This is the second book in Robert Jordan's famous Wheel of Time series, and it does an absolutely tremendous job of carrying on the story from the first book. As this is a sequel, I will be especially careful not to put in things that will be huge spoilers from books one or two.

The book opens as the group (who I more than occasionally find myself comparing to the "Fellowship" of that other well-known fantasy series) in the Borderlands keep of Fal Dara. Some bad things happen, the party is split, and Jordan's trademark split POV storytelling starts. We get our first real look at the White Tower of Tar Valon, and a look at Rand facing his destiny.

The climactic battle at the end of this story is such a great one, with so much character development built into it.

Jordan was truly a master of epic fantasy, and Brandon Sanderson has huge shoes to fill finishing up this series.