The second book of the Wheel of Time is in many ways a microcosm, or perhaps a preview, of the series as a whole. It starts and ends quickly (and in my view, spectacularly), but the middle kind of drags. It's not exactly bad, but I can't help but think that I want to get to the good parts. The Great Hunt also serves as the real setup for what this series is all about. While the Eye of the World is about our protagonists being chased by evil and having a grand adventure, TGH is much more about prophesized heroes and political factions. If that's not your thing (and you don't like this book), this probably isn't the series for you!

While the second book of the Wheel of Time is light on introducing new characters, it's all about introducing important groups, the Aes Sedai of the White Tower and the Seanchan chief among them. We finally see some Aiel, and the often-mentioned Dragon Reborn is finally unveiled to the world. Darkfriends are everywhere, from the Forsaken to the Black Ajah to even a few you might not expect.

Perhaps the most significant revelation of the Great Hunt, however, is that the three boys from the Two Rivers are not actually the only main characters. This book focuses on a number of important female characters, most notably showing the beginning of Egwene's (very, very long) ascent into Complete Awesomeness. There are even major characters not from the Two Rivers!

So, enough about structure and the context of the book in the series. The question is, how is the story? And the answer? Damn good. It begins as a bit of a reversal of the previous book, with the Good Guys chasing the Bad Guys (as the title implies). We get our first glance into what the Dark One has his minions doing, and his impact is felt all over the events of this book. Jordan pulled what I think is a brilliant move by couching the huge coincidences of your standard fantasy novel in in-world justifications, and the Great Hunt is a major example of that. If you don't buy into the whole ta'veren thing, the ending sequence may appear to be an impossibly unlikely confluence of events. And it is, but no less awesome for it. Salvation, redemption, glory, despair being overcome - whatever tickles your fancy, it's in here in spades. The last half-dozen or so chapters remain one of my favorite sequences in the entire series.

But like I said, it's not all good. The events leading to the chase are quite entertaining, especially our backwater protagonists' first encounter with the Aes Sedai as a group, but the middle could probably be tightened up. Some sequences, such as those involving Selene, feel like they're only as long as they are because the writer needs them to be, while the narrative doesn't. Also unfortunate is the fact that two of our original three heroes fall by the wayside a bit in the character development department (but hey, that's what book three is for, right?). In the end, though, it's all worth it.

The Wheel of Time is not a hasty series: Robert Jordan never appears to rush his narrative for any reason, even if it might benefit. Consider that the big prophesized hero that the entire series centers around only really shows up in the second book. You're in for the long haul here. But books like the Great Hunt are why it's all worth it. You know, unless you started reading the series when it was at its anticlimactic peak and you waited years for books where the plot barely advances. That could be a downer.