The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (Book 1 of the Wheel of Time)
A series intro and a book summary are below the review.
Looking for epic fantasy. Look no further. This first book definitely sets up an interesting world and a quest that will try the characters. There are mythic beasts, lost knowledge to find, magic (of a kind), and of course the big bad that has to be defeated.
There is no shortage of characters, but not too many to be confusing, which is a fine line to walk. You also get multiple viewpoints throughout the book, instead of a singular main character. This definitely improves the chance that you will like at least one of them enough to finish the book. The one thing I’ll say about the characters themselves is that they’re pretty basic, not too complicated at the beginning. Not that it’s a bad thing, it gives them space to grow and develop over the series. It just means you see what you get with most of them. And I do mean most. There are three that are layered already and you get to only see glimpses of them so far.
As for the story, I found it engaging and happily worked my way through the 657 pages. I also enjoyed it enough to check out the new tv series based on it when I was done. (see below for more on that*) I look forward to seeing where the story goes in both.
Just so you know what you’re getting into if you like it, it’s the first of 14 books. 11 by Robert Jordan and 3 by Brandon Sanderson using the partial manuscript and extensive notes left when Jordan passed away. Jordan had intended book 12 to be the final book, but Sanderson thought there was too much and broke it into three books. I will be reading the rest. I may not review every single one here. We’ll see if I review as I go or just do a full series finish instead.
*I always walk into visual adaptations of books without any expectations. I try not to count the differences or the similarities or judge the casting. Because the probability of deviation is likely, I try really hard to experience it for itself. I will tell you here though that this is not a faithful adaptation. They cover book one and I’m going to assume parts of future books in the first season. Either that or they made some stuff up whole cloth to make the show work for them. Showrunners have been known to do that. I guess I’ll find out as I read my way through the rest of the series. Either way, it is enjoyable as well, if you like that sort of thing.
Series Intro:
At the dawn of time a deity known as the Creator forged the universe and the Wheel of Time, which spins the Pattern of the Ages using the lives of men and women as its threads. The Wheel has seven spokes, each representing an age, and it is rotated by the One Power, which flows from the True Source. The One Power is divided into male and female halves, saidin and saidar, which work in opposition and in unison to drive the Wheel. Humans who can use its power are known as channelers; the principal organization of such channelers in the books is called the Aes Sedai or ‘Servants of All’ in the Old Tongue.
The Creator imprisoned its antithesis, “Shai’tan,” the Dark One, at the moment of creation, sealing him away from the Wheel. However, in a time called the Age of Legends, an Aes Sedai experiment inadvertently breached the Dark One’s prison, allowing his influence to seep back into the world. He rallied the powerful, the corrupt, and the ambitious to his cause and these servants began an effort to free the Dark One fully from his prison, so he might remake time and reality in his own image. In response to this threat, the Wheel spun out the Dragon, a channeler of immense power, to be a champion for the Light. In the Age of Legends the Dragon was a man named Lews Therin Telamon, who eventually rose to command the Aes Sedai and their allies in the struggle against the Dark One’s forces. After a grueling ten-year war, Lews Therin led his forces to victory in a daring assault on the volcano of Shayol Ghul (the site of the earthly link to the Dark One’s prison), and was able to seal off the Dark One’s prison. However, at the moment of victory the Dark One was able to taint saidin, driving male channelers of the One Power insane. Lews Therin killed his friends and family and then himself. The other male channelers devastated the world with the One Power, unleashing earthquakes and tidal waves that reshaped the world. Eventually, the last male channeler was killed or cut off from the One Power, leaving the human race all but destroyed and only women able to wield the One Power safely. The Aes Sedai reconstituted and guided humanity out of this dark time. Mankind now lived under the shadow of a prophecy that the Dark One would break free from his prison and the Dragon would be Reborn to fight him once more, and although he is humanity’s only hope to succeed against the Dark One, he would devastate the world a second time in the process.
Book summary (per Goodreads):
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
When The Two Rivers is attacked by Trollocs-a savage tribe of half-men, half-beasts- five villagers flee that night into a world they barely imagined, with new dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.
Everyday Sisters 