The Wheel of Time Part 1: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Fic Jordan, Robert
In the first part of this year, I read four Epic Fantasy novels and I failed at an attempt to read a science fiction book. Why do I tell you this? Well, I consider myself a genre fan, and I would say historically I lean more towards science fiction and horror and not fantasy. Though in the case of science fiction, it may be more movies than books, but when reading a back of the cover or inner flap of a book, the ones that sound more interesting are science fiction and horror books. For some reason I find the synopsis of fantasy books either silly or stupid. I don't know why and other than some one recommending a book to you, shelf browsing is the other way I find something to read and working at a book store and a library I have a lot of opportunity to browse shelves. This is not to say that I haven't read fantasy before. I have read some juvenile and young adult fantasy series, Tolkien, and a few authors like Stephen King and Orson Scott Card that have dabbled into fantasy amongst their other books and series. Not until recently have I had someone to personnaly recommend fantasy books to me. The first book I read was Patrick Rothfuss The Name of the Wind, which I will review later when the second one comes out next year. Then I read the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, who will go on to finish up the Wheel of Time books, sprodacially in the first part of the year. Having enjoyed all four of those, I thought I may be becoming a fantasy fan especially of high fantasy. So what should I read next? Well Robert Jordan was described as a modern day Tolkien and was compared to the like of Stephen King in readability, and after reading Brandon Sanderson I knew atleast the last three will be great when I get to them.
And this isn't a small series. At the end of it all, it will spand over 11,000 pages. One last thing before I get into the first book is that I plan to catch up as the last book is released which is planned for early 2012. So I will be writing reviews for each book of the series in the order they were written.
With all origin stories or first parts, you have to take the time to be introduced to characters and build the world so that the action can have both weight and consequence. The Eye of the World is no different. I cannot recall how many books Robert Jordan had planned for the Wheel of Time series but reading through the first book it is evident that it was more than one. With any fantasy book it is hard to sum up what the book is about mainly because it is just a part of a series. The main protagonist is Rand al'Thor, raised as a sheepherder in a small town, along with his friends Mat and Perrin (taking the Merry and Pippin roles) who are being sought after by forces of the Dark One. Much like Tarantino will take, or steal depending on point of few, from other films; Jordan borrows a lot from Tolkien and Arthurian legend as have many other writers. Some of the fun I had while reading this book was trying to match characters and events from the Wheel of Time with that of the Lord of the Rings and seeing how Jordan may have turned or twisted that character to create something new out of an old trope (Gandalf is a woman). Because don't get me wrong, the characters of the Wheel of Time are very much their own inspite of who they are substituting for.
The writing technique most evident here is Jordan's play with the idea of myths and legends and how they can effect a world and its people. And while that makes the world rich and deep that cannot be said for Jordan's characters. Jordan's characters are all likeable but most are attributed to a few personality attributes and he more or less sticks with those. This can get wearisome as this book moves a little slow in terms of actually getting some where that has meaning. If the idea of spending hundred of pages going from one place to another while every event that happens is gone over with a fine-tooth comb sounds unappealing then this book isn't for you and probably epic fantasy as a genre either.
If you are someone that is interested in getting into epic fantasy and wonder where a good place to start is than the Wheel of Time may be something that you would want to read as it is now consider a staple of the genre. If you are already a fan but have been avoiding it because you didn't know how many books til then end it would be or when they would come out then now is a good time to start as the second to last came out this month.
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