Rating: 
Summary: Read "Dune" instead....same thing
Review: Just read "Dune" instead. It's pretty much the same thing, and MUCH shorter.
Fremen = Aiel
Bene Geserit = Aes Sedai
Muad'Dib = Dragon Reborn
.....and so on.
Rating:
Summary: Good enough for 5000+ more pages?
Review: My son loves The Wheel of Time series, and finally talked me into reading the first book, "The Eye of the World." I am a sci-fi/fantasy fan, having grown up with Tolkien: Stephen Donaldson, Vernor Vinge, and Jack McDevitt weigh in with Tolkien as some of my all-time favorites. Recently I've read GRR Martin's first 3 volumes of "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, which is very good. Even so, I allowed the ten+ volumes in The Wheel of Time series to put me off. I kept asking myself how the author could possibly be good enough to spend the time required to read through his huge series? After finishing "The Eye of the World," that question remains very much in doubt. "The Eye of the World" appears to be a standard, fairly unimaginative fantasy novel, even if placed into a large setting. The main characters, three young men (Rand, Mat and Perrin) are from a small, isolated farming village. Their village and homes are attacked one evening by minions of the Dark One, and off they go on a quest, to remove the danger they appear to put their home village into, and to discover how they fit into the upcoming battle with Ba'alzamon (another name for the Dark One). Rand's long-time girlfriend, Egwene, follows along, as does the village Wisdom (a woman healer and leader), Nynaeve. The group is lead by a powerful female magician, Moirgaine, and her male Warder (protector/companion), Lan. The group is attacked and hunted by part human, part animal, rather Troll-like, Trollocs. The Trollocs are lead by Myrddraals (or Fades), eyeless creatures of the Dark One. Both groups are assisted by human Darkfriends. If the names appear to be more than a bit pedestrian, perhaps that's because they are. Jordan also uses one of the worst sentences ever for a fantasy novel, "The Wheel Weaves as the Wheel Wills." I shudder every time I read this, and have to imagine someone actually saying it. Doesn't quite match up to "... and one ring to bind them." The group is eventually joined by an Ogier named Loial, who is young and hasty (and, one supposes, loyal). Ogier love trees, and are hairy, but friendly, giants. They have assisted in the building of cities in Jordan's world, and are clearly a mix of Ent (Tolkien) and Giant (Donaldson). It seems unlikely that Jordan will come close to matching the inventiveness of Tolkien or Donaldson. Inventiveness is very important to my enjoyment of fantasy, so I find this apparent lacking in Jordan quite disappointing. Other readers may look for different aspects in fantasy, however. Jordan does have strong women characters, and some cultural politics, unlike Tolkien. Jordan's writing flows better, and has deeper characterizations than Donaldson. There is action in "The Eye of the World," but the pace is slow and somewhat tedious. For all the characters and detailed descriptions, we really do not learn much about any of the characters. Trollocs stay trollish, we are given no clue what Fades are or how they came to be. We learn very little about Moirgaine, and her Aes Sedai sisters, except that they are somewhat sinister and powerful. We do learn a bit about Lan toward the end of the book, but his motivations for becoming a Warder and toward Nynaeve are left open. More happens with Rand, Mat and Perrin, and this part of the story suggests better what might follow in future volumes. All three characters seem to be headed in very different directions, physically, mentally and emotionally, but we know that they are tied together somehow. It should be interesting to see how Jordan will handle this subplot. Egwene and Nynaeve appear to be headed in yet another direction, adding to the mystery. Even so, I found "The Eye of the World" unrewarding, especially with the weird ending. I have had many friends complain to me that they don't like fantasy because magic comes to the rescue whenever the author gets his characters into a jam. I never felt that was justified with Tolkien or Donaldson, but I think it is, at least in this volume, of Jordan. He may do better with later volumes, perhaps even enough to have this book make sense. But I am very much left with the question of whether to simply stop here and read other authors, or stay with Jordan for another volume. OK. I have read a bit into the second volume, and it is quite good so far. Donaldson was very tough to get through in his first volume, as was (to a lesser extent) Tolkien. I'll give Jordan the benefit of the doubt, and try another volume.
Rating:
Summary: It's okay but....
Review: I agree with some reviews that it was too long. I do like long novels, but as long as they are not filled with unnecessary parts. This book could have easily been shortened. Especially the parts where Rand and his companion were going from village to village trying to hide from the Dark One's men. Also things are a little too convenient for the characters. There were parts when I wasn't sure what was going to happen but by 300 pages I figured that something out of the air would come to help the heroes at the right time. A lot of books are like that but this one has it happening so much to the point where it gets absolutely annoying. And the characters are the most irritating that I've seen in a book so far. There seem a little to flat. They always act a certain way and never change or act out the ordinary. And because of that nothing the characters do surprises me. The plot is there but only comes clear in the last 200 pages when this book is almost 800 pages long. The other 600 pages describe the character's journey that had little suspense and too much description of the characters every action. If the other books in the series are like this I just won't read them. And for once I feel like I wouldn't miss anything. One good thing though is that the world Jordan describes is so rich and full of life. If only he had done that with the characters.
