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Michael Smith

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The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, #1)

by Robert Jordan

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in January 2020

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Michael Smith said: " Well, I have finally started Wheel Of Time, having wanted to read it for nearly two decades now.

My thoughts on the first volume, Eye Of the World, are quietly conflicted. On the one hand, I could hardly put it down. A short book this is not, but I to Well, I have finally started Wheel Of Time, having wanted to read it for nearly two decades now.

My thoughts on the first volume, Eye Of the World, are quietly conflicted. On the one hand, I could hardly put it down. A short book this is not, but I took just over one week to complete it. But being immensely readable isn't the same as acknowledging a book as truly great.

So where do I stand with the first volume of one of the longest modern fantasy epics ever written? Well, hands down on the side of positive.

There are a few disquieting elements I'm not ecstatic about. First, Eye Of The World opens up for the reader a huge, expansive world. One that is full of ancient history, many diverse people's, huge cities...so why do the main characters all feel so bland? I didn't hate the characters, in fact I really love three or four of them at this point. But I felt the characters were there to advance the plot, rather than the plot be advanced by strong characterisation. Again, not a terrible thing. I loved the world.

Also, I know Robert Jordan purposely intended this first volume to emulate the narrative of Fellowship Of The Ring, to open his world to new readers with a sense of the familiar. It was easy to immerse myself in this book because, yes, the plot at times felt familiar. But there are points where it felt overly familiar, and whilst there was enough originality on display to avoid the story feeling like a cheap retread along the lines of the Sword Of Shannara by Terry Brooks, it most certainly never impressed me as much as Tad Williams first volume of Memory, Sorrow And Thorn: The Dragonbone Chair. That book deconstructed the tropes of fantasy that bogged down the genre for decades, and put all the pieces together in a spellbinding and wondrous way that helped breathe life back into fantasy, and the book stands alone apart from what came before, it reads as a masterpiece.

Eye Of The World is somewhere in between, it serves as a joyous, old fashioned fantasy read. And yet, it does have some magnificent moments that feel like something new. A younger work than Tad Williams classic trilogy, Eye Of The World has on its side some fantastic creatures, the world building feels all through the novel like a revealing of a completed bigger picture, and we are being shown piece by small piece the fragments of all Jordan has created. I finished the book wanting to immediately understand and know so much more, and that in itself redeems most of its apparent "flaws", if you want to refer to them as such.

I enjoyed the journey from small shepherding town to larger cities, haunted cities, mystical forests. The creatures range from the horrendous to the beautiful. The legends and lore are at once fascinating and frustratingly sparse, keeping you guessing and wanting to read on and on. The middle of the book was weighed down a little by feeling a little episodic, and some of the characters I love the most (Egwene, Perrin, Loial) didn't get as much attention as I'd like, whilst the main characters, Rand and Mat, struck me as absurdly boring at times. As for the female characters, over the entire book, I felt that for all his efforts, they rarely spring to life. I can't quite explain why, but the dynamic between male and female characters struck me as a little archaic: women know best, men know less, girls smart, boys stupid...you get the drill. Female fantasy characters really did come to life over the course of the nineties onwards, and I appreciate Jordan wrote a story with actual diversity (at least in terms of the era), but yes, I felt they were lacking. But hopefully future offerings improve upon this.

Also, something I did miss from the spoilings of other great fantasy work, is the lyrical, poetic prose of the finest fantasy writers. The writing style, whilst marvellous at conjuring up feelings of excitement, rarely left me awe inspired. The beauty, the ageless wisdom conjured from Tolkien's prose, the weighty majesty of Tad Williams modern, yet aged feel, the heartrending emotionality of Robin Hobb- Jordan writes really well, but lacks an individual voice that the best fantasy writers have. For all the praise I'm giving this book, I felt like I was reading one of many lesser fantasy writers who have burned brightly but faded over time.

So, for all I've said, I greatly enjoyed Eye Of The World. It's a classic tale told in an old fashioned style, with some magnificent moments that left me gripped, with a bunch of mostly likeable characters and a world so vast I can't wait to read more.

I started reading this book on the date of its 30th anniversary. Interestingly, I finished Robin Hobb's similarly epic fantasy series The Realm Of The Elderlings that same day. I am trying very hard to not compare too much between the two, considering Hobb's work currently stands as my favourite work of fiction of all time. Yet, whilst it's true Eye Of The World didn't capture my imagination in quite the same way as The Assassin's Apprentice did, I can say I devoured it almost as voraciously. That is a good sign.

7.5/10 ...more "

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