Rating: 
Summary: had it been half the size it would have been twice the story
Review: Don't get me wrong, I love many long stories and fantasy series but I didn't think Jordan's world or characters were rich enough to fill the space of this book. It starts great. It's mysterious, unpredictable, exciting...Then the long, drawn out, boring middle. I was forcing myself through the pages, sure I'd get paid off with some glorious climax, but the ending was so anemic I felt cheated. The series improves but wastes way too much time, sometimes an entire book has hardly any contribution to the overall story. Tolkien's world was overflowing with history and atmosphere and mythology, so much that it's still rampantly discussed all over the world today. Jordan exhausts the possibilities of his world quickly and I lost interest just as fast. Rand is a boring character and the "One Power" (the world's source or magic) is very nebulous and unconvincing. Overall it was a cool story but with way too much useless, aimless plot wandering.
Rating: 
Summary: The making of a legend
Review: This truly is a masterpiece, a series of books for the generations to come to admire. I am reading the 8th volume, and I have read twice some of the books.
I am a slow reader (a chapter or two every day), and enjoy every word written in it. If you are looking for a fast paced novel this is not it. You have to be patient. You have to like detail, intricate plots, different, complex and evolving personalities.
True that sometimes Jordan pushes it a little bit decribing things with too much detail (garments, rooms, towns, anything), and the opposite as well: sometimes a truly interesting passage happens too fast to even acknowledge what is going on.
What amazes me the most is the incredible facility by which Jordan gives invented, good sounded, names to anything: people, towns, animals, rivers, etc, and there are hundreds of characters and villages. Some things are even given two, three, four or more different names. But the best of the series is the story or the bunch of interelated stories in the Wheel Of Time series which are absolutely amazing, the outcome of a fruitful mind with tons of imagination and intelligence. It is extremely difficult to find inconsistencies, and where there are it is a very light, insignificant flaw.
It is a pitty that this series can not be found in Spain. There is a lot of people missing it.
I absolutely recommend these books to the patient, slow paced reader, who truly appreciates imagination, intelligence and writing talent. My worst fear now is that misfortune could touch Jordan (the Light protect him) making him unable to continue writing these splendid books, leaving us without the joy of many more books and the end to such an epic fantasy story.
Rating: 
Summary: It's not THAT bad.
Review: The Eye of the World is not without flaws. Nevertheless, I'm annoyed by the one-star reviews dismissing it as "boring" or "dumb." It's easy for any random yahoo to look at something which took years of thought and effort--something which he/she probably couldn't write in a lifetime--and call it a piece of trash.That said, there IS a lot of room for improvement. The descriptions, in many places, could have been trimmed down (my editor would have a field day slashing apart the manuscript--I can just see the words "get to the point" scrawled in the margins of every page). Jordan throws an avalanche of world-history at us, along with names of characters we'll never meet (all of them with funky spellings and apostrophies, of course). I'm sure this will all be relevant in later novels, but ideally this sort of exposition should be carefully woven into the story, not delivered in long, rambling paragraphs of dialogue (I'm thinking of the scene in Two Rivers where Moiraine delivers her history-lesson on Manetheren.) Many reviewers have criticized the quality of the writing itself, and I'd have to agree with them...to an extent. "The worst writing ever published" is a bit of a stretch (to say the least!) but Jordan does have a tendency to use odd descriptive phrases. How does one give a "plump smile"? Or have "tight eyes"? I see what he's *trying* to convey, but at the same time, it evokes images of blowfish-lips or faces being stretched like Silly Putty. Last but not least, the similarities to Tolkien. Many reviewers have addressed this issue, but it didn't bother me too much; ALL authors copy off of each other (though, admittedly, it usually isn't this obvious). As long as *something* new is added, I don't mind similarities; if no one ever copied anyone else, human civilization wouldn't have gotten very far. Imagine, for instance, if the inventor of the wheel had decided that only he/she had a right to use that invention. Jordan copied off of Tolkien, and Goodkind copied off of Jordan (Goodkind swears left and right that he's never even read Jordan, but given the remarkable similarities I just can't believe it.) I like all three of these authors; they all built off each other, introduced new ideas and fleshed out ideas left underdeveloped by their predecessors. But I digress. To sum it up, Eye of the World is a complex, rather unwieldy tome which is good but could have been better. I'd give Jordan an A for effort, but a C for execution.
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Masterpiece
Review: Robert Jordan has made a place for himself in the fantasy world, with critics comparing him to the best, J. R. R. Tolkien. This is the starter that made him a legned. The Wheel of Time is a wonderful, artfully made book, full of rich characters, each different to another. He builds each one up, adding in information that enriches the characters and the world about them.
Even in this first book, we can tell that he has preplanned the entire series, giving little hints, little tidbits of things to come, some of which you don't remember until it is brought up again in a later book.
The Wheel of Time is by far the best book in the series. It still contains many things undescovered, and the main characters are still, for lack of a better word, "innocent" and eager. They grow steadily throughout the series, but being the first book, we can see how many of them still retain their "innocence"
Overall, the best book in the series
Rating:
Summary: Soon!
