• Author: Robert Jordan
• Series: Wheel of Time #3
• Genre: Fantasy
• No. of pages: 656
• Dates read: 11.11.20 – 27.11.20
• Star Rating: 4

Plot: The Dragon Reborn—the leader long prophesied who will save the world, but in the saving destroy it; the savior who will run mad and kill all those dearest to him—is on the run from his destiny. Able to touch the One Power, but unable to control it, and with no one to teach him how—for no man has done it in three thousand years—Rand al’Thor knows only that he must face the Dark One. But how? Winter has stopped the war—almost—yet men are dying, calling out for the Dragon. But where is he? Perrin Aybara is in pursuit with Moiraine Sedai, her Warder Lan, and Loial the Ogier. Bedeviled by dreams, Perrin is grappling with another deadly problem—how is he to escape the loss of his own humanity? Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve are approaching Tar Valon, where Mat will be healed—if he lives until they arrive. But who will tell the Amyrlin their news—that the Black Ajah, long thought only a hideous rumor, is all too real? They cannot know that in Tar Valon far worse awaits… Ahead, for all of them, in the Heart of the Stone, lies the next great test of the Dragon reborn….

Before you venture any further this will be a spoiler filled review as its quite hard to truly say my thoughts without spoiling so do not read further if you haven’t read the book.

I was super excited to jump back into this epic series! When I finished this series I just wanted to read the next book straight away. But then I realised the next book is over 1000 pages and that stopped me in my tracks.

As per usual, Jordan’s writing is brilliant but the one thing I want to highlight more than the worldly descriptions and great dialogue was his masterful plot writing and his great level of foreshadowing and planning for the future. My favourite thing to do with these books is to theorise what is going to happen in the future and make predictions and you can do that in ABUNDANCE with these books!

I would say though that the pacing started off really well but started losing momentum during the halfway mark until it got closer to the end. I find that this is more just to do with my attention span as I find this happens a lot with big books rather than down to the book itself.

This was my favourite storyline from the series so far and I believe it is down to the fact that the focus was more on the side characters rather than Rand himself. Controversially, I am not the biggest fan of Rand I tend to find him a bit boring personally and I prefer learning more about the side characters. This is probably due to the fact that Rand is part of the chosen one trope which I have seen before while the side characters have more of a plot line that I haven’t seen before.

I really enjoyed the girl’s storyline as I found it to be the most interesting. It was like solving a mystery but with incredibly high stakes, this mystery also allowed us to understand the politics of the White Tower which is my favourite thing to learn about. We also got to see the development of the girl’s powers. Egwene’s access to the Dreamworld was sooooo interesting and I interested to see if that it is connected to the Dreamworld that Perrin is apart of.

A character I did prefer this time round was Mat. Since the curse on the dagger was lifted I found him to be way more likable. I am super interested to see where the storyline about him and luck ends up as it captivated me. Does he have a sort of power that isn’t connected to the One Power?

I also loved learning more about Perrin and his wolf abilities. When he was given the name Young Bull I teared up as I really want Perrin to embrace his bond with the wolves. I am also interested to see how Faile is going to be important to the story!!

One thing I did miss out on was Lan and Nynaeve’s scenes together. They are my faves and I just felt that the book was missing something.

The world-building was great and I really enjoyed learning more about how the world works from the White Tower all the way to Tear and Illian. But I mostly enjoyed learning more about the Aiel, this has been a group of people that have alluded me and being able to learn a bit more and then subsequently have then be announced as the People of the Dragon was super exciting! The Aiel just feels so different to the rest of the world in this series and I just want to know more!

So finally, some predictions going forward:

• Moiraine will die at the end of the series.
• Lan will be bonded to Nynaeve and they can be together.
• Rand will die at the end of the series.
• Originally, I thought Egwene and Rand will get together but obviously be torn apart due to his death. But now I feel that maybe Rand and Min will be a thing instead.
• Egwene will have a thing with Galad. I don’t know if this will be endgame but it will be a stint.
• Mat is the King of Manetheren in some way and him and Elayne will get together and combine Andor and Manetheren power. (Even though Manetheren doesn’t really exist anymore)
• Perrin and Egwene will use the Dreamworld to communicate. (I think this is a given)
• Perrin and Faile will be together and be a power couple!
• I think there is a chance Nynaeve could end up being the Amyrilin Seat with Lan as her Warder. I do think that Siuan will die.
• Mat has something to do with Luck. I don’t know whether its more conscious Pattern manipulation or what but its important!!!