Wheel of Time: New Spring

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Wheel of Time: New Spring

Posted February 01 2012 Category: Fiction Editor: Bryant Harte

A New Spring has finished and I am ready to take on The Eye of the World.

As I mentioned in my last post, my goal this year is to read Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series in its entirety before the release of the final volume, A Memory of Light.

I was a bit worried going in, as this prequel was written after book ten of the series (Crossroads of Twilight), and I wasn’t sure if it would read properly for the uninitiated. In the end, my worries were for naught as I wasn’t lost at any point in the book and it didn’t feel like I required any prior knowledge before starting.

My new worry is that New Spring gave away too much of the back story, or of things that I wasn’t supposed to learn about until well into the series (a couple of helpful readers on my last post have since confirmed my fears). I have no answer as to what extent I have ruined things, but I will be able to report back after I read book one, The Eye of the World. In light of this new knowledge, I would recommend skipping the prequel until later on in the series.

Anyway, back to New Spring. This one felt like a teaser to me, and it took a great deal of restraint to not immediately pick up The Eye of the World once I finished (if I start down that road I will be done before the flowers arrive, and be left with a lot of time to kill before the release of A Memory of Light). I feel that I now have a semi-firm grip on Jordan’s world - though I still confuse the individual kingdoms, their location, and the personality of their inhabitants. This was to be expected of a series so large in scope, and I am eager to learn more.

For those who read my reviews of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire last year, you know that I am a fan of cliffhanger endings, and New Spring definitely left me on a high, ready to read the rest of The Wheel of Time. I believe I have built a rapport with Moiraine and Lan and I am looking forward to their development and the continuance of their story.

SPOILER ALERT – DO NOT read the below thoughts unless you have finished New Spring. I really don’t know what I may be giving away here.

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I do hope that the unveiling of The Dragon Reborn later in the series is not of some momentous or surprising nature; else I will have already spoiled things for myself (see above). Then again, if the revelation is Eddings-esqe (I am thinking about Garion in the The Belgariad here) and not supposed to be surprising, then things are all good.

I am intrigued in the magical setup of Jordan’s world, the use of the One Power being solely in the domain of women, driving men mad. I wonder if it has to do with the lack of available training for men (unlike the Tower for women), or if men are just more easily corruptible – although the existence of the Black Ajah shows that women, too, are corruptible.

Not too many additional thoughts this time – though there will be plenty more as I progress through the series.

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Follow my progress through The Wheel of Time:

A Year in The Wheel of Time

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Read along with me. Here is the complete title list:

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What People Are Saying

Marten said:
March 08 2012

Sooooooo..... have you read The Eye of the World yet?
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Koor said:
March 01 2012

I hope you haven't given up the series already. It's been a month, and no write-up on book 1 has yet been posted. You'll need to pick up the pace if you are to get them all read in a year.
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MyKillK said:
February 16 2012

I'd say that reading New Spring first ruins some of the mystique, rather than spoil any of the plot lines. It doesn't come as a big surprise about the revealing of The Dragon Reborn later in the series because it's pretty obvious who the main protagonist is from early on.

It does kind of reveal more than you should really know about the Aes Sedai in general though. They are supposed to be almost god like to the average citizen of the WoT world, and that is the sense you have about Moiraine for most of the first book. Later in the series, and in New Spring, you begin to see the human side of the Aes Sedai.

But I wouldn't worry too much about it. New Spring is just a background story that takes place 20 years earlier from the main story so it has little to do with the main WoT series.
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Rose said:
February 03 2012

Being one of the readers who advised you - too late - not to start with New Spring, I was interested to see what your reaction to the book would be. I must amend what I said before: it's not going to ruin a lot of the mystery in the following books, it will just give you a different perspective on things. It's not necessarily a bad thing, I guess. You just won't spend a whole lot of time wondering what Moiraine and Lan's motivations are, and can they be trusted, and why are they doing this?

It's interesting that you don't know why men can't use the One Power safely. I hadn't noticed that it wasn't explicitely stated in New Spring. I now wonder: did Jordan do that on purpose, or did he just assume everybody would already know? I won't give it away, you'll find out soon enough!
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Bryant Harte said:
February 02 2012

Thanks Trench,

I wasn't aware of New Spring's origins...guess a research fail on my end. Though have taken a look at Legends and the lineup looks great - a shame that it appears to be currently unavailable. The Hedge Knight by Martin especially catches my interest, although he did say, during my interview with him last year ,that he has signed a contract with Bantam to do a collection of his Dunk & Egg novellas.

Have just finished Dragonmount this morning and should be back in a couple of weeks with my thoughts from Eye of the World. Glad to see that I may not have spoiled too much.

Thanks for following along, always good to have friends around while travelling.
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trench said:
February 01 2012

A bit of history about New Spring. It was first published in the anthology Legends in 1999. With such authors as Stephen King, George Martin, Anne McCaffrey, and Ramond Feist It was much shorter then, beginning when Lan was entering Canlum. Jordan later expanded it and released as a Novella.

I also would have recommended you start with Eye of the World as well, or at least read its prologue Dragonmount, because that is the true chronological start of the series. But I have known people who started with New Spring and enjoyed the series as much as I did. I doubt you spoiled yourself to much though, you will just have a better grasp of the world and Aes Sedai then people normally do.

Hope you continue to enjoy the series, I look forward to following along with you.
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