Goodreads | The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time)

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Alex rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

03/06/08

bookshelves: books-read-in-2006

Read in February, 2006

THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES BY ROBERT JORDAN: I tried. I gave it over two years of my life and I still couldn't keep going till the end. Of course, the real end will probably be book fifteen or twenty or, heaven forbid, twenty-five and up. I'm talking about Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Currently there are eleven books in the series, the latest, Knife of Dream, came out last October. The first book, Eye of the World, started out really well and I felt like I'd discovered a great new epic fa...more THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES BY ROBERT JORDAN: I tried. I gave it over two years of my life and I still couldn't keep going till the end. Of course, the real end will probably be book fifteen or twenty or, heaven forbid, twenty-five and up. I'm talking about Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Currently there are eleven books in the series, the latest, Knife of Dream, came out last October. The first book, Eye of the World, started out really well and I felt like I'd discovered a great new epic fantasy series similar to that of Lord of the Rings. The first book proved this and I thought it was great; I was also very excited at the notion of there being so many books in the series, with the story still incomplete. The second book, The Great Hunt, while not as mind-mashingly great as the first book, was still a great read, as was the third, The Dragon Reborn, where we find out that the main character is the guy prophesied to save the world, essentially. Eight books from th ere and the big showdown still hasn't come, while Jordan has continued to drag out into the hundreds and thousands of pages scenes, descriptions, and characters bickering at each other about the same thing while repetitively employing their annoying habits, to the point where I feel like I'm reading a children's nursery rhyme. Then there's the whole deal with the main character, Rand, having his undeniable love for three of the women characters, which he is okay with, and which they are okay with, apparently, and are quite willing to share him amongst themselves. I may have kept sloughing through the series better if there'd been a lot less purple prose and books four to ten had been condensed into say books four to six, which would've made more sense and made the stories move along better. Around book five I began spotting the routine the books go through: a few hundred pages of sitting around talking, explaining and regurgitating what's happened in the past books, bitching at each other; then about four hundred pages of people painstakingly crawling from a starting point to a destination (and bear in mind that these people can "travel" through vortexes real fast), and then the last hundred pages is a big action scene. At book seven, Crown of Thorns, halfway through, I decided I'd wasted enough time on Mr. Jordan and his wordiness, so I employed a slow speed-reading method which got me through them a lot faster. In about three days I reached the end of book nine and decided I'd had it and it just wasn't worth any more of my time. At this point I'd been able to summarize each book into three or four sentences, and I'd decided that if I can do that, maybe it's just not worth it and I should put my reading time to something more important that I'd enjoy reading more.

So here I am Mr. Jordan, signing off on your series that held so much promise and crashed and burned like a planet falling into a sun. Oh, and you know what, I'm not the only one who thinks this way. There are other people I know who've given up earlier than me, and others who've not even bothered to start because they know it's going to end bad.

On the plus side, I get to sell all my Robert Jordan books and make money off him!

Sayonara.

For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit www.alexctelander.com....less

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Kelly rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

07/31/07

bookshelves: fantasy, fiction

Read in January, 1997

recommends it for: fantasy fans, but beware, you may be in for later pain if you try to go on

The first book of this series is decent. I read this in my all fantasy all the time phase in middle school, 'cause it was big then, and why not? The world is pretty interesting, the concept gets the characters going. Some of the characters are great. Some of them at least /start off/ great in this book. The plot twists are pretty cool sometimes as well. Robert Jordan started this series with a huge vision in mind, and you can see it here as he tries to get it all out. I really feel like he had p...more The first book of this series is decent. I read this in my all fantasy all the time phase in middle school, 'cause it was big then, and why not? The world is pretty interesting, the concept gets the characters going. Some of the characters are great. Some of them at least /start off/ great in this book. The plot twists are pretty cool sometimes as well. Robert Jordan started this series with a huge vision in mind, and you can see it here as he tries to get it all out. I really feel like he had passion with this one and articulated it pretty well.

