Product Description

Customer Reviews (5)

Hopefull...
I bought this on audio book and finished it tonight from my ride home from work.The overall feel seems similar to the previous work - less fluff and more filler.I had stopped reading this series after winter's heart years ago because Jordan couldn't seem to move forward.400 pages of nonsense and before you know it, the book was done and only 50 pages of anything actually happened.After a friend of mine told me the latest book with Sanderson was a step forward, I bought it from Itunes and gave it a shot.Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised.I think the final two books will be similar - they HAVE to be to get the thing finally done.The tone and style is slightly different, but overall the feel is generally the same.The prologue here continues in this vein and was rather good.

The comment one other reviewer gave about one of the forsaken feeling 'played' was rather humorous - but true.I read it before the download and when I got to that point I was chuckling to myself.I guess those that lived back in the age of legends liked to chill in their cribs, put on their grill and sit back with a nice big tankard of 'drank'.

Oh well, the stories are good and set up what is hopefully going to be a solid addition to the series.

Good, but Sanderson can't resist sullying the setting with contemporary language
"Suddenly [Graendal] understood.She'd been played."

Played?PLAYED?

How about "Punk'D", Brandon?

Of all writers to take over for Robert Jordan, Sanderson would have been MY first choice, too.I'm a little bitter, I'll admit, over the cash-grubbing tactic of offering the prologue earlier for a few bucks, but I'll let it pass since Amazon is offering a big fat discount on the book itself (No Kindle or Nook edition at release though?Why not??!).The story is still great, if it drags a bit I have to confess I LIKE the minutae.I sort of revel in it.It's a sick pleasure.

But please, Brandon, knock it off with the High School Musical dialog and narrative.It's sparse, but it's in there.You've got a better vocabulary than this, and you appreciate, I think, that your characters aren't aware of 2010 pop culture.Come on.

At least Brandon indulges in this stuff far less in Wheel of Time than he does in his own Mistborn series (NOT as good as Elantris, man.You/your publisher picked the wrong property to make into a trilogy, in my opinion), but it's still too often.Once is too often, because it drops you out of the flow of the story like a rock.

It's good, but could be much better with a little discipline, restraint, and healthy proofreading.

Maybe this will be fixed in the final book (if it hasn't already begun printing).Brandon's got a history of messy digital releases.

This Age is exciting
Brandon Sanderson brought a much-needed breath of fresh air into the Wheel Of Time series with "The Gathering Storm." And it looks like his air-freshener influence is going to permeate the remaining two books, hopefully giving Robert Jordan's series a slam-bang ending.

So what is "Distinctions"? It's the prologue of Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time), the next-to-last book in the Wheel of Time cycle. And it does pretty much what it's required to do -- Sanderson sucks us in with action, solid writing and intriguing characters.

The plot: Lan is heading alongside the Blight "toward his death" when he encounters a strange man who asks to ride alongside him. Perrin is struggling with how his inner wolf is starting to seep into his regular dreams. Galad is leading his weary army through a swamp, only to have the Children of the Light turn against him.

There are also some glimpses of the supporting cast: Padan Fain has gone completely Gollum (and kind of dangerous), Malenarin is preparing for Tarmon Gai'den, and Graendel is in danger from Rand.

The entire prologue is pretty much a rev-up for "The Towers of Midnight." Sanderson writes in a very detailed, atmospheric style ("Dull green moss hung from the branches, drooping like shreds of flesh from rotting corpses"), and he picks up some solid plot threads, such as Perrin struggling with his wolfiness or Galad's, er, punishment. Not a lot has actually happened, but the groundwork has been laid out.

So is this chapter worth buying? Well, if you are a huge fan and simply CAN'T wait for the book to come out, then by all means do. Sanderson's strong writing and Jordan's complex universe are shining here, and it's obvious that a lot is going to happen especially since there's only one more book after this one. But remember, it's just a prologue of a book to be published.

"Distinctions: Prologue to Towers of Midnight" is a promising start for the penultimate volume of Robert Jordan's series, and Brandon Sanderson is doing a brilliant job with it.

Not Optimistic
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!
Am I the only one who was disappointed with the prologue? I loved the first few Wheel of Time novels, but then grew frustrated with the last few and their constant adding of characters that did little to further the story and resulted in the ever changing viewpoints without ever moving the story forward. The last book ("A Gathering Storm") was like a breath of fresh air as the plot moved forward and the majority of the book covered the major characters. It was also satisfying that Rand managed to rid the world of yet another Forsaken, since so far we have had to suffer with the bad guys just getting recycled by the dark one and thrown back to the fight. However, the prologue reveals that indeed the satisfaction of another bad guy getting removed is short lived. It's like the soap operas my sister used to watch in the 70's. "No, that person didn't really die, it was a case of mistaken identity and they are indeed alive and living in Podunk, South Dakota." So it is with Graendal . A good third of the prologue deals with Galad and the whitecloaks. Does anybody really care about Galad (perhaps the most unlovable of all "good guy" characters ever imagined) or the despicable whitecloaks? Have them all wiped out with bale-fire and move on for pete's sake. Then we have to suffer through a few pages of Padan Fain nonsense (another less than intriguing character). I guess the bottom line is that after several novels that failed miserably to move the story along despite their several thousand pages, "The Gathering Storm"broke free from the monotony and fired the story back up. I am desperately afraid that this middle novel of the final three will be devoted to closing out story lines that were never important in the first place and the last book will start with Rand still on the top of Dragonmount laughing.

Sharp, exciting teaser
This is the prologue (1049 kindle "locations," or about 80 printed pages) for Towers of Midnight, the penultimate volume in Robert Jordan's monumental Wheel of Time series.

If you're familiar with the series at all, you know that Robert Jordan passed away before he could finish writing the final volumes, and you know that Brandon Sanderson, an expert writer in his own right, has been brought on to finish the final three books -- The Gathering Storm, released last year, Towers of Midnight (which will be released, at latest word, on November 2nd), and a final volume, _A Memory of Light_, to be released sometime in the fall of next year.

Because these sorts of handovers rarely go well, and because even the volumes published in Jordan's lifetime had varied in quality, there was real reason to fear the series would drop off a cliff in Sanderson's hands; instead, so far at least, it's been soaring, and The Gathering Storm dramatically accelerated the pace and tension of the series.

If it's been soaring up till now,just going by this prologue, this volume's going to strap on jet engines. The tearing pace set by the last book is already matched, and there's a real sense, even just in this short section, that events are moving to a final conclusion.It has viewpoints from Lan, Galad, Perrin, Padan Fain, and [spoiler], and closes with aset piece reminiscent of the blight-border farmer's viewpoint in The Gathering Storm, at least insofar as a forest fire is reminiscent of the match.

It's short and sweet and sharp, and it'll leave you wanting more. But if you can't wait till November 2nd, this should get you nice and excited for the release.

I should also mention that there are two other snippets of the novel that's been pre-released. A chunk of Chapter 8, from Mat's viewpoint, can be found on Brandon Sanderson's website, as the first result on a search for "the great hunt seven striped lass", and Chapter One can be found on the Tor website. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (4)

Super Reader
Conan the Magnificent is actually quite a reasonable pastiche. The barbarian runs into a female thief, who bests him before he realises.

