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

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

List Price: $15.30
Your Price: $10.40
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Captivating? Enthralling? Enveloping? All these, and more...
Review: I recently read EoTW on a recommendation from a friend. I don't think I've ever been as captivated by a book before. Jordan's writing style is so intimately detailed that if you have any glimmer of an imagination whatsoever, the book plays out in movie-quality in your head. If you are a fan of the fantasy genre, then pick up EoTW and begin your journey through the Wheel of Time saga.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful start to the series.....BUT
Review: there are 10 books...many more to come probably, and the whole thing goes downhill from this book. The next one's pretty good, the third all right, it's completely dead from there. A whole 300 plus page book goes nowhere. If you haven't started the wheel of time...DON'T.

Yes this book was great! But there's tons of loose ends that haven't been tied up after 8 more books...depressing and a waste of time.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Anyone Read Lord of the Rings?
Review: The number of parallels you can make between this book and the Lord of the Rings is astounding to the point of just barely being acceptable as original literature. It seems like every third character has the personality or role of someone from the Lord of the Rings. Despite this the book is fun to read and has some originality of its own. I hear the saga as a whole is really good, but if you have to choose between this one and Lord of the Rings, start with Lord of the Rings.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Greatest thing since sliced bread, er, i mean Tolkien!
Review: Just over two weeks ago, in the hope of finding something that grabbed my attention in the same way the world of tolkien did, i found 'The Wheel of Time.' Not an underdeveloped, unconvincing 'wannabe' but a fascinating attempt to create a lush and beautiful world on par with Tolkien's 'middle-earth!' The book centralises around Rand al'Thor, his fellow Emond's Fielders, Mat, Egwene and Perrin, Nynaeve the wisdom, Thom the gleeman, Moiraine the Aes Sedai and Lan the warder....the fellowship if you will. Escaping the clutches of the dark one and his evil minions the party flee Emonds Field and begin the epic that is the 'Wheel of Time.' Rand must dicsover his destiny as 'The Dragon Reborn' and learn who and who not to trust along the way. Throughout the journey we witness a compelling plot coupled by Jordan's unique writing ability. The world literally comes alive thanks to Jordan's eye for detail. Characters are carefully and precisely developed as are the various parts of Jordan's world. You cant help feeling, yes you know the characters like you do your own friends, or perhaps even think you too are walking the road to Caemlyn. Yes, some may consider the book too detailed and a little tedious, understandable considering the book is over 700 pages long, but when considered against the truly captivating plot (think roller coaster!), it goes unnoticed. One word could not describe 'The Eye of the World' but think 'Lord of the Rings' and you'll soon be there. Yes, yes it's similar to Tolkien. Jordan has his 'fellowhip' traversing the aptly named 'Mountains of Mist' eventually into the 'Blight' (Mordor?) but this can only be a good thing! What better a bench mark to set yourself against than the greatest fantasy series ever written. And to be fair to Jordan he apparently moves away from this in the later novels....still keeping the series strong! Overall i believe 'The Eye of the World' to be a fantastic novel, captivating throughout...my two weeks reading proving this!!! Dont be put off by length, as Jordan pulls out a master piece, worthy of it's place amoung the greats! 4/5 (nothing is perfect!)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: good book with a skewed view of feminism
Review: I think this book is pretty darn good. It's not quite on par with the works of masterpiece fantasy writers such as Orson Scott Card and Frank Herbert, but Jordan is an entertaining writer and this first book really draws you in.

That said, I must complain about the way women are portrayed in this book. Almost every chapter gives examples of women who dominate their immature and stupid male counterparts. The interactions between the men and women are so skewed that it is hard to picture them having meaningful relationships. It seems that all women are forced into psuedo-feminist stereo-types dipicting them as either shrews or know-it-alls, only Jordan paints this as an acceptable attitude. For example, young and beautiful Naenyeve goes around bludgeoning any male that disagrees with her leadership as wisdom and healer of the village, and this is just the beginning. I don't know what the point of these portrayals are, IMO both men and women should be offended by this.

Anyway, it is testimony to the quality of the overarching storyline that I am even still reading this book, which is why I gave it four stars instead of 1 or 2.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good Story
Review: I admit when I first read this book, It took sometime to get into it I keep reading first couple pages off and on but all ways stoped. Just couldn't get into it, finally was bord and started reading it again and found it to be a very excellant book. Robert Jorden's The Eye Of The World was to me well done and written, His World building skills were well done and thought out with interesting characters, True it starts off slow but soon picks up and hooks you. I found myself up late reading this book and once started had hard time putting it down. I enjoy reading very much and this book entertained me. Found myself wanting to read the rest of the series. I had hear some thought his first 4 books were good but then went down hill, and I tend to agree with some of them.but the rest of the series was not bad at all thou could have been better. So I recomened this book to any one.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I Tried, I Tired, and I Tried Again...
Review: I have tried 3 times to get into this book. I REALLY wanted to be as taken by it as most others seem to be. But I just could not get into it. I love starting a series that I can get into, which first happened to me with the Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind, so I really wanted it to work.