I just have a really hard time recommending it to anyone. If you're a fantasy fan, you'll know that the deal is that you read the first book and like it, and of course you're in it now, you NEED to know what happens to all of the characters. Unfortunately, this series gets SO BAD. SO BAD I AM PAINED THINKING OF IT. I think I need Advil just from remembering what Robert Jordan put me through later on with this series. SO BAD. He's trying to stretch it out to make as much money as possible, and to the UTTER RUINATION OF ANYTHING GOOD. NOT COOL, Jordan. NOT COOL. I'm sorry for all the caps, but I really need to emphasize how much pain I was put through. Because of course, I tried to keep going. I even made it until halfway through book six before I literally screamed "I can't do it anymore!!" and threw the book across the room. The main heroes get annoying, the fun sidekicks either get short shrift or bogged down with serious things so that they are no longer fun, the majority of the women SUCK and are either A) annoying, whiny bitches, B) demanding, emasculating whores with penis envy or C) I WANT TO SHOOT YOU NOW. The plot gets ridiculous, and really self important and overly serious. And more importantly? I no longer give a shit! The painful part is that it all started off so well and so interesting, too. I hate when authors do that.

So my recommendation? Don't read it! If you do, read with care. Don't get too involved. To be safe, don't read beyond about the fourth book (perhaps fifth for the brave), and just read the synopses online or something. Shudder.

Ahem. Yeah. The book was pretty good....less

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Eric rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

07/12/07

recommends it for: fantasy fans

Jordan's Wheel of Time series were the best fantasy books I had ever read*, the best pure stories. I wanted to live in the world he created. His descriptions of simple village life and interaction are so rich and wonderful, not to mention his treatment of city life, magic, technology, politics, romance, history, mystery, comedy, food, the battle of the sexes, military life and tactics, cultures and on and on. Just wonderful. I couldn't wait to get home from work and slip into that world. It was ...more Jordan's Wheel of Time series were the best fantasy books I had ever read*, the best pure stories. I wanted to live in the world he created. His descriptions of simple village life and interaction are so rich and wonderful, not to mention his treatment of city life, magic, technology, politics, romance, history, mystery, comedy, food, the battle of the sexes, military life and tactics, cultures and on and on. Just wonderful. I couldn't wait to get home from work and slip into that world. It was anguish waiting all those years for each new book to come out. When they did, I couldn't help devouring them immediately. For a while there, I'd go back and reread all of the existing books again in the run-up to each new release. They were that good. I'm sure I'll do it again at some point - read the books all the way through again. Fifteen years I've invested in these books! Reading them over and over.

I do it an injustice to oversimplify it like this, but it is essentially the "unassuming wholesome farm boy turns out to be the Chosen One and must journey with companions to confront the supernatural evil entity" model of story. But it's just massive. Like Star Wars, it has mythological archetypes buried deep within it. Think Joseph Campbell and the hero's journey idea plus character types and situations faintly reflecting those from various cultures' bodies of myth. That makes it so deep and rich and subconsciously resonating. I remember faintly entertaining the paranoid fear that I sure hoped the author didn't die before finishing the series because I couldn't stand not knowing how it ended**. It was that good.

*But then somewhere around book 6 or 7, the series started going down hill. It lost its way, ran out of gas. There were entire books where the various substories just didn't move much. And this one time, maybe book 9, the paper got thicker, the font got larger AND the pagecount went way down. It's like he was really struggling to advance the story. Slavishly I kept buying them and slogging through them. The writing wasn't any less good, it's just that it got frustrating that the story didn't advance.

Finally on the penultimate book in the series, the last one released, it started to pick back up and get better. And he said the following book would finally be the last (12th) one and he'd wrap it all up, though I don't see how he can do it in a single book. The story just got so huge and there are still so many unexplored and unresolved things, there's no way he can do them all justice in a single book.

