The story of this instalment revolves around the Horn of Valere, a mythical object hunted by hundreds of men and women looking for glory that is said to call back dead warriors to fight for whoever blows it. There are Darkfriends (the bad guys, obviously) hunting for the horn to call heroes of old to fight for the Dark One and our band of village folk turned potential heroes hunting it down to stop that happening. What’s not to like?! It’s a good focus for a single book, as well as providing some of the grounding for later books. If re-reading has shown me one thing, it’s that these books are jammed full of hints and portents about later events and playing spot-the-foreshadow has become a favourite hobby of mine!
As far as stacking up against my fond memories, goes, The Dragon Reborn surpassed them. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve read more fantasy in the intervening years or if it’s because I feel such a sense of familiarity when I’m reading them but whatever it is, I absolutely flew through this one while I was reading it.
One thing that I’ll give to the critics is that the writing can be a little dawdling and there are some phrases that you’ll read a few too many times. I don’t find it to be any more than in any other fantasy series, though, so if you’re used to reading long series, you’ll be fine.