Part 4 of my Wheel of Time reread aka; The Part Where Faile Is Introduced And Unfortunately Is Not Immediately Killed.Once again this won’t be a review, but just a bit of a disorganised ramble and stray observations. Spoilers for the whole series ahead. Like the previous two books in the series, my recollection of The Dragon Reborn isn’t very good. It’s the first time Mat gets some proper attention as a POV character. Perrin also receives a generous amount of focus, as do the White Tower Trio; Nynaeve, Elayne and Egwene. Most significantly, Rand is practically absent from the book until the end. It’s an interesting and, I think, bold move by Jordan, removing his protagonist from the narrative, and it means Dragon Reborn is the first book in the series that truly has a large ensemble cast, something that is a trademark of the series, to me. Rand is and will remain the Main Character, but plenty of others are nearly as important.If you ever wanted to read a lot about boat journeys on fictional rivers, this might be the book for you. It must be deliberate, because there’s a section of the book where every POV character apart from Rand is boating down a river. Jordan, with his usual over-detailed excess, names every ship, every ship’s captain, every inn and every innkeeper. And several stableboys. Some would point to this as an early sign of Jordan’s famous padding, the bloat that IIRC devours entire books later in the series. I can’t argue with that, but I’m never too hasty to dismiss things like this. You never know when/if any of these characters will reappear later in the story. Most of them won’t, but you can never be sure. And, I kinda like that. Even at this early stage, the amount of moving pieces Jordan has is pretty amazing.There’s some odd moments in this book, as if Jordan still hasn’t totally worked things out. Such as one scene in particular, when Rand is camping, and he is approached by a lady merchant and her guards, inquiring whether they might take water from the nearby spring. Without missing a beat Rand decapitates the woman and kills all 10 of her guardsmen. Jordan is definitely implying that Rand is starting to go mad at this point, but even so, it’s a very jarring moment, considering the angsty angsting Rand will later do concerning the killing of women. Here he murders a woman before she can even attack, and doesn’t think twice about it. Nor does he think back on it, or even seem to remember it, later on. This brutal murder of an unarmed woman who may or may not have been intending Rand harm seems like a really sharp contrast of his later attitude.This is the first time so far I’ve noticed a thing that, in my mind, is a signature Jordan flourish. I’m not sure what to call it exactly. An OCDiorama perhaps. This reaches ridiculous proportions in some of the Perrin/Faile/Berelian scenes later in the series, if I’m remembering correctly, but here is the first real sign of it. It’s difficult for me to describe in a general sense, rather than give specific examples, but it’s when Jordan has multiple characters together - in a room, on a ship, whatever - and they all seem to be acting in this elaborately staged and rehearsed manner, over and over again. The first example of this that I encountered in The Dragon Reborn was as follows; Perrin, Moiraine, Lan , Loial and Faile are on a riverboat approaching Illian. Perrin has argued with Faile and Moiraine. Moiraine has argued with Faile. Now all five characters are not speaking to one another. Perrin stands at the bow of the ship staring resolutely ahead. But does he occassionally glance back over his shoulder? You bet your sweet ass he does! Multiple times (dear Perrin - you aren’t really “staring resolutely ahead” if you are continually peaking over your shoulder) What does Perrin see when he glances over his shoulder? Moiraine and Faile not looking at each other. Except, they are looking at each other. Constantly. Moiraine isnt looking at Faile, except when she looks at Faile with a cool glance. And when moiraine looks at Faile with said cool glance, Faile straightens and smiles politely. Then when Moiraine looks away, Faile wilts and mops sweat from her forehead. Then when she notices that Perrin has noticed this, she glares at him. Then Perrin looks away. Then he looks at Lan, who is not looking at