Getting into more trouble, he has to leave Shadizar for a while, where he encounters a female noblewoman who likes to hunt with a small retinue.

Some others would like her jewels and other treasures lurk, so there is sword swinging to be done, and an evil sorcerer to top it off.

Conan the Magnifcent
I bought this book during it's first run in print,and found it very enjoyable. the characters had a real feel to them, and the story itself was a smoker! It would be a great thing if Mr. Jordan would write another story with Conan and Eldran! Hey, if you're reading this review Mr. Jordan, try it out.

Conan the Magnifcent
I bought this book during it's first run in print,and found it very enjoyable. the characters had a real feel to them, and the story itself was a smoker! It would be a great thing if Mr. Jordan would write another story with Conan and Eldran! Hey, if you're reading this review Mr. Jordan, try it out.

The worst Conan book ever?
This was a terrible Conan book.When I read Conan, I want and expect blood, death, gore and sex.This book had none of those.If you like Conan, don't read this drivel. ... Read more

Product Description
When Michael Fallon, a bonded servant, leaves Ireland for Charleston, South Carolina, he faces a whirlwind of quick change in every aspect of his life, from work to love to the greatest Revolution the world has ever seen. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

The elements that make Jordan great are often missing in this book
I love the Wheel of Time and I love historical fiction.I thought this book must be made for me then!However, this book was a bit of a disappointment to me.The female characters lack identity much like they do in the WoT series and seem very stereotyped (for a woman to be important she must be hot).The other characters are weakly drawn and rarely fleshed out enough to care about.The plot and timeline proceed in a fashion that is undesireable and disjointed to me.Plus the romantic elements seemed unrealistic and gratuitous.

Despite these things the book was interesting and revealing.The main character is a mans man and playing a sort of a Conan the Barbarian in revolutionary times. So the book entertained me, but I do not plan on continuing the series.

A great read, and very informative about the American Rev.
Michael Fallon, in the Fallon Blood, is one of the most interesting and believable characters I have found.This book covers his trials and his successes over an extended period of time that covers the American Revolution.I found the book to be very exciting and dramatic, while at the same time historically accurate and educational.I would reccomend this book to anyone.A very enjoyable read.What is Robert Jordan's real name??

I was iffy when i bought it, but...
I have read all of the wheel of time books, and RJ places second on my favorite authors list. I had no idea that he even wrote these Fallon books until I happened upon this one. I must say that I have never even had a slight interest in historical fiction, or what actually happened to gain us our independance, but after reading this book I found that it is quite fasinating. This book really helped expand my interests to more than just fantasy novels. I would never have opened it if had not had RJ's name on it.

Ah the struggles of a new author
Reading this book reminded me of something that Orson Scott Card wrote once about how he bought back the rights to his first novel, just to make sure that no one would go back and reprint it on the merits of his later books.This novel shows the weakness that a new writer brings to a novel.The story is too plot driven, the villians have weak motivation, and the use of point of view was simply baffeling.There were times when I completely lost track of who the point of veiw was following.This novel also shows Jordan's often odd and what I find highly unlikely veiw of how women see the world.And while I could keep this list going, for all of that he managed to write a fairly compelling story.His historical backgroud was interesting, if for nothing else but for the southern bias that it takes.

While there are far to many mistakes to call this a great novel, and any of Jordan's wheel of time novels are far better.This was an entertaining read that can show how much a writer can improve.

Reads like a Bad Romance Novel
I was so disappointed with this book.My husband is an avid fan of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series so I decided to read this novel (because I love historical fiction) to see if I liked his writing style.This book was obviously written by a man and it reads more like a bad romance or porn novel, than historical fiction.I had to quit after about 1/3 of the book because I couldn't stand the lack of storyline development and the constant sex.The pages were either filled with extremely boring political accounts(reads like a history book) or extremely immoral behavior.There is sex on almost every page-- it's not romantic or realistic.Nothing leads up to the intimacy described and it is not moving in any way-- the character just has women throwing themselves at him (hence why I said it must be written by a man-- who is living in a fantasy world!!) The characters are shallow and unlikeable and the rest of the story is boring.I threw this book away and don't recommend it to anyone.My husband swears that the Wheel of Time series is written completely different, but now that I've read this (...) I'm not certain I even want to begin the Wheel of Time series. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (10)

ITS NOT HOWARD, BUT IT WILL CERTAINLY DO.
There are many, oh so many Conan books out there, written by so many different authors, that it is difficult to keep them separate at times.So many of the books have Conan, one of my favorite fantasy characters, running here and there sort of willy-nilly, that it becomes quite difficult to tell one from the other at times.This one is a bit different though, as we have our "force of nature" pretty well planted on one place and rather involved with local politics; involved in the true Conan fashion.

Now don't take me wrong, I really do not feel that anyone but the original master. Howard himself can ever capture the true nature of our overly muscled hero, but many of the later authors have made a pretty good stab at it.This is the second book written involving Conan by Robert Jordan.As others have pointed out, it shows a younger Jordan; one not as polished as the creator of the Wheel of Time series, but I am not at all sure that is a bad thing.While I enjoyed the Wheel series greatly (at least the first five books), Jordan did seem to get off track and rather bogged down at times with Wheel, almost to the point of being static toward the last.Not so with this adventure; no, no, no...far from it!This is an extremely fast paced work, well written and just brimming over with action.There is plenty of mindless fighting, the obligatory magic factor, and Howard has brought several loveable, and some not so loveable, characters into this tall tale that we were introduced to in his first work.If find this comforting on a certain level.I also loved the fighting sequences, as exampled by:

"Snarling, Conan struck, his blade clanging against the hilt of the other's partially drawn sword, Taras shrieked, severed fingers dropping to the floor. And yet, he was no man to go down easily.Even while blood flowed from his mutilated right hand, his left snatched his dagger from its sheath.With a cry of rage, he lunged."

Hey folks, this was a great fight sequence and the book is full of them!We also get to see Conan actually use his brain a bit more in this work, as the author has given us a mystery of sorts with all sorts of twists and turns which forces Conan to figure out some complicated situations and of course to watch his back for the inevitable dagger, constantly.There of course is an ever present underlying, difficult to find at times, humor in the work which is an absolute delight.

Overall, an excellent and fast read.I use Conan and this genre to clear the webs from my mind from time to time and was certainly not disappointed with this offering.Again, Jordan is not Howard, but if you cannot have the later, then this will do quite nicely.And yes, we do have a goodly dose of the typical "warrior woman" in this one also...good grief, why read Conan if you cannot have just a bit of that blended into the story.Jordan has handled it wonderfully.

I do recommend this as an extremely fun read and feel that most Conan fans will be, if not delighted, then somewhat satisfied with their Conan fix with this one.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

conan the defender
I found this book to be well writen and "typically Conan". It does not disapoint.

Super Reader
Conan is in a new city, and inflation is a bit of a problem. He runs into Hordo again, who is there working as a smuggler, and finds out the lay of the land.

He decides that the thing to do is start his own Free Company, rather than get tied up in a mult-year contract working for someone else.

He has a horse-archery angle that no-one else uses.

A poetess he takes up with is a revolutionary, and he gets involved in a struggle with the throne.

Eventually, he again runs into Karela the Red Hawk, who is in disguise.

