The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time, #2)

The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time #2)

4.15 of 5 stars 4.15  ·  rating details  ·  87,991 ratings  ·  1,392 reviews
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. For centuries, gleemen have told of The Great Hunt of the Horn. Now the Horn itself is found: the Horn of Valere long thought only legend, the Horn which will raise the dead heroes of the ages.

And it is stolen.
Mass Market Paperback, 705 pages
Published October 15th 1991 by Tor Fantasy (first published November 15th 1990)
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. RowlingThe Eye of the World by Robert JordanA Game of Thrones by George R.R. MartinWizard's First Rule by Terry GoodkindThe Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
Best Fantasy of the 90s
5th out of 145 books — 214 voters
The Eye of the World by Robert JordanThe Great Hunt by Robert JordanThe Dragon Reborn by Robert JordanThe Shadow Rising by Robert JordanTowers of Midnight by Robert Jordan
Best Wheel of Time Book
2nd out of 15 books — 43 voters


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Jocelyn
You don't know how hard this is. I'd already written a long draft of this over 12k characters, and I lost it. The following review isn't as good as I intended and I'm in no mood to perfect it. I am very angry right now.

*hastily types out review and stomps off*
______________________________

Far better than its predecessor. The Eye of the World was a pleasurable enough read but a little unfulfilling, with much of its future depth and scope deferred rather than delivered. I was willing to give Jord...more
Ryan
Here's a tough decision I think fantasy writers face: What requires detail and what will the reader's imagination run with?

Another view: Do you trust your readers to be able to fill in the details?

Someone -- I think Neil Gaiman -- once said that Gene Wolfe's writing makes his readers feel smarter. It's because Wolfe trusts his readers to pay attention and to fill in the blanks.

How do "The Wheel of Time" books hold up to this approach?

It's a little inconsistent.

When it comes to winds, cultural tr...more
Kaila
This review also available on my blog, Stumptown Books.

The tone of the series really changes with this second installment. It goes from following a few country bumpkins on their first wide-eyed adventure into the world, to what we know and love the Wheel of Time for - a sprawling epic covering an entire continent. From the prologue, we're suddenly bombarded with the styles and personalities of all the diverse regions of the land, and though it will be hammered home so we always know what Jordan...more
Blodeuedd Finland
Edit: March 31 2012
Re-reading it for the..well I have read it a lot

Rand knows he is the Dragon and does not yet believe it. I like the beginning in Shienar and how they hunt the horn later. Because here the threads are coming together and we are starting to believe.

As always my fav parts are the Rand ones, he is a bookboyfriend for a reason. The Mat and Perrin parts are good too. But the women parts, eh, boring as always. But that is just cos I keep favorites. I never did care to read about Egwe...more
Zarakoda
Let's talk melodrama.

Typically, when I think of that term, I think of something along the lines of this: "Ohmigawwwwd like really? You're dating HIM?!! I'm going to get revenge on you by messing up your hairstyle." Basically, a glob of ick that makes me sink despondently down onto my doorstep and bury my cheeks in horrified tears that something like this exists.

That being said, there's good melodrama, too. Really. Think of Lord of the Rings and Mount Doom. Ohhhhh yeah that's melodramatic, but I...more
Nicole
Jun 25, 2007 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fantasy fiction lovers with stamina
I read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan because both my husband and best friend had read them. The best friend highly encouraged me to read the books - my husband warned me off.

The warning is not because the books are bad. The first few, actually, are very good. Great character development, interesting universe for those who love fantasy novels.

The warning is because these books never, ever, ever are going to end. Ever.

There are so far 12 books (including a prequel that came out somewhe...more
Sher
A remarkable series, in that, it is so epic, so involved, so many characters, so many themes... Let's see 14 books in all, and all over 500 pages or close to it. It's a about a reluctant hero who may save the world. He's been born many times and died many times, and he fails each time to overcome the lord of darkness. Now is his last chance, because this next time he dies, he won't be reborn. Also, some wonderful females characters and true to the massive tome- not 1 or 2 females, but more like...more
Jen
Last readings:
Dec 4 2009 - Jan 2 2010

I own the english version and the Finnish versions of this great book. The english version has been translated into finnish as 2 parts: Valeren torvi (eng. The Horn of Valere) and Lohikäärmeviiri (Dragon Pennant). I don't know why but all books from Wheel of time has been translated into 2 or 3 different books, of which usually the first book has the same name as the "motherbook" of those few separate books.
Wheel of time has been my favorite past time reading...more
logankstewart
Aug 24, 2011 logankstewart rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Desperate Traditional Fantasy Lovers
Second Review (August 2011)
I first attempted The Great Hunt a year ago, and I threw it aside with contempt and loathing. The second time I dove back into Robert Jordan's enormous world, I appreciated it a bit more.

