Book Review: 'The Wheel Of Time: Book 1 - The Eye Of The World' by Robert Jordan

Cover art by David Grove

Due to the forthcoming streaming series and the overall acclaim of this series, I finally got round to starting book 1 in the series.

And my initial impressions were that it was an enjoyable read, if a little cliche. The lore and the world building throughout the book, however, stood out for me. I really liked the fusion of myth, religion, folklore and Eastern philosophy, giving the comparison that 'The Wheel Of Time' is to the fantasy genre what the 'Dune' series is to sci-fi. The world is slowly sketched out, giving us a look at the wider world as we experience it through the eyes of the main protagonists of the story; Rand, Mat and Perrin, as they leave their village for the first time and discover that there is more than their little corner of the world and that life outside of their village is vast and sometimes difficult and dangerous, it really adds depth to the story, and showed that Robert Jordan spent a lot of time and effort giving his huge multiple book series an impressive foundation of lore to build upon. And on top of that foundation is essentially a reworking of Tolkien's Middle Earth. Jordan takes the recognisable themes and tropes from Tolkien's classic and blends them with his own to create a story, with all the familiar beats. And given how much that Middle Earth has influenced the fantasy genre in general, it wasn't at all surprising, but it was surprising at how close it did stay to the epic tale.

'The Eye Of The World' is a classic fantasy read that certainly stands on the shoulders of giants. However, it did feel a bit long winded and slow paced for me, with the plot meandering off the path at times. Some of the characters did come across as bland and sometimes a bit whiny too, but as I progressed further into the story, and seeing how they coped with events, especially after they all get split up, the characters that I once didn't really feel engaged with were becoming more fleshed out and grew into a group that were, giving me enough to keep me invested with, especially with wanting to know more about Moiraine and the mysterious Aes Sedai, and I'm glad I got through to the end.

With book 1 setting the stage for this epic series, I can see why the series is so beloved, and I have read that the books do get better as the series progresses, so I will definitely be picking up book 2 in the future. But with that said, and as much as I did enjoy reading the beginnings of 'The Wheel Of Time', I'm in no rush to pick up the next book in the series (I do have plenty of other fantasy (and Sci-Fi) books on my (ever expanding) TBR list to get through first), but it has added to my anticipation of the Amazon series when it airs.

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