New Spring - Review
New Spring (Book 0) is a fantastic companion prequel to The Wheel of Time series and it adds so much context and layers to the central plot that kicked off the main series, which is to find the Dragon Reborn because he’s the vital piece for a chance at winning the Last Battle against the Shadow. The book's structure is very similar to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story because it’s a fun backstory that links perfectly to the first installment of the series (A New Hope/The Eye of the World), it adds more context and depth to the series, it includes surprising character cameos, and has a similar sort of grim ending. This book had so much more details than I was expecting such as showing what Lan was doing during the Aiel War, why Moiraine didn’t want the Sun Throne, how Moiraine and Lan met, the ceremony of becoming an Aes Sedai, and much more.
For anyone who has read The Wheel of Time series and is undecided on New Spring, it’s definitely worth the read because it gives so much more information on Lan, Moiraine, and Siuan, it adds some valuable pieces of information to the series as a whole, and it’s worth it just for the fact that Lan has several POV chapters (unlike in the main series). Since this book was written later on after multiple books in the series had came out, but it chronologically takes place before the series, this review will have light spoilers and will be covered in 5 sections: Characters, Plot, Setting/World-Building, Pacing and my final thoughts along with a rating.
As I said previously, this book isn’t what I expected it to be. I expected this to be a decent companion novel to fill in some backstory for the series. But it was really a great character study on Moiraine and Lan. The dark ending and the huge impact of that on these 2 characters also shows why it’s not a story you’re expecting. In only 300 pages, the characters grow and change immensely. Moiraine starts off as a very easily-tempered and reckless Accepted then ends up an almost harsh and cold woman, similar to her fully-formed character in the main series. Lan is cautious of Aes Sedai in the beginning and you see glimpses of a little emotion out of him but by the end, he’s much more brooding and stoic. I enjoyed seeing what these 2 were up to before the events of The Eye of the World such as Moiraine’s time as Accepted in the White Tower and seeing Lan as a soldier in the Great Coalition during the Aiel War. It was also great learning a bit about their backstories such as Moiraine’s royal upbringing in Cairhien and Lan’s brutal upbringing and rigorous training in the Borderlands, which included learning how to kill with his hands and feet at 8 years old.
There are 2 great character elements that this book really enhanced for me when I go back to the main series and makes me look at the characters in a different perspective. The first is learning just how bad of a reputation House Damodred had and how much Moiraine wanted to escape being put on the Sun Throne. I think it adds so much to her character that she’s one of the better people in that family and because of her royal status, she can easily gain power by taking the Sun Throne, but she doesn’t care for it and instead she fully devotes all her time to finding the Dragon Reborn in order to save the world. The second is seeing the Blight tugging at Lan during his POV chapters and it’s almost calling to him similar to how Perrin and Mat sometimes feel the Ta’veren calling at them to go to Rand. It explains why he’s hard-faced and stoic all the time because he’s always feeling the need to get revenge against the Shadow for what happened to Malkier, and that brings up memories of his dead parents that he can’t really remember since he was just an infant when they died.
This is one of my favorite passages in the book and it gives Lan’s backstory while also perfectly summing up why Lan is how he is: In his cradle he had been given 4 gifts. The ring in his hands and the locket that hung around his neck, the sword on his hip and an oath sworn in his name. The locket, containing the painted images of the mother and father he could not remember seeing in life, was the most precious, the oath the heaviest. “To stand against the shadow so long as iron is hard and stone abides. To defend the Malkieri while one drop of blood remains. To avenge what cannot be defended.” And then he had been anointed with oil and named Dai Shan, consecrated as the next King of Malkier and sent away from a land that knew it would die.
Whereas the main series of books juggles multiple POV characters and multiple storylines, this book is really about 2 storylines (Lan’s and Moiraine’s) that come together near the end of the book for a great finale. There’s also some really surprising character appearances throughout: the big names that are nice fan-service moments but there’s also some deep-cut names from the main series that you might have to google to remember who they are. Lan’s storyline was fantastic and I wished it was longer. He only had about 8 chapters whereas Moiraine had around 20, but Lan’s chapters had so much quality content packed in them that I didn’t want those chapters to end. It’s a pretty simple and straight-forward story but I really enjoyed learning about his Malkieri companions, his first love, and his time with the Great Coalition during the Aiel War.