**Aaaand now he has some super-rare disease, the meds for which make him so fatigued that he can't write much, and the survival rate for which is about 4 years with treatment. So it's not certain that he will live to finish the last book. Arrrrgh. You can't really be selfish about it - I mean, this is a person's life we're talking about. (But still, kind of, arrrgh.)...less

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Mika rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

09/23/08

Read in August, 2008

Let me preface this by saying very clearly that I mean no offense to The Wheel of Time fans. It’s just my opinion, yes? Just my humble opinion.

So. Simply put: I hate this book. Somewhat passionately. The Romgi will attest to the fact that while I was reading I would mutter to myself about how ridiculous the plot was or how much I hated dragging myself through all 800+ pages. But I carried on.

The main character, Rand, was so uninteresting that I honestly didn’t care what happened to h...more Let me preface this by saying very clearly that I mean no offense to The Wheel of Time fans. It’s just my opinion, yes? Just my humble opinion.

So. Simply put: I hate this book. Somewhat passionately. The Romgi will attest to the fact that while I was reading I would mutter to myself about how ridiculous the plot was or how much I hated dragging myself through all 800+ pages. But I carried on.

The main character, Rand, was so uninteresting that I honestly didn’t care what happened to him, nor do I have any interest in reading any more books in the series to find out if his story continues. I hope it doesn’t. I hope he dies a gruesome and painful death, leaving the entire Wheel of Time world to decay and be overrun by the forces of evil. Having a flawed main character is sort of necessary, but where were Rand’s strengths? He had a few spots of luck, and happened to be traveling with people significantly more talented than he. When he wasn’t protected by others’ cleverness and skill, he was stuck with Mat, who may possibly be the most idiotic character ever created. Perhaps that’s going a bit far. Mat is almost without a doubt the most idiotic character I have ever had to read about. I hate Mat about as much as I hate this book. His sole purpose as a main character is to screw things up for everyone else while being absolutely necessary to the Quest or Mission or whatever. Gosh I hate him.

Ok, there were some ok parts. Things I enjoyed on some level: Perrin (although couldn’t the author think of a name slightly less similar to Peregrin?) and his wolfness; the Tuatha’an (Gypsies); and Loial, an Ogier (basically a redesigned Ent).

The whole book was just such a patchwork collection of ideas and myths and fantasy cliches, like the author had a hat full of slips of paper with possible elements he could use and randomly pulled them out. To be fair, it appears he put quite a bit of thought into connecting everything once it was out, but seriously - Gypsies and yin-yang in the same story? A little weird, don’t you think? Oh yeah, and then there are obvious copies of Orcs and Ringwraiths, which the author intended to be similar. Not creative! Do not give him credit for that!

I feel I’ve gone on long enough. But just in case you didn’t catch my opinion, The Eye of the World has a horribly contrived plot, uninteresting or downright annoying characters, and too many pieces of stories to be worth the many hours of my life that were sucked away by reading it.

Yuck.

P.S. I think Robert Jordan is a lousy writer. Aside from not having enough of his own ideas, he just doesn’t have the literary genius to make this book worth it. The Eye of the World reads like a cheap fantasy book you’d pick up from the $1 bin at a used bookstore, except it happens to be one of the bestselling books ever. Undeservedly so, I think....less

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Trevor rated it:

