Eye of the World

[Edward the Great]

I'm on about page 300. So far it's a mediocre ripoff of Lord of the Rings. The first book in the series I picked up was The Gathering Storm, which I bought while snowed in at an airport, and I haven't finished. I'm surprised that nearly all of the major characters from book 12 have been introduced already - the only one I haven't seen is Cadsuane. For a book with a reputation for introducing lots of characters I find this very surprising; that the characters that really matter have already been met, even before the company gets to Rivendell.

The biggest thing that irks me about the series is that it seams whenever a protagonist has a setback (and this is my impression from both books), it turns to be part of the greater plan for the good. So the notion that armageddon is approaching feels very artificial. The main characters just don't suffer enough.

Also, the early extreme hatred for the Aes Sedai from Rand and Nynaeve doesn't really make sense either. If Rand really thought they were Darkfriends, he wouldn't go along with Moiraine, Trollocs or no.

Aes Sedai as powerful as Nynaeve and Egwene from the same cow town, which just happens to be the same place that Ran was raised?

Nearly all of the main characters raised as peasants? In LotR the only peasant was Sam Gamgee. The Shire may have been the backwoods, but Merry, Pippin, and Frodo were wealthy and well read for that part of the world.

And Mat is so stupid that he's contemptable.

[Old Nan]

It's a lousy book, honestly, and I would have given up on the series after reading it if I hadn't been persuaded to go on.

As for coincidence, well, it's epic fantasy, so the main characters are heroes, and they will succeed. I don't really see the appeal of suffering, personally, but many of them will suffer to some degree or another.

As for your other points, neither Rand nor Nynaeve has "extreme hatred" for Aes Sedai, and Mat's not at all a likable or even interesting character until Book 3.

[Ahimsa]

It's actually my favorite of the series, though I understand that not many agree. I think in emulating Tolkien he did better than trying to be himself. I really like the dreary atmosphere of the beginning of the book. The characters are cliches but resort to less braid-tugging and mis-understandings than they do later. And the scale feels right--a single Trolloc is a formidable opponent.

All that said, I read the hell out of these books in the 90's and haven't re-read many of them since. (And I gave up on the series around book 9 or 10).

[Poobah]

I'd argue that neither Egwene nor Nyneeve are 'peasants' - Egwene is the daughter of a successful innkeeper and town elder, while Nynaeve is the official town shaman/wise-woman kinda thing has a station rather above 'peasant' too, and I don't really get the objection in any case. Does it really matter that this is a story about people who start off with a low station in life?

I know everyone of any importance in ASoIaF is noble and George likes to play 'look how much it sucked to be a peasant in the medieval period' (and it did suck t be a peasant in the medieval period if you were anywhere near any of the wars) but that doesn't mean that everyone of importance in Epic Fantasy needs to be wealthy / well educated / privileged. Yes Rand et al are back country bumpkins, but well... human beings are adaptable creatures and things change.

And Moiraine is not a peasant. She nearly ended up becoming Queen of Cairhien (way back before the start of the series).

And neither is Rand. He's the son of Tigraine Mantear (Daughter-Heir to Andor) and an Aiel clan chief. Interestingly Tigraine was married to Taringail Damodred who is Moiraine's half-brother, so while she and Rand aren't blood relations, they are in the same extended family tree and if theoretically Rand were to bang Moiraine their babies would have a good chance of fucking up the royal successions of Andor and Cairhien.

But again I really don't have a clue where you're going with this 'peasants' criticism.

With Regards To set-backs, well, this isn't always the case and often when something bad happens to someone which turns out to actually be for the greater good... it still sucks ALOT for the individual involved. It's not like the Dragon gains any power-levels from all the shit that happens to him, mostly quite the opposite.

[palemantle]

I only finished this book about a week ago and I can't help commenting. Haven't read any other books in the series and am not likely to.

Like the OP, I thought it was a Tolkien rip-off, and an appalling one at that. A quiet start in a rustic community. Check. A night raid by scary creature(s) in black cloaks who were once men. Check. A hurried flight. Check. A chase by (troll)o(r )cs. Check. The party splits up ... (but will surely reunite). Check. A wise old man is presumably lost (but surely isn't dead). Check. Ugh I can go on and on and on.

Heck there's even mention of ridiculously tall statues that our heroes look up to in awe as they drift along a river. The Argonath anyone?

The middle segment really really tested my patience what with Rand and Mat visiting village after village only to just evade yet another Darkfriend in a tavern. The one time where they are utterly cornered but escape thanks to a lightning strike was ... well ... not good. Someone's going to tell me that was Rand's superpower or something else. Whatever.

Oh and Mount Dhoom nearly made me spill coffee all over my keyboard. The Mountains of Mist didn't exactly help either.

[Horza]

I gave up around page 460ish.

[Gertrude]

I'm just kind of boggled as to why you started with tGS. I mean, I know you said it was at an airport so I'm assuming the slection for an impulse buy wasn't large, but still. I'm wondering how much tGS has colored your judgement of EotW.

