I was pleasantly surprised by The Great Hunt. For some reason, I recalled this one being one of the weaker books in the series. Looking at it now, I think I thought this was because, in many ways, the plot is a reflection of the first book. But this time around, I found a lot better than I remembered it.

I first read The Eye of the World by the pool in a hotel in Spain, having picked it up on a whim from the airport bookshop. If I remember correctly, the quote on the front cover said something along the lines of it being better than Tolkien. So I figured, if I were to be able to properly mock such a boastful claim, I needed to have read the book in question. When I got home, I immediately ordered Book Two.

New Spring is a slight oddity. It’s a prequel. A prequel that annoyed a lot of fans who wanted Jordan to focus on completing the main story. Because while seeing how a couple of the main characters met and began their journey at the time of publication, what we wanted was the next chapter in the main story!