Moiraine’s storyline could have been cut down a few chapters but it was pretty good overall. It was really interesting learning the extent of her friendship with Siuan, being in the exact moment when Gitara Moroso had the Foretelling about the Dragon Reborn, seeing the secret plans of the Amyrlin Seat of trying to find him, and trying to uncover a Black Ajah conspiracy that early on in the timeline of the series when no one even believed they existed. It was also pretty cool seeing the test that the Accepted had to go through to become an Aes Sedai. Creating 100 different weaves (most of them complex weaves) perfectly and in a precise order while under great stress and at the same time being required to be calm and composed, is pretty brutal. The grand ceremony after passing the test which involves putting on the shawl, swearing the Three Oaths on the Oath Rod, officially becoming an Aes Sedai, and choosing their Ajahs was cool to see as well. The sub-plot during Moiraine’s storyline, which involves the conspiracy of the Hall of the Tower trying to put Moiraine on the Sun Throne in Cairhien and an assassin from a rival noble family in Cairhien being sent to kill her was also really fascinating.
The converging point of the 2 storylines and the ending was really good. Lan and Moiraine’s first meeting felt natural and nothing over the top like in some sort of fan-fiction. They both had legitimate reasons to be at the same place around the same time and when they did meet, they didn’t trust each other and Lan actually doesn’t like her at all. It felt that much more earned and authentic once they go through their brutal experiences together near the end of this book and they have perfect reasoning to work together and have the motivations they have for the main series going forward. I was not expecting the ending to be so sad but it really helps to show why these 2 characters, who didn’t trust each other at first, ended up bonding (literally and figuratively) by the end.
The main settings of this book are in Tar Valon, the White Tower, Canluum (a city in Kandor), and Chachin (the capital city of Kandor). The time period for this story is around 20 years before the events of The Eye of the World, during the back-end of the Aiel War. The main bits of world-building revolve around the lore of the White Tower and the Aes Sedai, such as the specific customs and exclusive weaves within the Blue Ajah, the method that Aes Sedai use to ignore heat or cold so it doesn’t visibly show on their faces, and learning about certain ceremonies and customs within the White Tower. I also think this is the first time Kandor is shown since I don’t recall it being a setting during the main series up to this point.
This passage from the book really sums up the central piece of history of the main story for this series and reiterates why Moiraine’s storyline in this book and her overall mission in the series is so important: He [Rand] would be born on the slopes of Dragonmount, reborn where it was said the man he had once been [Lews Therin] had died. 3,000 years ago and more, the Dark One had almost broken free into the world of humankind and brought on the War of the Shadow, which had ended only with the Breaking of the World. Everything had been destroyed, the very face of the earth changed, humanity reduced to ragged refugees. Centuries passed before the simple struggle for survival gave way to building cities and nations once more. That infant’s birth meant the Dark One would break free again, for the child would be born to face the Dark One in Tarmon Gai’don, the Last Battle. On him rested the fate of the world. The Prophecies said he was the only chance.
This was a really well-paced book and it certainly helped that it was only 300 pages long. Some of Moiraine’s earlier chapters were a little slow and after about the 7th or 8th straight chapter, I really wanted to switch back to Lan, but her story picked back up shortly after so it wasn’t too bad. I was actually pretty surprised that this was a tight and efficiently sized book, since Robert Jordan likes to spend a lot of time describing dresses and room furnishings which bumps up the page count on his books in the main series.
I really enjoyed this story and it’s going to enhance my re-read experience when I eventually re-read the entire Wheel of Time series in a couple of years because it gives so much context to these 2 characters and to the overall timeline of the series. It especially enhances the first 2 books in the series because you understand why Moiraine is going around asking the villagers of Emond’s Field all these questions in The Eye of the World (Book 1) and to realize just how deep of a friendship Moiraine and Siuan had when they reunite in The Great Hunt (Book 2). I think it’s a great complementary novel to the series and it’s well worth the read.
