Posted Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Actual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Originally posted on Reviews of a Self Proclaimed Bibliophile.

I am left feeling a little bit underwhelmed in regards to this book, I didn't dislike the book but I am not ranting and raving about it either. It was interesting getting different perspectives of the events as they unfolded from Perrin, Mat, and Egwene – all three of them were following somewhat different paths with the same ultimate goal of reaching Rand in Tear. For the majority of the previous two books, we spend a lot of time following Rand but I didn't feel as if I was missing anything by not following his point of view in this novel. I honestly felt that the small glimpses we had of what was happening to and around him were enough of an insight into what exactly was happening as he made his way towards Tear. I feel as if I am watching Rand devolve and it is incredibly frightening, knowing just how much power he holds and what his ascension as The Dragon Reborn means for the world around him makes it that much scarier. One of my favorite parts of the series so far has been how the antagonists always intend to use Egwene, Elayne, and Nynaeve in their plots, but end up vastly underestimating them allowing for these three Accepted to save themselves. I love that about these three, they don’t need someone to save them and they are perfectly able to save themselves. They are strong characters who remain flawed, they are still susceptible to tricks and treachery at the hand of their enemies but are unwilling to just give up. They are by far my favorite characters.

Due to the possibility of someone coming across this review without having read the book, I will hide this portion regarding certain events behind a spoiler tag - please read at your own risk.

One of the big moments in this book is supposed to be the revelation that there are members of the Forsaken loose in the world. This isn't too great of a reveal or surprise given that Rand and his group battle Aginor and Balthamel at the Eye of the World, in the book of the same name, resulting in the death of both of them. During The Great Hunt, Rand meets the woman Selene who is described in a manner which would lead one to believe that she is too perfect. It was that which irked me and led me to distrusting her, follow that up with a woman of her general description appearing to Min nursing Rand who then mentions that she is Lanfear, and the reveal of Lanfear and other Forsaken being loose has a much smaller impact. Then Loial helps Moiraine make the connection that Ishmael is the one who has been appearing in the dreams of the ta’veren under the guise of Ba’alzamon. He was defeated by Rand during the assault on The Stone of Tear – hopefully this will mean that the dreams will be over for our three ta’veren. The Forsaken Be’lal was also present in Tear under the guise of one of its High Lords and was defeated by Moiraine with magic/power that was supposedly forgotten to the Aes Sedai of present time. Don’t get me wrong, it is a big deal that these servants of evil are loose but at the same time it is something that the reader has already begun to suspect is occurring in the world. I am interested in how the Forsaken will continue to come into play through the rest of the series, there are a total of 13 of them and so far 4 of them have been killed with at least 1 still on the loose. As I said, I am interested to see how the events of this novel are going to come into play.

TL;DR Review: As I said, I am feeling slightly underwhelmed by this book only because I felt that the points of interest which were supposed to be big reveals didn't give me that feeling of shock or surprise afterwards. I still really enjoyed the book itself, the development of the characters, and the progression of the story. I am looking forward to continuing the series with The Shadow Rising.