The Great Hunt is the second volume of Robert Jordan’s monumental high fantasy series, The Wheel of Time, first published in 1990 by Tor Books. Where the first book, The Eye of the World, served as an introduction to the vast world of Rand al’Thor and his companions, this second installment deepens every thread of prophecy, politics, and peril, transforming a promising beginning into an epic of genuine scope and urgency.
The story picks up shortly after the events of the first volume. Rand al’Thor, the young sheepherder from the Two Rivers, now knows—or fears—that he is the Dragon Reborn, the prophesied channeler destined to face the Dark One in the final battle, yet doomed to go mad and shatter the world once more. He wishes only to deny this fate and live in peace. But the Pattern, the great loom of destiny that weaves all lives into history, has other plans. When the cursed Horn of Valere—an artifact that can summon legendary heroes from beyond the grave—is stolen from Fal Dara by agents of the Dark One, along with the dagger that poisons Mat Cauthon, Rand and his friends are thrust into a desperate chase across the continent.
Jordan’s world-building here reaches a new level of complexity. The reader is introduced to the Seanchan, a fearsome empire from across the ocean whose armies ride monstrous flying creatures and whose leaders enslave women who can channel, collaring them as property. The politics of the Aes Sedai, the all-female order of channelers, grow more tangled as rival factions scheme and betray. Meanwhile, Rand struggles with his emerging powers, haunted by a past life that speaks in his dreams, while Egwene and Nynaeve train in the White Tower, unaware of the Seanchan invasion looming over the southern coast.
The Great Hunt is a book about pursuit and identity—about whether one can outrun destiny, or whether running is itself the first step toward becoming what one fears most. The climax, featuring a desperate battle at Falme where the Horn is finally sounded, ranks among the most thrilling set pieces in epic fantasy. At over 700 pages, the novel never drags; each chapter builds momentum toward a conclusion both satisfying and ominous, for the Horn has been found, the Dragon has been proclaimed, and the Last Battle has drawn one breath closer. For readers who survived the slow-burning opening of The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt is the reward—and the hook that sinks forever.
