A Wheel Of Time Read Along discussion
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The Eye of the World
The Eye Of The World - Book #1
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EotW Week 4 - Chapters 43 to 53
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Lan is a very cool character and learning more about his backstory was a highlight for me.I'm interested to know people's opinions on the final fight. For me [spoiler] there are 'fights' with 3 big bad Forsaken [/spoiler] which I expected to be scary/epic but were over a bit quicker and confusingly than I thought.
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As for the final conflict: (view spoiler)
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I'm really looking forward to the next book and am a bit disappointed with how Rand is leaving everyone, but I get it.
Them traveling through the Blight was really cool with the landscape trying to fight them back. I was very sad about the Green Man though.
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I agree with Jennifer, the Blight was really cool, but I wonder if the Green Man will come back later on in this story to play a bigger role. (view spoiler)
I don't think I quite understood the reason why everyone had to separate? There is still the Great Horn situation to take care of, and after all their talk of "staying together because it's in the Pattern" I'm not sure why everyone is so easy about splitting up. Especially since so many of the others don't know what happened with Rand during the final fight.
Really enjoyed this book, though! I'm definitely anxious to start the second one and see where the story takes us. :)
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Ohh! Thank you! I must've missed it. Also, it probably had to be that way because Egwene and Nynaeve were eager to see their possibilities as Aes Sedai.
I just finished this book a few days ago. I have read it once before a few years ago, but had forgotten most parts. I really enjoyed it and pushed through the last quarter at a huge pace.The final fight confused me a little. I may have misread something, but I assumed Ba'alzamon and the Dark One were the same person?? Was I wrong in thinking that? It appears that he may have been another of the forsaken.
If anyone can clarify that without future book spoilers that would be very much appreciated :)
Hi Kane, there's a bit at the end where Rand says he's killed Shai'tan and Moiriane tells him off as you're not supposed to say his name out loud. Moiriane also talks about Forsaken near the surface of the sealed place getting loose.
Thanks Sunil. Yeah, I recall that. Strange, but perhaps book 2 will reveal more about whether that was or was not the true dark one.
Kane wrote: "I just finished this book a few days ago. I have read it once before a few years ago, but had forgotten most parts. I really enjoyed it and pushed through the last quarter at a huge pace.The final..."
Kane, I share your exact same question.
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I've been lazy about posting in here, but I'll post an excerpt from my review here: Some likes:
-There are prominent female characters who play an important role, though their characterization is not always up to par (see below).
-World-building - Jordan does a great job at setting up a new world. There is some historical lore in there, but not enough for you to get bogged down. It is put into context most of the time and fits in with the current story.
-Descriptions and imagery - I for one like descriptive storytelling, and don't mind additional length to get there.
-The side characters - Thom Merrilin, Loial, Elyas, and the Green Man are all very interesting characters.
Some annoyances:
-While it is great that there are female characters, Jordan unfortunately makes them seem sometimes one-dimensional. Egwene is always giving sharp looks and getting annoyed when anyone questions a decision of hers. Nynaeve is just always angry, mistrustful, and scowling. Moiraine is somewhat enigmatic; while she plays a large role, we don't really get to know her too well. I feel like the male characters are better developed, but hope that the females get their own multi-dimensional personalities in the books to come.
-The "romance" between Nynaeve and Lan seemed to come out of nowhere. Maybe I just missed the building up of it?
-Why does Jordan need to make every name sound super unique and new? It honestly took me a while to get used to the names; they seem to be trying too hard to be different.
-I was hoping for a little more growth from the main characters, especially the boys. There is some, for some characters more than others, but some of them take very foolish actions up until the end of the book. Haven't they learned anything from their travels and dangers they've encountered?
-The end resolution was a bit rushed and not too well explained. Knowing how many other books are in the series I'm not too annoyed, but it was a bit anti-climactic.
Amanda wrote: "I've been lazy about posting in here, but I'll post an excerpt from my review here: Some likes:
-There are prominent female characters who play an important role, though their characterization is..."