Enjoyable and simple hack-and-slash fantasy.
This is the second book found in Jordan's The Conan Chronicles (Conan).His work with the character of Conan the Barbarian in the early 1980's is shallow, fast, and fun.Plot lines are relatively simple and the action is extremely fast-paced.Practically opposite of Jordan's later work with the Wheel of Time.

In Conan the Defender, our hero finds himself embroiled in a plot to overthrow the king of Nemedia.Lots of double dealing and behind the scene scheming make this one read almost like a mystery, with Conan playing the part of the detective.Once again, the antagonist is a dark and evil sorcerer with aims on the throne, and once again Conan cleaves through his enemies like a hot knife through butter.Hordo and Karela, characters from the first of Jordan's Conan books, Conan the Invincible, reappear here to aid (or hinder?) Conan in his goals.Compared to that first book, this one was more enjoyable to me, with a slightly more complex plot and with the characters becoming better developed.

The simplicity and fast pace of this book make it highly enjoyable as long as your expectations are correct.This is no epic work, but a small guilty pleasure that will occupy you for a couple of nights.

Sword swinging, head chopping fun
The opposite of Jordans Wheel of Time series. Jordan's Conans snap along at a brisk pace, with all the machismo and action of Howards best but featuring more fully realized stories and surroundings, that take you from one end of Hyboria to the other. Great sword swinging, done in one tales from an American master. A terrific respite from todays multi-volume 700+ page tomes. Plus they're dirt cheap, so you have no excuse. ... Read more

Product Description
An American Library Association “Best Books for Young Adults”
A VOYA “Best Books for Young Adults”

“Jordan has come to dominate the world that Tolkien began to reveal.” —The New York Times

Pursued by Trollocs and Myrddraal, Rand and his friends find refuge in the deserted city of Shadar Logoth. But their wandering—and the many dangers they face—are far from over. For from the lips of a dying Aiel girl they learn that the Dark One means to blind the Eye of the World. Having barely escaped capture and death, Rand finds himself face to face with Aginor: a wielder of the One Power and an ally of the Dark One.

In the battle that follows, Rand will discover his true identity...and destiny.

“The most ambitious American fantasy saga [may] also be the finest. Rich in detail and his plot is rich in incident. Impressive work, and highly recommended.”—Booklist

“Recalls the work of Tolkien.”—Publishers Weekly

“This richly detailed fantasy presents fully realized, complex adventure. Recommended.”—Library Journal

“The definitive American fantasy saga.” —Chicago Sun-Times
... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Rediscovering an old love...
Many, mamy years ago I received 'The Eye of the World' for Xmas.Within days I became immersed in a world of magic, myrdraal, ogres and the dark one.

Then 12 books later I just got sick of it all.I mean how many times do I want to hear about the embroidery on Nynaeve or Elayne's dresses?

I love this book, but its like crack.If you haven't started it all ready, don't start now.

WARNING
The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, Book 1) is the original first book in the Wheel Of Time series. It is an excellent book, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in an enormous fantasy series.

This book is merely the SECOND HALF of The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, Book 1), if you already own The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, Book 1) DO NOT buy this book. Why it was ever released is a mystery to me, someone is probably trying to make more money from the series.

If you already bought From The Two Rivers: The Eye of the World, Book 1 (Wheel of Time (Starscape)), which is the FIRST HALF of The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, Book 1),then you should buy this book, otherwise, ignore it.

Consisting of chapters 24 - 53 of THE EYE OF THE WORLD
This volume (which cannot stand on its own as a story) is the second half of THE EYE OF THE WORLD, from "Flight Down the Arinelle" to the final chapter, "The Wheel Turns". The book opens with the same set of quotations as does THE EYE OF THE WORLD proper. The chapters are numbered as for the entire book, beginning with chapter 24, and the head-of-chapter icons were retained. As usual in Wheel of Time books, a glossary is included, in this case differing from that given to Part One, FROM THE TWO RIVERS.

Apart from some very minor tweaks to the glossary, the material hasn't been modified from its counterpart in THE EYE OF THE WORLD.

Due to the size of THE EYE OF THE WORLD, I'd recommend investing in a hardcover edition of the entire book rather than a paperback, because a single paperback won't hold up well even on a first read. Failing that, the split-into-two-volumes form represented before you is worth considering. A few illustrations were added, all character portraits. Although they appear to be of better artistic quality than their counterparts in THE WORLD OF ROBERT JORDAN'S THE WHEEL OF TIME (faint praise, I know) the print quality is quite poor where they're concerned.

I liked this book.
In this second part of The Beginning of the Wheel of Time, Rand and his friends have fled from the city of Shadar Logoth overrun by Trollocs and Myrddraal. Sailing on the Spray ship down the Arinelle River, they decide to go separately to Tar Valon after hearing about a lost treasure, and to Caemlyn to talk to the Queen. But along the way they face many dangers along with their adventures.

As Perrin, Elyas, and Bela are heading to the city, they run across the Tinkers, a group of traveling people. Stopping to visit with these strangers before moving on, they learn that the Tinkers are believers in The Way Of The Leaf, a way of living with people without using any violence. Meanwhile, Rand and Mat are struggling to survive on their own by trying to earn money and a place to sleep. They wind up entertaining people by playing the flute and juggling balls in exchange for the things they need.

When Rand and Mat finally get to Caemlyn, they are relieved to find that the rest of their friends are alive. But they still face danger in the city of Caemlyn. Aginor, a wielder of the One Power and an ally of the Dark One, challenges Rand to a battle. Will Rand win against the One Power? Will he discover his true identity and destiny?

I liked this book because it made me think about what I would have done if I had been Rand traveling with his friends. What would you have done to survive? TO THE BLIGHT is part of the classic fantasy series, Wheel of Time, and I think you'll enjoy them.

--- Reviewed by AshleyH88

to the guy asking the hair question
i think the tree is grabbing it, and she is trying to free herself by cutting off the hair the tree is holding/entangling, whatever.

oh, and the book is good, too. ... Read more

Product Description
Three classic Conan novels from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Crossroads of Twilight

Robert Jordan, international bestselling author of The Wheel of Time series, has been called the greatest writer ever to tell the stories of Conan the Barbarian. Now his three most breathtaking chronicles are available in trade paperback for the very first time, certain to delight Jordan and Conan fans everywhere.

In Conan the Magnificent, our hero is stalked amid the savage crags of the Kezankian Mountains, caught between rival armies as the sultry huntress Jondra closes in. In Conan the Triumphant, he enters the service of the sumptuous Lady Synelle, unaware that she is the secret high priestess of the demon god Al'Kirr. In the third chronicle, Conan faces his most terrifying adversary yet -- the Sinani, demon-guardians of the ancient tomb of the Vendhyan kings. He must first seek out an antidote to the unknown poison coursing through his veins, then resist the charms of the voluptuous noblewoman Vyndra if he is to be . . . Conan the Victorious.
Amazon.com Review
Long before Robert Jordan built his wildly successful Wheel ofTime series (debuting with 1990's Eye of the World),the now-canonized writer cut his fantasy teeth borrowing time withRobert E. Howard's dark pulp-fiction hero, Conan of Cimmeria. Of thesix novels Jordan contributed to the Conan series (well, seven, if youcount the alt-history Conan the Destroyer),three have been assembled here for rerelease: 1983's Conan theTriumphant and 1984's Conan the Magnificent and Conanthe Victorious. (The other three appear in Jordan's firstcollection, The ConanChronicles.)

