Rating: 
Summary: The greatest book ever written
Review: I have read books before but this is the first one i have spent a weekend reading non-stop from the first page this book drags you into one of the most beliveable worlds since lord of the rings. I read lord of the rings not too long ago and this book far suppases it. The chareters are very well portraid and you need to know what will happen to them next. I recomend this book for anyone who truly loves a good story
Rating: 
Summary: Barely tolerable beginning to a series that goes downhill
Review: There are two main schools of thought on fantasy novels. Bigger is better - in which case you'll love Jordan - or provide exactly the right level of detail to support the story and no more. This book is the antithesis of the Roger Zelazny style of fiction writing. If you're a Tolkein fan, this will be very familiar territory. If you find slogging through pages of excrutiating detail while the plot barely limps along to be tedious, then stay far far away. But wait, there's more! Though he introduces a number of competent female characters early on - some passages are almost inspired - they quickly all grow toward one destination: Pigheaded, incompetent and stupid. And you'll be spending lots of time with them if you choose to stick with this dog of a series. Getting more into the series as a whole, expect to find lengthy recaps of what has gone before, hundreds upon hundreds of pages of angst where nothing happens, then a quick 20-50 pages where all the action takes place and the next book is set up. Whole books veer away from the few characters who are remotely interesting to focus on secondary characters about whom we couldn't care less because they are so wooden and, frankly, stupid. Two stars because this book is so derivative it is hard to get entirely wrong. The longer the series goes, the fewer stars the books earn. By book 5, I was skipping passages, then whole chapters, looking for anything interesting to happen - and in my reading group, I wasn't the only one who felt this way! Others loved it, but even they acknowledge that this is a flawed series. Try it, and you'll either love it or need something totally different. If you need something else, pick up Nine Princes In Amber.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Book! ...hope the series gets better...
Review: I have always been a fan of fantasy, reading fantasy literature, such as Tolkien's "Hobbit" & "Lord of the Rings" since I was in elementary school. However, in high school, some friends of mine introduced me to Terry Goodkind, to whose "Sword of Truth" series I fell in love with. These same friends of mine, as I entered college, then opened me up to the world of the Wheel of Time. While I, of course, had heard of Jordan, I had never gotten the chance to read him. So I did so, plowing through this book as best I could. The funniest thing to me about this book was the fact that it was(as many reviewers have said) very "Tolkienesque" in plot, following a similar storyline (the quest to the place they would rather not go), similar archetypal characters (Lan & Aragorn are very similar), and even some similar placenames (Mountains of Mist and Mountains of Dhoom sound quite similar to the Misty Mountains and Mount Doom). Well, anyway, I thought it was funny, because these friends of mine that introduced me to this series (along with Goodkind) despised Tolkien. I don't know what it is, but in recent years, it's almost become a detestable cliche' among fantasy fans to admire Tolkien. I don't know what it is but nowadays it's almost "uncool" to like Tolkien. But Tolkien did have some problems with prose; while Lord of the Rings' plot was magnificent, I found myself dozing over descriptions of stewed rabbit, and I had to read over the battle of Helm's Deep numerous times to actually confirm that a battle had actually occured; Tolkien was not big on describing specific action, but that did not seem to be his purpose in writing either. However, Jordan does a wonderful job in describing some actions sequences, such as when the Trollocs show up at Rand and Tam's door, and when they are being chased into and out of Shadar Logoth. ... Anyway, the greatest downer in the book would have to be the female characters of Nynaeve, Egwene, and Moraine, all of whom are virtually interchangable with each other; always whining about men and criticising someone else; I just wished these characters were a little less static, but hopefully they will develop as the series progresses. The biggest "up" of the story would definately be the concept of the Wheel of Time itself. The Aes Sedai symbol of course is what we would call a Yin Yang, and the whole concept seems heavily influenced by Taoist transcendentalism, which does not surprise me all that much, considering that Mr. Jordan did spend some time in southeast Asia (perhaps this a coincidence?...I dunno). Anyway, I thought it was a great book, it seemed to drag on a little at then end a few more pages that it should have, but that might be do to the fact that I read the last 400 pages of the paperback in a day! I would highly recommend this book, but only if you have the patience it takes to read fantasy novels. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because the ending did not satiate me as much as I thought it would.