Review: This is not A review on the book, but news. The time is almost up. I would like to inform you that Im in the process of making A live action movie of the Wheel of Time Series, yes its true, if you fans will just wait in their A few years it will happen. Im planning to talk to Mr. Jorden shortly, so be patient, its happening.
Rating:
Summary: Great books...
Review: I must admit I was skeptical of a fantasy book, as the only fantasy prior to these books I had read was Tolkien. I have read this series twice now. The second time was almost as good as the first. Robert Jordan's series was just getting off its feet and it shows in this book. I would rate it as the 6th best book in the series. That being said, it is still a great book and will leave you with a desire to read more. I can't wait for Book 10.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad fantasy and bad writer
Review: ... This is simply bad fantasy and literature. ...The story is boring and dull. Nothing interesting happens and after 300 pages you don't care what will be the characters' fate. One just hopes that they get killed, and maybe a new story begins. Saddly that never takes place and you have to continue being stuck in a journey that becomes an increasibg torture.
All the characters are void and stereotypes, their behavior is predictable and the dialogues are artificially build. Rand is the heroe, who doesn't know his true self but is destined to great deeds. Mat is the funny skinny guy with the bow and arrows. Perrin is the strong sturdy fellow with an axe at his belt. Egwene is the hero's girl, the classic smart female with a hidden extraordinary power who doesn't understand men. Lan is the talented warrior who doesn't say much but always knows what to do. And Moiraine is the sorceress who has everything under control.
But the worst was the use of magic. Here it is an example: our heroes are trying to escape the bad guys (a lot of dreadful creatures which are not very smart), but their horses are tired because of the long ride. They can't stop, their enemies are on their heels. Guess what happens? The sorceress (Aes Sedai) uses the "one power" to invigorate the animals and the terrible danger is overcome.
This is a cheap use of the fantastical. Remember the real master, Tolkien, there the people got tired and hurt; experienced painful feelings and sad memories. They were real people in danger, here they are cartoon beings and you always have the certainty they will be safe even in the greatest of dangers.
This is the kind of books why people hate and think of fantasy as an unimportant and childish genre. This series is to fantasy what Star Trek is to SF. There is good fantasy to be read. Don't consider this one, instead you can try good authors like George R.R. Martin or Poul Anderson. I wrote this hoping to help prevent any potential reader to make the same mistake I made. Now that I'm free of this burden, I'm going to read some Jack Vance.
Rating: 
Summary: amazing
Review: I am still surprised that I, of all people, read a fantasy novel that I actually enjoyed. I usually read more realistic fiction, but I really found it fascinating. A friend recommended this book to me, so i thought I'd try it out and loved it. The only problem i encountered with the novel was its length. It was kind of a set back because it gives every detail of every event. It follows the characters through everything. But other than that, the book was amazing. The day i finished this one I went and picked up the second and started reading. I had never read a book like this before, so I don't have much to compare it to, but in any case, Jordan was amazing at introducing us to this whole world. He does a wonderful job of allowing the reader to understand what was going on; I never had that lost feeling at any point of the novel. Even though there were so many characters, I found each one unique and colorful in his or her own way. Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, and Nynaeve, the Two Rivers group, are all so real. It is really easy to connect with them. We can all see a little of ourselves in their personalities. You can't help but feel for them. And each new character develops a personality of their own. Well, overall, it was a great book. If you have time, I certainly recommend this book. It was a little lengthy (about 800 pages), but it never drags and when you're done, it is really worth it. Even if you have never read a fantasy novel in your life, you are bound to enjoy this book because Robert Jordan is such a great author and he really pulls you into the book.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book!!
Review: Robert Jordan has done an excellent job on his first book of The Wheel of Time series. The plot is full of conflict and action as seen mainly through the eyes of young Rand al'Thor, who suddenly finds himself in terrible danger from monsters, strange folk of legend, and himself. Mr. Jordan has done an excellent job in developing and portraying the complex emotions demonstrated by the numerous characters in the book. I would definitely recommend this book to all lovers of a heart-wrenching, action packed tale.
Rating:
Summary: Not nearly as good as Tolkien
Review: Jordan should get credit for some of Tolkien's weaknesses. He gives much more presence to women in this story, and politicizes his world with multiple groups each pursuing their own goals and interests. I enjoyed Jordan's placement of wolves in the good-but-misunderstood category compared to Tolkien's demonization. But Jordan is much weaker than Tolkien in most other areas. His writing skills are rather mediocre. Towards the end of the book I grew tired of seeing the same adjectives/adverbs and phrases recycled over and over again, such as: "eyed him sharply," "rictus snarl", "licked his lips," and many others. There are countless descriptions of individuals gripping their swords or throwing back their cloaks. Overall, I enjoyed the book but probably won't read the rest. I found the characters to be too plainly drawn and even stereotypical. Matt was described as being a prankster, but never really did anything unusual or interesting in the course of their travels. I also found the endless elaboration of their travels from town to town to be a bit boring. Tolkien is a much more impressive writer.
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