The Eye of the World

I re-read the series every few years. It is one of my comfort reads and enthralls me every time.

My favorite series

This time was a re read, and I actually enjoyed it more this time. I think I paid more attention this time.

I did not like the writing, pacing, or plot. At first it seemed intriguing, but quickly became a rewrite of The Lord of the rings that failed. He tries to be cleaver but fails with numerous plot holes. The world building was not very good either.

A really good introduction into the series!

This first book is definitely very Lord of The Rings esque; in the sense that most of it is one long journey with many dangers.

I love all the little hints you get regarding the use of the one power (i won't say more as to not spoil anything)

Three words: Mountains of Dhoom.

Also, why was this under sci-fi?

Fantastic book if you have the patience

3.5 ⭐️

I am shocked that somehow after reading 784 pages of these characters I still give no shits about them. How is that even possible? The character work leaves a lot to be desired, however there is still a lot to like about this book.

Every single one of my favorite fantasy authors lists this series as one of their inspirations. It is very clear what aspects of the story these authors liked enough to spin-off into their own world.

I loved the world building. I think the magic system being gender based (at least on the surface) is really unique and cool. Obviously Robert Jordan didn’t consider this, but I’m curious how trans/non-binary people would work in this world. Has Brandon made a statement on it or included it in his WOT books? Maybe this was still when Brandon was homophobic/transphobic?

I think the chosen one trope is kinda meh but it is cool that at least the main cast doesn’t know exactly who is the chosen one for almost the entirety of the book. Some good dramatic irony that the reader very clearly knows who it is. Why is almost the whole book from Rand’s POV if it’s fucking Matt? I could have told you after one conversation with Matt that it wasn’t him. Perrin at least has more than two functioning brain cells. It makes this one more interesting but I worry about where this will go in the future. Now that (most of) the group knows it is Rand will it just turn into a stereotypical chosen one trope? I get that this like invented/popularized the chosen one but that doesn’t make it more interesting.

I think having one of the main cast members sort of morally ambiguous is always super interesting so I loved having the Aes Sedai as part of the team. She is helping the main group but it is clear that she is only helping them because it also helps herself

(Especially after that ending).

I think this makes for some of the most multi-dimensional and well-fleshed out characters. Moiraine or Lan were probably my favorite characters because they felt like they had responsibilities and goals outside of what was happening with Rand and his friends. While Rand and his friends were just kind of fucking around for 700 pages until they realized that real shit was actually happening.

I think this book was just a little too slow paced for me. I struggled with the pacing in the Farseer Trilogy and I feel this is on par with its level of slowness. However it is spread out over 14 books and (at least so far) the characters are a lot less compelling. If I can find a character I love at least half as much as I love Fitz then I think I can enjoy this series, but if it stays as empty shells just pushing the plot along and explaining their feelings out loud then I will struggle to finish it.

I can’t finish this review without mentioning the weird romance attempt

between Nynaeve and Lan. I think it shows how weird and poorly done the character work is. Isn’t Lan like 50s-60s and Nynaeve like late 20s? Is Nynaeve supposed to be older? She is always described as “young for a Wisdom” which means nothing to me because IDK the average age of a Wisdom. Even past the weird age stuff, is this supposed to be enemies to lovers? They hated each other and then what? What changed that made them like each other? I guess there were a few scenes of them tracking together and Lan teaching her things that were supposed to be banter? I did not read it that way but okay. If anything I was getting mentor vibes from Lan not “I’m in love” vibes. He does kind of have bars though when he says that he will be both happy and sad when she finds another lover.

In fact, all of the romance stuff felt very stiff. Is this what middle aged men writing about young love think it is like? Every single romantic interaction felt extremely stiff and awkward. Like you’re telling me not a single one of these people has game? Perrin is always described as having game but why? He rizzes up exactly 0 women? Even Egwene has more game than him. She’s got like 3 guys in this book. I kind of just rolled my eyes and moved past it. Romance sub-plots can carry books for me when they are done well (The Cruel Prince, Mistborn, Legendborn) but any and all romance attempts in this book were anemic.

This series is widely loved by hardcore fantasy fans and I can see why. The villains and world building is so compelling that I will definitely be continuing, even if the character work was disappointing. I think most (men) who read this just ignore the characters and focus on *cool fight scene* and *wow bad guy is so cool looking* and *ooh shiny chosen one*, I require more than that. If nothing else I want to see what Moiraine ends up doing. I love her weird cryptic ass.

And why was the stinger/cliff hanger at the end of the book so much more interesting than the entire “fight the final boss” scene. I think I tuned like half of that out

Not forever. I will trybthis again sometime this year probably.

World building was too intense for me to escape into