The Dragon Reborn - Review
The Dragon Reborn (Book 3) is a good entry in The Wheel of Time
series. It was a slower-paced book focusing on character development
and world-building but it ends with a jaw-dropping finale. It was a
risky move for Robert Jordan to spend almost an entire book away from
the main protagonist (Rand) but he executed it wonderfully. Robert
Jordan’s prose also went to another level in this book. There were so
many beautiful passages throughout the book, especially near the end.
The character development and world-building continues to be excellent.
This almost feels like the ending to a trilogy but it definitely
concludes the first act of this massive series and sets up for some
exciting storylines. My last review was stupendously long so I’ll try to
keep this one short. This review will have light spoilers and will be
covered in 4 sections. Characters, Plot, Setting/World-Building, &
Pacing.
Rand takes a backseat in this book and the spotlight is on Egwene, Perrin, and Mat. During a battle in the beginning of the book, Perrin found himself wanting to let go of his axe to fight with his teeth instead and run on all fours, like a wolf. He even howls at one point. He’s worried about turning full wolf after encountering another wolf-brother later on, who is apparently insane and is more wolf than human. Perrin is very similar to Rand now. He’s trying to shut away his connection to wolves, like Rand is with Saidin, and they’re both heavily conflicted with their new-found abilities. They also both lack mentors who could teach them and they are afraid of what they might become in the future. Perrin is also conflicted by his violent actions from previous books. He hates violence but his fate always seems to be surrounded by violence. He’s also homesick and wants to go back to being a blacksmith. There’s some great symbolism in his decision to choose between an axe and a hammer. Perrin is by far my favorite character and I hope this isn’t the last book where he has a huge story arc.
Egwene is having PTSD from her time as a Damane. She sees small similarities between the structure of the Sul’Dam/Damane and the Aes Sedai/Novice dynamic. She’s also experimenting a lot with the Ter’angreal that Verin gave her, which allows here to enter Tel’aran’rhiod aka the World of Dreams. It isn’t confirmed but all signs point to her being a Dreamer, which is an ability that is supposedly long lost within the Aes Sedai society. Egwene seems like she’s going to be one of the most powerful characters in this series and I’m excited to see her get some revenge on the Seanchan soon.
Mat was my least favorite character in the last 2 books but he has a great arc in this book and I’m starting to like him. He seemed so selfish before but he does some really dangerous and selfless acts in this book to really turn him around. It was good to learn a little bit more about his life before Moiraine and Lan came to the Two Rivers and he’s actually a lot smarter that I thought. He always says to himself and out loud that he isn’t the hero but he shows these random acts of kindness to strangers in need and he’s subconsciously doing something heroic, almost instinctively. He seems almost like a completely new character but I’m glad he still has some of his usual snarky attitude and banter from the 1st book. While Rand can channel, and Perrin has a telepathic connection with wolves, Mat’s power seems to be that he’s extremely lucky. I’m excited to explore why he’s so lucky and to see what the deal is with all the phrases he randomly blurts out in the Old Tongue.
The 3 main plot points are Rand fleeing his camp to go to Tear by himself and pull Callandor out of the Stone of Tear, Egwene and the girls investigating where Liandrin and the rest of the Black Ajah went, and Perrin, Moiraine, etc. trying to catch up to Rand as fast as they can before he does something reckless and gets himself killed. Dreams are also a prominent thread in this book and Tel’aran’rhiod (the World of Dreams) plays a huge role for several characters.
There are only a few pages or paragraphs from Rand’s POV scattered throughout the book but they were really good. Rand seems like he’s going mad but I'm assuming it’s really because of how much pressure is on him. He wants to rush to Tear to see if he really is the Dragon Reborn by fulfilling one of the Prophecies of the Dragon, all while Darkfriends, Gray Men, and Darkhounds are trying to hunt him down. He’s getting more used to Saidin (which is a good and bad thing) and he’s learning new attacks/abilities with it. Perrin and the rest of the camp trying to follow Rand’s trail was a good storyline because there were interesting revelations about the Forsaken along the way and it showed weird ways of how a Ta’veren can influence events around themselves.. Perrin also has huge character development during this story arc and he gets a new love interest, who is already one of my new favorite characters.