Rating: 
Summary: The best of this series, but not *the* best
Review: Fair warning: This review is heavily biased, for a number of reasons: 1) What other people think about the book has affected my opinion. 2) I first read this book as a sixteen-year-old almost eight years ago. 3) I know what happens to the series later. That said... As others have noted, Jordan follows Tolkien very, very closely, but he admits it, and his imitation does have more life than, say, Brooks's first try. There are powerful moments in this first book, such as Moiraine's description of the loss of Manetheren. (The fact that I remember these moments so well eight years later, and three years after I gave my copies away, says a lot, I think). The first encounter with the Black Riders- um, Fades- is appropriately spooky. There are also many odd little clues in here to the identity of the Dragon that only show up on a second rereading. I appreciate it that Jordan was able to plant them in such a way that one noticed the second time but didn't pick up on anything particulary odd on the first run. I liked Lan's competence, Mat's growing fascination (read that in the darker sense) with a magical dagger, and the sheer concepts of Perrin and Thom Merrilin. None of the women impressed me much. Even Moiraine, after her initial dramatic moments, comes off as one of those irritating characters who won't tell the heroes anything for no real good reason. Nynaeve annoyed me from the word go, Egwene had too many of the worst traits of teenage girls mixed together (naivete combined with the sureness that she knows it all), and Elayne struck me as simply too perfect. I honestly think the story in this book could have done without them and still functioned. The ending is good as far as drama and battle, weak on villains. (In fact, the book suffers from villain trouble, which I'll get to in a moment). Jordan suddenly tosses two new characters into the mix. It doesn't lend itself to tension as well as the hero confronting characters we've met before. The villains. *sigh* I've heard people argue that good is good and evil is evil in fantasy books and never the twain shall meet, but: 1) This is simply not true. Kay and Martin, to name just two, manage their gray characters quite well. 2) If there is Darkest Evil facing Highest Good, then the Highest Good had better well act like it. Tolkien's characters do this enormously well. Sauron is dark, but he's opposed by people who, by their actions, show they're worthy hero material. Rand and company do not. They act like teenagers (even the adults) and take too much time to mature, even when going through battles, betrayals, and journeys you'd think would mature them or kill them. If it's possible, I would suggest reading *Eye of the World* and stopping. (Well, actually, I would suggest reading something else instead, but I'm assuming that someone who hasn't read Jordan and is reading this review will probably pick up the series). If Jordan had pulled off a string of books like this one, or a series of stand-alone novels, he might not have dragged himself into the mire he's in right now.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: While avid fantasy readers may find many familiar themes within the rich tapestry of Jordan's novels, that familiarity takes nothing away from the enjoyment of one of the most spellbinding series ever written. Packed with great characters, action, and adventure The Eye of the World is extremely well written and compels you to turn pages late into the night.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading on its own merits
Review: Reading the first book of a long series doesn't obligate you to read all of the later books. Important thing is whether the book is an enjoyable experience or not. My first experiences with Robert Jordan were his Conan books which I read along with Robert E. Howard's, L. Sprague DeCamp's, etc. Therefore, when I tackled this first of a series, I wasn't expecting a whole lot of originality. What I did find was a lot of rich detail and possible foreshadowing of the importance of various characters in later volumes. If original plot is more important to you than detailed descriptions and mood setting, this won't be a book for you. If you're good at speedreading and/or skimming, you will want to go quickly through Rand's travels through the villages and the repetitious events in them. However, there are characters and events which sound as if they'll be important eventually. The girl who shares her prophetic glimpses with Rand has a short role in this initial book, but I much expect her to reappear in later books. The same with the heir-apparant and her brother both of whom Rand meets in a royal garden. I enjoyed also the hints about other characters...the rather sinister peddlar, the enigmatic gleeman, the boatman. The book will have the most appeal to those who haven't read a number of fantasy-adventures yet and also to those who just plain enjoy a richly detailed story, even if it may bear a lot of similarity to others. In short, this is for the less sophisticated and less critical fantasy lover who enjoys richly embroidered quest books. For others, it will seem overly long and not worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: Eye of the World Sees all!