anyone, except he’s looking at all of them and maybe smiling occassionally, but it’s hard to tell because it’s Lane and he never smiles. Moiraine, who is not looking at Faile (except when she is) is also not looking at Lan, except sometimes she is, and whenevr she notices him smiling she sniffs and glares at him. Perrin takes all of this in with one casual glance oevr his shoulder, then returns to staring resolutely ahead and muttering to himself, until the next time (presumably a few seconds in the future) when he glances over his shoulder AGAIN and the whole process repeats itself. There you have it. OCDiorama. A charming set piece of a group of mild OCD sufferers trapped in some a cycle of weird repetitious behaviour. This is a fairly mild one, from what I remember. A bunch of characters trading Significant Looks back and forth with a rapidity that would have their heads twitching like a meth-head that’s been clean for three days won’t be enough to satiate Jordan’s need for much longer. Soon enough characters will be moving back and forth as well, adding elaborate dance routines and dramatic poses to the mix.This is also the first book in the series where sex is almost sorta hinted at in a roundabout way very coyly. There’s several example where male characters get boners. Though Jordan can’t bring himself to actually just say that, and instead buries the description with so many weird euphemisms it just leaves you slightly confused as to what just happened. By Jordan’s standards, this is red-hot explicit sexy action. Just when I thought he couldn’t get any more coy, he throws up a chapter titled ‘Easing the Badger’. Oh Robert. Yes, it’s just the name of an inn, I’m sure. Yes, Easing the Badger is certainly the kind of thing that real actual humans would innocently name a pub. Amusingly, at the end of the novel, after witnessing momentous, world shaking events, Mat spends the very next day trying to get laid. Aw. This is the Mat I remembered.And yes, Mat is much better here. Having him as a POV character helped tremendously, I think. He’s a nice counterpoint to the grim dourness and angsty angst that so many other characters have. He does the right thing, more or less, but he also has fun along the way. I like that. This is perfectly highlighted towards the end of the book, when Mat basically plans to stage a one man assault on the Stone of Tear, and even though he realises how dangerous, even suicidal this is, he also thinks it will be a hell of a lot of fun.I feel like I’m kinda dancing around the obvious thing here, so I may as well cut to the chase. Faile. Oh man. A character I remember really, REALLY not enjoying. All throughout the book I was bracing myself for her appearance. Guys, i have hella opinions of Faile. So, without further ado here they are. Get ready. Here goes.She’s alright.Yeah, I’m as surprised as anyone. Take a screenshot because I don’t think I’ll be saying this too often going forward - Faile is almost sort of tolerable in this book. Her romance with Perrin is even kinda sweet. Corny as hell, but sweet. We’ll see how long this lasts (spoiler alert; probably not very long)Overall, I felt like The Dragon Reborn worked pretty well, probably better than the previous two, but falls down in a major way with the climax. The problem with removing Rand from the bulk of the story is that the climax is carried by him, and there’s not much of a build up to it. Belal is one of the Big Bad’s of the book, but he isn’t even introduced until the story is 80% done, and then he’s killed off with comical swiftness. We don’t even really find out what his clever scheme was. Once Belal is dead, Rand has yet another fight with Ba’alzamon, for the third book in a row. This time, he kills him. Again. But it’s for realsies this time (except it isn’t because Ishamael comes back yet again later on) It all falls very flat. But for everyone else? the climax works very well. Every POV character has something to do, the natural conclusion to their storyarc for the book, yet it all ties together pretty well. It’s just a shame that the unifying event, Rand’s big showdown, is a dud.I started to feel the onset of Wheel of Time fatigue with this one, and since I don’t want this to feel like a chore, I’m going to take a short break before continuing with The Shadow Rising.