The Great Hunt picks up shortly after The Eye of the World. The Horn of Valere has been stolen, along with the evil dagger that's slowly killing Mat. Rand and the gang set out to retrieve the items, and adventure follows. Meanwhile, the girls (Egwene, Nynaeve, et al.) are all becoming...more
Alex
Well, if the first book in this series diminished somewhat outside the cozy light of memory, this second book absolutely withers away. The plot is listless, its tension flagging between points that are only interesting by comparison. And the characters refuse to evolve. That is, they are all still hung up on the same issues they had at the beginning of the first book, even though they've been through fairly earth-shattering experiences in the intervening pages. I mean, why is Nynaeve still schem...more
Seak (Bryce L.)
Seanchan, argh!!!

Just as good if not better than the first time through as I can see all the "threads" (get it) that have been established for lots of great things to come. Also, Audiobook is definitely the way to do a reread as I don't have that terrible feeling that I'm neglecting everything else, plus I don't think I'll get worn out when it comes to the middle/slower volumes.

As I mentioned in my Eye of the World review, this is just where I write down a few things so I can later keep track o...more
Skip
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Letha
Jul 23, 2007 Letha rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fantasy Diehards
This book, which I read to pass on key scenes for calendar illustration concepts to my graphic designer partner, was a somewhat enjoyable but fairly frustrating read. For several significant reasons the book never really hits a truly connected stride with it's reader, and I ended it on a ambivalent note --- not really satisfied, not really disappointed, knowing I will likely forget the book within a few weeks of having read it.

There are too many main characters, and our main man (Rand), though...more
Melissa
Jun 28, 2012 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone getting into the epic fantasy genre.
Recommended to Melissa by: Zoe's coffee table at 2 in the morning.
Shelves: epic, fantasy, pulp
Little-known fact: this is the book I started reading when I went through the series originally. I got into Wheel of Time because this story is really, really good. It's not so vast as to be confusing (yet... yet...) but it hints at a larger world than the podunk localities that the characters visit. It's full of small and great mysteries, small and great people, and it has a very clear sense of right and wrong that makes for a straightforward tale. It doesn't make you think too much, but it req...more
Coligne
Il finale del libro è spettacolare!
Nelle ultime cento pagine de La Grande Caccia Jordan ci infila una trovata geniale una dietro l'altra, con un susseguirsi di colpi di scena che lasciano esterrefatti dall'intensità di quella parte.

Peccato che per le 600 pagine precedenti non succede quasi nulla di significativo, la cosa, se non si è abituati a descrizioni dettagliatissime e elucubrazioni pseudo psicologiche, potrebbe anche risultare noiosa.
Jordan usa quelle pagine per ampliare ulteriormente il

...more
David Bonesteel
Still trying to deny that he is the Dragon Reborn, the being who is destined to save the world by destroying it, Rand and his friends Mat and Perrin join a troop of soldiers to recover the stolen Horn of Valere, a powerful artifact that has the ability to call dead heroes back from the grave. Meanwhile, Egwene and Nynaeve begin Aes Sedai training with unexpected results.

This 700+ page novel is far too long for its own good. Robert Jordan clearly loves the world he has created, but he goes on at...more
Henry St
I gave this series a go because I am an avid fantasy fan and a friend whose judgement I normally trust recommended them.

This is my humble, if somewhat strongly worded opinion. Not really humble at all actually, but it feels cathartic to vent online when you have just read something as god awful as this...

Two books (over 1,000 pages) down and bitter disappointment has followed. I trudged through the quagmire of boring, repetitive drivel in the first one in the hope that my efforts would be reward...more
J. Wootton
An excellent sequel to The Eye of the World - Jordan leaves behind the LotR motifs and firmly establishes himself and his setting as a unique and compelling addition to the epic fantasy genre. He continues to draw strongly on Frank Herbert's Dune for inspiration and theme; like Paul Atreides, Jordan's main character, Rand al'Thor, struggles to both fulfill and defy his destiny, to seek out an acceptable path between the possible futures his fate carries him towards. (This is a thematic contrast...more
Jeffrey Grant
Caveat: I would actually give this 3.5 stars, but that's not an option, and I got an extra kick out of this one because it's not my first time through, so I know what all of the prophecies and stuff are referring to.
This book sets up the pattern that dominates the rest of the series: The major characters split off in groups at the beginning, there's a lot of character interaction, traveling, and foreshadowing in the middle, and then a lot of revelatory action is crammed into the end.
Many criti...more
Werehare
4,75/10