Anyone who writes Conan stories immediatelydraws the scrutiny of true believers--those of us who carted aroundtattered Carter and deCamp paperbacks in our book bags for years, drooling over thelusty Boris Vallejo covers (laughably tame compared to the WeirdTales covers from the '20s and '30s, where Conan firstappeared). But Jordan gets it right, some argue better than anyone butREH himself, soundly grasping the first rule of Conan writing: thestories aren't about Conan; Conan is the story. Aproblematic hero, an almost elemental force, Conan exists beyond goodand evil--the predictable wench-hoisting and head-cleaving of a goodConan tale are just a backdrop for the blue-eyed barbarian, whichplays perfectly to Jordan's superlative descriptive skills.

Thissecond Jordan collection is classic Conan: The Magnificent pitsthe Cimmerian against belligerent hill people, a golden-eyed firebeast, and bow-toting noble babe Jondra; in The Triumphant,Conan kicks butt on the evil god Al'Kiir and his sinister (and, ofcourse, hot) servant Lady Synelle; The Victorioushas Conanwounded by a poisoned assassin's blade--and his search for an antidoteleads him to Vendhya and a subterranean crypt guarded by theeight-armed beast Masrok and a host of demons. Crom and steel! --Paul Hughes ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Conan lives!
Another Outstanding trio of savage Conan stories by the master Robert Jordan.
Arguably the best Conan writer after the great Robert E Howard.
The collection of stories really captures the nature of the barbarian warrior as he battles
sorcerers ,evil rulers,etc, spending his illgotten gains obtained from fat greedy merchants on loose women and drink
A feast for red blooded men

Super Reader
Am omnibus collection of three reasonable Robert Jordan Conan pastiches. They try hard to be confusing with Conan publishing, with Chronicles all over the place, and with his name Robert as well, sheesh.

Conan the Magnificent is actually quite a reasonable pastiche. The barbarian runs into a female thief, who bests him before he realises.

Getting into more trouble, he has to leave Shadizar for a while, where he encounters a female noblewoman who likes to hunt with a small retinue.

Some others would like her jewels and other treasures lurk, so there is sword swinging to be done, and an evil sorcerer to top it off.

3.5 out of 5

Conan this time has three women to deal with, although the first, a young nobleman reduced to trying out trulldom is easy, once he finds her employment.

The high priestess of a demon lord he is working for and does not know it is far worse.

Karela the Red Hawk just likes to compare him to any dirty ugly animal she can think of because she likes him so much and doesn't know whether to shag him or stab him.
All this on top of leading a Free Company.

3 out of 5


Conan gets poisoned, and gets to trade sword blows with more than one demon, as well as deal with devious Vendhyans.

3 out of 5

conan lovers will love these stories
even though robert jordan first captured me with the wheel of time series after book 6 it just all went downhill from there BIGTIME...BUT i must give him his due he sure can write some conan novels!!. jordan is at his best here all of his conan books made me roar with laughter and made me hunt for more... kudos jordan come back to writing conan and forget the WOT series.

OVERALL SCORE: (A)
This is a great read, it is a beautiful epic whose true force lies in the poignant details of its characters, richly detailed, woven into a wonderful tapestry.
This is one of the best fantasy series, the story is lively and entertaining, the characters are colorful and interesting, and the plot is energetic and spellbinding! The action scenes are much better than what you find in Robert Jordan "Wheel of Time" series, and much more manageable in scope.

OVERALL SCORE: (A)
READABILITY: (A), PLOT: (B+), CHARATERS: (A), DIALOGUE: (B-), SETTING: (B+), ACTION/COMBAT: (B+), MONSTERS/ANTAGONISTS: (B+), ROMANCE: (B+), SEX: (Light/Moderate), AGE LEVEL: (PG13)

Further Chronicles of Conan
The original Conan stories were interesting despite Robert Howard's frenetic style. Overwritten as they were, they still evokedunique worlds and sensuous action. Jordan's 're-write' captures the original tone and style (indeed, it seems changed very little from the original). I have not been a fan of audiobooks in general, but found myself listening to tale after tale once I got started. The narrator does a good job of maintaining a sense of adventure without being overtly dramatic. It must have been quite a task keeping track of all those characters. The production is minimal - perhaps it could have used a bit more for ambience - but the recording is clean.
If you like Conan, and like audiobooks, this seems a good buy. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (5)

Conan lives on
An very good addition to the Robert Jordan Stories of Conan-not his best however.
This one is based on the 2nd Schwarzenegger film,but still an exciting read
Well worth a place next to the other Jordan Conan tales

Much better than I expected.
Coming off Robert E. Howard's original stories, I did not actually know what to expect from Robert Jordan.I have never read the Wheel of Time series, daunted by its phone-book-sized volumes and weird fantasy terminology.Howard's Hyborian Age works so well because it is both familiar and distant, indeed a history "that could have been ours."Even the films, so far from Howard's world, seemed to acknowledge this, or at least the first one did.Figuring that the film "Conan the Destroyer" was enough of a trainwreck for a blindfolded chimp to improve on, and seeing the very appealing price, I decided to give Robert Jordan's hand at Conan a try.

Was it a masterpiece?Well, given that this is a novelization of a delightfully horrible film, it's hard to see anything special at first glance.What I was most impressed with, though, was that Jordan had the smarts not to try to imitate Howard.Howard had a style of writing that seemed so easy to imitate but was actually very hard to pull off for anyone but him.Jordan already knows a lesson that many writers struggle with to this day- if you're going to pay homage to another writer's world, you do it through your own talent, not by constantly looking at an opened book in your lap to make sure you're doing everything exactly the way he/she would do it.Jordan is able to revisit the Hyborian Age with his own style and still keep it as the Hyborian Age.That is impressive.More than impressive, it's a breath of relief for Conan fans.Howard was NOT the only vehicle his creation could live through.Many, myself included, will argue that he was the best.But he wasn't the only one.Jordan's as good a Conan writer as you can find.

For that reason, the cliches and the predictability lose their damaging power.The plot is fairly generic and the archetypes, Conan aside, are not terribly interesting when you first open the book, but Jordan is very precise, streamlines fluidly, knows when to focus and when to nod to the canon.Admirably he tries to compromise the films' canon with the books', which is impossible to do totally but still makes for a happy middle path (a purposefully vague passage teases us that Conan is holding the fabled Atlantean sword from the films, but that he wasn't necessarily a slave orphaned by Thulsa Doom).Jordan is also very dedicated to the time and to these characters, touching lightly on each one.This is a story free from the pressure of having to take the time to humanize characters that don't need to be humanized.That may perhaps be its greatest strength, more than the riveting action scenes and the fun interaction between the "party."

