The Eye of the World
Ratings1,111
Average rating4
Evil dark bad guy bent on destroying/enslaving everything. Farmer boy is The One and must save the world. Finally does so by saying “no” to the bad guy when he visits in a dream? I dunno, I couldn't finish it (about 2h left on the 30h audiobook). A rambling mess with heaps of irrelevant (though interesting) worldbuilding and an uninspired storyline.
The first time I've ever not finished a book.
It is one of my favorite books that I read and reread several times, both in English and Russian language.
At first it seemed to recall a lot from The Lord Of The Rings, but still I liked the world and what happened in it.
Classical beginning of a farm boy starting a long-long journey to save the world with the help of friends and guiding adults with and without magic.
The magical system is very interesting to explore.
As the startng point for the epic advanture the book may seem to be a bit too long, but as rereading material it would show a different side.
300 pages in, I just decided this isn't worth continuing. It's not interesting enough to be any fun, and it's not well-written enough to excuse that.
Good world, and pretty good, if predictable, but got bogged down at the end by needless romantic drama.
Now in development for TV!
Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters.
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
When The Two Rivers is attacked by Trollocs―a savage tribe of half-men, half-beasts― five villagers flee that night into a world they barely imagined, with new dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.
TV series update: "Sony will produce along with Red Eagle Entertainment and Radar Pictures. Rafe Judkins is attached to write and executive produce. Judkins previously worked on shows such as ABC's “Agents of SHIELD,” the Netflix series “Hemlock Grove,” and the NBC series “Chuck.” Red Eagle partners Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon will executive produce along with Radar's Ted Field and Mike Weber. Darren Lemke will also executive produce, with Jordan's widow Harriet McDougal serving as consulting producer." ―Variety
*The Wheel of Time*®New Spring: The Novel
1 The Eye of the World 2 The Great Hunt 3 The Dragon Reborn 4 The Shadow Rising 5 The Fires of Heaven 6 Lord of Chaos 7 A Crown of Swords 8 The Path of Daggers 9 Winter's Heart 10 Crossroads of Twilight 11 Knife of Dreams
By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
Towers of Midnight
A Memory of Light
By Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
By Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons
The Wheel of Time Companion
*By Robert Jordan and *Amy RomanczukPatterns of the Wheel: Coloring Art Based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
**
Gave up at 34%.
Hm, this book is not really doing anything for me. And all the things I don't like so much at this point seem to be very commonly addressed by other people. It's pretty slow, I don't really feel a lot for the main characters (the female characters all seem kinda bitchy, manipulative and especially boring) ... One day I might give this series another try, but I say that about most books that I “paused.”
I went in expecting something more shallow than what I got, and of course I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the literary style and likeability of the characters. The tempo was appropriate, if maybe a bit slow at the start, but that is to be expected.
Amazing! Read the book along the audiobook and I absolutely adored the experience! Excited to see where the rest of the story goes.
Took a while to finish. World building was great but a bit sluggish at times as I read through it.
The voices seemed to whisper in Rand's ears, right at the brink of understanding, and within it. Flesh so fine, so fine to tear, to gash the skin; skin to strip, to plait, so nice to plait the strips, so nice, so red the drops that fall . . .
I FINISHED! THANK THE LIGHT! The setup is sooo long and in the beginning it wears on you, the endless descriptions of various taverns and farms that don't even last a full scene, and the way the book lingers on the thoughts of the characters for such an extreme amount of time. But halfway through, after the action picked up and all, I found myself really enjoying the details that I'd hated before. It really paints a vivid picture and you feel like you're right there with the characters, whose thoughts and actions become a lot more engaging once you've come to know them. I didn't fall in love with the world or story through this, but I'm so so intrigued to read more, especially for where it left off. Blessed because I was gifted the second book for Christmas!!.. Although I might not get to it for a while.
Reading The Eye of the World was certainly an experience. It definitely follows the story beats of The Hobbit and other epic fantasies, but it makes a lot of unique choices and does a lot of strong world building along the way. I found myself endeared to many of the main characters and I appreciated the focus on strong female leads.
Upon completion, I was torn on whether I wanted to continue my journey with the rest of the Wheel of Time books, but for now I think I would like to continue. My hope is that much of the basis of the world has been laid out so far, and now it can be expanded upon in a more interesting way. The setting of the beginning of the book is indistinguishable from many other fantasy novels, but by the end there is a lot that feels unique to Robert Jordan's world.