Leggermente migliore del volume precedente in quanto la trama non è pesantemente ispirata al SdA, ma non per questo si tratta di qualcosa di originale: seicento pagine della più classica delle quest per trovare l'Artefatto Magico, peraltro abbondantemente diluita. Qualche sprazzo interessante (la prova delle Aes Sedai, la statua con la palla di cristallo, la visione delle vite alternative, i Seanchan soprattutto), diverse banalità (tutte le ragazze che spasimano per Rand, l'esercito di mo...more
Georgia Johnston
DO NOT READ THIS BOOK, the first one is good, you will be fooled but it's a looooong series that follows and all the little things that start to grate on you snowball until they drive you crazy and you realize you have wasted days on a series you can never finish without blowing your brains out. Genders are horribly typecast - the women are all horribly bad tempered, impatient and all henpecking know-it-all's (one can't help thinking that the author's wife must be a nightmare to have left him ne...more
Ileen
Ci ho messo molto, molto tempo per finire di leggere questo secondo volume della saga. Il problema non è il libro in sé, né le sue pagine, quanto le cose che sono intercorse in questo anno.. diciamo che la prima metà l’ho letta tra aprile e giugno 2011, la seconda metà da febbraio 2012 ad adesso. Questo è uno di quei libri che fanno sognare, fanno evadere.. ma quando tornare alla realtà è un po’ troppo doloroso, allora i libri come questi si accantonano. Ed è quello che ho fatto io, l’ho accant...more
Brandon
"The Great Hunt" by Robert Jordan is a marvelous book. It takes the reader on a fantastic journey through this surreal land full of magic and fanciful creatures.

The main characters in this book are incredible. We can applaud Robert Jordan for producing such relatable characters. It’s not only that, but when the characters are hurt the reader can feel it. When the character’s have their internal struggles of old life meeting new I could relate.

The setting of the book is in a fantasy world. The...more
John
A very immersive story. The world Jordan creates is rich and full. I felt myself constantly pulled in and wanting to know more. Jordan’s style is not to have constant fast paced action to make one want to keep reading. Instead, the story moves at a steady pace, and is pulled by the wonderful characters interacting in the world.

I enjoyed the first two thirds of the book a little more than the last. I found the intrigue of “The Great Game” in Cairhien lacking. I also felt that how Jordan chose to...more
Natalie
You can also find this review (and many other spoiler-filled ones) at my blog, Where's Bela?, in which my best friend and I reread and review the full Wheel of Time series in preparation for A Memory of Light.

For the first time in over ten years, I read an audiobook. It was the Great Hunt.

Audiobooks have always been somewhat frustrating for me. I read much faster than spoken word, and I have a lot of books I want to read, so it has always made more sense for me to read a book in a few hours rat...more
James
Now as I am writing this I am looking back on it from the perspective of the sixth book, so my view is very vague and probably not going to be that much use to you.

This was a poor book; though how much of that was down to feeling let down after such a great series opener than the actual quality of the book, is hard to judge.

It felt very... un-directed. I don't know how best to put it - it just didn't really feel like it had a destination. Up until now I didn't realise (consciously) that books w...more
Sally
Sep 02, 2011 Sally added it
Thisws series was a deeply frustrating experience. So much so that I nearly gave up! I thought the author needed an exceptionally strict editor and I frequently skip read to avoid all of what I thought were unecessarily overlong descriptive passages about womens clothes and appearances and if the man mentions a woman's breasts again I'll scream!!! However, and in his favour I have come to see the books as a very real portrayal of the way that organisations consistently fail to work together. Whi...more
Danny Bennett
Characterization: The reader is able to dive deeper into the characters of the wheel of time. Most of the book consists of Rand agonizing over whether he should channel or not. I found Rand a little frustrating at times; his stubbornness and all to easy temptation with a new character was annoying at times. I did start to appreciate Egwene more in this book where as in the first book, I wanted nothing to do with her. Jordan practices the hard fast method of giving his character more depth by mak...more
The W
W Rating : B

Note: I am engaged into the task of completing the entire Wheel of Time series. I have read eight or nine of these books around ten years ago, and I found myself very disappointed with the series as the novels progressed. The lack of focus in conjunction with overwhelming focus of Jordan was very tiresome. Jordan’s lack of focus typically revolved around the side plots and characters that he created. Now, for those who have read Jordan will understand that he does not do “small” plot...more
Ryan
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 99 100 next »
The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time, #2)
The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time, #2)
The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time, #2)
The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time, #2)
The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, #2)

6252
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr., under which he was best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He also wrote under the names Reagan O'Neal and Jackson O'Reily.

Jordan was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He served two tours in Vietnam (from 1968 to...more
More about Robert Jordan...
The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time, #1) The Dragon Reborn (Wheel of Time, #3) The Shadow Rising (Wheel of Time, #4) The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time, #12; A Memory of Light, #1) Lord of Chaos (Wheel of Time, #6)

Share This Book

Your website
“Better to have one woman on your side than ten men.” 136 people liked it
“Women often seemed to leave things unsaid, and in his limited experience it was what they did not say that proved the most trouble.” 100 people liked it
More quotes…