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06/28/07

Read in January, 2007

recommends it for: fantasy fans who haven't read Tolkien

I really liked this book when i read it, but at that time i had never read anything by J.R.R. Tolkien, except for the first half of The Hobbit, which i have read four times now and for whatever reason never finished. I guess i just didn't like it all that much. So i had planned to spend the next year or two reading the entirity of The Wheel of Time, and this seemed like a strong start. Then Book 4 (The Shadow Rising) sucke...more I really liked this book when i read it, but at that time i had never read anything by J.R.R. Tolkien, except for the first half of The Hobbit, which i have read four times now and for whatever reason never finished. I guess i just didn't like it all that much. So i had planned to spend the next year or two reading the entirity of The Wheel of Time, and this seemed like a strong start. Then Book 4 (The Shadow Rising) sucked and i stopped, and read Lord of the Rings, and now i just view this as a huge Tolkien ripoff. The creatures + characters are all the same, just with different names: the orcs + Uruk-Hai became Trollocs, the Witch-king himself became a Draghkar, Saron became Ba'alzamon (or, for further cheesiness, his real name is Shai'tan, a terrible pun), Gandalf got split into two as Thom and Moiraine, Aragorn became Lan, Merry + Pippin became Mat and Perrin, Sam became...well, Perrin again, i think, and so on. The first book has a roughly similar plot, what with Frodo trying to get the ring to Mount Doom and Rand trying to get himself to The Eye of the World, in both cases for the purpose of defeating Sauron/Shai'tan.

At least it was well written. The characters were mostly likable (Thom, in particular) and unique. This is one of the main reasons i hated Book 4 so much: all of Jordan's characters became flat. By the time you finish Book 4, there is one male character and one female character, they just have a number of different faces. The men are ignorant morons and the women are irritating bitches. I hate the way that Robert Jordan writes women.

Eh. I guess i haven't really much else to add; my memory's pretty foggy on what happens in which book. But, Book 1 is well enough written, and if you stop at the end of it, there are no loose ends to worry about. Hell, you could probably do the second book and stop there, if you don't mind ignoring a few unanswered questions. But, and i know a number of people will disagree with me on this, however i personally know at least three that will agree, do not go past the third book. Read Lord of the Rings instead....less

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epoophoron rated it:

01/10/08

Read in January, 2007

recommends it for: hardcore fantasy fans with A LOT of time to kill.

This series is both entertaining and hugely frustrating. At 11 books averaging 800 pages apiece, it's quite a time investment.

The plusses:

+ Robert Jordan has a knack for compelling plot. I really, really wanted to know what happened next at nearly every turn.

+ The concepts are original - excepting of course that he takes the same stuff from Tolkien that everyone else does - and pretty nifty. I especially like the Yin/Yang idea of the one power and its male and female halves.

...more

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Mike rated it:

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08/31/08

Robert Jordan somehow managed to make everyone love this series of books, even after he extended the series to twelve books and, tragically, passed away while writing the final book. Well, now that the final chapter was taken over by another author hand-picked by Jordan's wife, the series is once again safe to read.

As far as I'm concerned about what I've read so far, I'm kind of indifferent to this brand of fantasy. I'm not the best read individual, but I found that aspect of the story see...more Robert Jordan somehow managed to make everyone love this series of books, even after he extended the series to twelve books and, tragically, passed away while writing the final book. Well, now that the final chapter was taken over by another author hand-picked by Jordan's wife, the series is once again safe to read.

As far as I'm concerned about what I've read so far, I'm kind of indifferent to this brand of fantasy. I'm not the best read individual, but I found that aspect of the story seemed unoriginal. I know that Jordan purposefully evoked images from the shire and the Bible and other religious works, but those were supposed to be images not literal settings, folk lore, and creatures. While some of the ideas and story are excessively borrowed from other much more influential works, the books are well written, and even take some original twists and turns. The pacing does get excessive in places, and there's plenty of room for editing. But overall, I can still say I liked this book.

The Eye of the World is a very good setup for the rest of the series, starting the three major protagonists from scratch in the middle of a fairly insignificant village (for all you Tolkien fans out there, the Shire, basically). These three kids are the target of some serious evil for what seems to them, no apparent reason. Rand, Mat, and Perrin escape with another figure of initial distrust -- an Aes Sedai.

This is where the most unique element of the series lies. The powers of Aes Sedai are fairly unique at times, with different schools having dominion over certain elemental magics, utilizing unique philosophies and problem solving techniques within their schools. The One Power consistently remains mysterious and surprising. It seems that even though much is already known about Saidin and Saider, the wielders of this power still don't know everything about it, making the surprises that much better to read.