On my third try, I got more than half way through the book when one night I sighed to my husband that I was going to go read. He questioned me, he knows how much I just loooooove to read, and was surprised that I was treating it like a chore. I told him that I was having a hard time reading this book. He laughed, and told me to throw it away, he said for someone like me to think of reading as a chore because of a certain book, should not be reading that book! He was right! I am back to my usual reading pace and loving every minute of it - not even once have I wondered what came of Rand and his friends! So, thanks, but I am passing on the Wheel of Time Series!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A chunk of a really big story.
Review: It would be impossible to give you much of an outline of this book. The thing is too big. I can, however, say a few things. Firstly, I enjoyed it and read it quickly. Jordan's style is driven and flows well, allowing for comfort in the reading. Secondly, this is book one of what is currently ten books in an unfinished, continuing epic. All the books are gigantic. In this book, a boy named Rand Al'Thor and his friends begin a saga involving a Tolkienesque dark lord, magical women and men who are doomed if magical. One of the best things about this series is the world-building feat. Another is the interesting relationships between men and women. As the series progresses, a plethora of legendary characters come into play, and there is much of interest to say of the political intrigue.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Magnificent
Review: Robert Jordan does a great job in including all the important parts of a fantasy book. He creates a whole world which will not remain in paper, but rather engulf the reader in itself, making it easy to read, despite it's length. The characters clearly evolve during the story, each facing their own situations, despite having a common origin. The series is long, but I intend to read all of it, for it promises a lot.

One most important thing is that, though the long walks are still involved in the book, you can easily go through the pages, entangled in a plot which is not over complicated, where, though the element of conspiracy and intrigue is still involved, it does not become a soap opera. A must have for any fantasy reader, or anyone who liked Tolkien's work.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good book until you get to the "sucker" ending.
Review: The fact that the Wheel of Time saga is so immensly popular shows me how deeply starved Americans are for good fantasy (this is not sci-fi as many other reviewers mistakenly label it).

I've just finished book four of the series, and I'm taking a look back at this first book from that perspective.

I'm not a huge fan of American fantasy authors in general, and Jordan doesn't do much to change my viewpoint. American fantasy is usually very watered down, extremely PC (ie women are very liberated, no racism, etc..), and is packed full of modern sociological viewpoints and societies.

Jordan is no different, but fortunately is world is. For example, Jordan's 'dark ages' society has women so liberated it's almost matriarchal. Yet, the only people who can weild magic are women (called Aes Sedai). This goes a long way towards helping my suspension of disbelief.

Many people have complained that Jordan's books are padded, and they are. This books are big; needlessly so. The first half of this book is some of the best in the whole series I've read thus far as you learn who these characters all are and where they come from. From there, Jordan takes you on mini-adventure after mini-adventure seemingly for no reason other than to fill pages, and he does it in every one of his books. The good news is that TV has been doing this to us for decades. Take the excellent show X-Files for example. Great overall story, but many episodes are just filler to complete the 24 episode season. These books could really be a TV series with each book being a complete season. Also good news is that Jordan's writing style is solid enough to not put you to sleep. Jordan also great with characters even if he juggles more than any book in history. It's no coincidence that "The Wheel of Time" sounds like the title of a soap opera.

Obviously, Jordan is doing something right if I have read through book four. At it's heart, this book presents an interesting (if somewhat unoriginal) plot, with characters whose motivations and lives you want to learn more about. This book as a whole was interesting and fun to read even if it was a bit tedious in spots (it should have been edited down 200 or so less pages). Then you get to the end. Jordan rips you off with the most contrived, pulled-it-out-of-his-[behind] ending I've probably ever read. When I closed the book, I was actually mad! The fact that this is only the first part in a series, and that such books rarely have solid endings is what prevented me from giving it less than three stars. However, even if the ending lacks resolution, it should never be contrived.

Testimonies from others, including my girlfriend who I got to read the series and long since passed me to finish book seven, and the fact that I did enjoy the character driven, episodic feel (plus I'm a sucker for fantasy sagas) prompted me to read book two (which is much better and without a "sucker" ending).

Read this book if you are interested in getting into the series, but as a stand alone book, you'll find it wanting. For all my complaints, these books are enjoyable. This is a critique after all, but thee stars doesn't mean bad.


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