Rating: 
Summary: Very good fantasy and well worth a read
Review: I am a fan of fantasy, and finally decided to pick up the first in this series. As of yet, Eye of the World is all I have read. I was hooked very quickly and found the characters to be believable and well-developed gradually. Like most epic fantasy, it does take a few chapters to become familiar with the world, but Jordan does a good job of making the map referencing and mental note taking worth while. Characters are not always predictable (though some are) and you will find some pleasant shifts throughout. Writing is descriptive and eloquent, with just the right amount of prose.There are no sick twists that will turn off parents or the weak of heart, but it is serious fantasy. By the end, I wished I had also purchased the next installment. I will certainly now purchase the sequel and hope that the story continues to develop nicely.
Rating: 
Summary: Memorable.
Review: I remember this book had me on my heels all night long and longer. Beautiful and vividly created worlds and magical things endlessly filled me with hungry awe. The struggle of the main characters so excitingingly formidable. After finishing this book, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop from reading more. An extraodinary, breathtaking long adventure.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have ever read
Review: When I first picked up the Eye of the World it had been sitting on my bookshelf, untouched, for almost a year. A friend had recommended it to me, but, when I recieved it as a Christmas present, I noticed its length and decided that I would pick it up some other time. When I finally got around to it, I found it was amazing. The Eye of the World is the kind of book that you plan on reading for 30 minutes, but end up putting it down 4 hours later. A well written saga about a young farm boy and two of his friends who find out they are ta'veren, or people who are destined to be important somehow. They are all sought after by good and evil, causing them to leave their village after the Dark Lord attacks their home. Their story unfolds as they travel across the land, knowing that one of them is the fabled Dragon Reborn, the man destined to save not just the world, but the Wheel of Time itself, from the Dark One. I highly recommend this to anybody that enjoys fantasy or science fiction. And also, when you finish it, read the next one, another awesome tale.
Rating:
Summary: Finally!!!!! Don't think, just buy!
Review: I've been waiting for this book to be released on unabridged audio cd for years, and it was worth the wait. I've read the novel many times, and this recording lives up to the high expectations that the book requires. The readers are WONDERFUL, and I'm glad that they've used the same readers for this audiobook as the other "Wheel of Time" audiobooks. It really drives home the fact the you're hearing the "Wheel of Time" when you hear the readers' voices. WONDERFUL! I especailly love how the "female" POV's of the book are read by a woman, and the "male" by a man. It just enhances the quality. Plus they do voice changes, accents, and inflections for different characters. WONDERFUL! I mostly listen in the car (I commute and drive a lot) and these cds are so wonderful that I go for drives just to listen to more! And it's not like any of it is new to me, but I still enjoy it! I guess to sum it up, I LOVE (and have read many times) ALL of Jordan's "Wheel of Time" books, own all the unabridged audio cds, and I can't get enough. For me, there is NO better fantasy series. P.S. If the size of the book has ever been a deterrent, then try this! Pop a cd in and soon you'll be hooked! This is the first book of the series, by definition the best & only place to start.
Rating:
Summary: This is it! I'm finally going to read the entire series!
Review: If you're not familiar with Robert Jordan and his famous Wheel of Time series, you're missing one of the best fantasy series since J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. In my opinion, there are maybe three or four fantasy series that I would recommend for anyone, and Jordan's is one of them. The big catch of course is that the Wheel of Time has never stopped turning. Jordan is on book ten now and the reviews for his novels keep falling. Fans seem disenchanted with Jordan and aren't sure he will ever provide a satisfactory ending to the series. Jordan frustrated his fans even more this year by publishing a prequel to the ten book series. Everyone has an opinion on which book starts the decline of the series but one thing is for sure, the first book is still a classic fantasy read and recommended for anyone who wishes to experience the same thrill he or she felt when reading The Hobbit. The Eye of the World, book one in the Wheel of Time series, follows the escapades of a few young adventurers in the small farming village of Edmond's Field whose lives are forever changed when the sorceress, Moraine, and her guardian, Lan, convince them to flee their village. The crew set off to escape the dark forces which mysteriously follow them and by the end of the first novel, we discover that these humble young men and women who once thought they were only destined for a life of farming, are indeed more than meets the eye. I'm reading the first book for the second time and enjoying the adventures of Rand, Egwene, Mat and others just as much as I did the first read. I'm determined to go further than book five (which was where I stopped last time) this go-around and maybe try and wrap up the series. Do yourself a favor and pick up Jordan's first Wheel of Time novel because you'll be treated to some of the best fantasy writing in years.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful.