Being weaned on fantastical video games and sword-and-sorcery tales, I found this book a jaunt down memory lane, but a relaxing one.I reiterate-- while the plot, being a novelization of the snigger-fit that was "Conan the Destroyer", is not that hard to predict, Jordan isn't truly concerned with that.The real pleasure here is in the various relationships between the characters and an exploration of what it means to go on an adventure.Jordan tells a lot with a little and is so aware of the journey that one might think he was there with this seemingly D&D-derived band of warriors.The sensation of a real adventure in a mystical land is the biggest reason to read this book.No getting bogged down in filler, no lame pseudo-philosophical meandering, no gratuitous sex (well, maybe a little, but Jordan cuts away before the heavy stuff rather than go on for pages).Just a story.And a surprisingly good one.

My biggest complaint is that the ending feels rather anti-climactic.Literally, within the space of two pages, Conan has resolved two rather significant threads of romance in his present youth.This is a case where I'd actually take a few pages of cliches, because I ended up wanting to see more of it explored.I'll grant that even Howard never really had Conan go on for pages about his romantic escapades and the Cimmerian himself is a man of VERY few words on that matter, often none.Jordan knows the character very well to keep his verbal conclusion brief.But there is a disappointing lack of internal thought there, and Conan proves to be so full of conflict and conviction throughout the story that it would seem natural to have him think a little more at the end of it.He really doesn't.It seems like he's done all his thinking "offscreen", but before the epilogue has rolled around.Not quite the ending I wanted...but others, Howard fans especially, may feel differently.

That all said, this was a fun, fluid read, and more than just "great, for what it is"- it's much better than the film.Fully recommended for anyone needing a good, not-quite-old-fashioned fantasy story.

The movie was horrible; the book is worse
As a long-time of fan I was disgusted by both the movie and the book. Jordan tries his hand here but comes way short of the previous books. He should just stick to WOT.

The best of both worlds
The movie Conan the Destoyer was a disaster.We all know that.Fortunately, Robert Jordan was hired to novelize it, and was given a lot of leeway.While he remains loyal to the plot and pacing of the movie, aswell as to the events of the first Conan film, Jordan changes dialogue,character and location a little so that this book also fits in with thesaga of Conan stories.

For example, while in the movie Taramis was queen,this contradicts Conan canon, so in the book she is princess, sister ofKing Tiridates.He also adds more action than is in the film, and explainscertain events which just sort of arbitrarily happen in the movie.Hefills in the plotholes from the film nicely, and adds typical Conan goreand sex, albeit not as much as in some of the other Conan stories.Anothernice touch in this book is that he gives the characters roles.In themovie, Malak is just kind of there for no reason.Here he is fleshed out alitte.Also, in the movie the wizard Akiro, who is brought along for hismagic, just sits around doing nothing; not so, here -- he's shootingfireballs, setting wards, making potions.

Although this is certainly notone of the better Conan novels, because of the limited script and storyJordan had to write with, it certainly is fun and far better than the movieof the same name.If you're a Conan fan, or if you liked the first movie,I definitely recommend this one.

Not A Wheel of time Clone But worth a read
The one and only reason I bought this book was because it was written by Robert Jorden.I have been a long time fan of the Wheel of time series and was hoping for something similar when i bought Conan But was quiteplesantly surprised by someThing quite markedly Different.Firstly the bookis far more pacier and more action packed than the WOT series.What reallythis book lacks is that it siply does not make you long to read the nextbook.It is hard not to compare this book to Jordans previous works aswellas the movie that was released of the same nam .All considered its agood book for the price you pay but don't expect a WOT clone ... Read more

Customer Reviews (359)

Great Deal
Was very happy with this.Came in exactly the same condition as promised.Very good price!

An enjoyable continuation of the story
First notes specifically on the Kindle edition, everybody else can skip this part: formatting errors seemed fewer and further apart in the book so perhaps as the books continue through the series the publisher is learning more and more about how to properly format. I still enjoyed the convenient chapter marks at the bottom and I'm sure it was true of the first one but apparently the speech synthesizer is enabled in this book for an impromptu audio-book-like-experience. Of course the text-to-speech can't make heads or tails of the special words in a fantasy book and a character named Min is apparently too much to handle (kept saying minimum). I still think a commercial product I paid pull price for shouldn't have these formatting issues but they are easy to ignore. I don't think there was a map of the world included in this book but I don't suppose it would be very clear on a Kindle-sized screen anyway (I have the smaller one).

I should perhaps note I have only read the first two books and I'm writing this having not started the third one yet. This review will be spoiler free (I try to stay vague).

As for the book itself I think Jordan learned some lessons from the first book and avoided making the same mistakes. There were a few obvious foreshadowing moments here and there along with some blatantly convenient plot devices to move the story along and avoid the issues that would have come up had he not resorted to the plot devices (one example is conveniently skipping over several months and traveling a long distance just when it was needed).

After a while I got a little tired of the main character constantly denying he was this reincarnated (for lack of better term?) ancient character with a destiny. I mean a lot of stuff has happened here to him that wouldn't necessarily happen to any random humble sheep herder. It just got tiring after a while. Can you imagine if say Luke Skywalker constantly whined about being manipulation into bringing balance back to the force and talked about wanting to go back to Tatooine and be a farmer? Do you know how annoying that would be?

I think some people have mentioned the straight story with no symbolism. And that's mostly true but I can't help but think "The Source" that is constantly such a temptation to use, super powerful and can inadvertently hurt people and yourself could have some kind of subtle or not so subtle metaphor. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it, that could be.

Judging by the title of the third book (spoiler?) I think he's finally going to be over it and accept that he is in essence a super-hero-like-guy...

I've already purchased the third book and am looking forward to reading it.

A Richly Detailed World Building Quest (Spoiler Free Review)
The Great Hunt is more original than The Eye of the World, but the story occasionally gets bogged down by some rich poetic world building.If that sounds ok to you, then you'll enjoy reading this book.

Story:
Rand and the rest of the party are on a quest to find an ancient battle horn with the power to summon undead heroes.The Eye of the World, Book 1 of this series, was basically a Fellowship of the Ring clone.In this book, the heroes find themselves on a new adventure, traveling across the world and facing new enemies as well as old ones.

World:
The world that Robert Jordan has crafted is amazing.It's a world building fan's dream.There's a deep history, a myriad of different factions at war, mystical creatures, a well developed magic system, and parallel universes.It's easy to understand how his fans can get lost in these books.

Writing Style:
The strength of Robert Jordan's books is his rich writing style that pulls you into his world.At times, the books seem slow paced, but it's mainly because there are so many poetic details that bring the world to life.Jordan has one of the most mentally engaging writing styles in all of fantasy.

Characters:
The survivors of the first book are back, but they seem a bit thin this time around.There's so much effort spent on the world, the characters seem a bit secondary.Also, there are so many main characters that it feels like there isn't enough time spent on their development.

Action:
The magic battles are fantastic, but the sword fights are not.Lightning rips the sky and strikes the ground throwing cobblestones in all directions.Arcing fireballs destroy buildings.The visceral descriptions of the magic battles are great and pull the reader right into the action.However, the swordfights are written like, Rand performed Monkey steals peach, then Cutting the Silk, followed by Angry Humming Bird.Really?It's terrible.The swordfights need to have the same visceral descriptions as the magic battles.Swords should cut enemies down, pierce their bellies, lop off heads...Some of the action is good, but some of it is too poetic to carry an impact.

Maturity:
There's no sex, no swearing, just a complex plot, fancy college words, and some fantasy violence.

