The Eye of the World

Wheel of Time, Book 1 The Wheel of Time, #1

by Robert Jordan

mass market paperback, 814 pages

English language

Published Jan. 4, 1990 by Tom Doherty Associates.

ISBN:: 978-0-8125-1181-9
OCLC Number:: 22671036

(216 reviews)

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.

3 editions

Alabastard reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

None

3 stars

Indudablemente atrapante. A pesar de que es el primer libro de una larguísima serie y que es muy extenso, me impresionó su alcance y la cantidad de actores y "bandos" que logra conectar dentro de la historia y posicionar para el futuro desarrollo de la misma. Los guiños a El Señor de los Anillos son evidentes y si bien la línea entre inspiración e imitación puede ser delgada, me parece que esta historia logra distinguirse como una construcción y un mundo propio, más allá de que la huella de Tolkien y su emblemática manera de entrelazar mitología y lenguaje le haya servido de base. La escritura me pareció consistente y elegante (muy fluida sin ser simple) y la trama bastante rica en detalles e hilos que se van conectando a medida que avanza el relato. Como primer libro de una serie, se nos pide digerir bastante información dentro del rompecabezas diseñado por el autor y se nota que el objetivo es más que nada plantar semillas que irán germinando en los siguientes tomos, así que no es una lectura sencilla, por lo que su éxito dependerá de si conectamos o no con los personajes y sus trayectorias. En mi caso, el viaje de sus héroes, tanto los admirables como los improbables, me resultó en general entretenido y me mantuvo motivado por seguir leyendo.

dvdgc13@bookrastinating.com reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Fantasy in a segregated society

4 stars

I started this book after I heard about its TV show, and learnt that this is one of the longest fantasy series. I haven't read much fantasy either. I enjoyed this first book, the adventures of a group of friends from a village that they need to escape their home town. Robert Jordan gives a very good detail of every thing that happens during their journey, and how the society are structured. I found that society structure quite puzzling. Women and men have different roles and duties on their everyday lives. They are not shown as one lower than the other, but it uses many stereotypes of our real society. The woman takes care of the kitchen while the man attends the business - this was a bit annoying (I suppose as our society). However, there done stats¹ that seems to indicate that the following books will get more gender …

acidman reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I enjoyed this one. Its a chosen one. Its a farm boys. Its a dark lord. Its witches and prophecies. Noble noblefolk and surprising-not-really back stories. Secret ancestry and stuff. There's Mary Sues. There's plot armor. It's the end of the world, mister! It's all things, it's everything you'd expect from the generic epic fantasy in your head. Well, all that's true. But it's more true about the series than it is about this book. This book's all about running. Running away from the bad guys. Running across a whole damn continent. Country bumpkins at that. This sets a tension, setting and pace for a solid and enjoyable introduction to a big world and conflict.

Now, do I like what was on display? Will I be sampling more? Was it worth my time? I was definitely scratching for something like this, let's just say that. Haven't decided if I'd be …

Strakul reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book is where it all starts. Even at the onset, you can tell it's going to be a long ride. This book has it all, a fast-paced engaging plot that hints at a grander adventure to come; a unique cast of characters that grow and develop within the book, and for the rest of the series, too; and a setting that captures the imagination, whether it is of the magic, the cultures, or the legends of thousands of years past.

For a full review, check out my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2021/09/book-review-eye-of-world-by-robert.html

paven reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

One of the best fantasy books written. Exciting to follow.

Tavish reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

(for the audiobook) I liked it, it feels like it is a setup for what's to come in the sequels. It seems to be a formulaic chosen farmboy fantasy novel, but I guess that was intentional, and it had enough deviations from the formula, and interesting characters and world-building, that I was interested in them and their story.

maxy reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I really like the main characters of this story. Sadly it tries a bit too hard to add things from the Tolkien realm.

wzhkevin reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Did not enjoy this one. Read like a teenage boy’s fantasy. Couldn’t identify with the characters. Felt like the entire book they were just being swept along, lacking will or motivation or agency. World didn’t engage me. Magic didn’t engage me. Huge lore dumps, lots of random fantasy names that meant nothing. This series is meant to be a huge deal in fantasy fiction, right? For that reason alone I might give the second book a chance one day, but not anytime soon I think.

laggytoast reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Great fantasy series, some books can be quite long but its drags you into the wonderfully crafted world

ike reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Entertaining, vivid world. Good beach read.

LemmiSchmoeker reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Mostly as I remembered it from having read it in the mid-90s: sloppily (though competently) written, with interminable ramblings about why men/women are different from women/men, and characters constantly complaining about their destiny. However, Jordan builds up a wonderful atmosphere, and has a gift for describing long-gone times. The story seems complex and refined, and while many elements are stolen from other books or films, he manages to make them fully his own.

