Rating: 
Summary: Jordan fans beware
Review: I know a lot of people who dislike Jordan's more recent works, believing that he is stretching things for the sake of money. Now I'm convinced as well.Robert Jordan fans, this book is not a new book -- for several months I assumed that he was stretching his genre to encompass kids as well, perhaps trying to entice them to read his doorstopper adult series of fantasy volumes. There is nothing wrong with that. However, when I went into a bookstore and flipped through it, I was astonished to see text from a book I HAD ALREADY READ. In short, Jordan took "Eye of the World", chopped it in half, sold the halves, and now is pulling in nearly twice the cash per copy. This book is the first half of EotW, with "To the Blight" as the second half. The differences? Well, they are still thick; they do, however, have slightly larger print, so if you are an elderly Jordan reader you might want to purchase these. What changes are made for kids? Well, the ghastly adult covers are replaced by a more realistic, less weird-looking cover, and pictures are added to the inside. These were also a disappointment: the books might be better worth it if they had decent artwork, but the inside pictures are blurry and grainy, and not worth more than a fleeting glance. Writing style? I may be wrong, but if some kids don't have the attention span to get through "The Hobbit" or "Chronicles of Narnia," methinks they will never get beyond page two of Jordan's immensely detailed and complex doorstopper epic. My opinions qualitywise can be found elsewhere, as a review for the adult version of EotW. Unless a single 800-page tome scares your kid, or if you find the print easier to read, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. I can only hope that there will not be future one-book-made-into-two-for-kids editions.
Rating: 
Summary: Kids
Review: I liked all the WOT books very much, and I think it's a very good way to get kids to read. However, the age at wich these books are aimed is chosen rather stupid. I myself have read adult fantasies since I was about ten, and started WOT at 11 (first in my native language which is Dutch). I think many adult fantasies are very suitable for children of this age (with the exception of SOT and Martin) so this book is perhaps a bit redundant. But if it gets kids to read, who am I to nag?
Rating: 
Summary: A Series worth the time
Review: I loved the books, but they did seem to fall flat in the last ones. Robert Jordan seems to start having difficulty with the last books. The first ones had excellent character developement and a great plotline, but in the end, the characters degrade into sexist and disgusting people. Rand gathers women aroung him like spare change and it makes me think a lot less of Aviendha (excuse the spelling). I never really liked the other two to begin with. Also, when Perrin hooks up with Faile, he turns into a lousy character. She manipulates him and destroys him. Lan is my favorite character, if you read the books, you'll know why. However, be warned, the books go down at the end and despite that, it's difficult to wait patiently for the next books. Don't let this influence your choice to read this, the first ones are some of the best books I've ever read and the latter ones are still excellent though not as good as the first. Any of them are much better than most other fantasy books I've read. If you DID enjoy these books, you might want to try Terry Goodkind. His books are a little overly graphic, but there's a lot of good writing in them. (The first book is called The Wizard's First Rule) Both of these authors are excellent, I highly recommend them.
Rating:
Summary: A Tricky Dissapointment
Review: I ordered this book and "Into the Blight" thinking they were new books, prequels in fact. (...) I own two paperbacks and one hardcover of "Eye of the World." These books are the same as that one, only divided up, with larger print, and new, pretty pictures on the cover. I'll stick with the WHOLE book, thanks.
Rating:
Summary: Great thru book 6, then falls flat
Review: I started reading Robert Jordan's series of books, The Wheel of Time since 1996. At the time, he had only written up to book five or six, and that was the peak of this series. They contain many elements from other novels and pieces literature that I have read, but it most resembles Frank Herbert's Dune, although Mr. Jordan includes an excessive amount of prophecies (rather than the 2 main ones in Dune). I truly recommend up to book 6 if you enjoy fantasy adventure novels, but my good opinion of his writing stops there. After book six, the books seem to take a nose dive, as Rand al'Thor begins to collect women like saddle bags and solve problems like a bad self-author-insertion fanfiction. By book 8 or 9, I almost stopped reading, but kept on until the newest on as of 2003. I haven't purchased that book nor do I plan to buy any more of his works again. The writing borders on sexest (if not falling way past it), the story becomes convoluted and the characters lose their motivations. I heard that the series was originally supposed to be 5 or a few more books long, and it would have truly shined if that were true. Instead, it seems like moments are stretched for chapters. If you're just starting the series, don't take my judgments to seriously, as I still love the first half-dozen books and would not trade them. I did however donate 7-whatever to my local library.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of money-Disappointed
Review: Misleading. This was published by Starscape (a Tom Doherty Associates, LLC publisher)and not by TOR (also Tom Doherty). The cover art was done by another artist (Charles Keegan), not by Darrell K. Sweet. What was most misleading about this book was the lable on the front of the book that says "A New Prologue by the Author". The book does have a pre-prologue that I have not read before, called "Earlier-Ravens". It is a 12 page depiction of Egwene (as a child) carrying water at Bel Tine in the spring during sheep shearing. I usually get my hands on everything I can that was written for the WOT series and I don't remember running across this bit of info. It was not worth buying the book for this pre-prologue.