Rating: 
Summary: It will never end...
Review: I case you don't know much about this series, know this: there are already 10 installments, and more to come. And just take a look at the size of each volume! Before you pick up this book, look up the reviews of those poor souls who have read the last installment - notice the weariness? Most are bored and upset, and even those who kind-of-liked-it are really tired of it. Because the truth is, this series will never end. And the pity is that this could have been a very good series. "The Eye of the World" starts out as an excellent book, with rich descriptions and 3-D characters. But, around mid-point you start to have this nagging feeling that things are not progressing as they should, that events are moving way too slowly, and it just gets worse and worse. So: you have been warned. I was able to break the spell and abandon the series afte this first volume; there are many who have not been so lucky...
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book to start a Great Epic
Review: It's a little slow in the beginning but once you get a little ways in (about 50 pages or so) you will not be able to put it down. Great book for any and all fantasy lovers as well as just the very beginning of a riveting adventure.
This tale is the beginning of an epic with very well made characters. some characters you will love, others you'll hate and a few you will not know what to think of. But the characters are only the start, the world in which this tale takes place is masterfully built with great care for detail and almost seems so real you could touch it. and it only gets better from here..
Rating: 
Summary: The first three are good...
Review: I enjoyed the first book, even though it gets very boring in the middle of the book. The ending was great however. So I went out to buy the second book. It was good, if a little confusing, as in charaters the seem to be plotting at the beging then don't turn up for the rest of the book. I even enjoyed the third book mainly because Perin's in it so much and is pretty much left out of the next two books after no.4. After that it was just one huge book after the other with mindless things that I decided to waste my money on something else. If you want to waste time and money on a go nowhere book series go ahead. I'm done until the final book is realease. Don't belive me, old WOT no.6 sit on my shelf unread to this day.
Rating:
Summary: Way too long...
Review: This book drags more than any other I've seen. In the time it took for me to read 400 pages of Eye of the World, I managed to read the first six books in the Sword of Truth (actually, that one really slows down after a while too).
Maybe if they made cliff notes for this book to cut out all the mindless fluff, I'd take it, but its a little exessive for me.
Despite how needlessly long it is, I still manage to pcik it back up every now and then before becoming, once again, hopelessly bored.
You must be very adamant or very...very...very bored to work your way through this book. Otherwise, its too much.
Rating:
Summary: Marvelous I tell you! Marvelous!
Review: The Wheel of Time is the most engrossing fantasy fiction that any reader can read. Grace favor the Light, The Eye of the World is perhaps the most engrossing book ever...! There were many a night when I found myself sitting up in bed with everyone asleep and I myself wanting to as well...but I couldn't. Why? Because Rand, Perrin, Elayne, Nynaeve and Mat wouldn't let me. The Eye of the World gives a more-than vivid account of Rand discovering who he really is. Everything about this book was mysterious as an Aes Sedai's face. And you have to love Moiraine!
Perhaps, my favorite portion of the book was when the party had to manuever through Shadar Logoth and when Mashadar was out to strangle them. Marvelous I tell you! Marvelous! There has never been a writer since Tolkein who has mastered the Fantasy Genre as Jordan. He writes with more than just characters, he writes with grave detail; every little niche needs to be described; every outfit described until a fashion designer can actually make the outfit herself. These are more than just words on paper, they are Rembrant in motion. Poetry to its uppermost extreme.
I know this review my come across as a rant, but the 'Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.' If you are thinking about fantasy, then you should think about Jordan's Wheel of Time series. It is more than fantasic--Creator!--its perfect!
Rating:
Summary: rrrghhhh....SUCH A GOOD BOOK!
Review: This EXCELLENT book starts off an extremely EXCELLENT fantasy series! Just read the prologue, 'Dragonmount', and that's more than enough to make you say, "WELL? WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?" so, naturally, you read the first chapter. It does start off slow, but you think, hey, if the prologue was so exciting, the book HAS to get good.....and get good it does! If you like heroes, foul beasts, men with no eyes, friends, swords, battles, shocking discoveries, adventures, the One Power, people who talk to wolves, haunted cities, and.....other stuff related to the things I just listed, well, The Eye of the World and the whole Wheel of Time series is chock-full of them! READ! THIS! BOOK! IT! IS! GOOOOOOODDDD!
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: This is a brilliant book and deserves all possible credit. This is one of my personal favourite serieses and the first book is still by far my favourite of the lot. The characters are wonderfully developed and individual each with their own personal history and future. This is not one of those books where one character from the starting bunch becomes supreme and best loved by readers, which is part of its eventual charm. Once you read one of these you're hooked for life, there is no going back. This book ranks up there with tolkien for me and is one of those books that leave you wishing for more even as the last page is turned. While at times all the details might seem random or useless they all come together in the next books to create a masterpiece of literature that has led me to wonder how much planning goes into these books before they are written. There is a mass of miniscule points to remember and that, rather than simply revealing things, are needed by the reader to piece together conclusions before they are discovered by characters. While all this detail might make the books slightly slower at times than some readers might appreciate in the end it all fits perfectly and is worth every moment.
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