Overall:
If you liked The Eye of the World, you'll like this book.The main appeal is the richly developed world, but take note that the characters and action do take a back seat.Fans of Stephen Erickson will also enjoy these books.

If you want some light reading that's heavy on action, you can probably skip this series.

The Great Hunt
I really like the series and the book, however, they all contain typos!
Sentences are split between paragraphs, characters names have letters missing/different and the italicised thoughts are so choppy!
I have read the paper versions, which didn't have all this going on. It is so frustrating!
Great story, but I think they need to be checked and rechecked for all this messiness.

A slow read, but it was worth it
I just finished the second sequel, The Great Hunt, and currently am reading the third one. Robert Jordan wrote the plot in a very slow pace. Six young people from a remote village gradually found themselves being a major part of the grand pattern that could change the world. That was a lot to take on one's life, therefore, the length of words to tell how those people adjusted themselves was justifiable, I supposed.

These characters took a long time (like one full book between 700-800 pages) to step up to another level of acceptance. It wasn't bad. I think we, readers, were given enough time to follow the mental growth of the characters when they were struggling with fate that changed their lives forever.

I like the way Jordan described his world. Although for that, I had to slow down my reading pace, to grasp the rich tapestries of that world. It was described in detail, that I could imagine vividly everything in it, each place with its very different people, buildings and grooves.

What Jordan lacked though, was a clear description of his female characters. I found it difficult to tell the difference between Nynaeve to Egwene or Moiraine, or Selene. They were all very similar to each other. I don't understand why they were angry all the time. There was not enough back ground to explain these females' angry attitude towards the world in general. Whenever any other character in the book said anything at all, the females replied with harsh words, or balled their fists, or twitched their mouths/eyebrows. All this only showed they were angry, but no particular logical reasons provided at all by Jordan.

Also, from several times description through the boys' thoughts, all those females were the prettiest girls the boys had ever seen in their lives. If it was said once, I can understand it. But as it was said to describe all the ladies, I found it confusing. I mean, all the ladies had was the same things, the prettiest face on earth and an angry attitude, how to tell their difference then? I don't know if in the following sequel books the female characterization would be improved, but I certainly hope so! It is too bad if such a good story line with a richly described world became annoying at some parts, due to some flatly described characters.
... Read more

Product Description
"Winternight" - The mysterious dark rider is momentarily forgotten as the Al'Thor farm is beset by trollocs smelling blood. It is up to Rand to wield his father's sword in defense of the family. The fresh violence stirs memories of wars past in old Tam and he dreams of the desperate fight at the Dragonwall. The action heats up in this epic graphic re-telling of Robert Jordan's classic fantasy! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (33)

Conan lives!
A great collection of Conan tales by the master storyteller Robert Jordan.
A truely worthy successor to R E Howard.The use of language captures a nice period (old style) feel
Three excellent tales to sate the hunger of Conan fans

Pulp Conan, not the Conan of old
While I agree with a prior reviewer (who posted 5 stars) that, while THE CONAN CHRONICLES is better than THE WHEEL OF TIME, THE CONAN CHRONICLES does not faithfully reflect nor reproduce the Howard's universe or characters. The negative reviews this book has received are indicative of the latter comparison and most likely, some comparison against all other books in the genre. Some reviewers almost seem to be implying that THE CONAN CHRONICLES is a 5-star book "for Robert Jordan," while some are saying, "this book is terrible."I'm in the latter camp; while readable, THE CONAN CHRONICLES is pulp--predictable and repetitious beach-reading not worth re-reading or even continuing to own. My copy will end up at a used-book store.

(Oh, and what IS it with Jordan and the "round breasts" bit? Jordan's women seem merely the two-dimensional product of puerile fantasy. Has he ever really KNOWN a woman? This becomes almost embarrassing after a few hundred pages.)

Super Reader
The first omnibus collection of Robert Jordan's Conan Chronicles. Unfortunately, this has a truly atrocious cover, compared to some of the individual books.

The guy on the front has hips like a girl, less muscles than I had at that age, and looks like a teenage lothario from a bad latin soap opera.

They must have had this lying around unused and paid for or free and thought it would work.

This book includes Conan the Invincible, Conan the Defender and Conan the Unconquered.

Conan's reputation as a thief in Shadizar has grown so much it is starting to cause him problems.

As such, he takes a job that offers the possibility of a big score, and ends up saving Karela the Red Hawk a couple of times, and mixed up with sorcerers, necromancers, soldiers, lizard men and more.

For a pastiche, a pretty good one.

3.5 out of 5


Conan is in a new city, and inflation is a bit of a problem. He runs into Hordo again, who is there working as a smuggler, and finds out the lay of the land.

He decides that the thing to do is start his own Free Company, rather than get tied up in a mult-year contract working for someone else.

He has a horse-archery angle that no-one else uses.

A poetess he takes up with is a revolutionary, and he gets involved in a struggle with the throne.

Eventually, he again runs into Karela the Red Hawk, who is in disguise.

3.5 out of 5


This book is not as interesting as most of Jordan's others. I think the supporting cast is a little on the bland side, or only appear fleetingly in and out of the book. No Karelas or Hordos to be found here.

Necromancer, evil femme fatale, good but naive girl he teaches a little bit of swordplay and shagging.

Just an average tale.

3 out of 5

Wizards to kill, women to save.
This is a collection of three Conan books by Jordan that were originally published in the early 1980's.Jordan does a fair job of representing one of the all-time-favorite sword and sorcery heroes, portraying him as the hard, no-nonsense, lover of gold and women that Robert E. Howard introduced so long ago.These stories are nothing like Jordan's later work with the epic Wheel of Time series, but they are not meant to be.The Conan Chronicles are fast-paced, exciting, simple, and predictable, a guilty pleasure for lovers of old-school fantasy.All three books involve evil wizards bent on obtaining power at the cost to the masses, and in all three Conan finds himself in a to-the-death battle with said wizards.One thing that stands out in these books is the blatant stereotypes and cliches that Jordan's characters take on.Wizards are dark and sinister, women are young and beautiful (and usually naked), men are greedy and dirty, and almost everyone is poor and desperate.Oily and unclean Iranistanis, and sneaky and deadly assassins (ninjas) from the far-east were particularly amusing to me.

The first book, Conan the Invincible, tells of Conan accepting a job that turns out to be more than he expected. A strange wizard pays him to steal some jewels from the king of Zamora, but somebody beats him to it. As he tracks the thieves, he encounters a number of interesting characters that'll show up in following novels, including Hordo and Karela. Evil wizards and snake men pose quite a challenge to the young Conan, but nothing he can't handle.

In Conan The Defender (Conan), our hero finds himself embroiled in a plot to overthrow the king of Nemedia. Lots of double dealing and behind-the-scene scheming make this one read almost like a mystery, with Conan playing the part of the detective. Once again, the antagonist is a dark and evil sorcerer with aims on the throne, and once again Conan cleaves through his enemies like a hot knife through butter. Hordo and Karela reappear here to aid (or hinder?) Conan in his goals. Compared to the first book, this one was more enjoyable to me, with a slightly more complex plot and with the characters becoming better developed.

