The Eye of the World : Book One of 'The Wheel of Time'

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: Don't bother getting started on this series unless you are prepared to slog through endless, repetitive, and boring narrative which apparently has no end. I gave up after the tenth book and as much as it pains me to leave a tale unfinished, I simply can't take any more.

Rating:
Summary: A Series of its Own - Appreciate it for what it is
Review: Kicking off the sweeping epic tale, The Eye of the World is the first book in the Wheel of Time series. This book is the stage setter for the series. There is mainly one story line, following the same cast of characters for most of the book. The world that Jordan created is his own, although you only get a glipse of it through The Eye of the World.

You'll come to notice that as you read the reviews from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, they get progressively negative as the series moves on. When you get to a certain book in the series, decide its worth for yourself when you get there, and don't let the later volumes disuade you from reading the earlier works.

In order to fully appreciate the world created in The Eye of the World, pick up the second book in the series, The Great Hunt. In this book, the characters become people, with personalities and a certain energy that is unique to each of them. Here, you follow multiple story lines that span Jordan's globe with vivid imagry.

It's a great series to get in to - don't let the number of volumes be daunting. Take it at your own speed, and let the Wheel of Time series stand as a work (and world) of its own.

Rating:
Summary: How can I say this nicely?
Review: This book reads like a serious version of the Diana Wynne-Jones "Tough Guide to FantasyLand," a melding of both Tolkien and Star Wars along with prose as dense as a fruitcake. I assure you that I went into EOTW with an open mind, and found moderately entertaining, FLAWED fantasy.

The opening itself is standard, somewhat reminiscent of "Sword of Shannara": Our Hero, Rand, glimpses a dark-robed figure in the forest, which vanishes quickly. He and his father immediately head back to the village of the Two Rivers, the usual country bunch who are currently preparing the Bel Tine (Beltaine?) celebration.

However, strangers have come into the village: The mysterious Moraine, whom we find out is an Aes Sedai (a female magic-user -- apparently men can't) and the dark, growly, gray-haired, outdoorsy Lan (think Aragorn with more of an attitude). Then Rand and his father Tam's farm is attacked by trollocs, which are sort of half-man with a hodgepodge of animal bits. Soon after comes a ghostly Fade -- and they're searching for Rand, for reasons he doesn't know.

The locals (who don't seem to be the brightest bulbs in the chandelier) become angry, saying it's Moraine's fault. Moraine and Lan leave -- but with them come Rand, his semi-girlfriend Egwene, and a couple others. And along the path ahead, Rand discovers who he is and more about the enormous tasks that he must do.

Let's get this out of the way: I have no problem with huge books. I read "Hounds of the Morrigan" in two days, read LOTR in a week, Sword of Shannara in three days. As for descriptive prose, I am Patricia McKillip's biggest fan, and nobody gets more flowery than she does. My problem was not how long it was, but how it BECAME that long.

As mentioned above, the prose is as dense as a fruitcake. In my own writing, I have a rule that landscapes and physical description will not exceed three sentences. Yet after the prologue (which is beautifully and evocatively written -- I only wish the rest of the book had matched it) we get enormous descriptions of virtually nothing -- page two, two paragraphs on the wooded area where Rand sees a specter. Yet simultaneously, we get very little description of the characters: I never got a mental image of Tam, Egwene, or Rand.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The chase scene away from the village, with the Leathery Winged Avian (see "Tough Guide") in pursuit was tense and fast-paced. Their stay in the inn radiated warmth and safety, and danger of the interlude where Rand is trying to escape from the trollocs.

Sadly, as "harsil" points out below, he also produces some really weird descriptions. I've never heard teeth click, seen anyone shake themselves, or seen someone widen their eyes until the pupils vanished. And there might be an error in the VERY FIRST SENTENCE of the book: "The palace still shook occasionally as the earth rumbled in memory, groaned as if it would deny what had happened." Did he shift tenses, or just write a correct sentence that sounds strangely like he did? (I really am not sure)

But unfortunately it also draws from every cliche in the book -- Wynne-Jones's book. We have the mysterious stranger (though in a twist, the "Gandalf" person is a woman); we have the hardy outdoorsman should-be-king (is that you, Aragorn?); we have the naive young hero who is a pale copy of Luke Skywalker -- raised in a backwater place with no knowledge of his exalted true identity and hidden power.

We have the necessary buddies like Mat and Perrin and Egwene; we have Leathery-Winged Avians, innkeepers, sinister Dark Lords, the "One Power" which closely resembles the Force, ghastly inhuman foot soldiers (not too scary though), the Lost Identity of the Hero, the "Fade" which is too much like a Nazgul, the poisoned wound that Tam got from an "evil knife", the quest, etc. The cliches stack further and further up.

There are also, sadly, only a few really juicy characterizations. The women are all screechy, picky harridans who talk about what pains men are -- except for Moraine, thank God, who seems to regard everyone in the same level view. Did Jordan start this series after a nasty breakup? It's the only explanation I can think of; if aliens used this book to understand human gender relations, they'd wonder why we weren't extinct.

I got sick of Nynaeve after about a page, and Egwene started grating on my nerves after she discovered that she had Aes Sedai potential; Lan's disdain for Mat, Rand and Perrin seemed unnecessary and unheroic. Mat somehow didn't register much with me, but I liked Perrin. Rand did give the accurate feeling of a naive farmboy.

Jordan does provide some intriguing concepts, concerning the "Wheel of Time" and the Dragon Reborn. But these are drowned in another problem: He has so many different cultures and hierarchies and organizations that I lost track very quickly. Realistically, the heroes shouldn't know much or care much about the groups that don't involve them. (Patricia McKillip realized this in her books: less is more)

Overall a nice brain-fluff read, certainly better than the "Iron Tower" trilogy but by no means as good as "Sword of Shannara" and definitely not as good as Tolkien or McKillip. I'd advise reading this only if you're unaffected by cliches.