About Characterization, particularly female Characterization (although this applies to male Characterization too but is less of a problem in the first book): Jordan is very very good at giving depth to all his Characters, even the most minor ones, but it can be subtle at times. In laymen's terms, this means you have to actively look for it as opposed to the author doing all the work for you. Furthermore, because the entire series is told from various close third-person POVs, this means that the whole story is told by a long string of unreliable narrators. In other words: first impressions, while highly indicative in real life, are often instead grossly misleading in WoT.
Let's take Nynaeve and Egwene as examples. Egwene first. It's true that she's a highly intelligent girl who can get aggravated by what she perceives to be the foolish (or "woolheaded", as they say in the Two Rivers) words and actions of those around her. Particularly boys. Also, she is very firm in who she is and what she wants to do, and feels a constant need to affirm that to those she thinks might be trying to walk over her. All that is true. However, there is more to her than that. She has, likely for most of her life, had this sense that there should be more in store for her than was available in that small village of hers. Also, as can be seen from her interactions with Moiraine early in the book, she has an insatiable appetite for knowledge. She reminds me of Belle, from Beauty and the Beat, now that I think about it.
Then Nynaeve. Yes, she is mistrusting of outsiders (although the same goes for Rand, Mat and Perrin as you might have noticed), has somewhat of a permanently angry disposition, including scowling at everybody and the infamous tugging on the braid. Now, she does have reason for her demeanour. Remember: she was the youngest Wisdom in the Two Rivers in living memory. In fact, pretty much the entire village thought she was too young for the position. Just so we're clear, by the way: she wasn't, and in fact she was by far the most qualified person to take the job once the vacancy opened. But because of the perception that she was too inexperienced, she has had to claw for every scrap of authority her position demanded she command ever since taking up the mantle. She has had to show, in the most explicit and unavoidable ways possible, that there was to be no messing with her. And yes, that means beating foolish villagers with a stick at times. However, to say anger and mistrust are all that there is to her character would be doing her a huge disservice. Unlike Egwene, she has had 3 POVs by now. I cannot recommend enough revisiting them, and paying close attention to her thoughts. If you do, you'll notice that above all, Nynaeve CARES. For those in her care, most of all, but really for every single individual. Speaking of which: I'd also recommend re-reading the chapter where they leave Baerlon (or maybe the one right after it). In particular, notice what her spat with Moiraine was about. Now, you may very well think that Moiraine was right in this case, but the point here is what it says about Nynaeve's character.
I guess, since I'm talking about Nynaeve anyway, I should address the romance between her and Lan. You were correct, you missed some things. Like I said, Jordan can be supremely subtle at times. Also, of course, the POV-issue plays a role again: Rand won't always notice all the little subtle interactions that are the preludes to a budding romance. But notice in Baerlon, for example, when Lan is highly impressed with Nynaeve's tracking skills. Now, for Lan Mandragoran to be impressed with someone's tracking skills, that's high praise indeed. Nynaeve, of course, can appreciate honest praise with 0 caveats like few people in their world can (see above). Another moment is in the Whitecloak camp, where Lan trusts her with getting the horses without being noticed, because he knows she's more than capable. Again: Lan hardly trusts anybody, and Nynaeve hasn't had someone trust in her competence without putting those competences into any sort of question at all in a long time.
There are other examples, but these are the most prominent ones to explain why they might be interested in one another.
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Is it too easy to beat Ba'alzamon like that? The ending feels kinda weird, but it's an very enjoyable adventure.
I started with this group nearly 3 years ago, and I have now just finished the 1st book! I'm so ashamed that I didn't finish this book sooner to discuss with you all, but I'm done now, and all I want to do is talk about it! Can we all just agree that last couple of chapters were amazing! I was listening to the audiobook as I was reading and it made the story that much more exciting to continue! I'm looking forward to book 2!
*Spoilers* From our heroes reunion to the Blight and the final showdown against Ba’alzamon, this is some of the exciting stuff!