The Dragon Reborn (Final Analysis)

(Warning: Contains minor spoilers---Read at your own risk)

If you haven't learned it already, I love the Wheel of Time series.  The third book, The Dragon Reborn, is just as favored in my eyes as the first two in the epic overarching tale.

Slow pacing caused a long reading duration, but no decrease in satisfaction.  Robert Jordan's writing is good enough to make any scene flow like a waterfall.  The plot of this novel came mostly from three viewpoints (at times four), each telling interlinked tales.  Cross-references between plot-lines were very cool.  Some concepts, such as inns and dreams, came across a little heavy-handed, yet not to a degree that was damaging.  The events in every POV kept my attention and filled me with the necessary wonder for the genre.

Only one character fell flat for me.  She came in late and had too much mystery surrounding her for her to be properly built.  Granted, her late entry in the book and early entry in the series contribute to the minor problem.  All other characters felt right to me.  Existing characters gained new flesh and grew in a well-done manner.  A big thing that linked the individual plot/character pairs together was the climactic setting.

Few secondary worlds can compete with the sheer substance and realism of the WoT setting.  Each country has a fresh culture with compelling inhabitants and unique attributes.  Several cities were explored in this book to great effect.  The Stone of Tear, a heavily mentioned location, proved as critical as the story promised.  This book acted as somewhat of a travelogue.  The characters learned on their own that something important was happening or going to happen there, then the plot moved accordingly.  Each new setting provided a flavor form the story during the treks to the Stone.

I gave The Dragon Reborn five stars on goodreads.  The true rating is about a 94/100.  I recommend the whole series to anyone enthralled by fantasy, especially epic fantasy.