A sword in a stone? (Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan)

Name: Bryn Pearson

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Product:	Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan
Date:	12/03/02 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: if youw ant to stand a hope in helll of following the series, you have to read it.

Disadvantages: bit flat comapred to the first two.

There's something terribly familair about this business of a sword trapped in a stone, even if the 'stone' is actually a fortress. Here all parallels with Arthurian fantasy end, as we embark on book three of Robert Jordan's mind bendingly detaled series.

I'm going to try and write this so that it makes good sense even if you aren't reading the books, however, this means there will be spoilers for the first two books - so if you are planning to read them eventually, this might ruin a surprise or two. It's either that, or make no sense to most people. That's the trouble about writing about a series....
I'm also going to have pair the plot right down, or we could be here for a very long time.

Rand thought he was an ordinary lad until a strange woman who could weild magic turned up in his village. (first book) Since then, he's been out in the world travelling with childhood friends and making a good number of enemies. He's fought 'the dark one' and lvied. (second book) If the prophesies are right, Rand is the dragon reborn, the man returned to fight the evil one in the last great battle. The trouble is that prophecies are vague, and Rand is having trouble seeing himself as the man dstined to destroy the world in order to save it. To find out what he is, once and for all, Rand sets out to try and fulfil a prophecy - that when the people of the dragon come to the Stone of Tear, the stone will fall and the magical sword in it will be his. The Stone is a heavily guarded fortress, he has no idea who the people of the dragon are supposed to be, but he's going to try anyway.

Rand leaves his friend Perrin, and the magic user Moiraine who has been trying to guide him, and makes his own way to Tear. Moiraine and Perrin are close behind though and not about to get left out. Rand's old friend Mat is also being drawn towards Tear, hoping to protect a Princess from a plot against her life.


The princess in question, Elayne, is also a magic user, travelling with Rand's childhood sweetheart Egwene, and village wise woman Nynaeve. The three women start out by visiting Tar Valon, home of the magic using women, (Aes Sedai) where they learn of a faction serving the dark one. The Aes Sedia are supposed to be the good guys. Despite their being relatively new to it all, the three are sent off to track down the black Ajah, the women who mean to kill Rand or turn him over to the dark one. In Tear, everything must be resolved, one way or another.

This is the third book in a series, and you really can tell. It doesn't stand alone, following threads of plot that began in previous books. Of the three I've read so far, it has been my least favourite - it doesn't add as much new stuff to think about as earlier books, a great deal of it is concerned with people running round the country, and it is moderatly predictable. Enjoyable enough, but not startling in comparison to the first two.

The main problem I have is that Rand is driving me mad - think of Luke Skywalker whining in the first Star wars film and you've got the gist of it. Moiraine is smug and infuriating, and the characters I do like - Perrin, and Nynaeve and Loial, are just bit parts in this one. This might well just be me, so I wouldn't let it put you off too much.

I have started the next one, and it does seem to have picked up - a review of that should follow in a week at most.

As high fantasy goes, this is pretty good stuff - no unpronouncable barbarians, not too much of the old 'it is your destiny' rountine - well, people try to tell Rand what his destiny is, but he's fighting it all the way. There hasn't been a hint of a dwarf, or an elf, and the politics are well considered and fascinating. It has far more depth and detail than most fantasy novels I've read. Given this book on its own, I might not be inclined to recomm
end it, but overall the series seems to be good, and to make sense of any of it, you've got to read them all in order. Expect this to be a bit less gripping, but I suspect it will be worth it in the long run.

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