Reviewed by: Rabid ReadsNOTICE: this reread is in preparation for finally biting the bullet and reading book 14. That means I HAVE NOT read book 14 yet. Please be mindful of this in the comments, both for me and for others who may or may not have progressed past this point in the series. Thank you.The Dragon Reborn is where things really start getting good. PLEASE NOTE that I am speaking strictly from the REREAD perspective. If you have never read the series before, the first two books are spectacular. Spectacular x5, even. It's only knowing what's coming and being impatient to get to the even better parts that makes books 1 and 2 merely enjoyable when compared to the depth of imagination and interconnectedness as the series progresses.BUT. All of that epicness must have a solid foundation on which to build.And book #3 is still very much a part of that early foundation-laying process. However, TWO very important things happen in this installment (and those two things make all the difference):1. Mat is healed from the taint of the Shadar Logoth dagger.2. Perrin meets Faile.I don't know if prior-to-book 3-Mat was part of Jordan's character growth process, or if he just got bored with the character--I certainly found the early version to be tiresome--but when Mat wakes from being Healed in Tar Valon, he's almost a completely different person. Oh, he's still a rascal, but no longer a rascal of the juvenile variety. Instead, he becomes that kind of clever, scalawag, rogue-type character, who has always been one of my personal favorites. In another life (HA!), he would have made an excellent pirate.It's the difference between telling a couple of younger boys a story about ghost hounds, then covering a few dogs in flour and loosing them on the village green, and betting Galad and Gawyn that he can beat them, his quarterstaff against their two swords, both b/c he needs the money to finance his escape, and also b/c "it would be fun."Then there's Faile. A lot of WoT fans aren't particularly fond of Faile, and maybe I'll change my mind after rereading some of the later installments . . . but I doubt it.I just like her.Firstly, she's Saldaean, which is my second favorite people group (after the Aiel). Almost all of the drama in her relationship with Perrin can be attributed to her nationality, and where others are simply exhausted by her and her antics, I chalk it up to cultural differences. <------legit cause for misunderstandings.And when she's not behaving in what a non-Saldaean would consider a ridiculous manner, her interactions with Perrin are positively delightful; I am full of delight.Her appearance is also the first concrete manifestation (with long-term consequences) of one of Min's Viewings. So yeah, those two things are where I turn the corner and stop fighting the urge to skim things I've read numerous times before.This book is also where the Forsaken start to become real characters instead of flat boogiemen-type shapes. In The Eye of the World, we learned nothing beyond the fact that some of them were no longer imprisoned, and that there were two fewer of them in world. In The Great Hunt, the information was limited to Lanfear. But in The Dragon Reborn, we not only learn more about Lanfear, we also meet at least three others, and some of the mystery surrounding "Ba’alzamon" is . . . not revealed, per se, but I definitely felt I understood what the situation was by the time I finished the book. And anytime we learn anything about the Age of Legends (from whence the Forsaken came), I am a happy camper.Basically, I loved it. PS: is it just me, or does Cover Dude bear a remarkable resemblance to Prince Harry?My other reviews for this series: The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time, #1) by Robert Jordan The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time, #2) by Robert Jordan The Shadow Rising (Wheel of Time, #4) by Robert Jordan The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan Lord of Chaos (Wheel of Time, #6) by Robert JordanHighlights:(view spoiler)[1. Mat HEALED!! WOOT!2. Egwene's Accepted Test.3. Mat with a quarterstaff vs. Galad and Gawyn with swords. Like . . . a day after he'd been Healed. EPIC. One of my favorite scenes from the whole series.4. FAILE.5. Mat rescuing Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne.6. He raised Callandor above his head. Silver lightning crackled from the blade, jagged streaks arching toward the great dome above. “Stop!” he shouted. The fighting ceased; men stared at him in wonder, over black veils, from beneath the rims of round helmets. “I am Rand al’Thor!” he called, so his voice rang through the chamber. “I am the Dragon Reborn!” Callandor shone in his grasp. One by one, veiled men and helmeted, they knelt to him, crying, “The Dragon is Reborn! The Dragon is Reborn!” (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about The Dragon Reborn (2002)?
