Robert JordanFantasy · Fiction·1948–2007
The Eye of the World
The Eye of the World
- Pages
- 752
- Published
- 1990
- Language
- English
Synopsis
In the sheltered village of Emond's Field, life has changed little for generations, until the night monstrous Trollocs descend from the north and burn through the Two Rivers. Three young men, Rand al'Thor, Matrim Cauthon, and Perrin Aybara, learn that the creatures came hunting them, though none can say why.
They flee into a wider and far more dangerous world, guided by Moiraine, an Aes Sedai who wields the One Power, and her Warder, Lan. With them go the village Wisdom, Nynaeve, and Egwene, a young woman bound for a training of her own.
Pursued by servants of the Dark One and haunted by a figure who walks their dreams, the company travels toward a refuge that may not exist, while one among them edges toward a power that has driven men mad for three thousand years.
The first volume of The Wheel of Time establishes a world where time turns in cycles, prophecy binds the living, and the line between legend and history has worn thin. It opens on deliberately familiar ground before widening into one of epic fantasy's largest and most detailed settings.
How it reads
Prose complexity 7/10
Content warnings (1)
Violence
- "The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning." I always found myself fascinated with the foundation of fantasy that often masqueraded as the trope that they call "The Hero's Journey". While some of you will roll your eyes at what must have been obvious to most, I'd want you to take into consideration the fact that I did not grow up on LoTR & the slew of mediocrity that unabashedly followed the template. My first foray into the genre was through Mistborn & I'm quite proud of that fact to this day. While I did venture into the Continent, the world of the Witcher is called as such, I had always been a bit apprehensive to undertake the journey in a much more traditional sense. However, Wheel of Time always seemed to be as good a place as any. Daunting but as they say : If she doesn't scare the hell out of you a little, she's not the one. The Eye of the World doesn’t indulge the reader. It may smile at you now and then, perhaps throw a flirtatious wink from across the room before slipping away, but it remains elusive to the very end. It’s proud of what it is, confident, self-assured, and entirely comfortable in its own skin. Stubborn too, so much so that uncovering its secrets feels like trying to extract coins from a piggy bank without breaking it, tedious, yet oddly compelling. And when it ends, it leaves you more intrigued than truly satisfied. For there are no endings to the turning of the wheel, however, it will always be AN ending. The Eye of the World throws a lot at you, names, places, history, and lore that can leave you scratching your head more than once. Yet in hindsight, it evokes the quiet charm of early One Piece episodes : the Straw Hats lounging on the Merry, chatting, enjoying the sea breeze, and gazing at the horizon, serene, aimless, but full of promise. In the grand scheme, the book feels just like that, list of bullet points of what's to come, a calm, however imperfect, before the storm. It didn’t immediately hook me, it simply stirred my curiosity. But by the end of the next book, The Great Hunt, I was a fan, starving for more. The Prophecies will be fulfilled. The Great Hunt of the Horn of Valere has been called. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time. 4/5 🌟🌟🌟
- Surely, Robert Jordan created a complex world; surely, the book is a page-turner for the most part; surely, it has its merits. But on the other hand, much of the time it reads like a story aimed at very young readers, with a lot of naivety and tropes that constantly evoke The Lord of the Rings. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable journey into a new world. However, when I compare it to Sanderson's Stormlight Archive or Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, it falls short—by far.
- 3.5 ⭐