Ok, so I've now finished the first book to Robert Jordan's epic series The Wheel of Time. I'm so surprised I didn't read these books earlier. I've got the rest of the series ahead of me now, and quite a good taste of what epic fantasy should be.

Jordan's writing is quite elegant, doing the job of describing just what's going on in his world. I hear that later in the series you get a lot more going on to the point that characters are hard to keep track of, but that didn't seem to be the case here. Rand al'Thor is of course your main character, and most of the other characters are attached to him in some way.

The idea behind magic here as having become a largely feminine art due to the influence of a mysterious "Dark One" is rather interesting. I really like what Jordan did in creating the organization of the Aes Sedai.

Stopping here to avoid plot spoilers as the Wheel of Time series is a superb one which should be read, but put simply Eye of the World was an amazing book which will remain in my library.

Also, just to add a small caveat, I did receive a free copy of the book after I bought my own ebook version, just to be 100% up front. That doesn't change the fact that this book honestly deserves its position as a modern classic though.