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
For anyone who has read The Wheel of Time series and is undecided on New Spring, it’s definitely worth the read because it gives so much more information on Lan, Moiraine, and Siuan, it adds some valuable pieces of information to the series as a whole, and it’s worth it just for the fact that Lan has several POV chapters (unlike in the main series). Since this book was written later on after multiple books in the series had came out, but it chronologically takes place before the series, this review will have light spoilers and will be covered in 5 sections: Characters, Plot, Setting/World-Building, Pacing and my final thoughts along with a rating.
Image: Moiraine Damodred.
[Characters]:
As I said previously, this book isn’t what I expected it to be. I expected this to be a decent companion novel to fill in some backstory for the series. But it was really a great character study on Moiraine and Lan. The dark ending and the huge impact of that on these 2 characters also shows why it’s not a story you’re expecting. In only 300 pages, the characters grow and change immensely. Moiraine starts off as a very easily-tempered and reckless Accepted then ends up an almost harsh and cold woman, similar to her fully-formed character in the main series. Lan is cautious of Aes Sedai in the beginning and you see glimpses of a little emotion out of him but by the end, he’s much more brooding and stoic. I enjoyed seeing what these 2 were up to before the events of The Eye of the World such as Moiraine’s time as Accepted in the White Tower and seeing Lan as a soldier in the Great Coalition during the Aiel War. It was also great learning a bit about their backstories such as Moiraine’s royal upbringing in Cairhien and Lan’s brutal upbringing and rigorous training in the Borderlands, which included learning how to kill with his hands and feet at 8 years old.
There are 2 great character elements that this book really enhanced for me when I go back to the main series and makes me look at the characters in a different perspective. The first is learning just how bad of a reputation House Damodred had and how much Moiraine wanted to escape being put on the Sun Throne. I think it adds so much to her character that she’s one of the better people in that family and because of her royal status, she can easily gain power by taking the Sun Throne, but she doesn’t care for it and instead she fully devotes all her time to finding the Dragon Reborn in order to save the world. The second is seeing the Blight tugging at Lan during his POV chapters and it’s almost calling to him similar to how Perrin and Mat sometimes feel the Ta’veren calling at them to go to Rand. It explains why he’s hard-faced and stoic all the time because he’s always feeling the need to get revenge against the Shadow for what happened to Malkier, and that brings up memories of his dead parents that he can’t really remember since he was just an infant when they died.
This is one of my favorite passages in the book and it gives Lan’s backstory while also perfectly summing up why Lan is how he is: In his cradle he had been given 4 gifts. The ring in his hands and the locket that hung around his neck, the sword on his hip and an oath sworn in his name. The locket, containing the painted images of the mother and father he could not remember seeing in life, was the most precious, the oath the heaviest. “To stand against the shadow so long as iron is hard and stone abides. To defend the Malkieri while one drop of blood remains. To avenge what cannot be defended.” And then he had been anointed with oil and named Dai Shan, consecrated as the next King of Malkier and sent away from a land that knew it would die.
Favorite Characters – Lan, Moiraine, Siuan, & Bukama.
Image: Tar Valon.
[Plot]:
Whereas the main series of books juggles multiple POV characters and multiple storylines, this book is really about 2 storylines (Lan’s and Moiraine’s) that come together near the end of the book for a great finale. There’s also some really surprising character appearances throughout: the big names that are nice fan-service moments but there’s also some deep-cut names from the main series that you might have to google to remember who they are. Lan’s storyline was fantastic and I wished it was longer. He only had about 8 chapters whereas Moiraine had around 20, but Lan’s chapters had so much quality content packed in them that I didn’t want those chapters to end. It’s a pretty simple and straight-forward story but I really enjoyed learning about his Malkieri companions, his first love, and his time with the Great Coalition during the Aiel War.