Review: Midway through this book I was starting to believe that everything Jordan wrote was true: that people could really channel and somewhere there existed Aes Sedai and Tar Valon. This book is as vivid as any book I have ever read. The sweeping vistas in "Randland" are lush in design and has the power of transporting you there.
The greatest fantasy written prior was based on a quest(The Fellowship of the Ring)and Jordan has followed up on that with his Eye of the World, with Moiraine, Rand, Lan, Egwene, Perrin, and Tom Merrlin searching for the Eye of the World.
I must diverge a little to critize that I didn't exactly get the idea of what the "Eye" was, but Jordan's writing made up for any flaw he made. I strongly suggest you get yourself in this book and this series if you haven't already!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely in the Top Ten...
Review: This book is definitely in the Top Ten of the worst books I have ever read. A used bookstore owner introduced me to this book, raving about how great the series was, so I tried to read it, I really did. I didn't even give up after the first book, but read on to the third before giving up in disgust.
I can't imagine what people see in this book. Sure it's "rich world with massive scope" detailed--horrendously detailed--with far more details than anyone should ever care about. Jordan pompously describes every house, road, bush and miner characters down to its toenails (metaphorically in the cases of the first examples). He dishes out his exhausting paragraphs with smugness; I feel as if he is just trying to show off how wordy he can get, rather then becuase he actually cares or it will get the story along any faster. Believe me, this story does not go fast. Somehow... a lot happens, but it's exceedingly boring and since you don't care what happens to the characters, you loose track of things throughout this massive series.
His characters are undeniably the worst parts of the book. Jordan has no idea what real women are like. All his female characters are interchangable--they are all exactly the same: beautiful, spoiled, bad-tempered, selffish and unbelievable. Every time a new female character was introduced I hoped she would be different, but was disappointed every single time.
And can we say "Tolkien rip-off?" Let's see, the "winespring river" doesn't sound like Brandywine at all of course. "Mountains of Dhoom," not only the cheesiest thing I've ever heard, but isn't there a MOUNT DOOM in Tolkien? Trollocs? (orcs) "Mountains of Mist" is the most obvious. give me a break, just call them the Misty Mountains Jordan, it would take less type and they mean the same thing.
This book was a major disappointment, and yet, so many people like it. Why? I just don't understand. Not to sound snobby, but expectations for fantasy novels must be immensly low if this crap is hailed as a classic.
Rating:
Summary: whats all the fuss about
Review: I've tried reading this book three separate times and it puts me to sleep everytime, I just don't get what all the fuss is about.... I'll stick with Eddings
Rating:
Summary: Not bad at all!
Review: I expected this book to be horendous,for I heard that Jordan is like Eddings.I HATE Eddings.But luckily,I found that this was not true .Jordan is much more interesting and exciting than Eddings ,and also has much more magic.He also has more detail on the plot ,not on politics .Jordan creates an amazing and creative story .Here is the plot :Rand al'Thor lives in Emond's Field ,and life is terribly dull for him .But his life changes when Moiraine ,a woman who claims to be an Aes Sedai (wielder of the One Power )comes to Emond's Field .Soon after ,the wicked Trollocs,half man half beast attack his village .Rand and his friends are forced to embark on a quest with Moiraine and her Warder ,Lan ,a quest in which Rand will learn his true destiny.
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