Page 7 of 8 Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Submitted by Alexandre Lukachuk
(Jul 27, 2000)About fantasy books...
When i was 15, i started to read science-fiction books starting buy Ray Bradburry's short stories and Asimov's foundation series. When i get to fantasy universe, one year later, i discovered the infinite greatness of these fantasy authors. After the dark, pessimistic and bloody universe of Katherine Kurtz i discovered the magic of David Eddings... These series are amazing in the way they make it impossible to stop reading them.
About Robert Jordan...
When i started to read Robert Jordan's Eye of the World, i understood, page after page, that something incredible was lying under this story. At the biginning, it seemed hard to read. I was reading The Saphir Rose(Eddings) at the same time and i already knew the caracters very well. In Jordan's book, they were still not defined very well and i was hard to get attached to them.
However, when i finished the book, i ran to the shop to buy the next one! This is why i can recommend this book to those who like long adventures in these fantasy universes great authors create. I started to read some other books of other authors and i didn't stuck to them like that... i tried Pratchet, Farmer... no this serie is definetly excellent, i'm waiting for the third book to arrive from amazon...
Along with this Wheel of Time serie, i recommend what is, for me, the greatest books ever written (fantasy genre), this is to say the Belgariad serie by David Eddings. You can also read Tolkien books, very different in a way, or Katherine Kurtz's Derynis series where the darkness of Deryni magic is serving the Light.
Submitted by Robert
(Jul 21, 2000)Book one of Wheel of Time is the beginning of a masterpiece. The characters come alive in every book. It is a must read for all fantasy/
Science Fiction readers. Hard to put down and straight to the point, read it and you will enjoy!!
Submitted by ilovemouses@yahoo.com
(Jul 05, 2000)I read most of The Eye of the World while driving the 550 mile trip to Missouri to see family over the holiday. (My dad was driving; I was not driving while reading the book!) Now, usually, I try to avoid reading in a moving vehicle, as it tends to make me nautious if I do so for long periods of time. However, I had to make an exception in this case, because I couldn't put the book down. In fact, I began to doubt if I was physically capable of doing so. (So did my family, for that matter.) This book was absolutely magnificent. My nose was pressed to it all holiday weekend. People started thinking I was anti-social. I'm not. It was just that good. Jordan has an amazing ability to create characters. He also knows how to keep his readers on the edges of their seats. Some people may think that all the jumping around, getting separated from each other, travelling from Whitebridge to Camelyn, then planning to go to Tar Valon but instead going to the Blight, takes away from the story. I do not. I think it adds to it. In reality, we never know what we are doing or where we are going. This uncertainty draws us closer to characters that we already loved, because we can relate to them. The most essential part of a story is believable characters, and with fantasy, that's a hard line to walk. But Jordan balances that all out nicely by sending his characters on all sorts of adventures, while still exposing them to the realities that we can never escape. Like Rand's love for Egwene that can never be. Like Nynavae's rivalry with Moiraine Sedai. Like Mat's complaining the whole time. This book definitely has lived up to the expectations I had from what I was told about it. I would recommend it to anyone who loves fantasy.
Submitted by Susan Byrne
(Jun 27, 2000)My son got me hooked on these books. He read and reread them in his early teen years. I approved heartily after reading them myself. Jordan's characters are refreshing and real.We anxiously await each new book. Wanting to reacquaint ourselves with good friends. They are characters you can care about. I had fun reading these books and I can't say that about too many books. The characters grow throughout their adventures.They do seem stupid in the beginning. My son and I laughed over their blunders faced with this new and unrecognizable reality they were thrown into.
The land they live in is as fascinatiing and changeable as Tolkiens world. I recommend The Lord of the Rings and Eye of the World as the best fantasy has to offer.
Submitted by jonnomtg@aol.com
(May 30, 2000)Ok, I haven't finished the book yet (I'm up to about page 300), but I've already got something to say about it. First off, you have to know that any book with a glossary, appendix, or any reference related section (besides a customary world map for a fantasy series) is going to different. Different in what way can be determined only by actually delving into the pages and finding out for yourself. However, the first thing I noticed is how Jordan mangles words to give names to his characters (ie: his trollocs--all of them are easily un-mangled to the real names monsters...some of which aren't EVEN monsters, the golem for example). Why go through all of that? It makes no sense to me and I think should be categorized as "cheesy". Jon Thane=Jonathan. Artur Pendraeg=Arthur Pendragon. Etc., etc., etc....
Another thing is, although I'm pretty sure that Rand is our protagonist, it doesn't show very clearly. By now, something should--clearly--indicate him as having something the other two boys do not. But other than a mysterious source of good sense which pops up when its necessary to keep him alive, he is just as stupid as Mat and Perrin. The three of them are so stupid that I truly think they deserved to get their heads knocked off after trusting this Mordeth guy. I mean, c'mon, I know they don't trust Moiraine, but REALLY!
The next thing--this doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Didn't Goodkind get Richard and Kahlan to the other side of the barrier by the 300th page of the first book? Richard at least knew what he was by then. Jordan seems to have Trollocs seeping of the paper merely to keep them on the run and prolong the suspense. You can really see them as just a literary device at this point. And how long is he going to keep this prophecy thing up? I can't think of any reason why Jordan would fortell of things that will only be relevant after they escape the Trollocs--at this rate, I think they'll be out of the monsters' grasps and reach Tar Valon just in time for the last page...500 pages later.
Now this thing, I really like Kahlan's role as a no-messing-with-me superiority figure in Goodkind's books, but Jordan has taken this female superiority thing to its limits. It is REALLY frustrating how he keeps the men subdued like little kittens. It's funny in Eddings' series, but then--and he candidly admits it--he writes a lot his stuff just for humor. I don't think the taint on the male side of the ONE POWER is very realistic. I'm starting to think that Jordan is going to write all his female characters as sexist. But then, his whole world is already sexist.
Lastly, he throws around names too much. He mentions so many things that are totally irrelevant to what is at hand at the moments. I find myself skimming entire pages at time to get something worthwhile. That is, of course, why he has a glossary. There are too many names of characters, events, and places for someone to keep track of. A good author knows that the reader won't remember a character until he or she has made an appearance, or at least has played a MAJOR part of background. (His one good example for a good background character if Jon Thane; you never meet the guy in the book, but he IS part of the story).
On one good note, I'd like to commend his prose. I think I'd like to see some poetry that he's written, if he has any.
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(222 ratings)