The Tolkein-like beginning is intentional and is not bad just because it's based off of something so well known. The myriad characters are there, trust me. You've only seen the beginning and the tightening up at the end. The middle is chock full of people that you will never remember without a reminder now and again. Although, if you read it all at once, I think some of this might not be as evident.

Also, since you know where the characters end up from tGS, you kind of know nothing bad will happen to them, so I'm not surprised that Armageddon feels artificial to you. I thought RJ/Sanderson did a pretty good job of showing the world hitting rock bottom, but it was developed over several books, so you haven't seen any of that. I never got the impression that anyone really thought Aes Sedai were darkfriends. They were just so mysterious, mythologized and so completely outside their experience that anything could be true of them so far as they knew. Nyneave's hatred of Moiraine was something else entirely. It was personal, not because she was an Aes Sedai, and she followed along to protect her people.

I'll admit that EotW is not my favorite book of the series, but I liked it well enough and it definitely captured my attention enough to want to read more. (Although I did think it was a complete trilogy at the time I began reading. I also thought Martin's was a trilogy too. Between these two series, I am never starting an incomplete series again. Well, I probably will but it I'll think reeaaaal hard about it.)

[Old Nan]

The one time where they are utterly cornered but escape thanks to a lightning strike was ... well ... not good. Someone's going to tell me that was Rand's superpower or something else. Whatever.

I know I said the book was garbage, but it was, and Jordan was being quite obvious about it if you paid close attention to Moiraine's infodump to Nynaeve in Chapter 21.

"Perhaps as much as eight or ten years ago—the age varies, but always comes young—there was something you wanted more than anything else in the world, something you needed. And you got it. A branch suddenly falling where you could pull yourself out of a pond instead of drowning. A friend, or a pet, getting well when everyone thought they would die. "You felt nothing special at the time, but a week or ten days later you had your first reaction to touching the True Source. Perhaps fever and chills that came on suddenly and put you to bed, then disappeared after only a few hours. None of the reactions, and they vary, lasts more than a few hours. Headaches and numbness and exhilaration all mixed together, and you taking foolish chances or acting giddy. A spell of dizziness, when you tripped and stumbled whenever you tried to move, when you could not say a sentence without your tongue mangling half the words. There are others. Do you remember?"

[...] "Each time, the reaction comes closer to the actual touching of the Source, until the two happen almost together.

The first time Rand channels is to heal Bela in Ch. 11, to which he has these symptoms 7 days later in Baerlon in Ch. 15. The second time is to kill the Trolloc on Domon's ship in Ch. 20; he has the symptoms atop the crow's nest 4 days later in Ch. 24. The third time is this lightning strike; the symptoms come 2? days later in Ch. 33. The fourth time is at the Eye of the World, and the symptoms come almost immediately thereafter in Ch. 52.

As for peasants, none of them is a peasant, and they're certainly not medieval (this is late 17th-early 19th century technology, just before the Industrial Revolution). Poobah's mentioned Egwene and Nynaeve, but Mat's father is a relatively wealthy horse dealer, and Perrin is apprenticed as a blacksmith. Rand comes the closest, as the only one to actually work on a farm, but if you read the description of the farmhouse they are certainly not badly off; it turns out later that Tam was second-in-command of Illian's army before retiring to farm life and probably has a fair amount of money stashed away.

[Cantabile]

You're not necessarily missing anything. Plenty of people find "The Wheel of Time" to have horrendous pacing, dull characterization, mediocre prose, lack any depth, and they often give up on the first book. I really think it depends upon your expectations: I've enjoyed the series because I treat it as light entertainment. I had a lot of difficulty getting through Eye of the World because I went in with high expectations, but after readjusting those expectations I was able to enjoy the series. I think "The Wheel of Time" is very much fantasy for fantasy fans, as well. I've never been able to pass the series onto fans outside the genre, as I have been able to with series like SoIF or Dune. Many readers simply find it too juvenile and bloated to get through, which is fine, it's not everyone's cup of tea.

All in all, if you have a low opinion of it now, I am skeptical that it'll change, so it might be best to just give up on the series and devote the time to something you'll enjoy more.

[David Selig]

The good news for you is that the LOTR similarities are a lot less frequent in the second half of the book, and are basically non-existent in the other books of the series. Which is one of the main reasons I much prefer the next few books.

[Shryke]

The good news for you is that the LOTR similarities are a lot less frequent in the second half of the book, and are basically non-existent in the other books of the series. Which is one of the main reasons I much prefer the next few books.

TEOTW is actually fairly deliberately traditional. The idea (back like 20+ years ago when it was written) was to draw the reader in with the familiar before starting to change up the formula.

A night raid by scary creature(s) in black cloaks who were once men. Check. A hurried flight. Check.

None of the shadowspawn were ever once men.

The middle segment really really tested my patience what with Rand and Mat visiting village after village only to just evade yet another Darkfriend in a tavern. The one time where they are utterly cornered but escape thanks to a lightning strike was ... well ... not good. Someone's going to tell me that was Rand's superpower or something else. Whatever.

