The Eye of the World: The Graphic Novel, Volume One

Summary: In the sleepy village of Emond's Field, things are shaping up to be the most exciting Bel Tine festival ever: there are strangers in town, a peddler, a gleeman, and a beautiful lady and her companion. But that night, there are more than just travelers; the town is attacked by nightmare creatures out of legend. They are targeting three young men - Rand, Mat, and Perrin - who are convinced that they must flee the Two Rivers to save themselves. They leave with the mysterious lady Moirraine, who is an Aes Sedai, one of the feared women who can wield the magic of the One Power. But can she protect them from the Dark One himself, who stalks their very dreams?

Volume One covers the events of Bel Tine and the travelers fleeing Emond's show more Field.

Review: I have a powerful fondness for The Eye of the World, maybe even more so than my fondness for the Wheel of Time as a whole. This book is what got me in to epic fantasy in the first place, and there are some parts of it that are just so clear and iconic in my mind that I can't imagine them any other way. This works both for and against the graphic adaptation. On the one hand, it's faithful to the storyline, dialogue, and feeling of the original, enough so to evoke my nostalgia and make me kindly disposed to the adaptated version. On the other hand, things in the adaptation are obviously never fully fleshed out, and reading the graphic novels just made me want to re-read the original in text form. The art work was not great, but also not terrible. Some things were handled well visually (in this volume, the trollocs especially); some things didn't come across as well in picture as they did in prose (the Myrdraal's cloak that doesn't move in the wind); and sometimes the art just felt woefully off base, particularly in this volume. (oh, poor Perrin). 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: I have a hard time imagining anyone who isn't already a WoT fan picking these up, or understanding what the hell's going on if they did. They're a fun way to revisit the world for fans, and I can see how they'd be more accessible than a stack of 14 chunkster books, but it's still not something I'd give to a newbie. show less

A very solid adaptation of the classic fantasy novel. The characters look as they're supposed to and are consistently drawn, the colour work is very attractive, and the story is told economically but with enough detail to satisfy fans (although I am puzzled by the choice to use both of the existing prologues).

Given that The Eye of the World was prose first, and I read the prose first, this started out as a really weird medium to convey the story in. However, it definitely improved as it went on, and the artwork was pretty gorgeous, so I have no real complaints about this.

so i want to follow the graphic novel of the wheel of time because somewhere around book 9 or 10 or so i realized that i had completely lost track of the plot and i did not have the omph to reread 10 books, each of which is around 1000 pages. While I still maintain that the graphic novels are a good way to catch up on the plot so I can finish off the series of actual novels, there are a couple problems. problem the first: the price. it is just two expensive. most manga sell around $10-15....while this isn't excactly manga, its close enough that this might be a good idea. problem two: once more, going to the world of happy mangas, most mangas have an intro page to aquaint readers with the names of characters in relation to their image show more through out the book. this isn't done. and to compact matters, sometimes its many pages in if ever that a characters name is revealed. this helps make readers confused when trying to understand the story. problem three: so to clarify, i am at best a so-so artist. any of the artists that do this book are like a hundred times better than me at my best, however, it needs to be said, some of the art work in this book is still not good enough. the scene were the glee man comments that he has found the preatiest girl in town in Egwene just doesn't work, because the artists rendation of Egwene is so subpar. Now, I understand that perhaps the artists are going to for a sort of children's story book apeal with their art, but this is not lord of the rings. the wheel of time is a very adult work symbolising the dark side of human nature in many ways. in the long run, a more gritty real art form will service this medium better, especially as the story progresses. granted, the early tale is fairly pg, but fairly adult things happen in latter books of the wheel of time, so this really needs to be addressed. i'm not saying i hated all the art, but some of it could be better. problem 4: so at the end of graphic novel one we are...what...maybe a fifth,if i'm feeling generous, through the actual first novel of wheel of time. it will take like 50+ graphic novel books to get the job done at this rate. granted, this is a great way to make money, but fans just don't have that amount of money to spend, especially at the current price tag. i hope they continue on with this but it needs some adjustments. show less

Art is pretty standard. The story is typical fantasy stuff. Reminds me of Lord of the Rings. Not much of a fan of this stuff really.

Funny how the adaptation is almost as slow as the books lol.