The Dragon Reborn
This book. It’s not my favorite in the series. It’s not even in my top five most days. But, damn, this book.
It is a bold narrative choice that says ‘Hey, that guy the book is named after? Let’s not have him in the book, like at all. Okay, maybe like a chapter or two, few scenes here or there, nothing substantial though’. And it works. Really well. It lets those couple of scenes really mean something, especially when we only see Rand from Perrin’s pov in the beginning. That’s really the theme of the book, how everyone sees Rand at this point in time. All of the expectations and hopes and fears being put on him.
And Rand? Isn’t even convinced this whole Dragon Reborn business is really him. Least that’s how I see his trip to Tear. To prove to himself that he’s really this person everyone says he is because it’s still too big and scary for him. The responsibility is too still a bit too overwhelming.
I love that even this early in we see how much he takes responsibility for. If he’s going to be the Dragon Reborn he’s going to be the motherfucking Dragon Reborn. No half assing being the Chosen One for Rand. This gets shown to a greater extent, but I like how even at this point Rand is arguing constantly with Moiraine about the people fighting in his name and how he should do something.
This also leads into his instance of not doing what other people say he should do as the Dragon Reborn as well. He won’t just do what people think he should do. Instead he learns the prophecies about himself and tries to decide which parts to go fulfill. I rather adore Rand’s adorkable plan to set his schedule by the prophecies about what he’s going to do.
One more thing before I stop with Rand. I don’t often see it mentioned in discussions of this book, but let’s take a moment to think about just how sleep deprived Rand is during this. He doesn’t sleep if he can help it and when he does sleep he’s pulled into Tel'aran'rhiod, which is not a good way to get a restful night sleep. Yeah, he’s already going a bit crazy, but I think a lot of things in this book are just straight up sleep deprivation. That shit messes with your head.
Okay, let’s take a moment for the wonder girls. I don’t even. I get Siuan using the tools at hand, but Nynaeve is the only one with an ounce of common sense. Elyane treats the whole thing as an adventure and way to get out of washing dishes and Egwene is just not in a place where I like her. I’ve been chatting with someone on Reddit about Nynaeve and Egwene and I’ll have to put down my thoughts at some point. But, seriously, you’re not even half trained and you’re sent after some of the scariest people around? Take that shit seriously! Elyane!
God damn this is a long post. Perrin, Mat, and all the rest at another point in time.