Review in Portuguese from Desbravando Livros:E vamos adiante, caro desbravador, dessa vez com a minha resenha/opinião do 3º livro da série A Roda do Tempo, escrito pelo já falecido autor Robert Jordan e reconhecida mundialmente como uma das melhores (e maiores) sagas de fantasia épica de todos os tempos.Após os acontecimentos em Falme, quando Mat tocou a Trombeta de Valere e os Heróis do passado apareceram para ajudar o pessoal numa das batalhas contra o Tenebroso, as coisas parecem ter ficado um pouco mais... tranquilas, digamos assim, chegando ao ponto de Moiraine já declarar que Rand al'Thor é o Dragão Renascido das profecias. Profecias essas que parecem mencionam Tear, cidade onde está localizada Callandor, a Espada Que Não Pode Ser Tocada, que somente poderá ser empunhada pelo verdadeiro Dragão e mostrará ao mundo que a Última Batalha se aproxima.E é nessa situação que Rand se encontra, não sabendo ainda se é realmente o Dragão Renascido e se conseguirá aguentar as consequências desse título, sejam elas para o bem ou para o mal, pois a mácula de saidin pode pôr tudo a perder, como já foi visto no passado. Rand, incrivelmente, tem pouquíssimo foco nesse 3º volume, apesar do título se referir claramente a ele, como já pode ser antecipado nos livros anteriores. Tirando um ou outro pedaço dele viajando por aí inserido em poucos capítulos, Rand al'Thor só volta a ser o centro das atenções nas 30 páginas finais.Já Mat e Perrin, os outros dois ta'veren, têm muito destaque na narrativa de O Dragão Renascido. Principalmente o primeiro, que finalmente parece estar se tocando que a sua participação nos fatos será fundamental, ainda mais depois de ter tocado a Trombeta de Valere e ficar ligado à ela. Sua ida à Tar Valon também nos permite conhecer um pouquinho das suas habilidades com o bastão, até então "escanteadas". Perrin, como nos demais livros, vê a sua relação com os lobos aumentarem, sonhos atormentado-o todas as noites e ainda por cima é "presenteado" por Min com algumas visões de seu futuro, visões essas que são parcialmente confirmadas até o momento.Enfim, já dá pra perceber perfeitamente que todos os três serão importantes para o girar da Roda."Eram dados de pontos, e cinco pontinhos solitários o encararam de volta. Os Olhos do Tenebroso, como era chamado em alguns jogos. Nesses, significavam a derrota. Mas em outros, era a vitória. Mas que jogo estou jogando? Ele pegou os dados e rolou-os outra vez. Cinco pontinhos, e novamente os Olhos do Tenebroso o encaravam."Complementando um pouco a respeito dos três ta'veren, achei que nesse livro eles não funcionaram tão bem, principalmente por estarem separados praticamente o tempo todo. Rand, Perrin e Mat funcionam bem como um time, quando todos estão por perto, e esse relacionamento distante dos caras não me convenceu muito. Espero que no próximo livro a dinâmica deles melhore um pouco.Passando agora para o lado feminino da trama, Egwene, Nynaeve e Elayne estão a caminho de Tar Valon para continuar o seu treinamento de Aes Sedai. As três, ao longo da narrativa, funcionam bem juntas, mesmo que alguns desentendimentos aqui e ali acontecem, principalmente pelo jeito difícil de Nynaeve de lidar com as coisas e com a crescente personalidade de Egwene, mostrando um pouco do seu potencial. Potencial esse que é um pouco explorado em Tel'aran'rhiod, o Mundo Invisível, mais conhecido como "o Mundo dos Sonhos", onde as tais Sonhadoras podem adentrar e ter outra visão do que está acontecendo. Algo como uma realidade paralela, digamos assim, com o lembrete de que o que se passa em Tel'aran'rhiod pode refletir-se totalmente no mundo real.Não posso deixar de comentar também sobre os Aiel, povo que vive no Deserto e é conhecido por suas excelentes habilidades de luta, ainda mais quando eles levantam o véu para tapar o rosto, sinal de que estão prontos para a matança. Eles têm uma participação bem interessante nesse livro. Vale ressaltar também que um dos nossos personagens principais parece ser descendente deles...Enfim, para finalizar, preciso dizer que as minhas relações com A Roda do Tempo estão se estreitando pouco a pouco. Os livros não possuem um ritmo rápido, viciante, passando muitas vezes de cadenciado a lento, prendendo o leitor em diversas situações e pedindo para pular algumas páginas em outras, mas eu creio que a grande parte das informações passadas sejam importantes, portanto é necessário ter atenção. Essa é uma série que eu não irei ler todos os demais em sequência, principalmente pelos motivos citados acima, mas irei acompanhando conforme forem sendo lançados no Brasil, pois o meu vício insaciável por fantasia épica me prende à Roda.Esse livro não é ruim de modo algum, veja bem, apenas achei-o meio lento, quase parecido com O Olho do Mundo, e com um ritmo muito "quebrado", digamos assim, atrapalhando o andamento da narrativa, que continua sendo em terceira pessoa, por sinal, com vários pontos de vista diferentes. Nada que me faça parar de ler a série, é claro. E que venha o 4º então, A Ascensão da Sombra!
