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

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

List Price: $59.95
Your Price: $37.77
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Excellent Book!!
Review: Robert Jordan has done an excellent job on his first book of The Wheel of Time series. The plot is full of conflict and action as seen mainly through the eyes of young Rand al'Thor, who suddenly finds himself in terrible danger from monsters, strange folk of legend, and himself.

Mr. Jordan has done an excellent job in developing and portraying the complex emotions demonstrated by the numerous characters in the book. I would definitely recommend this book to all lovers of a heart-wrenching, action packed tale.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not nearly as good as Tolkien
Review: Jordan should get credit for some of Tolkien's weaknesses. He gives much more presence to women in this story, and politicizes his world with multiple groups each pursuing their own goals and interests. I enjoyed Jordan's placement of wolves in the good-but-misunderstood category compared to Tolkien's demonization. But Jordan is much weaker than Tolkien in most other areas. His writing skills are rather mediocre. Towards the end of the book I grew tired of seeing the same adjectives/adverbs and phrases recycled over and over again, such as: "eyed him sharply," "rictus snarl", "licked his lips," and many others. There are countless descriptions of individuals gripping their swords or throwing back their cloaks. Overall, I enjoyed the book but probably won't read the rest. I found the characters to be too plainly drawn and even stereotypical. Matt was described as being a prankster, but never really did anything unusual or interesting in the course of their travels. I also found the endless elaboration of their travels from town to town to be a bit boring. Tolkien is a much more impressive writer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must read for a fantasy lover.
Review: The book "The Eye of the World" is more than just a great piece of writing, it is a look into a vivid world laid out intricately by a complex mind and thought process. The characters in the book are developed very well, which pays off in later books. You come to know them quite well through this book, yet are left with some intriguing questions with them which urges you to keep reading. The plot development is fantastic, as well as the enviroment created throughout the story. If you love fantasy, or possibly even if you don't, you will love Jordan's work in "The Eye of the World."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Fine Fantasy Tale
Review: Some people compare this novel to Lord of the Rings, and it is easy to see why. But I do not see that as a determent. Through the 800+ pages of text you meet many different and fascinating characters while our core is basically defined in the first hundred and expanded throughout. There are many typical fantasy elements. The naive group sent on a chase or being chased never having enough time to wonder about what is happening to them. However as noted by a few other reviews here, Jordan knew what he was doing when he wrote this. He introduced you to a few characters and let them slip by, and you know you will see them again in one of the (as of now) 8 sequels. All in all the only real difference between this and all other fantasy novels I have read is the strong presence of women as warrior/leaders. The novel is finely written and if you truly enjoy it, it will take up more than a few evenings to reach the climactic ... well it doesn't really end, so much as it runs out of room. If you are a fan of fantasy I highly recommend this one, if you are not a big fantasy fan, perhaps you should start on something lighter.
Thanks For your time.
T

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Dark, Evil, and more Dark
Review: The book was ok,I guess, but It was way too dark. There are no uplifting aspect or morals. The story and characters were very addicting and attractive, but there are like four good guys in a world with a million bad guys. I guess if you like reading about overwhelming evil all the time, then you would like it, but for something more balanced, I would suggest you turn to other fantacy authors like Brooks, Tolkien, Mc.Kiernan, and so on.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This book was not meant for me
Review: I have given up telling people I like fantasy books any more.

After three friends recommended this book to me, I decided to read it (this reading was about three years ago, so please bear with my faulty memory). When I pick a book up, I finish it. I have tackled The Lord of the Rings, War & Peace, the Aubrey/Mataurin series and many other long individual and series works. I got two-thirds of the way through this book, went to my local used book store and sold it, never to look back.

Why?

Nothing happened. In something like 300pp there were people running. They started running. Sometimes other groups of people who were also running joined them. Then some of these split off to run somewhere else. There was ever so much running. There were a couple of battles, but I didn't know why. I never saw the world because everyone was in such a hurry to get through it I could never see the trees for the forest. I never got a sense of individual characters. Mostly they were "just human and scared". I kept waiting for a hero to arrive and take the group (or whatever part of it remained on that page) by the hand and lead them somewhere, perhaps in the process letting me know /why/ everyone was running.

