The Dragon Reborn: Book Three of 'The Wheel of Time'

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Customer Reviews:

A solid continuation of the series [Posted on 2008-09-28]
The Dragon Reborn - as I am sure most people have guessed - is the third volume in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series and was originally published in 1991. It is notable within the series for marking the end of the 'adventure' phase of the series. After this book on, the main characters start becoming major players in the politics of the world.

The Dragon Reborn picks up a few months after the end of The Great Hunt. With the invading armies of the Seanchan driven back into the sea, Rand al'Thor has also defeated Ba'alzamon for a second time, but their battle was seen in the skies above the city of Falme. Rumour is spreading that the Dragon has been Reborn and the kingdoms of the west - Tarabon and Arad Doman - have been plunged into war and civil war. Torn by self-doubt over whether he is the real Dragon Reborn, Rand decides to prove it once and for all by travelling to Tear. The fall of the fortress that guards the city, the Stone of Tear, is the greatest sign in the Prophecies of the Dragon that the true Dragon has emerged. Whilst Rand proceeds on his own, Perrin, Moiraine, Lan and Loial pursue him. Meanwhile, Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve have returned to the White Tower but rather than face a heroes' welcome for their part in the defeat of the Seanchan, they find themselves accused of being runaways. As they struggle for acceptance, they also learn of a new threat to Rand, which will also take them to Tear.

The Dragon Reborn is a pretty tightly-focused book, with three major storylines proceeding in tandem and events driving the characters in all three arcs to a major convergence in the city of Tear. The biggest surprise of the novel is that the central character of Rand, who drove the first two novels, is all but absent from this third book. Instead, most of the book is related through his two friends, Mat and Perrin, and the trainee Aes Sedai as they are dispatched on a dangerous mission by the Amyrlin Seat. A number of interesting new characters also appear, such as the thief-taker Juilin Sander and Zarine 'Faile' Bashere, who is probably among the most unpopular characters in the books (although I always found her tolerable, at least up until the last few installments). The (relatively) rapid intercutting back and forth between the three storylines makes this feel like the shortest book in the series. In fact, with the possible exception of some of the toing-and-froing in the White Tower, the book has remarkably little filler or fat to wade through, making it among the fastest reads in the series.

Are there any complaints? Well, the overall story is becoming a little too reliant on plot coupons: the Horn of Valere and the cursed dagger in the second book, the dreaming ter'angreal and the sword housed in the Stone of Tear in this one. The book is also mostly taken up by characters travelling from one point to another, making it feel rather transitional. Balanced against that is some excellent character development (most notably for Perrin, who was low-key in the second volume as he struggled with his own problems but in this volume makes important progress to finding a new role in life) and a much greater focus on Mat. Whilst the other characters have the weight of the world on their shoulders, Mat fairly consistently throughout the series comes across as the most fun character to read about, and his adventures in this book are memorable and set up a lot of future plot developments in an entertaining manner. There's also the introduction of certain metaphysical concepts such as the World of Dreams, which adds a fascinating psychological/metaphorical side to the more mundane epic fantasy trappings of the story.

The Dragon Reborn (****) is another enjoyable addition to the overall series which tries some new things (pushing Rand out of the limelight) and generally pulls them off. The novel is available in the UK from Orbit and in the USA from Tor.

This is when it was good to be a WOT-er [Posted on 2008-10-06]
Man, these were the good old days, ya know? Rand and Mat and Perrin were actually DOING things. The women, though still annoying, were not yet gratingly so.
Tollocs and fades still make appearances...and the plot advances.

The series should have ended a book or two after this one.
Instead, Jordan turned "rich storytelling" into straight up word mongering.

Regardless, this is one of the gems. There is a real pace set by Rand's march towards the Stone and the reader is actually rewarded in the end.

If you're new to the story, beware!
All the books aren't like this.

Stem

Good book [Posted on 2008-10-20]
It took too long to come to its conclusion, and that was really quick. I expected it to be more exciting and last longer in the end. Great book though, I really recommend it.

They say the third time's a charm . . . [Posted on 2008-10-28]
Well, they're both right and wrong. The third novel, "The Dragon Reborn," in the Wheel of Time series is not an excellent one, but a great one. There are many conflicts and many sub-plots that are found in this book. And yes, it's still overly complex; some people might be annoyed by its slow plot development.

What I like most, yet again, are the characters and settings. The characters' dialogues are mostly distinctive of their personalities (Mat and Nynaeve being a part of that genre). And yes, some characters really are annoying. The way that Huan Mallia makes a deal with Mat and Thom is so two-dimensional, that if people every adapted this to the TV/Theater screen, I hope to God that Huan's emotions are never forced. Nynaeve is also still an irritant, and I still don't understand the growing relationship between her and Lan. I'm guessing many people don't understand it, either.

Some of the most noticeable flaws here are in the chapters. The book starts out with Perrin, Loial, Moiraine, and Lan hoping to find Rand, who's run away to Tear. Then the entire story goes to Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Siuan in Tar Valon. Along with them are Mat and Thom, who also ahve their own sub-plot. The Tar Valon sequences go one uninterrupted 23 chapters, and sometimes I wondered what Perrin and the others are doing at this time. And finally, Rand is barely featured here. I guess Robert Jordan didn't have enough interest to let us see what sort of misadventures he's been getting into while on the way to Tear.

But flaws aside, I still like this fantasy novel. The pacing is just right for me. If you can't tolerate slow pacing, then stop reading the series; it will go on and on and on, just like Lord of the Rings and The Farseer Trilogy. The many groups of people (Aes Sedai, Whitecloaks, Aiel) are very fascinating, and the settings are just downright full of beautiful imagery. It's a great epic to me, and this is one of my favorite fantasy series of all time . . . well, except when it comes to Book 10, of course . . .

A-

Good end to the first trilogy of WOT [Posted on 2008-11-15]
Dragon Reborn really marks the end of the first phase of Wheel of Time, where the main characters were truly in adventure mode the entire time. Although I was disappointed with Rand's infrequent appearances, the other character viewpoints are fun and fast paced...all centered on Rand beginning to meet his destiny. Not quite as strong as the first two books, but still a solid read.

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