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tieflingmom's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Classism
grace_b_3's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Animal death and Torture
grets_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The story's the long and fairly dry cis-het male centric I expected, but I could listen to Rosamund Pike's narration all day.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Physical abuse, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
Minor: War
prettiestwhistles's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent and Alcohol
mattiedancer's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Writing: 3.75⭐️/5
This is a 1600-page first novel of a fourteen-book-plus-a-sequel series. Sometimes, the writing is nearly outstanding. At other times, it feels redundant and repetitive. It’s like a love-like-don’t-like smoothie of writing. Overall, it’s adequate, bordering on good. I applaud Jordan’s ability to work within Tolkien’s conventions, nearly calling him into the novel without actually doing that. As a Tolkien fan, I appreciate the nods to Lord of the Rings you can see here and there as well. These incredibly cute Easter Eggs were appreciated.
Characters: 4.5⭐️/5
I like the characters, and I like that – as far as this one goes – they do feel relatively different. I could feel the intention Jordan put into his characters, even minor ones, even near-NPC ones. I felt deeply that if he’d had the time or the desire, he could have written a whole tale on each of the people the crew meets along their journey with ease. Despite relying on a few sexist and/or misogynistic tropes to propel attributes of his female characters, Jordan also created compelling women. Moraine, Nynaeve, and Egwene are all wonderful to read about and have in this tale.
Plot: 4⭐️/5
Think Lord of the Rings, but not. We have a chosen group – an unlikely band of heroes – who embark on adventure after a party goes wrong, compelled to chase after the Dark One, a presence threatening the entire world. It’s a sweater made from LOTR material, but it fits differently. The complexity of the world is just as thought out as LOTR, branching into its own tale in the details. A few qualms I had with the plot: the predictability of the Chosen One made me hope Jordan was going to “pull one over on me” (he didn’t) and the final battle felt a bit odd in pacing. Also, the reliance on “the Pattern” or “the Wheel” felt far too convenient, almost pulling at the threads of our story and unravelling it into a bundle of “so what?” When everything is dictated by the Pattern, then what’s the point of the story?
All in all, I enjoyed reading it, and I am excited to start book two.
Who Should Read This Book?
- Fans of LOTR
- Fans of lengthy high-fantasy novels
- Fans of Sanderson, who don’t mind a bit more exposition in their worldbuilding
- Someone without commitment issues (fourteen books and a prequel require commitment)
Content Warnings?
- War, blood, injury, injury detail, gaslighting, gore, murder, sexism, misogyny, grief,
Post-Reading Rating: 4⭐️/5
Let’s start book two!
Final Rating: 4⭐️/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail
kaziaroo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Torture, and Vomit
arcali's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
So this book is not new to me - I've read it before and have read 8 or so of the following books in the series. It might be difficult for me to give a review purely based on the content of this one alone, given I know some of what follows after, but I will try my best.
The Eye of the World is the first book of 14 or so novels in the Wheel of Time series. This series is a gargantuan beast that requires a serious time commitment, but if you like your chunky doorstoppers, this may well be the series for you.
Eye of the World is a mixed bag for me. Its pretty tropy, taking a lot of very clear inspiration from Tolkein in particular- fans of Lord of the Rings won't be able to miss them. I think this was actually deliberately done by Jordan. That said, I do know that the Wheel of Time series takes its own very distinct path as it goes on, so while it's perhaps a flaw for some people in the first book, it's not indicative of the series as a whole.
It's also pretty dense prose wise. It takes a lot of time with its descriptions and its worldbuilding. The world building is one of its strong points in my opinion though. Jordan clearly spent a huge amount of time developing the world, and it shows in all the little details.
