Alright, already - I'll read it! (The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan)

Member Name: calypte

Product:	The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
Date:	29/08/01 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great story written well, handy pronunciation guide and glossary, everything, really

Disadvantages: well, I don't really like the cover!

I’m always wary of anything with a huge cloud of hype surrounding it, and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time certainly has that. A friend of mine, however, was given the currently available nine books (out of a planned twelve, I hear) for Christmas, and is currently finishing his second reading. “Read it,” he says. “But I have a shelf full of…” I start – “Read this next.” Every phone call and conversation: “You HAVE to read it.” Well, I’ve yet to know him be wrong (with books, at least!), so I finally succumbed. In fact, I bought all nine books in a special offer. But just ‘cos I’m like that, I made sure I read something else first! ;)

One book in, and at the very least I’ll say it’s a very good addition to the fantasy genre. I’ll withhold the ‘best ever’ tag for now, if you don’t mind – I don’t like throwing these things out lightly (besides, isn’t that space reserved for Lord of the Rings?!). Nonetheless, this is a great read, and it looks very promising for the rest of the series.

I’m writing this op now, after just the first book, quite deliberately. I’ve read quite a few series before, and going back to form an opinion on any instalment can be hard once you’ve gone beyond it. There’s a lot to be said about reviews of a book as part of a series, but I also think this way can be useful. It’s a great thing about DooYoo, actually, that you have access to both kinds of opinion. So, here’s the impression of Eye of the World from someone without knowledge of the what’s still to come.

(I want to point out here that it’s next to impossible to talk about the book without mentioning a few plot points. Not huge spoilers, but if you like to go into a book ‘cold’, don’t read on! On the other hand, a little background information about what’s
going on might help some people get into the narrative a little better… the choice is yours.)


“The Wheel weaves as the Wheel will.”
One of the best ways to understand something of the world in an epic series like this is to look at the underlying belief system, be it religious or otherwise. Unsurprisingly in a series called the Wheel of Time, that role is filled by – the Wheel of Time. It’s not a hugely complicated quasi-religious structure; rather it’s the concept of history repeating itself. Think of the spokes of the Wheel (or the gaps between spokes – I’m making this metaphor up, so bear with me!) as ‘Ages’. As the Wheel turns, the Ages pass and eventually come around again. By the time this happens, the previous occurrence of that Age has become myth.

Along with this, there’s the concept of the Pattern. This is the tapestry of lives woven by the turning of the Wheel. In the Eye of the World, we are told that sometimes webs are woven into the Pattern, and this is what is happening now. Also, webs are woven around particular individuals, people with special significance, who distort the threads (i.e. lives) around them. We follow the adventures of such a group of individuals in this book.

The three main characters – Rand, Mat and Perrin – start off as farm boys in a sleepy village, who are dragged into this big adventure. Strange events coincide with the separate arrivals of a gleeman (travelling entertainer), Thom Merrilin, and two well-dressed strangers, Moiraine and Lan. It soon turns out that Moiraine is a member of the feared Aes Sedai, a group of women with magical powers. Just as well, as the village is soon under attack from evil creatures, the Trollocs and Myrddraal. Deducing that they are after one of the three boys, Moiraine persuades them to leave the village and travel with her to Tar Valon, home of the Aes Sedai.

With me so far
?

Eye of the World starts slowly, and for this reason can be a little difficult to get into. Trust me, though – it’s worth persevering. Jordan does well in creating well-rounded, believable characters, but he starts off by going into a great deal of detail of their lives. This can make for slow reading: the first several chapters cover a very short space of time in great depth. No wonder it’s such a long series, I thought – the 800 pages of this one book must cover only a week!

Things do pick up pace as the story progresses, however, don’t worry! By the time the quest is under way, and in my opinion particularly when the group splits up, there’s plenty of excitement and tension. Jordan has created a very complete world with a full and rich history, so it’s easy to submerge yourself into the story.

It’s rare to come across any work in this genre where you can’t make a comparison to Lord of the Rings, and this is no exception. I’m not saying that in a bad way – this is by no means a copy, but there are a few moments... the Ogier, for instance, shares a few Ent-ish traits (although I couldn’t help myself picturing Shrek for some reason – perhaps ‘Ogier’ is too close to ‘Ogre’!). The journey through the mines of Moria appears in so many different forms in so many different books, and here it’s the journey through the Way. And of course there’s the group itself... Rand, Perrin and Mat – Frodo, Pippin and Merry, anyone? Ran is a Ranger – I mean Warder – and Gandalf’s leadership is replaced by that of Moiraine. As for the eyeless Fades – well, I’m sure we all know about the dark, hooded and downright evil beings that chase the heroes.

Having said all that, being able to draw comparisons to Lord of the Rings is a fairly standard occurrence in fantasy. Eye of the World is not a carbon copy of
Tolkien’s work, thankfully, despite a few similar devices. What matters, then, are the story and the writing, and I have no complaint on either front. Despite the previous paragraph, I wasn’t sitting thinking ‘Oh, that’s so Tolkien’ throughout the entire book – instead, I found myself caught up in the story, which is exactly how fantasy fiction should be, I feel.


Knowing that this is just the first book in a long series, I was expecting quite an open-ended finish. I was pleasantly surprised that the novel does come to a definite conclusion, while still leaving events very much open to continue.

This has obviously been planned as a long series from the outset, and not just a succession of sequels. I’m told that once you’ve read the rest of the series, this book can be seen very much as an introduction, merely setting the scene for later events. If this is true (and I’ll update this op when I’ve read more!), then the hype surrounding the series is probably fairly well deserved, as this book certainly doesn’t read as a mere introduction. The story is not entirely unpredictable in the long run, but there was definitely enough going on with a few twists and turns along the way to keep me completely engrossed. Be warned, though: the further you get into the story, the harder it is to put down. So be prepared for a few late nights!

I’m very glad there are another eight books (so far) to read, and I started the second one immediately on finishing Eye of the World. My only complaint? That I have to tell my friend that he was right!! :)

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