um poder escravizada, controlada e torturada pelas sul’dam. Como damane Egwene foi sujeita a tortura e eu entendo que foi uma experiência que potencialmente vai gerar crescimento do personagem pois, até então, Egwene era muito ingênua. Contudo enquanto estava lendo não desfrutei dessa linha de narrativa pois acreditei que a personagem teria que ser salva por Rand, Matt e Perrin. Para minha surpresa positiva isso não aconteceu e a jovem foi salva por Nynaeve e Elayne. Então o desenvolver dessa storyline foi entediante e irritante, mas o final foi bom. Outra coisa que figura pouco na narrativa, mas que também me incomodou foi o relacionamento amoroso do gleeman Thom, que descobrimos sobreviveu ao primeiro livro, com uma jovem bem mais nova, provavelmente adolescente. Isso foi bem creepy.

O terceiro ato de The Great Hunt foi muito bom com o confronto entre Rand e o Dark one que todos viram no céu, levando a notícia de Rand ser o Dragon se espalhar. Isso foi indulgente da parte do autor, mas eu gostei.

No geral o livro teve pontos baixos, mas foi um segundo volume bem sólido e os pontos altos me agradaram mais que o suficiente para elevar a nota. Estou desfrutando da leitura de The Wheel of Time e estou motivada para continuar. Dou 4.5 estrelas.

Content Warnings

mattiedancer's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-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

3.25

Writing: 3.5⭐️/5

Jordan has a vision for this novel, but this vision feels like it’s a bit surrounded by repetitive phrases and scenes. The writing itself is serviceable. It gets the job done, and is easy to read when it needs to be. But the overall impression of the writing is a bit unsubstantial. Apart from a few moments of truly good writing, the novel doesn’t shine in its prose. That being said, it also isn’t held back by its prose. It’s served by its prose: nothing more, nothing less.

Characters: 3.25⭐️/5

*Some Spoilers*

Where the first book truly drew me into the characters, this book offered a number of reasons to question their characterization. Min, for one, has a moment that seems completely out of character for her. Not to mention a lack of any growth towards many of the characters we grew to love in the first book. Plus, and I can’t emphasize this enough, we have the fridging of a minor character solely for the purpose of advancing Thom’s plot, which I must (and truly do) consider a cardinal writing sin. If I’m being honest, the only character who retained growth from my perspective was Nynaeve.

Plot: 3.25⭐️/5

I feel the plot of this book will be entirely necessary to the plot of the series. And yet, it left me with the same taste in my mouth as a filler episode of a sitcom. Much of the plot felt pulled at – lengthened where it wasn’t necessary – and padded with fluff. The truly adventurous or intriguing parts of the plot were quickly (and sometimes far too easily) resolved in order to advance the next section. Of course, all that being said, it’s not an unenjoyable read at all and did keep my interest, whether deserved or not.

Who Should Read This Book?

Those who read book one of The Wheel of Time (The Eye of the World)

Content Warnings?

Slavery, confinement, kidnapping, toxic relationships, toxic friendships, blood, gore, torture, abuse, child death, war, misogyny, sexism, death, murder, injury, injury detail, fire, emotional abuse, gaslighting,

Post-Reading Rating: 4.5⭐️/5

As much as parts of this book IRRITATED ME (hi, Rand), I am very excited to start the third one.

Final Rating: 3.25⭐️/5

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wogslandwriter's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I love Matt Cauthon so much.

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nadiaherondale's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Certainly an improvement in pace and interest for me. I'm glad things are picking up as I can actually enjoy what is a well written and thought world (that was obvious on the first one but all the introduction and the slow pace made it way too hard for me to enjoy it). Although I still feel like the climax of both the first and second books led to rushed endings

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diazona's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

The continuing adventures of Rand, Mat, Perrin, and friends (or, "friends") start to get rather complicated in this book. It's the part of the fantasy epic where the party splits up and there are multiple storylines to follow; I think at one point it switches among six different point-of-view characters, each in a different part of the world. So it's certainly not the easiest story to follow.

But I think it's worth the effort, especially for a reader who likes richly detailed worldbuilding (as I do). For all the complexity, the different storylines do all tie in to the overall plot of the series, and it's not at all hard to get swept up in the grandeur of the quest that the protagonists are on. Plus, the different plot lines do all reference the common mythology, and they converge back together by the climax of the book. As long as you have some patience, it doesn't feel like you're being led off on irrelevant tangents.

Maybe I like this book more than I "should". But what can I say, it's exactly the sort of thing that appeals to me: a richly detailed and self-consistent world (within reason, it is fantasy after all) and a compelling plot. Ultimately what matters is that I'm happy to have read it and I'm excited to get cracking on the next book!

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