By the end of the book, you feel pretty drained. The characters have gone through so much back story that seems almost inconsequential, you don't even realize everything that the climax just happened. Maybe you did, but after eight hundred pages I was wondering who the green man was, what made him so tough to kill one of the Forsaken, what just happened to Rand, if that was really him that just transported in the middle of a battle field and anticlimactically wiped out a massive army of Trollocs and the like, etc. I figured out 700 pages back that Rand is the Dragon Reborn, and yet there are two more books that involve him not knowing for sure....less

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Melissa rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

09/16/08

Read in January, 1996

The entire Wheel of Time series is fabulous, especially since most of the books have now been published and one can just breeze right through them. Well, as much as one can breeze through a book that is two to three times the size of most novels, and a series that will span 12 novels of this size by the time it is done...

To even give a summary of the storyline is pretty close to impossible. There are several main characters with distinct talents, personalities, and roles in the conflict to...more The entire Wheel of Time series is fabulous, especially since most of the books have now been published and one can just breeze right through them. Well, as much as one can breeze through a book that is two to three times the size of most novels, and a series that will span 12 novels of this size by the time it is done...

To even give a summary of the storyline is pretty close to impossible. There are several main characters with distinct talents, personalities, and roles in the conflict to come. Everything is building up toward a final battle of Good vs. Evil. The person who is the only chance that the world will survive - the Dragon Reborn - is trying to unite the world for this epic battle, yet through it all people are still trying to selfishly gain power/money/etc. and just looking out for themselves. Change quickly envelopes the world and chaos reigns. Will the Dragon Reborn be able to unite the world and save it? Will everyone continue to fight it and reap their own destruction? What will this world look like by the time it is all said and done?

The final book, A Memory of Light, is due to be published in the Fall of 2009. It will be authored by Brian Sanderson since Robert Jordan unfortunately passed away in September 2007 from a rare blood disease, leaving behind a partial manuscripts, copious notes and detailing the rest of the story to his closest friends and family. Don't let that stop you from starting the series now, though!

If you don't have time to devote to reading on a regular basis, then this probably isn't the series for you unless you have a great memory. If you love being immersed in a world with varying character interactions, power struggles, intrigues, cultures and enjoy the epic Good vs. Evil battle, then prepare to be amazed! These books are not intended to be read individually, but are part of a huge overarching storyline. They must be read sequentially to be enjoyed.

I've read this series in its entirety each time a new book came out and enjoyed it each time. There is so much in each book, and the series itself is huge. I grow to know the characters and the situation better the more I read it, and my awe for Robert Jordan as a writer continues to increase. I can't wait to read the final installment. This is one of two series that I've actually pre-ordered the next book and paid hardcover price for and considered it well worth it. The other was Harry Potter....less

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Paul rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

04/18/08

bookshelves: high-fantasy

Read in August, 1997

The Wheel of Time saga starts off with a very tried and true formula of meager beginnings. The book "The Eye of the World" is the first part of this series, and Jordan does a fantastic job in hooking a reader. I'll admit the first 50 or so pages were rather dull to me, but that gets solved relatively quickly as Jordan jumps from slowly building suspense to absolute peril. His three protagonists (Rand, Mat, and Perrin) are drawn into a world outside of their safe little haven, and th...more The Wheel of Time saga starts off with a very tried and true formula of meager beginnings. The book "The Eye of the World" is the first part of this series, and Jordan does a fantastic job in hooking a reader. I'll admit the first 50 or so pages were rather dull to me, but that gets solved relatively quickly as Jordan jumps from slowly building suspense to absolute peril. His three protagonists (Rand, Mat, and Perrin) are drawn into a world outside of their safe little haven, and the reader is instantly drawn into it as well.

