In the first book, the Horn of Valere (when sounded, the dead heroes will come to the aid of he who sounded the horn, "The grave is no bar to my call") is located. The story starts out in Fal Dara where our characters rest. The Amyrlin Seat, the woman who is in charge of all aes sedai (women who can channel the One Power), rides to Fal Dara to meet with Rand, Mat, and Perrin (a wolf brother, which is a man who can communicate with wolves). These three boys are ta'veren, which means that the pattern of time and its events are woven around them, and they can even change the pattern if they are strong enough. While in Fal Dara, the Horn is stolen and so is Mat's tainted dagger (from Shadar Logoth, a place so corrupted that even the trollocs fear to enter) by Padan Fain, a darkfriend. Once Padan Fain takes the dagger, the evil of it seeps into him and he becomes an abomination. Without the dagger, however, Mat starts to get very sick. There is a bond between Mat and the dagger that only the aes sedai can break, but Mat must go to Tar Valon (the white tower, where aes sedai are trained). Rand, Mat, and Perrin go searching for Mat's dagger and the Horn of Valere. Egwene and Nynaeve go to Tar Valon to be trained.
While in the tower, Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne (Daughter Heir of Andor), and Min are sneaked out of the tower on a "secret mission" and lead through the Ways by an Aes Sedai named Liandrin. On the other side they are ambushed. Egwene is captured and put into an a'dam, which acts as a sort of collar that is controlled by the sul'dam (leash holder). The idea is that women who can channel are to be controlled or destroyed. The woman in the collar cannot do anything that the sul'dam does not want her to. Nynaeve and Min escape capture, so they try to rescue Egwene.
Review:
Well, this was a fun read... or rather listen. I am listening to the audiobook. I find it easier to get through the descriptions. There is a lot of talk of clothes and locations, and I enjoy it. Sometimes it can be a little too much. That being said, the story is fantastic. There characters are relatable, engaging, and fun. I want to learn what happens next, and I want to see what the characters will choose. I can only imagine that a writer would have a hard time trying to capture the lives of so many different characters. I am wondering why I never finished the series. Maybe this will be the time. I really enjoy the way that Robert Jordan writes. I like how he uses analogies that relate to the characters he's written. I'm always confused by the titles of the books. I have a hard time telling the books apart based on the titles.
I think Robert Jordan's attention to detail is wonderful, but can be distracting. I love his loyalty to the characters, and how he keeps them true to themselves. I love the whole side story of the Seanchan and am interested to see how this story will progress.
I'm not going to state if I would recommend this book or not because it is the second book in the series. Perhaps at the end of this series I will state if I recommend it or not. I already started listening to the third book, and it's kinda hard to keep them separate in my brain.