The pacing is a bit slow, especially in the beginning, and there is a central portion that drags on a bit as well, but when Jordan hits his stride properly in an action scene, I always find myself turning the pages, gripped for more. Particularly with the way the book ends, I was tempted to jump straight into book 2 in order to continue on (but my existing TBR shortlist won out in the end)
Finally, I have mixed feelings about the way women are portrayed in the book. It's over 30 years old now, so somewhat a product of its time, and in some ways I think Jordan did try to push the envelope with this. His female characters are strong, in a world where only women can (safely) wield magical power - they have huge influence and ability, and this is something that you didn't really see much of at the time. On the other hand, the world itself has gender differences baked into it, and the characters themselves are all frustratingly prone to pertpetuating stereotypes and getting into a sort of 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus' mindset. I suspect that as the series goes on, they will have to learn to work together better, but it's something that I picked up on a lot more this time round than I did in my (much earlier) rereads.
Final thoughts: Eye of the World (and the rest of the WoT series) is a fantasy classic at this point, and I will definitely be reading the following books (I hope this time is the time when I finish the series!), but it is definitely not without its flaws.
The Eye of the World is the first book of 14 or so novels in the Wheel of Time series. This series is a gargantuan beast that requires a serious time commitment, but if you like your chunky doorstoppers, this may well be the series for you.
Eye of the World is a mixed bag for me. Its pretty tropy, taking a lot of very clear inspiration from Tolkein in particular- fans of Lord of the Rings won't be able to miss them. I think this was actually deliberately done by Jordan. That said, I do know that the Wheel of Time series takes its own very distinct path as it goes on, so while it's perhaps a flaw for some people in the first book, it's not indicative of the series as a whole.
It's also pretty dense prose wise. It takes a lot of time with its descriptions and its worldbuilding. The world building is one of its strong points in my opinion though. Jordan clearly spent a huge amount of time developing the world, and it shows in all the little details.
The pacing is a bit slow, especially in the beginning, and there is a central portion that drags on a bit as well, but when Jordan hits his stride properly in an action scene, I always find myself turning the pages, gripped for more. Particularly with the way the book ends, I was tempted to jump straight into book 2 in order to continue on (but my existing TBR shortlist won out in the end)
Finally, I have mixed feelings about the way women are portrayed in the book. It's over 30 years old now, so somewhat a product of its time, and in some ways I think Jordan did try to push the envelope with this. His female characters are strong, in a world where only women can (safely) wield magical power - they have huge influence and ability, and this is something that you didn't really see much of at the time. On the other hand, the world itself has gender differences baked into it, and the characters themselves are all frustratingly prone to pertpetuating stereotypes and getting into a sort of 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus' mindset. I suspect that as the series goes on, they will have to learn to work together better, but it's something that I picked up on a lot more this time round than I did in my (much earlier) rereads.
Final thoughts: Eye of the World (and the rest of the WoT series) is a fantasy classic at this point, and I will definitely be reading the following books (I hope this time is the time when I finish the series!), but it is definitely not without its flaws.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Violence
rexpostfacto's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
emtees's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This was a reread - actually, probably like a fourth read - for me. The series is one that I have mixed feelings about overall, but the recent show got me to reread it, and I'd forgotten how good the first book was. The world building, character development and suspense are all really strong. Even though you only see a small amount of the world in which the book is set, it all feels fleshed out and tangible. There is a sense of depth and history to it. The characters are immediately unique and have distinctive voices. The magic system, though still very basic compared to what it would become, is fascinating. The homages to other fantasy books, most obviously Lord of the Rings, are obvious, but they add to the feel of the story rather than detracting. The only complaints I have are that I wish the POVs were a bit more balanced - something that improves later when the series becomes more of an ensemble story - and that the ending doesn't quite hold up to the rest of the book in terms of, um, making any sense whatsoever. But it's still a pretty perfect beginning.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Mental illness
contre_qui's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I generally enjoyed this book. I liked the pacing, worldbuilding, characters, language, etc. However, I wasn't a huge fan of the incredibly strict gender binary enforced within the magic system (and therefore within the entire premise of the book). I'm a little undecided on my thoughts about the magic system just yet, but I think we'll get more information about it in sequels so I'm not too hung up on it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail