Ambitious but Unnecessary

While Jordan's The Eye of the World––the first book in the massively-long Wheel of Time series––deserves some praise for its inventiveness at times (primarily relating to the races and vast, sprawling history), it falls far short of real "catharsis," and its vain attempts to build up the many characters therein to the point that we can connect with them on an emotional scale, are futile at best. Truth be told, Eye is just another, in a long line of pompous epics attempting to imitate the supreme wonder of Tolkien––albeit one that does at times manage to capture some of the "vividness" in the battle scenes, that is so often sought after, but never really found. A rehash of the Chosen One narrative that is quite simply, uninteresting and boring, The Eye of the World is a bland, overlong, and recycled mash of the many overly-used plotlines that have for too long been told time and time again. So caught up is it in its massive ambition, that the characters who hold the weight of the story on their shoulders, have no heart at all, and are just wheel spokes provided to turn the Wheel of Time.