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Book Review of The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time, Bk 1)

The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time, Bk 1)
reviewed on + 2 more book reviews


One of my all-time favorite books. I have to keep picking up Volume One because I keep giving away copies. I've infected my entire family. Both sons, two daughters, wife...even ex-wife.
But I digress. The story. It is the story of five young people, three boys/men, two girls/women from an ancient but backwater village in a make-believe world. All of a sudden, things begin to happen and before you know it, they're heavily involved in affairs of their world. It is a world of tradition and magic, and the ancient battle of good against evil goes on un-ending. Our heroes are three young men, aged somewhere between 18 and 21 and two young women aged 18 or so and perhaps 25. The 25 year old is the village's healer and wise women. The 18 year old is supposedly her successor in training....but she had wider ambitions. The real action beings when Trollocs and Myhrrdral attack the village, and particularly the home of the three young men who apparently share something they don't know about, aside from being born within days of each other. Just prior to the attack by the evil beings, there arrives in town one of the almost legendary Aes Sedai, kind of a good but powerful witch and her warder or fighting man. They help the villagers defend themselves. Author Robert Jordan is extremely descriptive, even to the point of slowing down his narrative, but by the end of the book, you can describe the heroes and villains down to the letter. Why should that matter, because there are 11 more books and a pre-quel to read yet and you'll want to. Better than Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, better than the Dune series, better even than Norton's Witch World, whioch it comes closest in spirit to. Yes it even beats the Hobbits and the Harry Potter books. Too bad its so complicated, they'll never be able to make a movie about it, that reflects the book anyway. You'll love Egwene, Nynaeve, Perrin, Mat and Rand.