I was told by my friends that I should give the series a chance. "How much?" "Oh, it really picks up in the third book."

In one book of equal length (War & Peace) I gained an understanding of the human condition in general and life in Russia during the Napoleonic Wars (filtered through the late 19th century); I learned of human goodness, human frailty, god, aetheism, mathematics, society, peasantry, and what it is like to LIVE. In the Harry Potter book "Goblet of Fire" (again nearly equal length) I learned about fear, heroism, honesty, choices, gut fears, and loyalty. With many other books I have carried something away that lives in my heart.

With Jordan all I have is a desire to by cross-trainer shoes.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This Was the First Fantasy Book I Ever Read!!
Review: This book frickin rocks! IT is non-stop with an incredible ending. I was always scared off by fantasy until I started this series, but it really doesn't read at all like fantasy. I couldn't make my way through the Lord of the Rings series, and reluctantly tried this book after seeing an ad at a movie theater. WOW! I'm glad I started, I'm halfway through the second installment in the series, and it just keeps getting better and better and better. If you want a nice, easy, fun, compelling, interesting, heart-grasping, kick-but book to read then this is your choice. I love it and highly recommend it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The book that converted me to reading fantasy.
Review: When my husband bought this book for a flight that we were taking I was totally not interested, being stuck in the rut of romance novels. Unfortunatley, those novels don't last long, and I found myself hungry for something that requires more brain funtion and picked this up.
I did something that was unusual for me at the time, I read the glossary first. This was a really good idea, and I have done so with every new release from this series. Trying to read a book that uses characters and powers that are not explained in the text is really hard but reading the glossary first was a big help. Though Jordan gets very detailed about some things, he keeps your interest by having this reference to turn to so his plot doesn't have to get suffocated by The little things.
I liked the writing. The form kept my interest without bogging me down. It kept flowing. Because there is so much information in this book and he is sculpting an amazing and long adventure you cannot receive the fullness of this book without reading it several times.
I recomend this book to anyone who has passed highschool reading level. Though younger people may be able to read it, there are many nuances that they may not see or understand.
I have at least one copy of all the books in this series and have bought this one at least four times, because I keep giving it away and getting other people hooked.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Wheel of Time: A Tightly-Wound Epic
Review: I rarely read fantasy, being generally unable to suspend disbelief in the presence of wizards and talking lizards with invisibility rings. Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series is one of the only three exceptions, the others being Zelazny's Amber books and Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series. The first book in The Wheel of Time, "The Eye of the World", begins in the remote village of Emond's Field. It is a sleepy and mundane town, content in its isolation. Once in a while a traveling merchant makes his way into the village, bringing tales of the mystical Aes Sedai and the epic wars being waged across the continent.

Jordan is a rare author who is capable of handling with detail and class a number of characters at once, without ever losing track of the nuances of their individual personalities. The most notable characters in the village of Emond's Field are Rand al'Thor, a young man destined for greatness; Perrin Aybarra, the introspective blacksmith's apprentice; Matrim Cauthon, a perpetually gambling and mischievous yet charming friend of Perrin and Rand; Egwene al'Vere, Rand's love; and Nynaeve al'Meara, a spirited, aloof, and defiant girl who seeks to learn the art of healing. After the arrival of Thom Merrilin, a merchant and consummate entertainer, these youth are sent through circumstance into the gloriously romantic and heart-rendingly tragic affairs of the intricate and colorful world of Jordan's creation.

Jordan is a master of characterization and exposition, but his greatest feat is the astounding degree of integration in his books. Every event is foreshadowed, sometimes many books in advance. The progression is so logical, the actions and developments so perfectly intertwined, that it almost reads like a mystery - the reader does not so much observe the action, but thinks along with the characters, to see what they see and try to step ahead of the plot. Even if you manage this formidable task, it won't get you far, because every one of Jordan's short chapters contains large plot developments. There is never a dull moment - this is Romantic fiction (but not romance!) at its best, stripped of all things accidental and unimportant.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: BORING!!!!
Review: I got this book because I heard that this series is great, I read(suffered)through two-thirds of the book and I stopped. I never once got excited about reading this like I do with so many other books. How many times do the characters say something about the "light". I also thought that it was predictable. Pass this one up. Only read it if you need something to put you to sleep at night.


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