Be ready to lose yourself. (The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan)

Member Name: Bryn Pearson

Product:	The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
Date:	04/03/02 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very strong plot, hardly a wiff of cliche, excellent descriptions

Disadvantages: you really do have to pay a lot of attention to the details or it all gets very confusing.

"Epic" usually means that a book is about five times longer than it should be, and has a fight between good and evil in it.... usually. Sometimes books are actually epic in a good way. "The Eye of the World" is the first enormous novel in a serious of huge books dealing with a fantasy world and its various troubles. Unfortunatly, it is so plot heavy, that it will be very difficult to tell you anything useful without giving too much away.

Ok, the backdrop. Emond's Field is a small village in the back of beyond, where life potters on and only the weather changes. Rand, Mat and Perrin are three young friends - hearty lads who still get tongue tied talking to girls, and who see before them lives as simple country folk. However, during the Spring festival, some strange folks turn up - a mysterious pedlar, a gleeman (bard) a finely dressed woman and a soldier. There's also a dark man whose cloak doesn't move in the wind. When violence comes out of the night, it is clear that life in the village will never be the same again. The strange woman convinces Mat, Rand and Perrin that they have to leave. The inkeeper's daughter, and the gleeman set off with them. The village mystic is not far behind.

Curiously, we start the tale with no significant sign of a quest, just a place the lads are travelling to where their questions should be answered. One of them might be destined to be a hero, or to destroy the world, all of them are having nightmares and nothing makes much sense to any of them. With evil beasties on their heels, dangeorus witches ahead of them and doubt in their hearts, the ride into the world. What happens after that? A great deal, and you will just have to read it for yourself.

A bit about he world - I've worked out that I should be able to tell you something about this without giving too much away.

Aes Sedia - witches who weild the one true power. Men who try to use it go mad and destroy
everything around them, but it hasn't always been like that.

The Dragon - a man who supposedly will be born again to fight the dark one and to save the world. False dragons abound, and the true one will not be welcomed if he ever does show up.

The Dark Lord - has many names, but basically appears to be your standard 'ultimate evil force' although I suspect there's going to be more to it than that.

Trollocs - a mix of human and animal, they live to kill and like to feed on human flesh.

Fade - eyeless wraithlike and terrifying, they lead out the trolloc armies and serve the dark one.

Children of the light - something like the knight's templar or the Spanish inquisition. Zealots who use force and claim to fight the dark one.

Darkfriends - humans who have given themselves in service to the dark one.

Starting to get a flavour?

The interesting thing I found reading this book, is the way in which it is littered with often very subtle references to our own earth cultures. Artur Paendragon isn't subtle, by any stretch, and the surname Merrilin might get you thinking, but many concepts are a lot more subtle. There's references to things eastern, and often the book seems to be echoing older, familiar tales even if you can't put a finger on where you have heard it before.

On the whole, this is an excellent read - the plot does manage to keep you guesing and has plenty of surprises along the way. The characters are reasonably well developped, although you don't get close to really knowing any of them, and most of them change or grow over the course of the tale. The descriptions are excellent and vivid. The book manages to reference mythology without falling into cliche all the time - a rare balance. The ending is a bit odd, and leaves you with the distinct impression that it ins't over yet. Not a shock then to learn that there are many more books in the serie
s.

You need to be an avid reader and able to cope with acres of detail and information to get the most out of this book - if you tend to skim read and like light plots, it willd rive you mad. if you like puzzles and brain teasers, it may well delight you.

Summary: