The Great Hunt
December 1, 2025
Rating 5 of 5
The Great Hunt is the second book in Robert Jordans famous Wheel of Time book series.
My reviews of the series
As these stories are rather long, rather then review the plot I’m just going to refer Wikipedia.
The summary of the Great Hunt is Rand and Company are chasing after the Horn of Valere which has been stolen by the Dark Friend Padin Fain.
I really liked the Great Hunt. I think its a much better novel then Eye of the World. I like the induction of the Selene/Lanfear character how she tricks Rand into helping her. How she tries to seduce him by playing damsel in distress. Its interesting how this basically works but she’s not satisfied with this as the real goal is to turn him to evil. Its all very fun.
The battle with the Seanchan is really interesting. I like the
twist of the Collars and how the women who can channel are controlled
by them. Liandrin handing Egwene over to the Seanchan and how
Egwnene is tortured by them using the Collar is rather stressful.
How Nynaeve, Min and Elayne rescue her is a exciting story.
The final confrontation between Rand, Ba’alzamon and the battle between the white cloaks, the Seanchan and Mat blowing the horn of Valere is very exciting.
The parts of the book I didn’t really enjoy were:
- I never really understood the roll fo the White Cloaks in the story How is them sending hundreds of men into Tomas Head significant. Why does he choose to take a death march vs the Seanchan? His death and their battle feels so anti-climatic as the Seanchan just decimate his forces with their channelers, no real battle is joined.
- Selene’s seduction of Rand is just too PG for me. This is an area the TV series handles WAY better then the books as they are immediately having sex in the TV series which makes a lot more sense.
An interesting difference between the books and the TV series is that the books introduce Verin Sedai, a brown Aja who helps Rand and company on the journey while the TV series omits her. I think this makes sense but I enjoyed the change from Moirane to Verin. I find Verin’s character more relatable.
Largely absent from the story are Moiraine and Lan. Honestly they are not missed.
When Rand uses the Portal Stone and the party is trapped in alternate realities living hundreds of lives for over four months is kind of a cool plot point.
I really liked how the Great Hunt had an exciting chase, a major betrayal and built to a significant and exciting climax. All in all a fun book.