The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, Book 1)

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Summary: The best book i have read so far!!!
Review: My cousin told me that if i read this book and I didn't like it, that he would pay me the cost of the book. I never got to pay him because I was so hooked up on what would happen next. If somebody you know is not interested in fantasy or epic books, or doesn't even like to read, give him this book and he'll have a new reason to begin reading.

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Summary: The best series of books that I've read.
Review: This is, without doubt, the most enthralling and addicting series of books that I have ever read. Only one drawback - it's always so depressing returning to the real world after finishing one of Jordan's books.

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Summary: The Wheel of Time is the web and Robert Jordan the weaver.
Review: Never have I read a series so well plotted out as this one. From the first book on you are caught up in world of such complexity and subtle twists of plot that you can never put it down. Robert Jordan weaves so many seemingly meaningless strands of plot into one magnificent web that it leaves you thirsting for not only the conclusion but for each and every word leading up to it. I lost many hours of sleep deeply involved in helping along Rand, Perrin, and Mat as they became intertwined with every aspect of Jordan's awe inspiring creation... :-) if you can't tell i liked the series a lot and can truthfully say I have never read its equal.

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Summary: An addictive start to an all time classic series
Review: This book starts off a little slowly as Jordan introduces the characters and the setting. After the first 100 pages, however, the book quickly evolves into a moving, rolling, epic which draws you in tightly and never lets go. Jordan's attention to detail and character gives his world a richness rarely found in this genre, and the build towards the climactic finale is one that will have you sitting up until late at night just to finish. When you do, you'll be glad to know that you can keep reading for at least seven more books. And if Jordan keeps this up, we'll never get tired of reading them.

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Summary: Guaranteed to appear in book reports for years to come!
Review: In the search for books that high school students are willing to read, few authors can match Robert Jordan. The plot is exciting, and the characters are so finely drawn that one begins almost immediately to care what happens in their struggle of good against evil. A neatly moral tale, with the grey areas so familiar to teenagers searching for their own standards. I have "addicted" all my adult friends after discovering this series! And, of course, the student who introduced me to Jordan got an "A"!

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Summary: An absolute must-have for fantasy lovers!
Review: The Eye of the World is the beginning of what, in my opinion, could be the greatest fantasy work of the 20th century. The characters are well-developed, to the point that you almost want to email them advice at times. The book brings the lost arts of weaponry and magic to life, in a setting so clearly described, you wonder how long Mr. Jordan spent there before writing the book. To me, it's a don't-get-me-started-cause-I-won't-put-it-down keeper. Eye of the World and the rest of the series have made me late for work many times. Fortunately, my boss also reads the series, so he understands.

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Summary: A lukewarm reception
Review: Though zealously followed and highly lauded, Robert Jordan`s Eye of the World (and Wheel of Time series in general) falls far short of the what is expected of it. The enormous bulk of the novel suffocates whatever creative ingenuity Jordan attempts to bring out. Occasionally, some exceptional passage manages to ascend from the murky, unimaginative depths Jordan swims in, but this rare gem sparkles feebly against the inky void of the deep. Like Tolstoy, Jordan attempts to use the size of his work to breathe reality and sensitivity into his world, but the Russian's mastery is not there. Jordan simply cannot summon the genius it takes to paint with both the sweep of panorama or the wisp of the scene; his touch is marked by the unrefined simplicity of (pardoning the cliche) an amateur. Still, like Sherwood Anderson's writing, the very bulk that he forces on his reader imparts a sembelence of reality to his world and creates something that is not entirely prismatic or completely dull. Let us say rather that it is a glossy work, one greater than the average, but far from the supreme of fantasy.

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Summary: Excellent! Exhilirating! Best book in this century
Review: Robert Jordan and his Wheel of Time series is by far THE best fantasy series of this century. The descriptions of people, places & things are magnificently designed. It makes ME want to leave home for adventure. The grandfathers of fantasy such as Tolkein, and recent greats Terry Brooks and Stephen R. Donaldson, better watch their backs

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Summary: Addicting, engrossing, highly imaginative fantasy!
Review: Unless you have several days during which you can disappear from your life, ignore relatives and loved ones, and become a zombie at work, I suggest you do not pick up this book. Don't even think about it. If ever there were an addictive, engrossing, all-consuming series, Jordan's Wheel of Time series would be it. In the fantasy genre which has seen everything from Tolkien's Hobbits to Donaldson's Land to Silverberg's Majipoor, Jordan's epic (and I do mean epic - the paperback versions of the 7 books in the Wheel of Time series range from 700 pages to more than 1100 pages in length) fantasy series stands alone among recent fantasy issues as the most imaginitive and gripping of them all. It is nearly impossible to approach a summary of the remarkable complex, yet amazingly coherent plot (did you ever try to read the Cliff's Notes for "War and Peace"? After you were done you may as well have read the book). The story follows the life of Rand al' Thor, a young farmer boy who is swept up into the war pitting good versus evil which is sweeping over the entire world. The supporting cast of characters (and I hesitate to call them supporting, as they have a marvelous life and richness all their own) are vibrant and necessary to the unfolding of the beautiful and complex world Jordan has spun out in a way no other writer has approached in the last decade, with the possible exception of Donaldson's "Gap" Chronicles. Each character has their own story for you to see, their own lives and fates to persue, and you become engrossed in every single one of them, crying or cheeering (at one point I literally flung the book across the room and broke a window I was so infuriated at what had just occurred - I haven't cared about a character in a book that much since Thomas Covenant raped Lena) as their tale unfolds. The mythos of the world centers around reincarnation and magic, called the One Source, which is wielded in different forms by men and women, except that men who wield the source go mad because of "the taint" stemming from the Dark One, who was imprisoned in Shayol Guhl in an age long past, and is now attemting to break free into the world again, and, and, and... Politics, romance, fantasy, magic, war, psychology, intrigue, this series has it all, and if you don't mind losing touch with your world, Jordan's is the best place to be. At least until you finish the last book and have to wait for the next one. That's the only down side, and that speaks volumes.

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Summary: The epic fantasy adventure to that puts the rest to shame
Review: I must say that this is possibly the best book ever written. From such a quiet beginning, Robert Jordan begins an epic fantasy adventure that is crowned the supreme beginning to the grandest adventure ever put to paper. If you love fantasy like I do; if you crave a new set of characters to get to know and love; if you are looking for something totally new and 100% cheese-free; read Robert Jordan's Eye of the World