The third book, Conan the Unconquered (Conan), is my personal favorite.In this tale Conan finds himself traveling to distant lands to search for the means to slay a necromancer heading the 'Cult of the Doomed'.The pace is very quick and the overall plot is better developed than the first two books.The opposition to Conan and the dangers he faces seem more deadly and his new traveling companions add flavor to this one.

All three books are enjoyable and simple.If you come for the right reasons (pure shallow entertainment) you'll be pleased.

ok, not a Jordan masterpiece, but good.
Delivered quickly, as advertised quality. This is a book that is a compilation of three books.It is fairly good, and consistent with the other story lines. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Super Reader
Conan this time has three women to deal with, although the first, a young nobleman reduced to trying out trulldom is easy, once he finds her employment.

The high priestess of a demon lord he is working for and does not know it is far worse.

Karela the Red Hawk just likes to compare him to any dirty ugly animal she can think of because she likes him so much and doesn't know whether to shag him or stab him.

All this on top of leading a Free Company. ... Read more

Product Description
An American Library Association “Best Books for Young Adults”

A VOYA “Best Books for Young Adults”

For Rand al’Thor and his pals, life in the sleepy village of Emond’s Field has been pretty dull. Until the appearance on festival night of Moiraine, a mysterious woman who claims to be an Aes Sdeai—a magician who can wield the One Power. Soon after, the village is attacked by Trollocs—a savage tribe of half-men half-beasts. Rand’s father is nearly killed. But for Rand, the news gets worse. It was not the village the Trollocs were after, Moiraine tells him. It was you, Rand.

Rand and his friends are forced to flee. But his escape will bring him face to face with the Dark One...the most powerful force of evil in the universe.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

now 1/2 the book for the price of one!?!?!
I can not believe that they are taking the books and splitting them into 2. Just to make more money. The single book was about 7.99 and now the split book is 5.99 each so they are now 4 more dollars. what a rip for a very good series of books.

just another way to make more money by delivering less product.
ok, just to let everyone know right off the bat, i have NOT read this book.i HAVE however, seen it, held it, and looked through it at the bookstore.when Robert Jordan wrote the book that we came to know as The Eye of the World, it was one novel, basically devoid of artwork.now, publishing companies are getting writers to divide their works up into 2 seperate novels so that they can essentially make double the money from the same amount of product.from what i gather, the official reasoning for this is to reach out to younger readers.maybe this move will help them reach out to younger readers, maybe it wont.what bothers me is that this great book has been ripped into 2 parts just so that we, the consumer, are forced to pay double.save yourself the trouble of buying 2 books (and the money) and just find a copy of The Eye of the World in its entirety, the way Robert Jordan actually intended it to be.i hope this review helps.

A nice surprise.
I'm not sure what I expected it to be like, but it wasn't this. I've never really read fantasy before, but this had me hooked from page one. I find the plot and characters to be very unique. I'm also impressed with his storytelling. He really draws you in to the poi...nt where you HAVE to know what's going to happen next. It's very unpredictable, which really appeals to the mystery buff in me. As for this edition, I appreciate the option of having the book presented in a smaller, more manageable format. There were only a handful of illustrations, but it was a nice surprised when one popped up. I also really enjoyed the new prologue, "Ravens." While it doesn't add much to the overall plot, It gave a bit more characterization and was a nice little addition. As expected, it ended a little abruptly with no real resolution.Even a "to be continued" would have been nice, but I knew what it was before I started so I can't really complain.I already ordered my copy of part II To The Blight : Part Two of 'The Eye of the World', The Beginning of 'The Wheel of Time' (Wheel of Time (Starscape)) and can't wait for it to arrive.

WARNING
The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, Book 1) is the original first book in the Wheel Of Time series. It is an excellent book, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in an enormous fantasy series.

This book is merely the FIRST HALF of The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, Book 1), if you already own The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, Book 1) DO NOT buy this book. Why it was ever released is a mystery to me, someone is probably trying to make more money from the series.

If you're a fan of the series, please use the above link to get to the REAL book, ignore this one.

A Gentle Introduction to the Series
The late Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" has been one of the most successful franchises in the fantasy genre.The series has now grown to eleven tomes and one novella, with the last one due in the near future.The Wheel of Time enjoys a very large, and very dedicated, following.Countless websites, forums, and messageboards across the web are dedicated to the series.Fans discuss, debate, and predict events from the eleven novels and one novella at these forums.

The subject of this review is basically a new book, but the content came from the first half of The Eye of the World.A lot of young readers who might be daunted by the size of the original book would most likely find "From the Two Rivers: The Eye of the World Book 1" to be more palatable.The artwork in this tome was also designed to appeal to a young audience.

Our tale starts off in a remote, rural area within the kingdom of Andor, in a township called "Eamon's Field".Here, we find three humble and naive farmboys, living their rather carefree lives amongst people that they've known all of their lives.One day, strangers arrive in town.The Lady Moiraine, and her "bodyguard", a large stern-faced warrior called Lan.A travelling bard called Merrilin, as well as a peddler called Fain also make their arrival.Hot on the heels of these strangers are a pack of Trollocs and Myrdraals, creatures of the Shadow lord, Shaitan.Mysteriously, all the arrivals show intense interest in the three farmboys.Events unfold, and we learn that the Lady is a member of a blessed race of humans who can tap a spiritual energy called the "One Power".The lady and her Warder saves the boys from the evil foot soldiers of Shaitan.Eventually, a decision is made to take the boys away from Eamon's Field to hide them from the servants of Shaitan.

All in all, this is a great read.One that would delight a lot of middle school students.This is one fantasy series that you can be confident in letting your child read.You will not find characters swearing, nor will you find explicit sexual content.Basically, it is tame compared to other works in the genre.I would love to see this material in school media centers across the country.You see, Citan thinks that reading fiction will not only help improve a child's reading skills, but also demonstrate to that child that there can be inherent pleasures in reading. And more importantly, to let students know that there are plenty of escapist reading materials out there besides all of the boring books that are traditionally canonical reading at school. ... Read more

Product Description
This new edition of a classic text, comprehensively revised throughout, focuses on the role of international organizations in the context of emerging challenges to the centrality of the nation-state in the international system, such as humanitarianism, environmentalism, new legal standards and regimes, and controversial concepts such as "civil society" and "globalism." As inter-governmental and international non-governmental activities are increasingly being merged, for example in the area of peace-keeping, this erodes the sanctity of the territorial state as the primary political unit. Similarly, technological and social changes such as the Internet, encourage "borderless" activities (legal and illegal) by non-state actors. This book provides the basis for students to consider international organizations against the backdrop of a thorough rethinking of our international system and its prospects for the future in the face of these fundamental and unprecedented developments. ... Read more

Product Description
This magical tale "will not be easy to put down," raved Booklist. "The Great Hunt suggests that [The Wheel of Time] will be the definitive exploration of Tolkien's territory for many years to come. Jordan can spin as rich a world and as event-filled a tale as the master."

Since they were boys, Rand and his friends have heard the tales of the Great Hunt of the Horn. Fabulous tales of hunters and of a legendary horn that can raise the dead heroes of the ages.

But no sooner is the horn found then it is stolen.

And Rand begins a quest to find the horn. It's "a grippping story," according to VOYA. "Recommended."
... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Rehash of the Wheel of Time
An excellent, well written book that contains absolutely nothing new.All of it's content is found in the previous books, and the only possible reason for it's publication is to make money by pretending it has new material.

