Binge-able Book Series: Wheel Of Time Part One
Binge-able Book Series
Wheel Of Time: Part One
Book One: Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
This is the first in a series of posts where I share some of my favorite past and present book series. I'll judge the series/books similar to my past reviews, substituting "Gameplay" for "Characters" as these will won't be gamebooks (mostly).
Starting us off is an old series but new to me. Wheel of Time, Eye Of The World.
Plot/World Building: (5 out of 5 stars)Mr. Jordan's world-building skills are top-notch. Right up there with Tolkien and Rowling. He does a fantastic job of showing the world through the characters' eyes, while also dropping little easter eggs of information throughout the story. One example is the favorite book of one of the characters. Its mentioned very early on. The reader is meant to think it's a popular book or children's story, while later on it is confirmed to be real.
Jordan also creates a world that is alive. It lives and breathes regardless of what the main characters are going through. In so many books the protagonists are the ones driving the events of the world forward. This fine, in fact, its expected. However, Jordan manages to create overarching conflicts and events simultaneously with the story itself. This makes the impression that the world is alive as the protagonists themselves did nothing to directly impact these overriding events.
Writing Style/Voice: (4 out of 5)Jordan is a strong writer. This is a difficult category to get a perfect score on unless the voice itself adds to the overall effect of the story itself. Jordan is a good writer, and thus his writing doesn't take away from the story but it doesn't create a boon to the story in and of itself.
Characters: (5 out of 5)Jordan's characters are wonderfully developed as far as the main characters are concerned. Jordan gives you the opportunity to see things from multiple characters' points of view. Using the tactic of switching from one character's perspective to another is a risk. It can give you a solid understanding of the characters and how they think, but it can also bore the reader if the characters aren't worth exploring, or if the reader doesn't care about that particular story arc. Thankfully Jordan seems to have mastered this skill. While he mainly focuses on the perspective of Rand Al'Thor, his dives into other characters not only grant deeper insight but also add elements of lore to the world that might otherwise have been missed.
By revealing the mysteries of the world to the characters bit by bit, we as the readers become engaged to the point that it's almost as if we're a part of the story along with the main characters, learning with them at each stage of their journey. Jordan masterfully fleshes out who the characters are at their core and who they were at the beginning. Yet he creates a mystery in each of their futures. By the end of the book, we know the characters are important to Jordan's world, but like the characters, we have no idea what their overall impact might be, other than that it will be...significant.
Final Thoughts: (5 out of 5)
This is definitely one of the best starts to a series that I've read. I'm equal parts excited to delve further into the lore of the world as well as find out where these protagonists end up. This series is currently on Amazon Prime. I actually started the show before buying the book but decided to stop and read the book before finishing.
I will say I enjoyed the show. But as is often the case it falls short of the book. If Jordan were a weak writer that struggled to show instead of telling, I might continue to watch the show in order to enhance my understanding and visualization, but that is not the case. Jordan's descriptions engage all the senses and allow the imagination to make what it will. So until I'm completely done with the series, books are my choice of medium for now when it comes to consuming this series.
I'm currently reading book two, and while it's not a comedy series, I will say I've laughed out loud a number of times reading the actions and conversations of the characters. That is some great character development if I feel like I can see what is happening and know the characters well enough to audibly react to their actions. So perhaps a bit of foreshadowing on my next review, but so far the second book has not disappointed.
Wheel Of Time: Part One
Book One: Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
This is the first in a series of posts where I share some of my favorite past and present book series. I'll judge the series/books similar to my past reviews, substituting "Gameplay" for "Characters" as these will won't be gamebooks (mostly).
Starting us off is an old series but new to me. Wheel of Time, Eye Of The World.
Plot/World Building: (5 out of 5 stars)Mr. Jordan's world-building skills are top-notch. Right up there with Tolkien and Rowling. He does a fantastic job of showing the world through the characters' eyes, while also dropping little easter eggs of information throughout the story. One example is the favorite book of one of the characters. Its mentioned very early on. The reader is meant to think it's a popular book or children's story, while later on it is confirmed to be real.
Jordan also creates a world that is alive. It lives and breathes regardless of what the main characters are going through. In so many books the protagonists are the ones driving the events of the world forward. This fine, in fact, its expected. However, Jordan manages to create overarching conflicts and events simultaneously with the story itself. This makes the impression that the world is alive as the protagonists themselves did nothing to directly impact these overriding events.
Writing Style/Voice: (4 out of 5)Jordan is a strong writer. This is a difficult category to get a perfect score on unless the voice itself adds to the overall effect of the story itself. Jordan is a good writer, and thus his writing doesn't take away from the story but it doesn't create a boon to the story in and of itself.
Characters: (5 out of 5)Jordan's characters are wonderfully developed as far as the main characters are concerned. Jordan gives you the opportunity to see things from multiple characters' points of view. Using the tactic of switching from one character's perspective to another is a risk. It can give you a solid understanding of the characters and how they think, but it can also bore the reader if the characters aren't worth exploring, or if the reader doesn't care about that particular story arc. Thankfully Jordan seems to have mastered this skill. While he mainly focuses on the perspective of Rand Al'Thor, his dives into other characters not only grant deeper insight but also add elements of lore to the world that might otherwise have been missed.
By revealing the mysteries of the world to the characters bit by bit, we as the readers become engaged to the point that it's almost as if we're a part of the story along with the main characters, learning with them at each stage of their journey. Jordan masterfully fleshes out who the characters are at their core and who they were at the beginning. Yet he creates a mystery in each of their futures. By the end of the book, we know the characters are important to Jordan's world, but like the characters, we have no idea what their overall impact might be, other than that it will be...significant.
Final Thoughts: (5 out of 5)
This is definitely one of the best starts to a series that I've read. I'm equal parts excited to delve further into the lore of the world as well as find out where these protagonists end up. This series is currently on Amazon Prime. I actually started the show before buying the book but decided to stop and read the book before finishing.
I will say I enjoyed the show. But as is often the case it falls short of the book. If Jordan were a weak writer that struggled to show instead of telling, I might continue to watch the show in order to enhance my understanding and visualization, but that is not the case. Jordan's descriptions engage all the senses and allow the imagination to make what it will. So until I'm completely done with the series, books are my choice of medium for now when it comes to consuming this series.
I'm currently reading book two, and while it's not a comedy series, I will say I've laughed out loud a number of times reading the actions and conversations of the characters. That is some great character development if I feel like I can see what is happening and know the characters well enough to audibly react to their actions. So perhaps a bit of foreshadowing on my next review, but so far the second book has not disappointed.
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