I read this for the first time a long time ago, but so far as I can remember I was struck at the time by just how much Jordan had “borrowed” from The Lord of the Rings. There are three young men in a rural community being hunted by minions of the Dark Lord – riders on black horses dressed in black, their faces hidden by deep hoods. The main character – Rand Al'Thor – is nearly discovered in the woods by one of them in precisely the same way that Frodo and his friends are when journeying to Buckland. The main shock troops employed by the Dark Lord are called Trollocs (trolls / orcs, I can only assume). The word always makes me think of trollops. The Dark Lord uses ravens as spies. Huge flocks of them search for two of the characters at one point. Rand Al'Thor and his friends at one point travel through a dark region (The Ways / The Mines of Moria), and are pursued by a creature corrupted by the Dark Lord (Padan Fain / Gollum). Those things being said, Jordan did combine the elements in new and interesting ways, and the overall result was an entertaining, if over long, read.

The basic story is the popular journey or quest. Our hero is not seeking treasure, but is trying to find out why the Dark Lord is pursuing him. By the end of the book he knows the answer. In this book Jordan has a modest cast of characters, a single plot line, and mostly uses Rand as his viewpoint character. One of the problems with the series as it develops is that the cast grows, and so does the number of viewpoint characters and separate sub plots. Several of the later books seem to have no sort of unifying plot at all.

Overall I found the book enjoyable enough that I have read it, and most of the other books in the series several times. One of the problems withb such a long series is that you are almost forced to reread them when each new volume comes out because you've forgotten so much of what happened before. However, I do wish that Jordan had employed a good editor. ( )

Whatever greatness there is in Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World lies almost exclusively in its promise of momentous things to come, in how it establishes a world that is sufficiently expansive for one of the largest, longest-running fantasy series ever created.

Don’t get me wrong: standing alone it a pretty decent fantasy novel. Pretty decent, but not great. Not only are we already catching glimpses of the irritating “quirks” that carry through "The Wheel of Time" (overdrawn character descriptions covering minute costume details, characters doing infuriatingly stupid things), but there are moments where it seems as if Jordan hadn’t quite yet figured out in this first installment how he was going to manage this epic tale. For example, two major weak points were 1) the ill-handled flashback in chapters 31-34 (made more convoluted by having another flashback within the flashback), and 2) the surreal and rather ambiguous climax (What was the Eye of the World for, again? Did Rand actually go to Tarwin’s Gap, and if so, how? It didn’t look like any mode of Traveling we see anywhere else in the series. Whose voice is it that Rand hears telling him “IT IS NOT HERE,” and what is that even supposed to mean? Did Ba’alzamon really have Kari al’Thor held prisoner? And did Rand really just kill the Dark One?).

But these murky narrative waters are entirely navigable, and even the irritating quirks don’t seem all that bothersome after all in the re-read, at least for me. The fact is that there is so much that Jordan does well in The Eye of the World. In just one book we have a large set of characters that have been firmly established, each already moving down his or her own separate path. We have a world that is already large, but as of yet barely explored, holding the promise of so much new ground to cover. At the same time, without feeling (for the most part) that we have been force-fed facts and information about that world, by the book’s conclusion we have come to know enough of the One Power, of places and kingdoms and legends, to feel the gravity of Rand’s realization that he is a male channeler, and, possibly, the Dragon Reborn. Even in a large novel this is a lot to accomplish; in spite of a vigorous program, though, Jordan somehow keeps ending up on his feet, even when he doesn’t always stick the landing.

In short, The Eye of the World, while not a perfect book by any means, hints at such tremendous possibilities for the future books that it is no wonder that millions have been drawn into "The Wheel of Time" series. ( )

This book starts slow, but when it picks up, you won't be able to put it down. The Wheel of Time is a fantasy series that will appeal to all readers and for good reason. Like Card, Jordan is adept at creating characters you will love. ( )

I just finished re-reading this book for probably the 11th time. Amazes me how I am still interested in this book and find something new each time I read it. ( )

Kearsten says: I love this series. It's exciting, complex, scary and engrossing. I read Eye of the World for the first time in...maybe 1994?...and I've reread it countless times, usually right before a new book in the series is published.

Rand, Mat and Perrin are best friends, which isn't surprising, given that they're all of an age and grew up in the same small, remote village, Emond's Field. The most pressing thing on their minds is the upcoming Bel Tine celebration, but this is thrown into shadow - literally - when the village is attacked by Myrddraal and Trollocs, creatures serving the Dark One. The three boys survive the attack, but are convinced to leave by an Aes Sedai, Moiraine, and her Warder, Lan, in order to keep their village from being attacked again. For Moiraine is sure the Dark One is after one of these boys.

RECOMMENDED! ( )