Now, on to the read-through. I’m far into Book Three, but I thought I’d stop and give some more reflections on THE GREAT HUNT. I know that this book is the favorite of a lot of readers, and as I re-read it, I can certainly remember why. The ending was fast-paced and dramatic and contained several of my favorite scenes from the series.

One of these is the experience of using the Portal Stone and letting us see all of the different lives Rand could have lived. I loved the variety of the scene and the power of ending each one with the Dark One’s words. I win again….

I thought that would be my favorite scene of the book until I hit the climax with the horn sounding and the Dragon Reborn riding to battle beneath his banner. As many of you know, I am an endings guy. A great ending makes a book for me, while a weak ending can really ruin a story. This ending was a great one—plenty of powerful imagery and good conflicts.

There’s one interesting that happened when I was reading this book. I remembered and anticipated a lot of the moments in this book, one of the most important being Egwene’s capture by the Seanchan. The strange thing is, I kept waiting and waiting for the event, and it never came. I’d remembered with detail the chapters and chapters of torture she’d gone through as one of the leashed ones.

Finally, I reached the last fifth of the book and the capture came along. I was surprised to see that the time I’d remembered as filling ‘chapters and chapters’ was really only about thirty pages worth of material.

This says a lot, I think, about the depth of the conflict in those thirty pages. What Egwene went through was traumatic enough for her that it left a strong impression on me. The fact that Mr. Jordan was able to do that in just a few chapters says a lot for his ability to give depth and power to a scene.