Review: This is a great book, not the greatest in the series, but it is nessary to the series. The book is wonderful and should be read. If you like fantasy books, read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: This actual book
Review: I've read a lot about the series this book is a part of, but what about this book itself? On it's own, it's a fairly typical fantasy quest adventure. It starts out in a small provincial town in which life is fairly pastoral and largely unaffected by the rest of the world. But now, strangers have come to town for the first time since anyone can remember. Not only a gleeman (traveling musician) but a mysterious noble lady and her hard faced warrior companion. At the same time, the village is attacked by Trollocs, monsters that are a combination of animals and men. The mysterious woman turns out to be Aes Sedai, a woman who can channel the "One Power" to do what we would understand as magic. She helps the village defend itself, then informs three of the village boys, Rand Al'Thor, Mat Cauthon and Perrin Aybara that the monsters are after one of them, although she is not sure which, and they must leave the village to protect it from further harm. Rand's love interest, Egwene Al'Vere joins them and it is discovered that she has the spark within her to become Aes Sedai. The gleeman, Thom Merrilin, comes with them as well. The party is made complete when Nynaeve Al'Meara, the Wisdom (female authority figure) of their village tracks them after they have gone and comes to find them, and they meet up with Loial, a giant and rarely seen creature kind of like a cross between an elf and an ogre. The companions learn that the signs that the end of their Age is approaching, and with it an apocalyptic battle at which the champion of the Light, the Dragon, will have to fight the ultimate evil, the Dark One, who is trying to break free from his prison outside the pattern of the world. This book follows a fairly standard fantasy quest formula, but that is purposeful, so that readers of the series start out on familiar ground. This is basically an introduction to the characters and their world and the plot that will be unfolded throughout the length of the series. In this book and the others you will find political maneuverings; descriptions of fights as well as fighting and battle tactics; a complex system of magic, further complicated by the taint on the male half that drives men insane; and a diversity of cultures. If nothing else, the book is entertaining for the world it reveals, some parts resonating with our own, and some parts wholly alien. Just be aware that by reading this book, you are beginning a series that is now up to ten books and is not yet complete. And the farther along the books go, the less the action progresses. But I would say that you could read the first three books on their own as a trilogy and be somewhat satisfied, although you'll probably always be wondering how it ends.
Rating:
Summary: The beginning...
Review: ...for better or worse. I remember reading this book for the first time (God, it seems like ages ago) and feeling a chill at parts. Jordan was just starting us on this strange and lengthy journey when he wrote this, and the expectations at the beginning soared. This book is something special.
The Wheel of Time series has flaws - read my reviews of the later books if you want to know them - but this first in the series is among the stronger he wrote. Though the dialogue and characterizations are often stilted, awkward, and somewhat sophomoric, they end up taking a backseat to the world that Jordan weaves. Even Tolkien didn't write a world so complex, so breathtakingly and painstakingly detailed and beautifully layered - he may have imagined it, but he didn't write it (not to insult Tolkien, of course: without his imagination, Jordan would likely not be laying this tome in our laps).
Jordan spins fresh, creative ideas out of a tired genre. By keeping the more fantastical elements of the narrative as just that - fantastical - he actually cleverly sucks you in. This is no Melanie Rawn or Terry Brooks, where bizarre and mythical creatures outnumber the human elements 5 to 1: this is a world where the characters are as dazed by the odd nightmarish or wondrous monster as we are. Though I'm sure this aggravates as many (if not more) people than it pleases, it helps the reader to connect with the characters more easily, understand their reactions more viscerally.
Jordan also takes an almost masochistic pleasure in emphasizing his characters' flaws over their strengths. By the end of the sixth or seventh book, you will be ripping your hair out in frustration at how regularly the main characters are trodden upon, thrust aside, outmaneuvered, outwitted, and made to look like fools. But that just makes you want them to succeed all the more.
Unfortunately - as I alluded to above - the honeymoon ends somewhere around book seven, and Jordan has succeeded in dragging the show to Dickensian lengths, creating a series that staggers rather than flourishes under its own weight. Many formerly hardcore fans are now clamoring, not for the next volume of the series, but for the next volume to END the series. This should not scare the new reader away, though: the majority of Jordan's stuff is gold, and you have to start here. Dive in.
Rating: 
Summary: skip it
Review: Jordan has basically taken ideas from all the great fantasy books out there and has thrown them together. He has "borrowed" from Brooks, Weiss and Hickman, and of course Tolkien. There are even elements of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King in here. Also there is no reason to have over 10 books in the series, at this point it seems to be about making money rather than developing a storyline. Do yourself a favor if you are a serious reader of fantasy, skip this unoriginal series by this unoriginal author.
Rating:
Summary: the best of fantasy
Review: I have read dozens of fantasy books, from Forgotten Realms to Redwall, and this is definately one of the best. The setting is original, the characters are 4-dimensional, and the story is powerful. You have to stick with it for the first few pages, though. Also, read the appendix-it really helps you to figure out what's going on. However, the interactions between male and female characters are realllllly anoying. Nevertheless, this is great fantasy and is enjoyable even if all the characters are henpecked losers. I like it espeially because, unlike a lot of books, none of the characters are perfect or invinsible. Watch out, though, because after the fourth book in the series, Jordan falls into a slump that doesn't end until the end of the 6th, and then resumes around the 9th. In case, you're wondering why i gave it 5 stars with all these flaws, I don't know. I just really like it. You have to read it to understand.
|