He, in fact, does and this part is rather important in establishing that before hand. His ability to channel is also kinda SUPER IMPORTANT to the plot.

[Zach H]

It's actually my favorite of the series, though I understand that not many agree. I think in emulating Tolkien he did better than trying to be himself.

Same here. Eye of the World is a rather hokey adventure that fits in well with the whole Tolkien riff/ripoff thing, and yet I find it extraordinarily readable. I like the urgency with the character's physical movements through the plot, the sense of foreboding that lurks through the backdrops even when the characters have found comfortable rest stops, while Rand and company as wide-eyed country kids stepping into the world had me buying into the story in a manner that pretty much completely stopped when they all became Lords and Leaders. Both with the prose and the general thrust of the narrative I get the sense that Jordan hadn't yet settled on his style with Eye. For many that's a bad thing. For me it's why the first WoT volume is the only entry I can say I really appreciated.

[Poobah]

The middle segment really really tested my patience what with Rand and Mat visiting village after village only to just evade yet another Darkfriend in a tavern. The one time where they are utterly cornered but escape thanks to a lightning strike was ... well ... not good. Someone's going to tell me that was Rand's superpower or something else. Whatever.

Would you rather that no clues to Rand being able to channel were put in and then it was deus ex machina'd at the end? There are a few other events in the novel which are him channelling though the only one I know off the top of my head is him powering up Bela like Moiraine did to the rest of the horses.

Edit: nvm, unnecessary post is unnecessary. Old Nan responded better and more completely.

[Commodore]

WoT has wonderful world building, a cool magic system, and a plot that is impressive in scope.

It doesn't have the best dialogue or characterization. I think for people that started reading when they were kids, that wasn't such a big deal.

Personally I'm invested enough to want to know how it all ends.

[Renasko]

It's a start...

Not the best book by any means, and yes, the Tolkein influences are well categorised. However, the series moves on much more strongly in the following novels.

[Wouter]

You are not "missing" anything because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Books 8-10 of the WOT in particular generally get a very bad reaction, but early WOT books were good enough to make the series a major bestseller, and quite a few ASOIAF fans were (occasionally still are) also WOT fans. Jordan is strong in worldbuilding - and then I don't mean in the sense of being realistic, just that he can really pull the reader into a fantasy world. And the early books actually have pretty good plotting as well.

Your mileage may vary, of course. For me, EOTW was the book that pulled me into fantasy and I likely wouldn't have read ASOIAF without it. The middle segment of the book, that palemantle said was "testing his patience", was exactly what pulled me in the most. The desperate journey of Rand and Mat to reach safety in Caemlyn very much pulled me in as reader, and IMO it is one of the best passages in the WOT and even for the fantasy genre as a whole. And I liked the hints that Rand could channel, as many readers probably suspected right from the first page after the prologue. As Zach H puts it, EOTW is extremely readable. Well, for me and for him it is.

[alguien]

I still remember reading the prologue of EotW in middle school and being absolutely blown away.

Say what you will about some of Robert Jordan's writing faults, but when he decides go for the 'blood and thunder' moments, he can be pretty damn entertaining.

Other favorite parts in the first book include Moiraine telling the tale of Manetheren to the Two Rivers people, the story of Shadar Logoth, Lord Agelmar telling the group how badass Lan really was, the whole Eye sequence, and

Rand's confrontation with Balzamon

Those were just pure fun epic fantasy.

[Poobah]

I still remember reading the prologue of EotW in middle school and being absolutely blown away.

Prologue is IMO the best part of EotW by miles.

[L’Age d’or]

Is this the new trend around here? bashing WOT to look kewl? I personally think the series are great, additionally I think its stupid for the kind of reader who starts an epic fantasy with the 12th book to bitch about shit they donno.

[fionwe1987]

Is this the new trend around here?

LOL! If only you knew...

I just don't get the Eye of the World= Tolkien rip off thing. I'm not saying it isn't a Tolkien rip off. It soooo obviously is. So obviously, in fact, that anyone paying any attention will start noticing where it diverges. Surely, it is very different in that men can't practice magic, that all the political power is with women. This isn't Shannara, where the character names are changed, and the rest is almost completely LotR.

EotW works because as an introductory novel at a time when fantasy hadn't gotten over Tolkien, it was both familiar and different. The prologue lets you know this is more than the typical quest story. Hell, I still don't know if Rand and co. succeeded in the end of the book. Sure, they used the Eye to defeat a couple of Foresaken. But did a 100 people die to make this thing just to kill some Foresaken, or did they mean it for an even more extreme situation? I'd be totally unsurprised if it turns out that what happened at the end of EotW ends up having serious repercussions in the finale.

Further, what sets the book apart from most introductory fantasy stories is the amount of foreshadowing. Of course, you can't catch that in the first book. But ask anyone who has read the series closely and they'll tell you that an EotW re-read is awesome because there's always some tiny detail that turns out to have a load of impact later.