I see I gave it a 5 star initially... upon reread, I think 3.5 rounded up to 4 is more accurate. I love having more Wheel, and I adore baby!Moiraine and Siuan, fresh-faced 22-year-olds who spend half the novella as Accepted, woo. But, on its own without the context of the grander story? I'm not sure it holds up as well, but it's a fun prequel (kind of like Rogue One, where we know the conclusion and it's contained, but weaker).

The strengths of NS are building Aes Sedai lore, and the test for gaining the shawl- we don't see that in the main series until the Sanderson books. I decided to place this after book 4 in my reread- I've seen recommendations for after 5 ([b:The Fires of Heaven|13895|The Fires of Heaven (The Wheel of Time, #5)|Robert Jordan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327866286l/13895._SY75_.jpg|588034]) for story reasons or after [b:Crossroads of Twilight|113435|Crossroads of Twilight (The Wheel of Time, #10)|Robert Jordan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408325146l/113435._SY75_.jpg|195579] for publication order, but by putting it between 4 and 5 it really reemphasizes the urgency Moiraine has over her goal: to find the Dragon Reborn and keep him safe until the Last Battle. (Some prefer not putting it so early because an Aes Sedai introduced in 7 shows up here but honestly, she's formidable no matter when she comes in so let her pop in whenever.)

I would NOT recommend new readers start here even if it is a prequel unless you really like learning about the magic system upfromt; however, due to casting I suspect elements of NS are going to be pulled into the first season of the Amazon Prime adaptation of WOT.

spoiler thoughts: The Black Ajah are a great bogeyman because they're so mysterious, and the White Tower is in denial of their existence... but honestly it's a wonder that they're able to pull off anything? By sheer numbers- Egwene discovers there are over 200, or about 20% of Aes Sedai- there's enough to cause chaos, but with their structure and inherent backstabby nature... yeah.

I cannot remember if Queen Etheinelle references the events of NS later, though surely her consort and second son being murdered would affect her perspective on interacting with sisters. ( )

It wasn't completely terrible. I didn't grow up with the "Wheel of Time" books. I decided to read them in "order", starting with this prequel, so I have no nostalgia factor. As of this point I'm in the middle of "The Great Hunt" so I know who Moiraine and Lan are and why a book like this would be interesting.

If Moiraine had been the sole focus character of the book, I wouldn't have disliked the book as much as I did. Lan's sections were boring and long-winded. Even then, while Moiraine's sections were sometimes interesting since I like reading about friendships and politics in groups of women, there were so many research and writing issues that it was largely frustrating. It's also not creative in any way. You have your prophecy and your generic Chosen Male Hero and people (particularly an all-female organization) looking for him. The primary 'creative' element is more like a rip-off of Herbert's "Dune" series than anything else.

I didn't realize that the gender warfare relationship was going to be a series formula. This book perpetuates the idea that the minute women and men step into each other's presence, there's a 95% chance that they're going to hate each other or get into a fight. Moiraine is arrogant and Lan is a moron. Siuan Sanche is one of the few bright lights of intelligence and as someone who also tries to be sparing with my spending (since this is a major part of Siuan's character) I relate to her a lot. Why couldn't SHE have been the focus character? As for everyone else... there's really no one interesting, save for a few one-off, tropic characters and characters who are clearly written for you to despise them, with no other depth.

It's incredibly frustrating that Moiraine didn't want to go off and become a Queen/reigning monarch. I respect that she is afraid and doesn't want to get involved in the political game and end up evil as a result but every time Siuan retorted that "it's not being an Aes Sedai that makes a monarch bad!" I was on Siuan's side because this was just more of Moiraine being an idiot. Particularly since they didn't elaborate much on how exactly being an Aes Sedai made the monarchs Moiraine was thinking of turn out bad. Every time this comes up (not just once, oh no, it happens a bunch of times): "That's not why." "But I'm afraid it is." "Why?" "Because I'm afraid it is." No wonder Siuan was the smart analytical one. It was also really annoying because rather than be a ruler, Moiraine would rather spend her life searching for the Chosen Male Hero. Why? Because... because. That's why. That's why she wanted to become an official Aes Sedai (an incredibly grueling process) and the goal of pretty much everything she does. She abandons her best and closest friend for this, as well as her other responsibilities, future training, and her family inheritance (as nobles in court). Worse yet, this seems to be one of the major purposes of the Aes Sedai: waiting and watching for the Chosen Male Hero, and killing all the False Chosen Male Heroes because only the Chosen Male Hero is the Chosen Male Hero. Of COURSE the sole purpose of the ONLY female-led organization in the book (and one of like two in the whole series it looks like) is focused on finding the Chosen Male Hero. It's really frustrating. Why can't a woman be a hero? How does the One Power know that it's a man or a woman who's being chosen to use it?

