Rating: 
Summary: Skip it if you're over 15
Review: I recently began a literary quest for some "adult" fantasy. Not pornographic, but something with meat. I guess I had high expectations for this series. A few reviewers compared Jordan to Tolkien; nothing could be farther from the truth. Jordan's ham-fisted foreshadowing takes all of the mystery out of the plot. The Orcish knockoff Trollics (how mundane is THAT name) were about as frightening as my family dog. I never felt for the characters, they never came across as real. Perhaps this is a good introduction to the genre for young readers. If you are looking for a mature fantasy series try George R.R. Martins A Song of Ice and Fire trilogy.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: A friend just lent me this book, the first in the series. It sat on my shelf for awhile before I bothered to crack it open - I expected not to like it for some reason. Boy was I wrong! Once I started, I couldn't put it down! I read the whole book in 2 days, staying up late into the night devouring every word. It looked like a long book, but I wanted it to be longer! And I note with glee that there are already at least 8 books in the series, so it will be awhile before I've exhuasted the series. If you don't read quicky I suppose it could get tiresome, there are some side-ways Jordan takes you down, but I found it all interesting and captivating. Now I can't wait to find out what happens to everyone next - his characters feel very alive and real, even when fighting Darkfiends and Trollocs.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy at its best!
Review: I've never really been a fan of fantasy. Sure, "The Lord of the Rings" was great, but I just can't seem to get excited about goblins and creatures from different worlds. After reading "The Eye of the World", however, I have discovered a whole new appreciation for the genre. The novel starts out a fast pace following the adventures of a boy named Rand and his two friends. He soon discovers that he is wanted by the "Dark One" the evil power who has been imprisoned for thousands of years. Rand doesn't know why, but he has to travel to the other side of his world to seek safety. What makes this book so great is the attention to detail. Jordan has really developed a complex history for his world. The reader feels as though is actually traveling through one of the many cities along the way. One of the best books I have ever read, I can't wait to start the next one!
Rating:
Summary: a master minded jordan
Review: I think jordan really hit it big with this book. He had me interested from start to finish.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I'm been a long term fan of science fiction and fantasy - starting with the likes of Nancy Springer, JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis, Stephen Donaldson and Douglas Adams and moving through to David Eddings and Terry Brooks, and onto sci fi from the likes of Arthur C Clarke, Greg Bear, Robert Silverberg, and Stephen Baxter. I've heard so much about Robert Jordan's series that I've been keen to try and see what all the hype was about. Though try as hard as I can - 3 times I've picked this book up and struggled through the first 200 pages, and 3 times i've put it down disappointed. I just find the author's writing too contrived. I read another review's comments recently about George Martin's latest series saying that it seemed to suffer from the fantasy author getting away with writing style that wouldn't cut it anywhere else - faux antique you could say. Reading this book (or at least repeatedly trying to), finally made me understand what that reader was trying to say. In Australia we have a term called 'try-hard', and that's the one i just have to apply to this book. It's a shame, because I'm obviously missing something that a lot of other sci fi and fantasy fans are getting - or perhaps they haven't been exposed to the greats - though i find this hard to believe. I just don't think i'll be trying for a lucky fourth read-through.
Rating:
Summary: This was a wow...
Review: I am a really big fantasy buff but I don't usually read a lot of books, so when I took up the first book of the Wheel of Time, Eye of the World, I was kind of intimidated. There were already nine books and I was just starting, but once I finished the first in a week I knew I was in for an excellent treat. I highly recommend this book. From a lover of fantasy movies and videogames this book has just made new boundaries. I have recently taken up the second book, and I have still yet to be able to put the books down, even after the first 814 pages of the first book and the first 100 of the second book, the freshness of Jordan's writing keeps me enticed. This is highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Amazing
Review: This book is great. It starts with a bang and doesn't stop until the last page. The characterization is wonderful. I can really compare myself to Rand. Some reviewers have said that the book and series are too long, and a couple say it should be shorter like Tolkien's LooR, but Tolkien himself said that LooR was too short. Excellent book, great start to the series.
Rating:
Summary: Competent writing, dull characters. Lack of suspense.
Review: I loved Tolkien so I thought I'd have a try at a fantasy series. Ten years ago I played in an elaborate D&D game ten hours every Saturday so this stuff should be up my alley. There are some exciting moments here, the writing is competent, but the novel is hampered by a dull story and poor character development. You follow the equivalent of three post high school kids without much to differentiate one kid from the other; without them having much to add to the adventure, plus a few others characters that just aren't very imaginative or interesting. The book rambles on at times without much happening, and when something does happen, often there is no suspense. The kids do dumb things like wandering off at night in a deserted, haunted ancient city, and those charged with protecting them don't seem to have the sense to keep them safe. ("We've just fled into a city. Every evil character in the book is bearing down on us. Let's rest and let the three kids wander off by themselves in the street where they can be recognized."...Each kid is given a coin that allows the female wizard to track them, but she neglects to tell them the value of the coin so the coin is spent....At times I found myself hoping the one kid would get killed, just for being stupid). I think of "Watership Down" as a book with emotionally rich, non-human characters that come alive. I think of "The Vampire Lestat" as a scary read. This book has some merit, but three quarters through this, I lost the book, and I didn't care enough to spend $... to get another copy.
Rating:
Summary: Paid by the word
Review: Do not read this book! It will ... you into the evil web of profiteering that is the steamroller of time! I gave up on the series after book three when I worked out that Robert Jordan was paid by the word. It's not that he's a bad writer, he's definitely competent, it's just that the amount of action revealed and character explored in no way justifies the weight of paper he uses to tell the story. I know I'm in the minority here, but Jordan is simply too long winded to be properly enjoyed. If you are looking for better epic fantasy in the same vein, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams or anything by Eddings or Feist is inifinitely more worth your while, and will also take a good deal less time to read!
Rating:
Summary: A unique piece of literature
Review: Considering the saturation of the fantasy genre by novels that are mediocre, it is even more difficult to find the novels that are outstanding. The Eye of the World, and the entire Wheel of Time Series, is one of the rare gems in a avalanche of common stones. What some see as a slow and perhaps unremarkable beginning, I see as the necessary introduction of a wide array of major characters. And these characters are diverse: there are three male characters (that are generally considered the main characters), three female characters (who take a more important role later in the series), and wealth of others with a great variety of characteristics and qualities. With such a cast, it is imperative for Robert Jordan to define the characters' likes and dislikes, dreams and ambitions, and other pertinent information before progressing the story. Thus, the novel starts slowly. Yet looking back to the inauspicious beginning, it is one of very few calm moments in the series, and the only time without threat. Then, the world is shaken-the evil that has been cumulating is released, and the calm is shattered. With the help of an Aes Sedai (a character that both adheres to, and diverges from, the typical sorceress type), the characters leave their hometown and embark upon a fantastic adventure, one that traverses the distance of the world. In this adventure, Robert Jordan introduces many different characters and elements, and like any good novel, these elements are rarely forgotten. Instead, everything is woven into a tight plot, as something forgotten in the second novel may return in the fourth. By the end of The Eye of the World, the world is already an established entity, with a seemingly dynamic life of its own, a life that is realistic enough to incite a myriad of emotions from the reader. This novel is a finally crafted piece of literature, and is well worth anyone's investment.
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