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A review by beaconatnight
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
5.0
I would like to say that this is easily among the best fantasy I've read. That would be pretty misleading, though, considering that Tolkien, some children's books and a couple of video game tie-ins by R.A. Salvatore are pretty much my only encounters with the genre. However, I have to say that I was completely drawn into the world, and it has been long since I've read a book that made me so eager to know what will happen next (rather than just enjoying the ride). It's really everything I ever wanted from fantasy games, and more.
The plot itself is surprisingly easy to get into, at least if you consider that it's only the first installment in a series of 14 brick-sized books. It opens with a Prologue, which throws you right into the middle of the metaphysical lore of the Wheel of Time, presenting the two biggest opponents. It seems to be a story of Good vs. Evil, with the latter being represented by the Dark One, while the former should be a man called the Dragon. It's not as easy as that, though, as the reader first meets him right after slaying all of his kin. The Prologue also hints at a bit of history of the world. Certainly a very cool opener.
From then on out, the book gets much more grounded, substantially as well as stylistically. The scenery of world-defining happenings is replaced by a very opposite setting, and the reader now follows the 16-year-old boy Rand, who lives in a village in the Two Rivers, a place very isolated from (and ignorant to) the political struggles happening at the time. However, the countryside idyll is destroyed when suddenly the village is attacked by legendary forces associated with the Dark One, and it soon becomes clear that he is after Rand and two of his age-mates (the blacksmith apprentice Perrin and the comic relief Mat). Luckily, in the village there is an envoy of an order of powerful sorceresses, the so-called Aes Sedai, and she is determined to safely deliver the three boys to their fortress, Tar Valon. One big reason as to why the story feels so truly adventurous is the fact that the journey takes them the entire 800 odd pages, making you feel as if you were really traveling through an unknown and fascinating realm.
This core of characters is joined by others, forming an interesting and quite diverse party. Traveling with the Aes Sedai Moraine is her protector, the Warder Lan, who is this taciturn and opaque character, but who is very effective when it comes to doing his job. There is also an interesting back-story to him, which unfolds as the first book approaches its conclusion. In the world of the Wheel of Time (does this world have a name, by the way?), gleemen are amazingly popular, and a capable bard is celebrated in pretty much all places around the world. One of those gleemen, Thom Merrilin, was present in the village at the time of the attack, and he takes up the opportunity to travel to the legendary Tar Valon when given the chance. I liked how, throughout the book, his songs and stories have somewhat of an exchange value, making his skills quite prized. Finally, there are two young women from the village, Nynaeve and Egwene. Nynaeve is what the people of the village call a Wisdom, performing tasks of a healer as well as a soothsayer, and Egwene is her assistant. Nynaeve only joins the group somewhat later, which explains Egwene motivation of rather seeing the world, instead of waiting decades for a chance of becoming the Wisdom herself. In the beginning, she's also introduced as a bit of the latent love interest of the protagonist Rand, but soon is established as having her own motives to travel to Tar Valon.
In the beginning I thought the characters where interesting in their roles, not necessarily as characters per se. That improved much in the course of the book, and by the end most had become dear to my heart. In most cases, this has to do with the fact they they become more vulnerable. The best example is probably Nynaeve, who is a very important person in her village, but her pride is quite severely broken when she has to reorient herself in the wider world. There are small subplot to many characters of the group, some involving new abilities most likely explored in the successive books. It's not always overly interesting, but I always felt it added to my attachments to the characters.
What I loved the most about the book is how fascinating the world really is. As the party leaves the Two Rivers behind, together with the younger protagonists the reader develops a better understanding of important cities, legendary beings and places, historical events, political factions, and what the Wheel of Time might be. Yet, while it certainly is a rich world, it's quite easy to keep track. Their travels are made more exciting by the constant feeling of urgency, with the characters constantly having to look over their shoulders and asking themselves who they can trust (albeit it admittedly falls short of true paranoia).
The boy in me rejoiced at how awesome many aspects of the world really are. For instance, I loved how immensely powerful the magic is, releasing tremendous forces that shake the earth, burst out in flames, or having other impressive effects The subplot when Perrin learns that he is able to communicate with wolves, transforming himself to more of a wildling, was another moment that made me quite excited. Or the haunted metropolis of ancient times. Damn, there really is an abundance of cool stuff.
There were smaller things that bothered me a little bit. The most obvious is how very similar it is to The Lord of the Rings: you really cannot deny, that many many details of this book can be directly mapped onto elements from its famous predecessor. Take Lan, for example. He's obviously quite similar to Aragorn from the start, but when you get to know that he's actually some sort of a king who never took the crown, the parallels scream rip-off. But you know what, it didn't bother me all that much. Also, I expect that it distances itself more from Tolkien in the later books. You might also argue that it is a bit slow somewhat around the time when the group gets separated in the middle of the book; but that is only to be expected from a book of this length and I guess it even conveyed the feeling of exhaustion that the protagonists where having at that point. Finally, I thought the ending was really confusing, although I suppose that was intentional. However, it left me feeling that the titular Eye of the World was a bit pointless?