Sean Gursky reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Epic. The Wheel of Time series kicks off with a great book. The world and characters are slowly introduced as the stage is set for the series.

Graham Downs reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

You know, the problem with epic fantasy is that it's a huge time commitment. And this one was a huge commitment indeed, taking me over a month and a half to read.

It was worth it, though. The characters are rich and vibrant, the descriptions are incredible, and the story is pretty good. I've read a few books which people have said are derivative of The Eye of the World, but I didn't believe them at the time. In this story, though, I see so many concepts which I've read before, which is a pity because I read them in books published well after this little gem.

I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series, but maybe not any more this year!

Fulminata reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I'm breaking my normal rule to go ahead and review this book. Normally I don't review books I haven't read recently. The last time I read this was around the time the third or fourth book in the series was published, but I feel I can give it an honest review.

I rag on this series a lot, but this first book was actually a somewhat enjoyable read. The characters were engaging and the concepts introduced were interesting. If it had been the first in a trilogy rather than an introduction to an interminably long "epic" it would have been decent.

Unfortunately, it wasn't, and by the time I got to the 6th book in the series my patience with the story was exhausted. The characters and concepts that I'd found interesting in the first book, I now just found annoying to the point that I no longer cared what …

RunningOutOf_Ink reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time, #1)

Review of 'The Eye of the World' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

First Impressions:

I've never been a Wheel of Time fan. I read this book sometime back in high school, and was not really inspired by it. I started book 2, but never finished. It was too high fantasy for me, if you can believe it.

Since I remember so little of the book from when I read it in high school, and since reading Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson keeps me up at night, I decided to give this novel another try. So far, 20 pages in, I feel the same as I did back then. Although the prologue was intriguing, especially the part where Dragon turns himself into a volcano, the narrative itself is wordy and uninteresting.

After the prologue, we have Rand al'Thor riding with his father to the Bel Tine festival. There are some interesting elements that caught my attention: the 'traditional' elements, where the people of the town don't remember why things are done, but just that it's always been done, so why change? I am also interested in seeing the role of women in this world. This town has a Women's Circle, which the men are not allowed to interfere in. They elect a woman to be 'Wisdom', whose role seems to be predicting the future--how the weather will be, what kind of harvest they can expect that year, etc. So far, the reader has had only one interaction with a woman, Wit's wife, and she seems unpleasant. I usually enjoy stories with a more direct female role, someone who I can directly relate to, so I'm not sure how much I'll enjoy this novel as it is told (so far) from the perspective of an adolescent male.

Other than my thoughts on the traditional elements and the gender perspective, I haven't found a lot to pull me in. I'm not fond of the writing style. Robert Jordan spends a lot of time describing the surroundings. As a reader, I don't find it necessary to know exactly how much snow is under the trees. I can appreciate that winter is lasting much longer than it should, but how many times do I need this thrown in my face? I get it already, Jordan! The winter is lasting too long and no one is even sure they're going to get a good harvest. So far we've heard this from 3 or 4 characters, and from the descriptive narrative from Jordan himself (omniscient). I get the point. Stop beating the dead horse.

That said, this will certainly help me sleep better at night.

UPDATE

Dammit, it started getting good. Had to force myself to put the book down at 11:30 last night. This may not help me sleep after all. Robert Jordan is painting this idyllic setting of the inside of Tam and Rand's home--cozy fire, stew bubbling, the two men performing their tasks in harmony and without complaint--when suddenly, there is a pounding on the door, followed by the door being kicked down by a giant man with a snout, ram's horns, and hooves. I have to say, it caught me by surprise. Jordan had pulled me in with his slow descriptions, and the leisurely pace of the events. I was expecting to be bored for another few chapters based on this presumption. Then suddenly, Tam is hacking Trollocs down at the door, and Rand is running for the woods. In rapid succession, Rand reunites with Tam--who is now injured and feverish--in the woods behind their home, Rand then goes back to the house for supplies, kills another Trolloc, fashions a litter, and starts dragging his father toward Emond's Hill. Along the way, a troop of trollocs passes, lead by the mysterious horseman, and Tam is muttering feverishly, telling stories of war and finding a baby, blue in the cold, and taking it home because he and his wife cannot have children. That's the chapter I finished the night with. Dammit Jordan, why couldn't you have continued to disappoint me? Now there are two books I can't read during the week because I will never sleep.

UPDATE

It took me a long time to finish this book. It is a very large book, and parts of it are very interesting, while other parts are pretty mediocre. My boyfriend promises me that things get better by book three. Book 2 is in my queue, so we'll see how far I get this time around.