Eye of the World

The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time Book 1)

Robert Jordan

Tor Fantasy

Summary – Rand al’Thor is a simple sheepherder coming of age in a small village far removed from the busy places in the world. One day two mysterious strangers arrive in his village with hints that they are far more than they appear. Almost immediately after, his home is attacked by Trollocs and Halfmen, servants of the Shadow, the eternal villain of this world. Together with the two strangers, a gleeman and a handful of his friends, he escapes from the village but learns that he cannot as easily run away from his destiny. After a series of adventures, Rand and his friends find that they have all changed as they gird themselves for their final confrontation with the Dark One and his minions.

Review – I read this book with eager anticipation. From friends and reading lists I’ve skimmed over in the past, it seemed The Eye of the World is one of the major works on the genre. Yet I was surprisingly disappointed. About 150 pages in (of about 770) I put the book down due to time constraints and a week later found that I had very little urge to pick it up again.

First, what’s good about the book? Robert Jordan has a keen imagination and a strong ability to hold various plot threats in his hand and weave them into an intricate story. No encounter, no matter how trivial, was meaningless in this story. “The Wheel weaves as the Wheel will,” goes the saying. Jordan’s descriptions are rich and one can almost see and smell the scenes he describes in his book. He is also very consistent in his establishing whose point of view the story is told from. When Rand is present, the story is always told through his eyes. A reader would have no trouble realizing this is his story, no matter how many hints are dropped about the futures of the other characters.

So why didn’t I miss the book? For one thing, Jordan colours his story a little too much. In the first few chapters, we are introduced to the village of Emond’s Field and at some points Jordan gives the impression that he is going to take the time to introduce us to each and every inhabitant of the village right down to what they had for breakfast the morning the story started. Although it adds depth to the characters (allowing them to tell in-jokes during their trips, for example), it’s all too long and confusing. This only lets up a little through the rest of the story.

Too many standard plot ideas fill the story. The unbeatable warrior, the wizard (sorceress in this case) with near-infinite get-us-out-of-danger-each-time powers, the young country lads who are filled with incredible power and have no clue of it, all these appear. Many of the ideas in the story would have been completely original if The Lord of the Rings hadn’t done them first but at various points I kept comparing the book back to the classic.

Back stories also dominate parts of the text, taking up pages where paragraphs would do, filled with all sorts of strange names and places that sometimes aren’t completely necessary for the main story to be told. Yes, The Lord of the Rings is full of this type of exposition but Tolkien was one of the few authors who could pull this off without it become burdensome.

But what finally put me off the book was going to the Tor website and seeing that the series is into its tenth novel! Yes, kudos to Robert Jordan for managing to fill ten 700 page books with the ongoing story but the thought of having to plough through all that material and somehow manage to keep all the myriad minor (yet important) details in my memory made me shake my head and turn away. I don’t think I’ll continue with the series at this point although I may change my mind down the road.