Even though I loved the Book all around, I never really planned to get back to the second book right away. Actually, the ending wrapped up many things quite nicely, so it almost feels like a stand-alone novel. Maybe I can do like a years-spanning reading marathon, with about two novels every year or so, but right now I'm content with my first glimpse at this interesting universe, and when the time comes, I'm excited to revisit it. But I think I will need something less epic next.
Rating: 4.5/5
The plot itself is surprisingly easy to get into, at least if you consider that it's only the first installment in a series of 14 brick-sized books. It opens with a Prologue, which throws you right into the middle of the metaphysical lore of the Wheel of Time, presenting the two biggest opponents. It seems to be a story of Good vs. Evil, with the latter being represented by the Dark One, while the former should be a man called the Dragon. It's not as easy as that, though, as the reader first meets him right after slaying all of his kin. The Prologue also hints at a bit of history of the world. Certainly a very cool opener.
From then on out, the book gets much more grounded, substantially as well as stylistically. The scenery of world-defining happenings is replaced by a very opposite setting, and the reader now follows the 16-year-old boy Rand, who lives in a village in the Two Rivers, a place very isolated from (and ignorant to) the political struggles happening at the time. However, the countryside idyll is destroyed when suddenly the village is attacked by legendary forces associated with the Dark One, and it soon becomes clear that he is after Rand and two of his age-mates (the blacksmith apprentice Perrin and the comic relief Mat). Luckily, in the village there is an envoy of an order of powerful sorceresses, the so-called Aes Sedai, and she is determined to safely deliver the three boys to their fortress, Tar Valon. One big reason as to why the story feels so truly adventurous is the fact that the journey takes them the entire 800 odd pages, making you feel as if you were really traveling through an unknown and fascinating realm.
This core of characters is joined by others, forming an interesting and quite diverse party. Traveling with the Aes Sedai Moraine is her protector, the Warder Lan, who is this taciturn and opaque character, but who is very effective when it comes to doing his job. There is also an interesting back-story to him, which unfolds as the first book approaches its conclusion. In the world of the Wheel of Time (does this world have a name, by the way?), gleemen are amazingly popular, and a capable bard is celebrated in pretty much all places around the world. One of those gleemen, Thom Merrilin, was present in the village at the time of the attack, and he takes up the opportunity to travel to the legendary Tar Valon when given the chance. I liked how, throughout the book, his songs and stories have somewhat of an exchange value, making his skills quite prized. Finally, there are two young women from the village, Nynaeve and Egwene. Nynaeve is what the people of the village call a Wisdom, performing tasks of a healer as well as a soothsayer, and Egwene is her assistant. Nynaeve only joins the group somewhat later, which explains Egwene motivation of rather seeing the world, instead of waiting decades for a chance of becoming the Wisdom herself. In the beginning, she's also introduced as a bit of the latent love interest of the protagonist Rand, but soon is established as having her own motives to travel to Tar Valon.
In the beginning I thought the characters where interesting in their roles, not necessarily as characters per se. That improved much in the course of the book, and by the end most had become dear to my heart. In most cases, this has to do with the fact they they become more vulnerable. The best example is probably Nynaeve, who is a very important person in her village, but her pride is quite severely broken when she has to reorient herself in the wider world. There are small subplot to many characters of the group, some involving new abilities most likely explored in the successive books. It's not always overly interesting, but I always felt it added to my attachments to the characters.
What I loved the most about the book is how fascinating the world really is. As the party leaves the Two Rivers behind, together with the younger protagonists the reader develops a better understanding of important cities, legendary beings and places, historical events, political factions, and what the Wheel of Time might be. Yet, while it certainly is a rich world, it's quite easy to keep track. Their travels are made more exciting by the constant feeling of urgency, with the characters constantly having to look over their shoulders and asking themselves who they can trust (albeit it admittedly falls short of true paranoia).
The boy in me rejoiced at how awesome many aspects of the world really are. For instance, I loved how immensely powerful the magic is, releasing tremendous forces that shake the earth, burst out in flames, or having other impressive effects The subplot when Perrin learns that he is able to communicate with wolves, transforming himself to more of a wildling, was another moment that made me quite excited. Or the haunted metropolis of ancient times. Damn, there really is an abundance of cool stuff.
There were smaller things that bothered me a little bit. The most obvious is how very similar it is to The Lord of the Rings: you really cannot deny, that many many details of this book can be directly mapped onto elements from its famous predecessor. Take Lan, for example. He's obviously quite similar to Aragorn from the start, but when you get to know that he's actually some sort of a king who never took the crown, the parallels scream rip-off. But you know what, it didn't bother me all that much. Also, I expect that it distances itself more from Tolkien in the later books. You might also argue that it is a bit slow somewhat around the time when the group gets separated in the middle of the book; but that is only to be expected from a book of this length and I guess it even conveyed the feeling of exhaustion that the protagonists where having at that point. Finally, I thought the ending was really confusing, although I suppose that was intentional. However, it left me feeling that the titular Eye of the World was a bit pointless?
Even though I loved the Book all around, I never really planned to get back to the second book right away. Actually, the ending wrapped up many things quite nicely, so it almost feels like a stand-alone novel. Maybe I can do like a years-spanning reading marathon, with about two novels every year or so, but right now I'm content with my first glimpse at this interesting universe, and when the time comes, I'm excited to revisit it. But I think I will need something less epic next.
Rating: 4.5/5