This is NOT a review of the Wheel of Time books. I suppose you can call it a reaction blog... For it is a collection of my live reactions and thoughts to reading the Wheel of Times series for the first time.
The thoughts were originally shared on Twitter and have now been collected here for everyone's convenience. These are my full reactions from the second Wheel of Time book, with some post-read writerly thoughts at the very end.
To gain better understanding of what this is all about, please refer to this blog.
This time, I divided my readings up into days. This part 1 chronicles the first half, we meet Selene in part 2, and in part 3 we finish with a grand battle and my final thoughts.
Let the reading begin!
The Great Hunt
Day 1 : The day it all began, again.
Starting at the beginning. The real beginning - the dedication.
Does anyone know the story behind this dedication...?
It makes me think hurricane disaster. But I’m not familiar, and since I’m reading Wheel of Time for the first time, I'm still too paranoid about potential spoilers to google “Robert Jordan”.
A kind soul on Twitter referred me to this reddit post about the dedication. The nice person also warned me there were the Great Hunt spoilers in the thread, so I'm saving that for later.
Uhh this prologue is awesome!
I had been warned about long prologues but this one is not that long and besides, it’s great! I enjoy the voice and seeing the dark side! (I can now confirm that they do NOT have cookies, that was a lie)
The people watching in this section is also great. I love people watching. This is great. And I have a feeling we will run into all of the people described here. The woman from Illian, the two Aes Sedai, and “The man who called himself Bors”
Wait... Robert Jordan did it again.
Bors... Bors.... Boris?
Uhhh okay I’ve got you! So... Theory here:
The Forsaken will escape from their hold in Shayol Ghul. And it will be up to Rand (I still think he is the Dragon) and his companions (100 of them?) to lock them back again? Is that what’s going to happen??
I swear that’s the spitting image of my lad Mat! Couldn’t have done it better me-self.
Followed by an unmistakable description of Perrin. And then, Rand, of course.
This is the equivalent of wanted posters, but for criminals to use, in a fantasy setting.
Uhhh!! Very important information!!
So Rand is NOT the Dragon..... but he WILL be...?? How does one become the Dragon...?
I wonder how this will play out... when will he realise? Will he have to actively seek to become a dragon, because then I fear this world is doomed.
Hahaha! We can confirm!
I get nervous every time Rand touches his sword!
I hope he learns how to use it in this book. He is in dire need of lessons.
So, the man who calls himself Bors, is from Tarabon.
I’ve consulted my map and this means that we will likely get to visit the west coast, on the other side of Two Rivers! Does this also mean we will visit Two Rivers again...?
Who will it be? Who will make the journey home?
Hold up! Lan is as tall as Rand?? I missed something major. I was likely too star-struck by Moiraine at the time when he was first introduced, because I always imagined Lan to be on the shorter side but not any less badass for that...
It almost makes me sad to read that he is tall, even though it makes sense... I was quite fond of my inner image of a short badass hero.
You and me both, Lan. You and me both.
Except it’s a whole book ago for me.
I'm also very pleased to see Lan training Rand in sword fighting. He needs all of the held he can get, especially on the fighting front, and there is no better teacher than Lan.
A sword with 3000 years of tales.... did Rand’s sword, by any chance belong to Rand’s real father...?
And is he descended from the last Dragon Reborn aka Kinslayer...?
That’s my theory for now.
A little worn but wearable... yes Rand, but for how long? You’ve got a dozen books ahead of you, and I suspect that each book doesn’t take place over a day or two, so you should be happy with new shoes and clothes.
Pulling out stitchings looks easy, huh, Rand?
Well, it is easy, but now I really look forward to see Rand try.
Now they’ve all got bows!! This archer is very please to hear it, and we also finally get a description of a bow!!
So, in Rand’s case, at least, we’re dealing with a longbow.
That he made himself...? Gosh, I thought they were only there a month? Also that tough a draw seems very impracticable in battle.
Oh great.
Yes you do that, Rand. Because that has gone so well for you in the past...
Day 2