The Tar Valon chapters (from Egwene’s POV) were great because we learned more about the organizational structure and politics within the Aes Sedai. These chapters felt like a spy-thriller novel because Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne are studying files on all the suspected Black Ajah and the items they stole and there’s so much secrecy/paranoia because anyone in the White Tower could be a Black Ajah. They’re suspicious that even the Aes Sedai that are teaching/mentoring them could be serving the Shadow. My only problem with these chapters was that it went on for a little too long. I was really enjoying this storyline but after about 8 straight Tar Valon chapters, I wanted to go back to Perrin’s POV to see what he was up to and I wanted the Tar Valon storyline to pick up the pace at least, but it kept going on for a total of about 15 chapters in a row.
The ending was an avalanche of epic proportions. It’s my favorite ending/climax out of the 3 books I’ve read so far. So many awesome moments and fights and a fantastic closing/epilogue chapter that made me want to pick up and read the 4th book right away. Robert Jordan does a fantastic job of slowly building up storylines, and letting it all come together for a massive explosion of fireworks at the end.
Most of this book takes place at the Mountains of Mist, the White Tower of Tar Valon, and Tear. I was intrigued by the Mountains of Mist since the 1st book because no one from the Two Rivers went there because it was considered dangerous, so it was great to finally see this location. Tar Valon was a big setting in the 2nd book but this book really expanded on the descriptions of the White Tower and the island-city of Tar Valon itself and it was beautifully written. Tear is where the climax takes place and it’s another place I was intrigued to visit since a lot of the Prophecies of the Dragon are linked to Tear. After coming off of reading A Song of Ice & Fire, the places and locations described in this series seemed almost plain but the Stone of Tear (along with the White Tower & the city of Caemlyn) are some of the most epic structures I’ve read. I have no clue how the Amazon TV show is going to pull these locations off.
The world-building continues to be excellent, as usual. The Aiel culture & traditions are fleshed out more and new information about the Forsaken have been discovered. The ruling structure of Illian and Tear is also established and I like how different nations have different structures such as Caemlyn having a Queen, Cairhien having a King, Tear having a several Lords as rulers, Illian having a King and 2 councils/governing bodies, etc. One thing I’ve noticed in this series is that big things are always happening in the world, even when we don't see them. The world doesn't stand still while we're following someone in their POV chapter (e.g. War and devastation in Cairhien, the rift between Caemlyn and Tar Valon, etc.) This is what makes Robert Jordan’s world feel truly alive and it’s one of the strong points of this series.
This book has a pretty slow pace compared to the first 2 books in the series. Characters are cooped up in a place for a long time (Perrin in the Mountains of Mist and Egwene, Nynaeve, & Elayne investigating in Tar Valon). I really enjoyed Perrin and Egwene’s story arcs but the constant chapters from a single POV without switching to someone else seemed to make the book drag at certain points. The last 30% of the book had break-neck speed in terms of pace and it was phenomenal but a big chunk in the middle of the book (30-40% of the book) dragged on for a while.
For most of the time reading this book, I was ready to give it a rating of 3 stars (6/10) but the ending was just too phenomenal to give it that low of a score. The Dragon Reborn had amazing character development, especially from Mat, and the world-building continues to be outstanding. My only gripe with the series so far is that these first 3 books seem formulaic. The characters are together in the beginning, they all split up for most of the book, there’s a bunch of dream sequences and prophecies to keep track of, they all come together at the end, and (spoiler alert, but not really)…….Rand fights Ba’alzamon for the 100th time. I heard The Shadow Rising is one of the top 2 books in the series and that is where the real story starts. I really hope that’s the case but either way, I’m excited to continue on with this great series.
My Book Rankings: https://jaytargaryen.blogspot.com/p/b...
