The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (1992) – BR00277 (2025) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
Plot or Premise
The Horn of Valere was found and then stolen, and the Fellowship has to go get it back, while backing each other up as they learn what the wheel has in mind for them.
What I Liked & Didn’t Like
As with the first book, I see a lot of abysmal editing…references repeated over and over and over (about how the Aes Sedai can’t lie but they don’t always tell you what you think you heard, or you make a deal with them but it isn’t always the deal you think, or how most Wisdoms can’t tell anything from the Wind but claim to anyway, or how one particular character pulls on her braids EVERY SCENE SHE IS IN!). It’s really annoying. Not to mention discontinuities in spelling of names (Hawkwing/Hawking, Bryne/Byrne, etc.).
But, at the beginning, there is a giant plot hole for the premise. At the end of Book 1, at the Eye of the World, they found the Horn of Valere. They have it at the Castle Keep. In a strong room. And yet, the head of the keep is setting everyone up to go off and look for it. Sure, they’re keeping it quiet, but still? The Hunt is about to begin and the big honourable Lord is about to send his men off to look for something they already have? Then it is stolen, so they DO have to go look for it, after all, but he makes it seem almost a side quest to recapture the Dark Friend, Padan Fain, who stole it but that nobody except a few actually know stole it since they didn’t tell anyone they had it. Shh…it’s a secret. Yet they need it for the final Battle, and they don’t set EVERYONE after him. Umm, okay. Sure, whatever.
After that, we have stupid angst stuff with Mat and Perrin towards Rand (yawn), Rand acting like an child (yawn), and the women also acting fairly childish around each other.
The book could have been about a third of its length and really SANG with a focus on Padan Fain escaping, the women of the fellowship going off to train as Aes Sedai at Tar Valon, Rand and the gang travelling around the countryside following him, and everyone ending up at the end in the same area to fight the Dark forces, the Seanchan, and perhaps some of the Children of the Light too.
It’s a great epic battle and — spoiler alert — I love how the two baddies fighting ended up being blasted across the sky for all to see, along with Mat being the one to blow the Horn of Valere to bring the Heroes of Legend back to help everyone. And I like Elayne’s addition to the Fellowship.
I mentioned in my review of the previous book that I was having a terrible time keeping characters straight, and I went back and created an “index” card with all the names of the big players from Book 1 so I knew what was going on at the start of Book 2. It worked. I had 15 clear “good guys”, 13 clear “bad guys”, and then another 6 where it wasn’t clear to me. 34 in total. For this book, we’re up to at least 20 good guys, about 11 clear bad guys, and another 20 that are leaning one way or another, aka 51 characters to keep track of while reading. A couple from book 1 disappeared, mostly cuz they’re dead or were in a city we didn’t revisit, so about 20+ new ones added. The list of “grey” characters in the middle is getting a bit long, particularly some of the Aes Sedai, Seanchan and Children of the Light.
The Bottom Line
Come for the quest, ignore the angst, wait for the battle
My cheat sheet for characters in Book 02:
JotD: Upholstery (PWH00045)
QotD: Abstinence (PWQ00044)
Bright Orange for the Shroud by John D. MacDonald (1965) – BR00276 (2025) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
Plot or Premise
Arthur is a former acquaintance of McGee’s and Chookie’s who manages to make it as far as McGee’s and no further. He is spent and has been picked clean by professional grifters since he last hung out with the crew. Chookie convinces McGee to see if he can perform a salvage operation on the stolen money while she performs salvage on the man.
What I Liked & Didn’t Like
The con was nothing extravagant, a fake land deal from which they kept extracting money from Arthur. When it was over, everybody took off, leaving him high and dry. However, the twist in the tale was that a woman from the former gang of friends around McGee and Chookie was the one who set him up, which added an interesting side motive to help.
There is a lot of razzle-dazzle in the beginning as McGee tries to figure out the best approach, only to find that most of it is irrelevant. The man behind it all was a professional con artist, and McGee has too much respect for his abilities to waste time trying to get anything back from him. So, he pivots to go after the big, hairy lug who likely killed one of his former partners.
There’s a good fight scene early on, but the character is hard to pin down. Boo is, at most times, reasonably simple muscle, and then suddenly he’s more like a master tactician that McGee can’t outsmart. The ending is somewhat predictable, reminiscent of two previous stories that concluded with fights on boats.
However, the one shining light for most of the story is the rehabilitation of Arthur. It starts off slow, reminiscent of the type of rehab that McGee normally does with women to build up their self-esteem, but it’s nice to see him regain some of his persona and help out / dig in at the end. A bit of a cheer for the underdog.
The Bottom Line
Come for the con, stay for the justice