Rating: 
Summary: look at the smaller picture.
Review: OKay. i'm 16 i started reading this series in seventh grade. that's absolutely fine for the content of the books. RJ has been able to write a story that entices readers to look deeper then the face value. i've re-read this entire series about three or four times. i have no doubt in my mind that kids can read and understand this series. like all good books there are things you pick out the second or thrid time you read something. if the first time through they don't understand the situation in a Sheinarian bath, or an Aiel sweat-tent, they will later on. and to think this has any bad influence on children is way outa line. i can't belive you mean to say that because a young boy of 12 reads about a bunch of people sitting in a bath together is going to go off and do that. that's insane. it'd be like having a fear of him going out and carrying a sword around with him. or if someone beats him ina sport, putting ona white gown and doing whatever he is told.
honestly, i think that the book should not have been broken up, because i remeber after reading TEOTW loking at it's immense size and saying to myself "wow, i read all that" and then i was so engrosed witht he story i was compelled to keep reading.
and a final note: to deprive anyone of one of the worlds best fantasy series simply because of age is foolish
Rating:
Summary: Only a dissapointment if you're incompetent
Review: Readers would do well to disregard the above review, as his main bone of contention with the book seems to be the fact that he didn't know what he was buying. 'One out of five' for that? Give me a break. ;)A buyer's failure to check what he puts down money for has nothing to do with the quality of the book in question. For those who want compact editions of Jordan's first volume of the wheel of time, or want a copy to give to a reader who would be turned off by the size of the complete book, these are solid investments.
Rating:
Summary: Why?
Review: Robert Jordan's opening to "The Wheel of Time" is a great, entertaining book, and I can't force myself to give even this piece of it less than three stars. However, I don't understand why Jordan's publishers have decided to start splitting his books for his "young adult" audience. I'd hate to think that it's nothing but an attempt to increase profit margins, but I'm somewhat at a loss for any other valid explanations. The big, fat book is a bit daunting at first, especially for readers who are just entering the realm of "big books," but I have confidence that most will overcome that trepidation, as I did, and thereby gain the confidence to take on other multi-hundred page novels. Outside of this supposed accessibility benefit, I really see nothing for the reader in a split book. The pacing and flow have to be skewed. If Jordan had really wanted two books when he wrote the story, he would have written two. Cost is almost certainly going to be significantly more than the single volume too. As for the added benefits, namely the added chapter "Ravens" and the illustrations, I see no real gain here either. I thought the chapter seemed superfluous and even out of place; it extended the scope of the story needlessly, offering no real new information or insight for the reader. Again, I trust Jordan's original judgment on not including that bit of background in the original book. The illustrations, too, I disagree with. First of all, they don't have the quality to really make them enjoyable. Aside from that, why do pictures have any place in such a novel to begin with? What happened to allowing the reader to create his or her own images? All in all, just buy the original, The Eye of the World. It's a great book. It's hooked millions of fans into the series as it stands. There's really no need or benefit to buying this re-released fragment.
Rating:
Summary: Why?
Review: Robert Jordan's opening to "The Wheel of Time" is a great, entertaining book, and I can't force myself to give even this piece of it less than three stars. However, I don't understand why Jordan's publishers have decided to start splitting his books for his "young adult" audience. I'd hate to think that it's nothing but an attempt to increase profit margins, but I'm somewhat at a loss for any other valid explanations. The big, fat book is a bit daunting at first, especially for readers who are just entering the realm of "big books," but I have confidence that most will overcome that trepidation, as I did, and thereby gain the confidence to take on other multi-hundred page novels. Outside of this supposed accessibility benefit, I really see nothing for the reader in a split book. The pacing and flow have to be skewed. If Jordan had really wanted two books when he wrote the story, he would have written two. Cost is almost certainly going to be significantly more than the single volume too. As for the added benefits, namely the added chapter "Ravens" and the illustrations, I see no real gain here either. I thought the chapter seemed superfluous and even out of place; it extended the scope of the story needlessly, offering no real new information or insight for the reader. Again, I trust Jordan's original judgment on not including that bit of background in the original book. The illustrations, too, I disagree with. First of all, they don't have the quality to really make them enjoyable. Aside from that, why do pictures have any place in such a novel to begin with? What happened to allowing the reader to create his or her own images? All in all, just buy the original, The Eye of the World. It's a great book. It's hooked millions of fans into the series as it stands. There's really no need or benefit to buying this re-released fragment.
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