*My Rating System*
5 Stars (9-10): Amazing
4 Stars (7-9): Really Good to Great
3 Stars (5-7): Average to Good
2 Stars (3-5): Bad to Mediocre
1 Star (1-3): Terrible
Image: Egwene al'Vere.
[Characters]:
[Characters]:
Rand takes a backseat in this book and the spotlight is on Egwene, Perrin, and Mat. During a battle in the beginning of the book, Perrin found himself wanting to let go of his axe to fight with his teeth instead and run on all fours, like a wolf. He even howls at one point. He’s worried about turning full wolf after encountering another wolf-brother later on, who is apparently insane and is more wolf than human. Perrin is very similar to Rand now. He’s trying to shut away his connection to wolves, like Rand is with Saidin, and they’re both heavily conflicted with their new-found abilities. They also both lack mentors who could teach them and they are afraid of what they might become in the future. Perrin is also conflicted by his violent actions from previous books. He hates violence but his fate always seems to be surrounded by violence. He’s also homesick and wants to go back to being a blacksmith. There’s some great symbolism in his decision to choose between an axe and a hammer. Perrin is by far my favorite character and I hope this isn’t the last book where he has a huge story arc.
Egwene is having PTSD from her time as a Damane. She sees small similarities between the structure of the Sul’Dam/Damane and the Aes Sedai/Novice dynamic. She’s also experimenting a lot with the Ter’angreal that Verin gave her, which allows here to enter Tel’aran’rhiod aka the World of Dreams. It isn’t confirmed but all signs point to her being a Dreamer, which is an ability that is supposedly long lost within the Aes Sedai society. Egwene seems like she’s going to be one of the most powerful characters in this series and I’m excited to see her get some revenge on the Seanchan soon.
Mat was my least favorite character in the last 2 books but he has a great arc in this book and I’m starting to like him. He seemed so selfish before but he does some really dangerous and selfless acts in this book to really turn him around. It was good to learn a little bit more about his life before Moiraine and Lan came to the Two Rivers and he’s actually a lot smarter that I thought. He always says to himself and out loud that he isn’t the hero but he shows these random acts of kindness to strangers in need and he’s subconsciously doing something heroic, almost instinctively. He seems almost like a completely new character but I’m glad he still has some of his usual snarky attitude and banter from the 1st book. While Rand can channel, and Perrin has a telepathic connection with wolves, Mat’s power seems to be that he’s extremely lucky. I’m excited to explore why he’s so lucky and to see what the deal is with all the phrases he randomly blurts out in the Old Tongue.
Favorite Characters – Perrin, Egwene, Faile/Zarine, & Mat.
Image: The Stone of Tear.
[Plot]:
[Plot]:
The 3 main plot points are Rand fleeing his camp to go to Tear by himself and pull Callandor out of the Stone of Tear, Egwene and the girls investigating where Liandrin and the rest of the Black Ajah went, and Perrin, Moiraine, etc. trying to catch up to Rand as fast as they can before he does something reckless and gets himself killed. Dreams are also a prominent thread in this book and Tel’aran’rhiod (the World of Dreams) plays a huge role for several characters.
There are only a few pages or paragraphs from Rand’s POV scattered throughout the book but they were really good. Rand seems like he’s going mad but I'm assuming it’s really because of how much pressure is on him. He wants to rush to Tear to see if he really is the Dragon Reborn by fulfilling one of the Prophecies of the Dragon, all while Darkfriends, Gray Men, and Darkhounds are trying to hunt him down. He’s getting more used to Saidin (which is a good and bad thing) and he’s learning new attacks/abilities with it. Perrin and the rest of the camp trying to follow Rand’s trail was a good storyline because there were interesting revelations about the Forsaken along the way and it showed weird ways of how a Ta’veren can influence events around themselves.. Perrin also has huge character development during this story arc and he gets a new love interest, who is already one of my new favorite characters.
