Rating: Summary: Easy reading, as if written for children, but entertaining. Review: Brain candy. Easy to read: not so exciting you can't put it down, not so challenging that you have no energy to read it after a hard day at work. Not particularly vivid or engaging, but not bad or boring. This whole series is like mild, slightly melted vanilla ice cream for the soul.
Rating: Summary: A good book. Beware of the 9+ to follow. Review: Let's boil it down. This is an excellent book. Robert Jordan creates an interesting and exciting world. It's thoroughly enjoyable to watch Rand and friends discover life outside of the little village in which they grew up. The plot develops at a measured pace--giving us time to learn about the world Jordan has created as well as action sequences interspersed. (Though I will say that neither the story nor the main character seem prepared for the climactic scene as it happens.) In the meantime, Jordan is somewhat limited as a writer--a few descriptive phrases get overused. Still, you can't miss with this book. However. And there is a huge however. There are currently nine more volumes in this series and I (and I think I'm voicing the consensus view here) can't say much for anything beyond volume four. As the plotlines become separated, and Jordan segments his narrative to deal with them all, the novels slow down to a snail's pace. Meanwhile, his shortcomings as a writer become that much more evident, both because he seems to have taken less time with his craft and because the flaws get repeated again and again over almost 8000 pages. Moreover, the fun of watching his sheltered characters discover the world disappears and Jordan hasn't really given them enough depth to maintain our interest once this is gone.So, what to do? Well, if you can, read this book and stop. It will stand alone quite well. Otherwise, buyer beware!
Rating: Summary: Starts Out Slow! Review: I recommend that you read this book. The bad part is that it starts out really slow. It gets good at about page 500. I wouln't compare this to the lord of the rings, but it comes close. This series gets better and better until about the fifth book. Then it starts dropping and dropping in action.
Rating: Summary: Does Anything Ever Happen? Review: My expectations of this book and series were high, considering the majority of reviews. After 300 hundred pages I would say that this is a fairly boring book. I have decided not to complete the book as the thought of reading 9 more of the same size, considering the first 300 hundred pages of this book, is not worth the effort. Try reading the first 5 books of the Great Book of Amber, then stop. You will find that much more enjoyable and cheaper.
Rating: Summary: Delight and torment; fatalism is the only solution Review: Many years ago I wrote a review after reading the first book giving it five stars in an Amazon review and calling it some of the best fantasy ever. A few years after reading the sixth book (I believe) I gave it one star and demanded that Jordan stop dragging his feet and finish the story before his fans went insane with impatience. I am writing this after having read the tenth book and have moderated my opinions, possibly because Jordan has wrung all resistance out of me. Anyone thinking of starting this series is advised to check out the Amazon reviews of the most recently released book to see just how frustrated and angry many of the early fans have become and think hard if they really want to take the risk. The first two books, in my opinion, rank among the best of recent fantasy, but the pace of the books is absolutely glacial by the sixth or so. The plot moves so slowly that I actually missed the ninth book entirely and didn't realize it until I was halfway through the tenth, as so little had changed from the eighth. (I just got the 9th, which I'll get around to reading sometime.) I now pick up the books whenever I feel the need for a distraction and reread sections that I find particularly interesting. The main characters often are on their own sub-plots for so long that you can treat portions of the books as novellas. The only way to keep my sanity is to assume that the series will never end and enjoy small bits of Jordan's lavish descriptions and meticulous detail. By the tenth book it is quite normal for a character's internal thoughts to go on for pages without pause, and Jordan seems to have run out of ways to make the characters dynamic, so most of the time they spend pages agonizing about how grim they've become. If you are the kind of person who is at all tempted to peek at the end of novels to see what the end is, do not start this series. If you have a life expectancy of less than ten years, don't bother. If you are perturbed by the thought that major characters can be introduced six books into a series, do not start this series. Basically, if you are not a hard-core fantasy fan who is willing to suffer mortification of the mind under Jordan's lash, do not start this series. If you are not one of the above, then go ahead and pick up used copies of the books, borrow them from friends or the library, etc but the mammoth cost of buying the entire series new probably isn't worth it.