—Vagner Stefanello
I'm enjoying this book along with the first two of the series. They're enjoyable to follow, and there are sufficient characters to keep things moving. My main issue (as with the first two books) is that all these characters from the Two Rivers are as thick as concussed trolls (or in this case, concussed Trollocs). The only other issue I have is that good ole' carefree, leap before you look Matt is suddenly the horse-trade-master Matt. The thinking, plotting chess master. Wuh? Huh? This is the kid stupid enough to just chase after someone in the forbidden city and now he's a gamester?Lastly (OK, I lied it was more than two), I don't get why these guys are willing to believe everything Selene says to them but they question everything else that anyone says to them. The guys (including Rand) all treat the Aes Sedai like they have the plague and can never be trusted even though they constantly save their lives.Aside from those sticking points, I enjoy the series. Light help me, I still have nine more to go!
—Phillip
This is the third book in the Wheel of Time series and to me it starts to seem like Jordan has a strict formula he follows for each book. Our protagonists travel a lot throughout the book, they get separated a lot as well - but in the end they all come together for one huge battle that makes it all worth while.Or at least, it was worth it in book two which had an amazing ending and earned a four star rating because of it. In this book, I got a bit tired of all the travelling and all the separating - and even though the final battle was even bigger and more dramatic than earlier final battles, it just didn't really come together for me. Not as well as book two at least. And I would wish to see Jordan break out of this formula - but I guess it's a very typical way of writing fantasy.Now, don't get me wrong - I enjoyed reading the book. It is exciting and a nice way to pass some time. You just really shouldn't think to hard about it afterwards. One thing that I both like and don't like about the book is the humanness of the characters. When I think about it, I don't really like any of them all that well. They all have some likeable characters but they all too have some major flaws. Some of them are flaws that work well in the story - like Moiraine always putting her duty towards the Dragon Reborn above anything else or Lan not wanting to promise anything to Nynaeve because he doesn't consider himself in a place to do so etc. But other flaws are just badly written. Yes, we get that Nynaeve is angry a lot, and yes, we get that she has some reasons to be so. But that she has to tug her braid on every freaking page of the book is just bad writing. And it bugs me as well that she keeps hating Moiraine so much. I do get that she blames Moiraine for all that has happened since they left Two Rivers, but still. She also knows that a lot worse would have happened if Moiraine and Lan hadn't turned up so being a wise woman, I think she would have gotten over it - and being a woman who loves to learn, I also think she would have appreciated the Aes Sedai in general a lot more. I think she is written so there's a conflict all the time - but a conflict that doesn't feel quite true and not quite in character. And the braid tugging just has to stop!For being a book called The Dragon Reborn, we don't follow Rand much - he is more of a guy running down a dark corridor and you just see him out of the corner of your eye while wondering if he was really, truly there.Instead we follow three groups. Firstly, Perrin, Lan, Moiraine and Loial. They start out being with Rand but when he goes off on his own, they spend the rest of the book following him. Another group is Matt and Thom who gamble their way through the world. Third and last group, Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne who after returning to the White Tower have to set out again, this time chasing the Black Ajah.But everybody share the same dreams. Nightmares as well as people showing up in each other dreams. And dreams are not just dreams - people get hurt in their dreams.One addition to this book is the character of Faile who joins Perrin's group. She is out hunting the Horn but stumbles upon Moiraine and the other and attaches herself to them. She can be interesting - but again, she creates a lot of Perrin standing around feeling unsure and some repeats of the 'I wish Matt or Rand was here, they never seem to have any problems around girls' that was repeated again and again in the earlier books. I still think Perrin is the most interesting character - I like his ability to coomunicate with wolves and his dreams with Hopper are very interesting. Only problem is, his problems with coming to terms with his ability are exactly the same as Rand's problems have been in the earlier novels.So this far into the series, my verdict is that it's a nice fantasy series but a bit repetitive. If you expect high end fantasy with a lot of literary qualities, this is not it. But if you just want an enjoyable romp through a different world in an epic series, this is it.
—Christina
