Blog 15: Freestyle

I completed Sight Hound a week or so ago, and so as not to spoil the ending, I won't discuss it. I also completed the second book in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series, The Great Hunt, and am on to book three, The Dragon Reborn. I usually read this for half an hour before I go to bed, and I've just been gobbling it up. In this book, the narrative mostly follows characters other than the main character, Rand, so we get to see the adventures of Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne as the move up in the ranks of the Aes Sedai and begin to hunt the Black Ajah. And, we watch Matt and Perrin as they draw the attention of Gray Men and other Shadowspawn, which suggest they remain important to the fate the land. At the end of the last chapter I completed, Chapter 43 "Shadowbrothers," we discover that one of the Forsaken, the evil Ba'alzamon's followers, has taken power in Illian. Perrin and some of the other characters have arrived there, so now I'm wondering, as they are, whether they'll make it out. When Moraine say that they need to leave "Unless you want to make closer acquaintance with Sammael," it's clear that they've got to go. We already know there are no ships bound for Tear making port in Illian, so they'll have to go on horseback. Since Chapter 44 is called "Hunted," I would expect there to be a bit of a chase. These plot elements keep me wondering and keep me reading.