Jordan keeps a very keen attention to detail throughout his series. There are very few errors in the general canon of the books, and of the few I've found I was forced to actively search for them. Jordan paints a vivid mental picture of his characters and their mannerisms, yet doesn't set the physical characteristics in stone. Instead the reader has the chance to flesh out Jordan's general descriptions in their own mind, which believe me is a blessing.

The only detractors from the book are not severe enough to spoil the experience. Jordan has a tendency to deliver exposition either in the characters thoughts or through dialogue. That's common, but because it is a high fantasy with a very detailed world there is quite a bit of it. Luckily he takes the time to break it up throughout the book so that it doesn't come out lopsided.

Lastly, and this is more noticable in a few of the later books, Jordan tends to emphasize the differences in opinions between men and women. The "comedy of errors" motif is used often, and it adds to the story and detracts from it at the same time. There are moments when the characters are so entrenched in sexist views that they lose credibility as actual people. Often times Nynaeve will come across as a fairly dedicated feminist. Small flaw, but it is there.

For parents worried about any violent or sexual content their children may experience by reading this book I offer the following. Relax. Jordan is almost puritanical in most of the writings, having the men occasionally note a woman's pretty ankles, or full pouting lips. The violence isn't horribly graphic, and what violence does exist Jordan paints with a very broad brush. Horrifying details and morbid subjects are not fleshed out. This makes it a fairly "family friendly" read....less

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Keely rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

12/01/07

bookshelves: fantasy, novel

This book is a slow train back home: it takes forever to get anywhere, and by the time you do, you realized that you liked it a lot more the first time.

In Tolkien, the first hundred pages takes place in Hobbiton, and it sets the mood, creates the characters, and prepares the story, in a sort of mirror to the dénouement. In Eye of the World, you spend the first hundred and fifty pages in whatever small farming community so that when they finally leave, it will seem like something is happenin...more

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Tina rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

01/13/08

bookshelves: sci-fi-fantasy

Read in July, 1998

Robert Jordan has created a group of sympathetic, confused, naive, brave, proud, wrongheaded (sometimes), and very human protagonists. He whisks them away from their comfortable home, a small rural village called Emond's Field, and thrusts them out into an adventure. He makes you like them and root for them and hope that, in the end, all of them -- Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene and Nynaeve -- make out ok. You wonder if you can really trust Moiraine, the inscrutable Aes Sedai who promises to protect ...more

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Christian and Amy rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

12/07/07

bookshelves: finishedreading

Read in January, 2006

recommends it for: Fantasy readers who will see things through

Chris - Greetings all, I'm writing this to collect my thoughts on the Wheel Of Time series of books.
I've read 11 books in the wheel of Time series (12 if you count New Spring (A Wheel of Time Prequel Novel)) and over all, I've very much enjoyed being captivated by the series.
I'm not going to sugar coat it, there are books like 1-5 that are pure gold, then there are books like 7? where you finish it, and you are wondering why you care about the people traveling with the faire, and wonder w...more Chris - Greetings all, I'm writing this to collect my thoughts on the Wheel Of Time series of books.
I've read 11 books in the wheel of Time series (12 if you count New Spring (A Wheel of Time Prequel Novel)) and over all, I've very much enjoyed being captivated by the series.
I'm not going to sugar coat it, there are books like 1-5 that are pure gold, then there are books like 7? where you finish it, and you are wondering why you care about the people traveling with the faire, and wonder why one of the main three characters wasn't even in the book. Or book Ten, Crossroads of Twilight, wondering why Robert Jordan spent 1000 pages telling you everything the other characters were doing during the climactic scene at the end of the previous book. [Granted there are three chapters at the end that actually move the plot forward, but talk about the diamond in the rough after 1000 pages.....:]
But I digress, Robert Jordan has created a wonderful world full of vibrance, history, and complexity; and I'm glad to have been along for the journey, and most of the books are quite excellent. But you do need to have a bit of drive to get through the dull parts of a few of the books. When you perservere, you find that he he does eventually tie every little detail in, it just might be in the next book. [This is rewarding, as well as frustrating, as you run into characters that you liked in one paragraph from three books ago, but then at other times you are wracking you brain trying to remember who the heck some folks are.
Luckily they do have a glossary at the end to help refresh one's memories.:]

Hypothetically, the next book will be the last in the series, and I'm very much looking forward to reading it.

