I finished reading this book several weeks ago, and currently am reading the third book of the series, The Dragon Reborn. I have decided to write reviews of the first two books, and once I finish the third book, write a review as well. There are thirteen books in the series including the prequil (A New Spring), and the 12th book which is being finished by Brandon Sanderson, whose works Elantris and Mistborn are also reviewed on my blog.
This is the first book to The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
We start the book meeting a young man named Rand al’Thor. He lives on a farm in the West Woods near a town called Edmonds Field in the Two Rivers area of Andor. Rand is traveling with his Father Tam, to the village of Emonds Field for Bel Tine.
Little does he know that this the night before Bel Tine, will change his life. The events of the night change the lives of 5 young people from Emond’s Field. Rand, Perrin, Mat, Nynaeve and Egwene. Rand as I mentioned before is a farmer and a shephard, Perrin is the blacksmith’s apprentace and friend of Rand, and Mat is the son of a man who raises and trades horses. He is also a friend of Rands. Nynaeve is the Wisdom of Emond’s Field, and her journey is to follow and rescuse the 3 young men and Egwene who has decided to leave to travel to Tar Valon to train to be an Aes Sedai, as she has learnt from speaking to Moiraine, that she has the ability to touch Sadar.
Emond’s Field which generally has few visitors, not only boasts the presence of Moiraine whom we met in A New Spring, but also of her warder Lan. Additionally a Gleeman named Thom has come to the village to perform for Bel Tine. Shortly after the arrival of Rand and his father in the village, the traveling peddler Padan Fain arrives with news of a False Dragon (Logain), who has yet to caught by the Aes Sedai (women who can touch the Sadar, the female half of the power) to be gentled. (Men who can touch Sadin, the male half of the power, tainted which leads them to maddness must be cut off from being able to touch it. This process is called Gentling. When done to women are cut off from touching Sadar it is called Stilling).
The adventures of the 5 youth whose lives change with an attack on the Village, take them not only to the edge of the Two Rivers but nearly across the entire world, into the blight, the land of the Shadows. Along the way we meet 4 young people whose lives change by meeting the Emond’s Field youth.
The First we meet, is a young lady named Min who works at an Inn where our group stays. Her life changes when the Inn is burnt down, and she is summoned to Tar Valon because of her talent to see auras. The last 3 youngsters we meet are Elayne, The Daughter-Heir to Andor, and her brothers Galad and Gawyn. Rand trying to get a glimpse of Logain as he is taken to be presented to the Queen of Andor falls off the wall he has climbed and into the garden where Elayne has gone to take a look as well. Elayne is soon to be sent to Tar Valon, to train to become an Aes Sedai.
Robert Jordan is a masterful storyteller whose imagination is captivating, and draws you into the world he has created. I highly recommend this book to anyone whoenjoys the fantasy genre of books, or anyone looking to get into them. If you have not read A New Spring, I strongly recommend that you read it prior to reading this book.
