[Bond]

The Great Hunt is considered by many as one of the best books of the series and I think is a true litmus test of whether one would enjoy WOT or not.

I have encountered a number of people who have given up on WOT because they thought The Eye of the World was a bad book and did not continue on to The Great Hunt. However, I don't think I've encountered any people who have finished reading The Great Hunt and think it is a bad book and have not gone on to read The Dragon Reborn. There are bound to be some I guess but I've never heard of them. If you're one of them could you tell us why?

I notice even among WOT's detractors they remain strangely mum on the quality of The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn and primarily vent their fury at the later books. Why is that? Will they agree with me that these books are as exciting as any of Martin's ASOIAF (probably the most comparable series) has to offer?

[Brys]

I find it hard to say that it's a bad book, because it isn't. IMO it's a mediocre book - enjoyable at the time of reading, but not beyond that, for me at least. I don't think that even the best of the Wheel of Time novels comes close to any of the epic fantasy by Bakker, Erikson or Martin though. They may be exciting, but I expect more from a fantasy author - Eddings is exciting at times, even Clemens is exciting, but they aren't good. At times, the early WoT may be as exciting as ASOIAF, or the Malazan novels, or the Prince of Nothing series, but they aren't as good, or as enjoyable IMO.

I prefer to vent my fury on those of the series that are actually bad rather than those which are just average, and an enjoyable light read (which is definitely what I think WoT is - but now, I'm starting to consider Martin, Bakker and Erikson as light reads when compared to authors such as Peake, Calvino and Kafka).

[Sir Stephen]

I prefer to vent my fury on those of the series that are actually bad rather than those which are just average
Same here.

[Evil Agent]

The Great Hunt was probably my favorite of the series. However, I think a lot of that was due to the climax and ending of the book. I don't remember thinking the whole thing was amazing, from page 1... I remember a few scenes that dragged. But on the whole, I thinkit was the one I enjoyed the most.

[lady_rose]

I don't remember thinking the whole thing was amazing, from page 1... I remember a few scenes that dragged

For me, pretty much anything at The White Tower dragged. I'm not sure if it's because I really don't like Nynaeve or Egwenne, or whether it was because I was anxious to see what was happening with Rand!

Jordan's female characters, with the exception perhaps of Moiraine, do seem a little 2-dimensional in this book. I'm not far enough into Book 3 to comment if this trend continues, but it was a....distraction I guess....for me in Great Hunt.

[paradox]

I did not think it was a bad book, per se, but it is definitely not one of my favorites (in Fantasy overall or in WoT). My problem: Ingtar. I just didn't quite find (spoilers) his portrayal as a darkfriend very believable. I did, however, really like Mat as the hornblower, especially as later someone (only read through series once) thinks Rand blew the horn. Oh, and I hated the Bors intro- so long to be mentioned again.
For perspective, my ranking
1. The Shadow Rising (Wow. Emotionally compelling, esp. Perrin)
2. The Fires of Heaven (People died! (even if they will probably return)
3. Winter's Heart (The last scene esp.)
4. The Dragon Reborn
5. The Lord of Chaos
6. The Eye of the World
7. (finally) the Great Hunt
The others are fairly even, with CoT being first among equals.

[BeardofPants]

I read the first one, and thought it was terrible. Some years later I endeavoured to read book 2. I wish I hadn't. Sign me up for not bothering to read book 3. Not my cup of tea, I guess. :rolleyes:

[Mandi]

I actually found 1-6 good, the rest.. just drag. But I'll finish out the series, just because I'm curious as to what happens. From what I've heard from Dragonmount.com there are only going to be 13 in the regular series #11 coming out this month. And two more prequals... but we'll see. The series is good but it's long so... if you want to kill a few trees read them... they're good.

[terminus est]

I actually found 1-6 good, the rest.. just drag. But I'll finish out the series, just because I'm curious as to what happens. From what I've heard from Dragonmount.com there are only going to be 13 in the regular series #11 coming out this month. And two more prequals... but we'll see. The series is good but it's long so... if you want to kill a few trees read them... they're good.

IMO, 6 drags WAY more than 7 did. 6 didn't even have Perrin. 6 was almost entirely focused on Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne. It's my least favorite of the first 7.

[Evil Agent]

5 years after having read the series, most of the middle details are hazy. It's only the final climaxes the distinguish the books in my mind. That's why, I think, book 6 is often mentioned as the last great one (Dumai's Wells). The climax in Book 7 was decent, but not great, and then the next 3 continued to be sort of average.

Book 10 was just awful. But I still enjoy the series enough to finish it off (as long as it doesn't go over the supposed 12).