Rand al'Thor is the Dragon Reborn - able to touch the One Power, but unable to control it. Rand knows only that he must face the Dark One in a battle to the death. Ahead of him lies the next great test for...the Dragon Reborn.
If you're already on book 3, there's not much more to say.
It's more or less more of the same, more exposition, more world building, more secrets, more character building, and a continuation of the so-called Prophecies.
This book finally gives some other characters introduced earlier some spotlight, most notably Mat, which was great to finally see what he was capable of, although admittedly he did feel like a bit of a Mary Sue, but perhaps there will be explanations for that in the future.
Review from a long-time fan (spoilers for previous books but not for this one)
5 izar
This was actually my introduction to the series- and I personally recommend that new readers start here, too. My mother picked us up an audiobook for a road trip back in middle school and didn't realize it was the third book in the series.
This book is, I feel, the first time that Jordan's writing style for the rest of the series is really cemented in place. Books 1 and 2 have a different feel to me- I'm not really sure how best to describe it.
For example, in books 1 and 2 Mat only shows a mild interest in gambling, no more than anybody else- and in his first chapter in this book, his inner monologue talks like he is a seasoned gambling addict. Perrin had, in the previous book, accepted his Wolfbrother abilities- and in this one, he is suddenly back to rejecting them. I always have heard …
This was actually my introduction to the series- and I personally recommend that new readers start here, too. My mother picked us up an audiobook for a road trip back in middle school and didn't realize it was the third book in the series.
This book is, I feel, the first time that Jordan's writing style for the rest of the series is really cemented in place. Books 1 and 2 have a different feel to me- I'm not really sure how best to describe it.
For example, in books 1 and 2 Mat only shows a mild interest in gambling, no more than anybody else- and in his first chapter in this book, his inner monologue talks like he is a seasoned gambling addict. Perrin had, in the previous book, accepted his Wolfbrother abilities- and in this one, he is suddenly back to rejecting them. I always have heard that Jordan wasn't sure he was getting more than 3 books until after book 2 released, so in book 3 he re-structured his characters and the story to set up more long-term arcs- and I think that's a good explanation for why this book feels so different. It feels both like the climax of books 1 and 2, and the opening to the rest of the series.
I LOVE the structure of this book and the characters he chose to focus on. And Jordan's storytelling abilities really shine in this book; it's engaging all the way through, and IMO is a rock-solid story. It's not the best in the series, but it's certainly the best of the first 3 books, and I consistently say that it's in the top half.