There is a lot of online discourse about Wheel of Time as a whole. I know many love it and many have given up on it. I am remaining neutral so far, but I think it needs to be stated that there are lots of novels out there (including those in the fantasy genre) that have made me feel more with much fewer words.
Final rating: 4.5
Loved the Tolkein nostalgia! This book rekindled a fire within me to return back to reading after a 10 year break. Loved the sense of adventure and am forever grateful to the client who gave me this book against my wishes.
idk how you log a specific edition (if you can) on here but i read/listened ros pike's audiobook version (naturally)
i had seen the show (naturally) and only about 2 months and 10 days ago precisely i started this and i just had a real good time. it's so much more unique and rich in comparison to something i'm not even sure can be considered its live action adaptation. you get to go on the journey with the characters and feel the whole thing with them, you're right there with them every step of the way. rand al'thor i have grown fond of you
of course credits to rob jordan for writing it in an engaging way that felt easy even for a non fantasy reader like me. do i even have to say anything about ros' narration. insanely good doesn't even cover it. she was born to play moiraine btw
now onto the show rewatch and then i'll get stuck into book 2!!
A grand adventure with basic, yet compelling characters. Slow start, but once it got going I couldn’t stop reading. Will be reading the next few books in the series, at least.
Great start but a weak ending.
I've finally decided to tip my toes into the WOT, and what a great start. I was told this book was one of the weaker ones with some poor pacing issues. Well if this is one of the weaker ones I can't wait to see more.
I found myself fully invested into the world and our main characters from the very beginning and I did not find it had poor pacing. You basically always had a few chapters of chill chapters followed from some high intensity chapters. So you could rest with some world building between chase scene and chase scene.
The only problem I had was actually the climax. I found it rushed and confusing, but I'll have to reread the ending eventually.
The character cast was a varied one and you will find at least one character to root for (Egwene and Perrin are awesome) and if not at the beginning you will eventually do, as the characters are developed more and more. Just be aware that the beginning is very Rand centric.
I was also told that this is a transition novel from the classical Tolkien esc fantasy to the more modern fantasy we get today and could not agree more with that statement. It does give me a lot of LOTR vibes but IN MY OPINION this book is a lot more readable than LOTR.
I am very excited for this series and can not wait to check the second book.
A very prototypical post-Tolkien start to an epic fantasy series. Small town youngsters embark on an adventure where they learn about themselves, grow up, find relics, gain power, etc.Lagged in the first third of the book and a little in the middle. It finished well and it did leave me wanting to read more of the series. This book felt longer than it was. I recently read [b:Words of Radiance 17332218 Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2) Brandon Sanderson https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1659905768l/17332218.SY75.jpg 16482835] by [a:Brandon Sanderson 38550 Brandon Sanderson https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1394044556p2/38550.jpg] which was longer but felt shorter because it was more intriguing and had more action. It's not that I need my books to be action packed, but I'd expect more than a handful in a 700+ page book. I've heard that this series does pick up in books 2-6, so I am excited to read them, just not right away.
Całkiem dobra, ale trochę się dłuży w niektórych momentach. Można by pewnie usunąć jakoś jedną piątą stron bez utraty jakiejkolwiek wartości. Mam nadzieję, że następna część będzie lepsza.
It is an excellent book to begin an excellent series. It is a very familiar plotline of the boy from a small town destined for great things, but I like this trope. It promises much more after it's all been written, and I love the descriptive style. I love medieval fantasy, and this provides it in spades. I also like that, unlike older fantasy, women are front and center as the Aes Sedai, and are the only people who can use magic. Of course, it does appear that the ultimate hero is a man here, but this is still light years ahead of other fantasy tropes, and this is 30 years ago! This contrasts nicely with older fantasy with barely any female characters and those that were there are rarely fully developed.
I also like the different creatures in this world. While it is clear that Tolkien influenced Jordan, he also created a new set of creatures, such as Trollocs and Myrddraal, instead of rehashing Tolkien's creatures. This, along with what they've changed regarding gender roles, means that there is enough difference in this world that it is not just another Tolkien story, but great writing on its own.