Chris

PS:> For those who couldn't get through book 10, read 11, you'll be glad you did.
PPS:> The prequel book was good, but I was more interested on where the story was going in the future. With ~1000 pages a book, I felt there was normally plenty of backstory. : )
...less

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Adam rated it:

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12/31/07

Read in December, 2007

My beloved tells me that I really need to take a break. A break from The Wheel of Time, a break from Rand al'Thor, a break from the whole world wherein the Dragon Reborn is being... well... reborn, and rediscovered. I fully realize what a complete nerd I sound like, fervently discussing books whose main characters do things (routinely) like fighting with swords and axes against half-human monsters, make use of ancient magic, and travel on horseback most of the time. I realize it, and currentl...more

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James rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

09/04/08

Read in September, 2008

I didn't want to commit to reading a long series at this time. I read this as an acquaintance said that this first book stands well as a single novel, not requiring the reader to complete the series. I have to agree. It stands very well on its own.

This is decent fantasy, but not great. The things that didn't work for me:
1) Jordan didn't seem to put much effort into disguising templates that he drew from.
2) The deus ex machina climax was dissatifying. An author needs solid talent ...more

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Mary-Beth rated it:

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06/13/07

bookshelves: fantasy, fiction

I only gave this novel and its subsequent sequels one star because it is not possible to give a negative rating. These are the novels which led me to the conclusion that any series longer than a trilogy probably isn't worth reading.

The characters are two-sided playing cards. They are so pathetic they're forced to even repeat their gestures ad nauseum. When you find yourself hopelessly praying that Nynaeve dies horribly just so that she can never tug her stupid braid again, you know you're fa...more

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John rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

09/07/07

This is more or less my review of the whole Wheel of Time series, though I'm only two thirds of the way through book 10. I'd be surprised if my opinion changes much in what's left though.

At the beginning of the Wheel of Time series, you delve into a rich world that becomes more and more vast as the main characters see more of it themselves. The breadth and depth of this world is undoubtedly the greatest strength of the series. The other strength of the series is the plotting: there are co...more

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Garrett rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

05/13/08

I had never read the Wheel of Time series (or anything by Robert Jordan). But, with the latest announcement that Brandon Sanderson was going to be finishing the last book in the series, I had to go out and get it from the library (to see if I'd even like it before spending all my hard-earned cash).

I had grown disenfranchised with the fantasy genre in my late teens/early twenties, as I've mentioned in one or two other reviews, so I stopped with the things I had already read, and started focus...more

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Jesse rated it:

(review of isbn 0812511816)

07/24/08

bookshelves: fantasy

I'm currently re-reading this and so far, its still painfully obvious that this is borrowing (or stealing) heavily from The Lord of the Rings. I'm hoping that I'll find myself enjoying it more this time around and finding it wildly original, but so far it still seems fairly cliche. I will say that this time around its alot less full of boring parts so far, but its early days yet. Stay tuned for more. Oh and the male/female relationships in this still give me serious doubts as to the late aut...more

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Bastian added it (review of isbn 1857230760)

05/18/08

tolkein copy: the similarities with the work of J.R.R Tolkein are so clearly apparent its almost comical, People from a quiet village (Emmonds field - aka hobbiton) in the middle of nowhere leave their homes behind after the arrival of a strange / magical charachter Moraine - (gandalf), they flee trollocks (nazgul) and are pursued in their dreams by a dark overlord, "Ba'alzamon" (sauron), Lan their guide, is a hunter/tracker and of some kind of higher lineage (aragorn). They seek the c...more

The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time)

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