The Tar Valon chapters (from Egwene’s POV) were great because we learned more about the organizational structure and politics within the Aes Sedai. These chapters felt like a spy-thriller novel because Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne are studying files on all the suspected Black Ajah and the items they stole and there’s so much secrecy/paranoia because anyone in the White Tower could be a Black Ajah. They’re suspicious that even the Aes Sedai that are teaching/mentoring them could be serving the Shadow. My only problem with these chapters was that it went on for a little too long. I was really enjoying this storyline but after about 8 straight Tar Valon chapters, I wanted to go back to Perrin’s POV to see what he was up to and I wanted the Tar Valon storyline to pick up the pace at least, but it kept going on for a total of about 15 chapters in a row.
The ending was an avalanche of epic proportions. It’s my favorite ending/climax out of the 3 books I’ve read so far. So many awesome moments and fights and a fantastic closing/epilogue chapter that made me want to pick up and read the 4th book right away. Robert Jordan does a fantastic job of slowly building up storylines, and letting it all come together for a massive explosion of fireworks at the end.
Image: Darkhounds.
[Setting/World-Building]:
[Setting/World-Building]:
Most of this book takes place at the Mountains of Mist, the White Tower of Tar Valon, and Tear. I was intrigued by the Mountains of Mist since the 1st book because no one from the Two Rivers went there because it was considered dangerous, so it was great to finally see this location. Tar Valon was a big setting in the 2nd book but this book really expanded on the descriptions of the White Tower and the island-city of Tar Valon itself and it was beautifully written. Tear is where the climax takes place and it’s another place I was intrigued to visit since a lot of the Prophecies of the Dragon are linked to Tear. After coming off of reading A Song of Ice & Fire, the places and locations described in this series seemed almost plain but the Stone of Tear (along with the White Tower & the city of Caemlyn) are some of the most epic structures I’ve read. I have no clue how the Amazon TV show is going to pull these locations off.
The world-building continues to be excellent, as usual. The Aiel culture & traditions are fleshed out more and new information about the Forsaken have been discovered. The ruling structure of Illian and Tear is also established and I like how different nations have different structures such as Caemlyn having a Queen, Cairhien having a King, Tear having a several Lords as rulers, Illian having a King and 2 councils/governing bodies, etc. One thing I’ve noticed in this series is that big things are always happening in the world, even when we don't see them. The world doesn't stand still while we're following someone in their POV chapter (e.g. War and devastation in Cairhien, the rift between Caemlyn and Tar Valon, etc.) This is what makes Robert Jordan’s world feel truly alive and it’s one of the strong points of this series.
[Pacing]:
This book has a pretty slow pace compared to the first 2 books in the series. Characters are cooped up in a place for a long time (Perrin in the Mountains of Mist and Egwene, Nynaeve, & Elayne investigating in Tar Valon). I really enjoyed Perrin and Egwene’s story arcs but the constant chapters from a single POV without switching to someone else seemed to make the book drag at certain points. The last 30% of the book had break-neck speed in terms of pace and it was phenomenal but a big chunk in the middle of the book (30-40% of the book) dragged on for a while.
[Final Thoughts & Rating]:
For most of the time reading this book, I was ready to give it a rating of 3 stars (6/10) but the ending was just too phenomenal to give it that low of a score. The Dragon Reborn had amazing character development, especially from Mat, and the world-building continues to be outstanding. My only gripe with the series so far is that these first 3 books seem formulaic. The characters are together in the beginning, they all split up for most of the book, there’s a bunch of dream sequences and prophecies to keep track of, they all come together at the end, and (spoiler alert, but not really)…….Rand fights Ba’alzamon for the 100th time. I heard The Shadow Rising is one of the top 2 books in the series and that is where the real story starts. I really hope that’s the case but either way, I’m excited to continue on with this great series.
Rating: 7/10
My Book Rankings: https://jaytargaryen.blogspot.com/p/b...
*My Rating System*
5 Stars (9-10): Amazing
4 Stars (7-9): Really Good to Great
3 Stars (5-7): Average to Good
2 Stars (3-5): Bad to Mediocre
1 Star (1-3): Terrible
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