I really don't understand why Moiraine decided to make Lan her Warder, since I felt absolutely zero chemistry between them and her explained reasoning is childish at best. But that's also part of why I really hate their relationship, which largely begins and ends with Moiraine being a complete arrogant idiot and taking out her frustrations by assaulting Lan for days on end and apparently no one in Lan's band, let alone Lan himself, care to explain or ask about what's going on, which is pretty much why I think Lan's an idiot. They act like a bunch of stupid children. Why write a prequel if you're not going to explain one of the primary elements for writing it: to explain the relationship between these two pivotal (relatively speaking) series characters?

It also seems kind of silly to me that in a book that keeps repeating Moiraine's dream of a baby on Dragonmount, we never actually see this scene take place. If the book was written, like it obviously was, with the intent of making fans of the series happy by going into the backstory of Moiraine, Siune, Lan and various other series regulars, why not at least feature a side story with what happened to Lan's parents? Moiraine and Lan don't have to SEE it themselves, since they don't find Rand for another 20 years after this story, but it would have been more compelling. As it is I'm in the 'third' book of this series and we've still seen nothing of the couple outside of Moiraine's hearsay. Although I'm guessing from the large character pages in the "Wheel of Time" wiki that we get something about this later on, so maybe the author just didn't want to be repetitive, which I can respect. It's just really frustrating, particularly since a new reader would have to wait at least 1.5 books to get to this.

The one sexual relationship portrayed is really disgusting, since apparently, according to the book author, when women can choose who they have sex with, they completely dominate the men and assault them in every interaction. I'd feel some sympathy for Lan about being largely unable to go against the wishes of his assaulter/matchmaker if this wasn't something women have dealt with without really any choice for centuries, and of course where the male author chose to address it was by having a generic male protagonist suffer with it. So yeah, sucks to be him but I really don't care. As a note, sexual violence against men, particularly by women, is an important topic. It's not handled well at all in this space. And Lan's potential future bride is a piece of work but if we were supposed to feel some satisfaction at her story's completion that's not what happened with me. It's just more frustration at fridging a female character. Or is this meant to be punishment for Lan's assaulter? The whole thing is just a mess.

And what "New Spring" is the title referencing? The story was largely about Moiraine and Lan's backgrounds, the Black Aja and how the former two met each other. Although the title also seems to follow WoT's series formula by talking about something that doesn't directly involve the plot for the majority of the book, which is kind of a stupid way to title books.

It doesn't help that 18ish years later, Moiraine and Lan are only JUST discovering Rand. What was accomplished in "New Spring"? They got together and know who the Black Aja is. That's it. Hurray.

Overall, an incredibly boring and frustrating read. ( )

This is a weird book in that it is a prequel story that is to be read as the eleventh book in the series, according to most. It's also, in my opinion, a totally unnecessary book. I struggled to get through it for ninety percent of the story, which is mostly Moraine coming to her role in finding the Dragon Reborn. There's a little bit of Lan, but it isn't until the end that they meet each other, and it's the real slough for me. There's some action - finally - at the end, but Moraine's choice and Lan's passivity (no spoilers) ruined it for me. Ugh, now back to the main story. ( )

3.5 Stars. I liked this novella (its a normal sized book for most authors, but quite small from Jordan) about the relationships of Moiraine, Lan, and Siuan Sanche. Based when they are younger this story reveals their relationships, trials, adventures and sets the stage for the story of the Wheel of Time. While serious in nature, this did not read like a "heavy" story or one that was burdened with the task of prequeling the other books. It was fun to see the serious, older, wiser ones from the main story be young and troublesome. Good read for those who are into the WoT or the fantasy genre in general. Maybe not right away though, i would read 4 or 5 of the books first, then come back to this one. I feel that you would be much more familiar with what is going on and it would make so much more sense. As always, love to hear Michael and Kate. They are as much a part of this story as Jordan, Sanderson and any of the characters. ( )

A pre-series novel for the Wheel of Time. Not required reading, but if you enjoy the series it's a fun character origin for Moiraine Damodred and Lan Mandragoran.