The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan – Readalong & Book Review

About to Pick Up The Eye of the World…

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan is an eight-hundred-page long first installment of a 14-book The Wheel of Time series that I’ve been planning to read for years now but was intimidated by its sheer size. It does sound, though, like something I could enjoy a lot, so in this case the length should be a good thing, right?

The majority of the series was written by Robert Jordan, then completed posthumously by Brandon Sanderson. I don’t know much about it, except that, according to some of the covers, it is the second biggest epic fantasy series, right after The Lord of the Rings?

And I love epic fantasy. I also used to prefer long series to short books (I love when I get to spend a lot of time with characters, to get to know them really well and get thoroughly invested) before I started the blog and almost got crushed by chasing never-ending TBRs. But I’m slowly getting back to what works best for me.

The only thing is – I’ve heard this is one of those series where you need to read quite a bit before it becomes brilliant and you get really invested in the story. And I’m usually not up for reading four mediocre books so the fifth one can wow me.

But this one I really want to read.

My Thoughts As I’m Reading The Eye Of The World By Robert Jordan

30% into the book:

The seas boiled, and the living envied the dead. All was shattered, and all but memory lost, and one memory above all others, of him who brought the Shadow and the Breaking of the World. And him they named Dragon.

I am almost a third into the book and I don’t have much to say about it. In many ways it is exactly what I’d expect from a classic epic fantasy written in the early 90s.

The beginning is slow. Not slow slow, things do happen. But I’m still not quite getting that feeling that something significant (significant to me) is going on. I know, what a way to explain it.

The author is still setting up everything. But there are a lot of small instances where the narration falls short of convincing.

The way we discover things about the world and its lore and history is a bit all over the place. We get only pieces through conversations and I guess we’re supposed to fill in the rest?

At least there are no long info-dumps, but there are a lot of looong descriptions of absolutely everything. Which – again, it’s to be expected. And I can hurry a bit through those parts, so it’s not that bad.

I’m still waiting to start caring for the characters and to be wowed by the plot. I don’t think either is going to happen soon, but the beginning is good enough to make me optimistic about the series overall.

There’s a quest going on where I’m currently at. And I’m pretty sure the chosen one trope is going to be a huge part of the story, which is great because I love that trope.

70% into the book:

Relax, lad. Take life as it comes. Run when you have to, fight when you must, rest when you can.

If I weren’t as stubborn as I am, I’d given up on this book already.

I’m really struggling with it. Honestly – it’s boring. They are still traveling to some place I don’t care about because of some vague reason which I guess is good enough for them. They run into things on their way there. But we’ve barely touched into the overarching story and without it, nothing makes much sense.

Right now, nothing is explained very well. I guess on a reread things would make much more sense. I can even see how people who already know the rest of the story might think this is a great setup for what’s coming. But as someone who has no idea how the rest of the story goes… it’s just – there’s not much substance.

100%:

Death is lighter than a feather. Duty, heavier than a mountain.

Well, this last portion did get more engaging for me, but not by a lot. Just enough to still kind of want to give the second book a try.

Honestly, I’m still not quite sure how I feel about these first steps into The Wheel of Time series. I can see the potential, but for now, the delivery’s just not there.

But I still feel like The Eye of The World would feel great on a reread, once you get through the whole series.

Well, at least now I can go and check out the first season of that TV series. Can’t wait to see what side it’s going to sway me to.

As for the book, 3 stars from me and fingers crossed I like the second one more.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan – Final Thoughts

As the Wheel of Time turns, places wear many names. Men wear many names, many faces. Different faces, but always the same man. Yet no one knows the Great Pattern the Wheel weaves, or even the Pattern of an Age. We can only watch, and study, and hope.

It’s been a few days since I finished this book and I already started to feel better about it. It’s really not a long time, but after some mulling over, I started to appreciate more the idea behind this story, which is epic.

Maybe this is one of those series that look better from a little distance. Or maybe I just needed a moment.

I actually started to appreciate random little things I didn’t care about when they occurred, but now I feel like they were setting up something. Especially the beginning of the book I now find very intriguing.

And the tropes are getting more and more interesting, especially because I heard some fun things are being done with them as the story progresses. To me, right now they seem so plainly stereotypical, I can’t wait to see what is going to get turned upside down and how.

The gender roles are still not quite clear to me. I just realized I haven’t even mentioned the whole ‘men get insane when they use magic so women are the only ones who can use it’. But that’s because I’m still figuring it out for myself. I guess I need things to unfold a bit more before I can decide if we love it or if we hate it.

The characters – it’s not easy for me to care about any of them right now. I don’t have anything against any of them. I don’t find them unlikable. They are fine. But that’s just it, they are – fine.

Or maybe it’s that all the small inconsistencies in everyone’s behavior are making me feel like I don’t really know any of them.

But the good news is – I’m way more optimistic about reading that second book than I was when I just finished The Eye of the World. I even started to miss the whole thing a little, which I really didn’t expect.

So, I’ll be picking up The Great Hunt as soon as I finish the thriller I’m currently reading, which should be tomorrow. Fingers crossed I feel a bit more connected with everything after it 🤞

Oh, and by the way, I did start watching the TV show. Lol, not continuing with that for sure.