Moiraine’s storyline could have been cut down a few chapters but it was pretty good overall. It was really interesting learning the extent of her friendship with Siuan, being in the exact moment when Gitara Moroso had the Foretelling about the Dragon Reborn, seeing the secret plans of the Amyrlin Seat of trying to find him, and trying to uncover a Black Ajah conspiracy that early on in the timeline of the series when no one even believed they existed. It was also pretty cool seeing the test that the Accepted had to go through to become an Aes Sedai. Creating 100 different weaves (most of them complex weaves) perfectly and in a precise order while under great stress and at the same time being required to be calm and composed, is pretty brutal. The grand ceremony after passing the test which involves putting on the shawl, swearing the Three Oaths on the Oath Rod, officially becoming an Aes Sedai, and choosing their Ajahs was cool to see as well. The sub-plot during Moiraine’s storyline, which involves the conspiracy of the Hall of the Tower trying to put Moiraine on the Sun Throne in Cairhien and an assassin from a rival noble family in Cairhien being sent to kill her was also really fascinating.
The converging point of the 2 storylines and the ending was really good. Lan and Moiraine’s first meeting felt natural and nothing over the top like in some sort of fan-fiction. They both had legitimate reasons to be at the same place around the same time and when they did meet, they didn’t trust each other and Lan actually doesn’t like her at all. It felt that much more earned and authentic once they go through their brutal experiences together near the end of this book and they have perfect reasoning to work together and have the motivations they have for the main series going forward. I was not expecting the ending to be so sad but it really helps to show why these 2 characters, who didn’t trust each other at first, ended up bonding (literally and figuratively) by the end.
Image: Moiraine Bonding Lan.
[Setting/World-Building]:
The main settings of this book are in Tar Valon, the White Tower, Canluum (a city in Kandor), and Chachin (the capital city of Kandor). The time period for this story is around 20 years before the events of The Eye of the World, during the back-end of the Aiel War. The main bits of world-building revolve around the lore of the White Tower and the Aes Sedai, such as the specific customs and exclusive weaves within the Blue Ajah, the method that Aes Sedai use to ignore heat or cold so it doesn’t visibly show on their faces, and learning about certain ceremonies and customs within the White Tower. I also think this is the first time Kandor is shown since I don’t recall it being a setting during the main series up to this point.
This passage from the book really sums up the central piece of history of the main story for this series and reiterates why Moiraine’s storyline in this book and her overall mission in the series is so important: He [Rand] would be born on the slopes of Dragonmount, reborn where it was said the man he had once been [Lews Therin] had died. 3,000 years ago and more, the Dark One had almost broken free into the world of humankind and brought on the War of the Shadow, which had ended only with the Breaking of the World. Everything had been destroyed, the very face of the earth changed, humanity reduced to ragged refugees. Centuries passed before the simple struggle for survival gave way to building cities and nations once more. That infant’s birth meant the Dark One would break free again, for the child would be born to face the Dark One in Tarmon Gai’don, the Last Battle. On him rested the fate of the world. The Prophecies said he was the only chance.
[Pacing]:
This was a really well-paced book and it certainly helped that it was only 300 pages long. Some of Moiraine’s earlier chapters were a little slow and after about the 7th or 8th straight chapter, I really wanted to switch back to Lan, but her story picked back up shortly after so it wasn’t too bad. I was actually pretty surprised that this was a tight and efficiently sized book, since Robert Jordan likes to spend a lot of time describing dresses and room furnishings which bumps up the page count on his books in the main series.
[Final Thoughts & Rating]:
I really enjoyed this story and it’s going to enhance my re-read experience when I eventually re-read the entire Wheel of Time series in a couple of years because it gives so much context to these 2 characters and to the overall timeline of the series. It especially enhances the first 2 books in the series because you understand why Moiraine is going around asking the villagers of Emond’s Field all these questions in The Eye of the World (Book 1) and to realize just how deep of a friendship Moiraine and Siuan had when they reunite in The Great Hunt (Book 2). I think it’s a great complementary novel to the series and it’s well worth the read.
Rating: 7.5/10
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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