Product Description

The city of Canluum lies close to the scarred and desolate wastes of the Blight, a walled haven from the dangers away to the north, and a refuge from the ill works of those who serve the Dark One. Or so it is said. The city that greets Al'Lan Mandragoran, exiled king of Malkier and the finest swordsman of his generation, is instead one that is rife with rumour and the whisperings of Shadowspawn. Proof, should he have required it, that the Dark One grows powerful once more and that his minions are at work throughout the lands. And yet it is within Canluum's walls that Lan will meet a woman who will shape his destiny. Moiraine is a young and powerful Aes Sedai who has journeyed to the city in search of a bondsman. She requires aid in a desperate quest to prove the truth of a vague and largely discredited prophecy - one that speaks of a means to turn back the shadow, and of a child who may be the dragon reborn.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24434 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
'Jordan has come to dominate the world that Tolkien began to reveal' NEW YORK TIMES 'Epic in every sense' SUNDAY TIMES 'On very rare occasions, very talented storytellers create worlds that are beyond fantasy; worlds that become realities. Robert Jordan has' MORGAN LLYWELYN 'A powerful vision of good and evil' ORSON SCOTT CARD

About the Author
Born in Charleston where he still lives with his wife Harriet, Jordan is a graduate of the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, with a degree in physics. He served two tours in Vietnam. His hobbies include hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool & pipe collecting.

Customer Reviews

Jordan goes back to the beginning...
Firstly, it's nice to see that here, in comparison to the US amazon site, there's only one person reviewing the book who hasn't read it and has given it a one star. I can well understand fans annoyance at having to wait for the next book but no one is forcing them to buy this book, it is not an integral part of the main series, nor has it claimed to be.

This is a prequel to the Wheel of Time series, now 10 books long. In Jordan's most recent interview (Jan 04) he states that he anticipates being able to finish in perhaps two books (he has been saying this since 1994 however, so be warned). While it has been advertised as an entry point to the series, I would not recommend it as such. Concepts are not sufficiently explained and to be honest the Eye of the World, the first book in the series, can work as a stand alone book. Try that before this.

The book comes in essentially two parts; the first concerns Moiraine and Siuan, two young women who feature later in the series. The story documents how they become fully-fledged Aes Sedai after many years of training and how they come to begin a search for the Dragon Reborn. This part of the book is great for fans in that we see a lot more of the White Tower than previously. We also see what could be deemed 'normal' AS training as opposed to that shown for Elayne, Egwene and Nynaeve in the main series. Jordan's writing style, in contrast to his more recent work, is concise yet retaining his trademarks to a sufficient degree to be interesting.

The second part of the novel is essentially the novella in Legends. If you've already read this, then the last 100 pages will simply be the same old material.

If your a fan and haven't got Legends, see this as simply more material. An enjoyable read even if it does not progress the series. As a non-fan, this could be a confusing novel that in the end stops before the real action begins.

Back to basics
It's prequel number one (of three) for Jordan as the end of the Wheel of Time recedes ever farther from sight.

Leaving aside the necessity or otherwise of further bloating an already mammoth series, examined on its own merits _New Spring_ has more to recommend it than the last few instalments in the series proper. Without the need to buoy up a multiplicity of storylines, Jordan produces a fast-paced, engaging tale. It's Lan and Moiraine: The Early Years, essentially; set twenty years before the other books, this deals with Gitara's Foretelling of the Dragon's rebirth, and how a young Cairhienin Accepted gains the shawl and finds her Warder.

The problem is the very 'expansion' that is responsible for this tale being republished. The original 'New Spring' novella from _Legends_ is included here with few changes (bar some extra incidents on the road to Chachin), and as such remains well worth the read - if you don't already own a copy of _Legends_. The new material tacked onto the beginning, however, will appeal only to real WoT masochists. An account of Siuan and Moiraine's ascent from Accepted to full sisters, it's sometimes entertaining in its portrait of the series' key players in their youth, but on the whole it's too redolent of the later books in the WoT - full of unmemorable characters and info-dump exposition, devoid of tension or much in the way of humour.

Newcomers should go to _The Eye of the World_ and its immediate successors, where the exploration of the White Tower is pulled off far more gradually and elegantly. Fans will probably buy this one anyway, but be warned: if you've read the excellent original story, there's little new here.

Jordan returns to form
Like many other fans of The Wheel of Time series, I have been becoming increasingly disillusioned with the later instalments in the epic. However, this prequel is a good return to form from Robert Jordan.

A lot of the "padding" (e.g. long and pointless descriptions, women drinking tea and clutching and smoothing skirts etc.) has gone, which means that New Spring is much shorter than the more recent novels, which is a good thing in my opinion. There is also a lot of action and the storyline canters along at a good pace.

OK, some of irritations are still there (in particular, Jordan appears unable to develop female characters very well, as the younger Moiraine and Siuan as Accepted and new Aes Sedai are a little too similar in behaviour and character to Elayne, Egwene and Nynaeve and almost unrecognisable from the older versions of themselves portrayed in the novels that follow), but all in all a good novel that will be enjoyed by fans of WoT.