WARNING
The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, Book 2) is the original second book in the Wheel Of Time series. It is an excellent book, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in an enormous fantasy series.

This book is merely the FIRST HALF of The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, Book 2), if you already own The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, Book 2) DO NOT buy this book. Why it was ever released is a mystery to me, someone is probably trying to make more money from the series.

If you're a fan of the series, please use the above link to get to the REAL book, ignore this one.

about all the complaining
Just wanted to say that I loved all the books.Yes some parts did run on and on, but what book that thick doesn't.Another thing is I have only found these books in the younger reader sections not in the adult sections of barnes and nobles.I believe they are marketed for a younger crowd.Robert Jordan died on sept. 16, 2007.So have a little respect.

Jordan screws his fans and new readers alike
New Jordan readers beware!As the prior poster mentioned, Jordan's greedy lust for a big payday has led him to splitting his novels in two and then selling both halves as separate books.Do not waste your money getting into this series only to have Jordan try to rip you off some more with his mediocre efforts on books 6-10.

With several of these books, 9 and 10 if memory serves, Jordan writes a whole lot of nothing and spreads it over two books.Both of these books take place at the exact same time, are voluminous in terms of number of pages, introduce multiple, meaningless story arcs and characters, and each only has about 150 pages of actual plot advancement.

Don't get me wrong, The Great Hunt was a fantastic book.Having to pay twice as much to read it is simply unacceptable.

amazing book
i think this series is amazing and the illustrations really explain alot. i recomend this for readers of all ages. you'll love it ... Read more

Product Description
"Strangers, a Gleeman, a peddler from afar and even fireworks might possibly make this the best Bel Tine ever in Two Rivers. Well, if it wasn't for the bestial Trollocs and fearsome Myrddraal waiting to attack Two Rivers in search of the Dragon Reborn... Moiraine Damodred, an Aes Sedai, and her Warder, al'Lan Mandragoran, are all that stand in the way of the Darkness that has descended on Two Rivers. And Rand al'Thor and his two friends, Matrim Cauthon and Perrin Aybara, must leave the only home they have ever known if they want to spare their loved ones from any further danger." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

This calendar is excellent FOR WHAT IT IS
I don't typically review calendars, but I'd like to refute a few of the negative reviews here.Yes, this calendar is filled predominantly with Darell K. Sweet's less than perfect artwork (The covers of all nine books, the alternate cover for book one, and the frontispiece for the story New Spring from the Legends anthology).However, all of this is clear just from glancing at the back cover of the calendar.However, it offers all of these images in high-quality reproductions without the text, and without the creases evident in the World of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time book.In addition, this calendar comes with a large poster containint the map of the Wheel of Time world.While not a new map, it is certainly fun having a larger version to refer to while reading.If you don't want DKS' artwork, don't buy the calendar.It's that simple, and these Amazon.com's review sections are not a proper forum for bashing an artist.I personally am enjoying having this calendar hanging on my wall.

Ripoff!
This calendar is a ripoff.Why would any WoT fan bother with an expensive calendar they could make themselves by pasting the hard-back dust jackets together? If 1.) it wasn't Darrell K. Sweet's cover art AGAIN, and 2.) it was new art unavailable anywhere else, then I would buy this calendar.Otherwise, wait 'til next year.

Boooooooring!
I honestly don't know why someone would want this calendar; anyone who has the books could make it by ripping the covers off and pasting them together. First off, I'm not a fan of Darrell K. Sweet.Second, cover art is a bad move--half the picture (the back cover) is boring.Who wants half a picture? I say, wait for a WoT calendar with something new and interesting...don't shell out $$ for something that you could put together yourself.

Winters Heart
I have only recently become a Robert Jordan fan.Within the last year I began reading these great books when my nephew saw me reading a Danielle Steele book and informed me that if I wanted to read something truly great I should read the Wheel of Time series.From the moment I picked up the first book "The Eye of the World" I was hooked.I quickly read the entire series that was available at the time.Now I have completed number nine, I couldn't even wait for it to come out in paperback.It was well worth the wait!I started getting upset when the reviews made no mention of Matt and what had happened to him but Robert Jordan didn't let us down, he filled us in quite nicely.Now all that is left to do is sit and wait patiently for number ten- or maybe not so patiently- hurry please Mr. Jordan but not to the detriment of the characters or plot.As to the calander:As soon as I saw it I wanted it.But when I viewed it online, or the pictures that were available anyway, I was dissappointed.I was hoping for some good clear pictures of the characters not the same old drawings that were on the book covers.Next year please give us something new.I still may buy it for the simple reason that I love the books but I'm not sure- how bout posting some of the pictures in the calendar that aren't book covers to help me decide, I've seen all of those and there should be at least two that weren't featured as cover art.Right?

Down with Darrel K. Sweet!
Of all things to have in a Robert Jordan calendar, do we really have to have just a recap of Darrel K. Sweet's horrible and inconsistant cover art?Rand, Mat, and Perrin look different on the cover of a every book.So I guess this would be a good calendar to get if you wanted to be able to rip out all the artwork and circle the discrepancies between the major characters from book to book.Or is this a secret message from Robert Jordan that our heroes are slowly morphing into other people? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

GOOD SOLID OVERVIEW - WELL RESEARCHED AND WELL DONE
I enjoyed this one and am glad to have added it to my library.The book is quite well organized and gives a splended overview of the civil war, year by year.As has been pointed out by other reviewers, this work stays pretty neutral on even political sensitive subjects, even slavery in the south and the near slavery in the north manifested in the northern factories.There are of course thousands of books out there on the Civil War, some good, some not so good.For a good quick overview though, I do not think you could go wrong with this one and I highly recommend it.It think this one may be out of print (I purchased mine back in 1980) but it is worth the hunt.

An overview of the War between the States.
National Geographic has great pictures and this book produced by the Society is no different.The book is a short summary of the war between the states.The author is very neutral in his historical summary, trying to not offend any Southerner.The writing is concise and neatly summarizes the war.I actually learned something even though I have read dozens of books about this war.The book is divided by years, and includes a prelude.
The war's battles are detailed with battlefield maps.This was a nicely done book.

As I said, the one thing that is lacking is the author's neutrality.This is disconcerting, especially when the author describes the institution of slavery.Slavery was wrong, and the author should have stated it so.I guess he didn't want to offend the Southern population.Everything else about the book was great.

The National Geographic Society's Publification, 1969.
A fine book with numerous color photographs. Good for modellers. 212 pages carry us year by year through the U.S. civil war. Slavery, battles, politics, leaders, daily life and its expenses, etc. are some of the topics touched upon. The book gives a good outline of the war and should be read by all beginners in this historical field.

A Book Worth Fighting for
The Civil War by Robert Paul Jordan is a GREAT book about the Civil War. It guides you through the prelude to the Civil War and all 4 years of the grueling war we know so well. An amazing collection of Civil War paintingsand pictures only enrich your experience. It includes drawn maps of themajor battlefields and what happened on them. Also it includes pictures ofwhat these places look like today, allowing you to visualize what they usedto look like. Overall this is the source of information for Civil Warveterans and to newbies as well. ... Read more