Rating: Summary: The beginning of a long, boring trip? Review: I received the first three books of this series as a birthday gift in July. I got through reading the first one, The Eye of the World, on January 11th, 2004. Considering that I regularly read through 1000 page books within a span of two weeks (and only one for basically anything that has to do with fantasy, except for the awful WILLOW sequels by Chris Claremont and George Lucas - I blocked the title out of my mind it was so excruciating. It is the only book I ever threw away), I have to admit that my reading of the "Eye of the World" was a rather unsatisfying experience. The book fell short of almost every expectation I had set for it, which were prudently low. The Eye of the World is mediocre work, at best. How Jordan goes on and on about nothing reminded me of the Tolkien's Book 4 from "The Two Towers"... (I AM a Tolkien fan, but this was too bloody boring, even for me...). Likely, when Jordan started this book, he had no clue about how it would end. He goes on and on, around in circles, and then what should have constituted the major plotline because of its scope and potential interest to Fantasy readers was instead reduced to a two-three chapter sub-plot before Jordan resumed his wandering. I am sorry I could not refrain from finishing what I had started, that I read through it, and sorrier I am so stubborn that I will read the other two books...and likely will at some point buy the other books of the series. But...I am grateful that the Two Rivers is a fictional place and that I will NEVER wander accidentally to that oh so boring place, of which I know all the colors of the houses' curtains by now...
Rating: Summary: Good News for Lovers of [bad stuff]: There's About 10 More Books Review: This isn't just about this book. It's about the entire series. This series is the most self indulgant piece of trash I have ever read. First, the author's style of writing is extremely mediocre. Robert Jordan is not a good writer. He is not very creative, either. Each book is a repeat of the next with minimal character development, minimal plot development, and basically the same fight over and over. I also see many things that he stole and renamed (badly in some cases; Orc is a lot better or a name than Trolloc) from J.R.R. Tolkien. Not only that, but he has no clue how the female mind works. Jordan has apparently decided that all women think about is a) how irritating men are, or b) how much they love Rand. For example, Nyneave seems pretty cool until you get her point of view and he tries to write what she thinks. Then you hate her. This happens with all the characters. In the 7th grade, all my friends were into these books and I read up to the middle of book 6 until I'd decided I'd had enough. By the middle of book 6, the only character that I had a semblance of respect or affection for was Mat. I also think the author has decided to live vicariously through Rand. I don't want to give anything away, but lets just say that Rand gets his share of women. This series will never end because Jordan is making too much money off of preteen girls and boys who will later realize how awful the books really are.
Rating: Summary: Have to read best book of the year! Review: The Eye of the World By: Robert Jordan The main character of this book is Rand al Thor. He is a teenaged boy who lives in the Two Rivers. There are seven other characters but the story mainly revolves around him. In the book a girl Aes Sedai (sorceress) and a Warder (warrior) shows up in the Two Rivers. One night she gathers the three boys she was looking for. They leave hastily so they don't have time to prepare to leave. Their destined place is Tar Valon. But the trip there won't be easy when they are being hunted by the Dark One and other fiends. The Dark One will try to reach them in anyway that he can including in their dreams, darkfriends, and other aes sedai. But when they get split up at a fallen city two of the important boys no longer have the aes sedai to protect them. Will they survive and make it to Tar Valon? Will they find the others? Well go and buy or rent the book and find out! This book is defiantly one of the longer books. I would recommend this book to fantasy/war people. I did not think this book was short of anything. But I'll warn you now once you pick this book up you won't want to put it down.
Rating: Summary: One of the Best Books Ever Review: The Eye of the World By: Robert Jordan This book is about three boys in which the world now depends on to survive. Rand al'Thor is the main character of this story. Mat and Perin are also important characters in the story. They are the three boys that the world depends on. They have an Aes Sedai and a Warder and two people that help them on their journey. Two of their friends and and a gleeman come with them also. This book had lots of strengths. It was very great in how it was written. It explained everything very good. It explained what everyone looked like and how everything happened. It painted a picture in my head. The whole book was very exciting. I don't think the book had any weaknesses in it. It was the one of the best book I ever read. If I were to compare this book to another book I would saw it is a lot like the Lord of the Rings series. It was almost as good as the Lord of the Rings because it had the heroes, the villains, and a lot of great characters. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes the fantasy and war books. It is also the first book in the series.
Rating: Summary: Great Read. Review: This is the book that really got me in to fantasy. It's great. You should understand that this series is composed of ten books, and is not completed yet. Each book reveals something new, and has kept me entertained. If you've seen the rest of the reviews, you know that not everyone is happy. I am not happy that it hasn't ended yet. I am happy with the quality of each book so far, and hope to see an end soon.
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