The Dragon Reborn (The Wheel of Time, Book 3)
By: Robert Jordan
My Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS
Best For: 14 and up

FINE! I’ll read The Wheel of Time!

I’ve been desperately avoiding The Wheel of Time series for years now. Even I, book nerd extraordinaire, am put off by the 14 book, 12,000 page commitment. It simply doesn’t fit with my reading habits, and it certainly isn’t compatible with my need to publish new and exciting content for http://www.onemanbook.com (hold on, give me one sec to remove my tongue from my cheek). Seriously though, reading it straight through would be something like 5 months of reading nothing but The Wheel of Time!

On the other hand…

The Wheel of Time is a fantasy tent pole, and legions of fans swear by it. I know some who’ve re-read it multiple times, and they’re much less nerdy than me! It’s been on my radar since the mid-nineties, and it’s been a black mark on my reading scorecard for years. Plus I’d like to watch the Amazon series, but there’s no way I’d watch it until I’ve read the books.

It’s time.

I can’t promise how quickly I’m going to finish. I plan on multitasking–I’ll probably listen to one book while reading another (but not at the same time!). And I’m not going to read all 14 books back to back. I’ll stretch them out over the course of the year…maybe a couple years. But I will finish, and then I’ll have a party.

So then, Book 3, The Dragon Reborn. Did it live up to the crushing weight of expectation? YES! It took 3 books, but I think I see why the series has so many fans!

The biggest change? The characters finally have layers to their personality. For the first book and a half, the characters were flat. I felt like book 3 finally exposed their flaws and gave them room to breathe, and their roles in the story are now clear. This paves the way for character growth and development, which is key to letting me get emotionally connected. By now the complex world building is coming together and makes sense, and book three featured the most exciting climax yet.

So, did I enjoy it? Yep. The extreme descriptive detail still makes makes reading these books feel like I’m hiking through sand…like I have to work harder than normal just to get through each page. I’m still mostly just looking forward to the trio of Branson Sanderson books at the end of the series, but at least I finally feel like I’m going to enjoy the journey.

At least for now. I hear books 9, 10, and 11 are pretty rough…

I appreciated the teen-friendly content. No language or sex, and only mild fantasy violence. Best for fantasy lovers, 14 and up.

Happy Reading!