The Great Hunt

I like a reluctant hero (probably where much of my love for Mat comes from) but I don't like a whiny hero. Yes, Rand has it tough. People are trying to kill him and he will go insane. He's got the world on his shoulders as the Dragon Reborn but does he have to mope about it so much?

The Great Hunt probably one of the better written in the Wheel of Time series. Like The Eye of the World it's fairly self-contained. The Horn of Valere is stolen in the beginning of the story and it's back in the hands of the heroes by the end of the book. That's something the series veers away from as it gets longer. There's elements of intrigue and most of the characters get their chance in the spot light (except for Mat, I'm starting to wonder how he became my favourite).

In my opinion, the only real down side to The Great Hunt is the great chunk in the middle where Rand and Loial and Hurin are stuck in the Portal Stone world. If I can't pin point where my love of Mat came from I can certainly assign my dislike of Rand to this part. I think it's mostly his "wool headedness" (to use a Jordan term) with regards to Selene. Rand knows Moiraine, all the Cairhienin are described as short yet the beautiful woman that shows up in the middle of nowhere and is incredibly knowledgeable does not raise any red flags by being near his height (and we all know that Rand is tall... really tall. I'm beginning to picture him like Jarad Padalenki).