It's actually book 4, The Shadow Rising, where the Wheel Of Time comes into its own. Books 4 to 6 are fantastic.

Love hearing your thoughts as you read the series, and also your thoughts on the TV show as you see it stray further and further from the source material lol

Terrific review of book 3 and comparison to S2. You have some great questions and some will most certainly be answered in future books. Book 4 is top 1-2 of all WOT books so I'm sure you'll enjoy it. S2 locks up the outcome of Ishy and it was supposed to be in book 3. As far as S3 of the TV is concerned. Zarine has been cast already. The rest you'll have to continue reading to hear about their future stories.

At the beginning of book 2 Moiraine talks to Perrin about how the dreams of very powerful channellers can often be spread around to people near them. The more powerful the further the reach of the dreams. She spends her "on screen" time in both cities talking to her spies and asking everyone about their dreams. Thats how she finds out the forsaken are in the city. She explains it briefly and in pieces to Perrin as she explains about the wolf dream and how she is using Ta'veren effects to track Rand. Also there is a specific scene in book 2 with Moiraine and Lan where she starts trying to anger him and tells him his bond will get passed to another. They expanded her half chapter in the book to create a plot line for their biggest name actor

Really enjoy experiencing the story again through your fresh eyes. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the next few books.

As an avid reader and a fan of this book series, I can't help but share my excitement with you! It's always fascinating to see how different people interpret and analyze the same plotline. Your thoughts and questions are particularly intriguing to me, and I can't wait to see how they develop as you read further. As I have noticed, there are still a lot of unanswered questions in the series, even as you reach book 7. But rest assured that I am also on the same journey as you, and I am eager to find out how the story unfolds in the next book. Perhaps some of your lingering questions from the previous books will also be answered by book 8! I understand that it can be challenging to express oneself without spoiling anything or giving away too much information. I'm trying my best not to hint at anything that could potentially alter your reading experience or ruin any surprises. I hope that my messages have been helpful to you in some way, and that you are enjoying this book series as much as I am. Between books 4 and 7, the series takes some unexpected twists and turns, and the characters undergo significant growth and transformation. Although I enjoyed the first two books, I found the later ones equally intriguing, if not more so. The complexity of the story and the depth of the characters make for an engaging and thought-provoking read.

Keep that list of questions handy.. The Whool of Time books move at a pace of their own..

Nice one Nev, I read these when they were first released and I've been watching the series on TV. As I was watching I kept saying to myself, I can't remember this happening, they didn't mention that other thing. So nice to get a nice detailed plot review to refresh my memory

In answer to your question at 6:40 - Yes, the woman and her guards whom Rand kills were darkfriends. They had a gray man with them. After Rand lines up the bodies he notices eleven men when he had been sure there had only been ten. The eleventh man is not wearing any armor but has a dagger in his hand. Robert Jordan confirmed that this was a gray man. As to how Rand knew they were darkfriends there are a couple of theories - 1) He was constantly hunted by shadowspawn and darkfriends since going off on his own, so maybe he could sense some kind of 'wrongness' or ''darkness' in them. Even in Chapter 1 of Book 1, Rand senses the hatred in the Myrddraal that is following Tam and him. Here he says that the woman was the most dangerous so he kills her first. 2) A little earlier Perrin appears in his dream and sees Myrddraal and darkfriends coming towards Rand and warns him that 'there are more coming". Robert Jordan was a master at foreshadowing and often slipped in lines like these which are hard to notice on a first read.

Just as a point on your criticism about Selene conveniently appearing and vanishing. It's not explained explicitly, but it's implied fairly clearly such that you can notice that (arguably spoilers, although this isn't something that directly gets brought up in later books) In most of those cases, she isn't vanishing, she's just disguising herself. E.g. when Egwene chases after Else Grinwell and runs into an Aes Sedai in white after she turns a corner - both Else and that Aes Sedai were Lanfear herself.

Thanks Nev for your entertaining ramble. You should probably hold your breath on some of your questions, but I haven’t found Robert Jordan plotting conveniently. So, all will be answered, although some of the worldbuilding issues will remain in the background. It is fun to follow you on your WoT journey! On to the next!

Good news is that almost all of your questions will be answered in future books, although some of them not for a very long time. One of the best things about the book series is how many threads you find in the early books that tie in later. Oh, and yes, pay attention to Perrin's dreams. And you'll find out why on that, too. 😀

3:09 Perhaps my memory is wrong but I believe it was actually revealed at the end of book 2 that Selene was in fact Lanfear. It's the scene where Selene finds Min with Rand who is unconscious after the battle at Falme.

Jordan's original book deal was for six WoT books, and what in the process of writing became books 1-3 was supposed to be the first book of those six, making this "trilogy" the introductory passage of the series. It's the story of Rand becoming the Dragon Reborn, while the rest of the series is the story of him dealing with being the Dragon Reborn.

😅 love calling the Grayman a zombie.

Hey Nev! I hope you keep reading and enjoying the series 😊 Some of your questions will be explicitly answered while others you're welcome to come up with your personal theories! RAFO

Hello Nev, my 5 stages of Wheel of Time right now: 1. German Audiobook - near the end of book four; 2. the original english audiobooks - finished book three; 3. german book - near the end of book three; 4. english book - finished book three and finally the Tv-series: turned it off about 15 min in. Just remembering that Perrin was grabing a woman with "romantic" intentions. The same teenager who got blushed watching some hot dancing in the books....nice try. It's that typical american bullshit that i personally despise very much. My first reading took place back in 1997 when 23 year old me was a soldier in training and had two 5 hour train-rides every weekend. It was the perfect lecture back than but only the first 5 books were translated as far as i remember. I better stop to babble, hope my grammar and stuff is okay...have a nice day and may the light be with you