Eye of the World Book Review
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Enter a fantasy world that is packed with world building, characters and amazing descriptions. Robert Jordan’s Eye of the World manages to accomplish so much world building as well as pacing that keep me reading from start to finish.
If there is one thing that is really well done in this book that stands out to me, I would have to say the pacing. The pacing is spot on keeping me reading and staying interested. If falters only slightly with the beginning several chapters to me. Though there is an action packed opening few chapters it seemed to much at first to start with that lead to a very jarring slow down immediately after. The rest of the book does pace much better as the characters travel to Camilyn.
The party is much like the fellowship in Lord of the Rings, but I think that the way the party is handled throughout the book is great. There is a certain point in the story that leads to fragmented storytelling and leaving me worrying about some characters with the one character currently being followed.
The story follows 3 boys, Perrin, Matt, and Rand. Rand being the token main character that the book starts immediately with. These characters are from the Two Rivers village that is your “Shire” like location. The town gets attacked by minions of the Dark One called Tollocs. They are these beast like characters that are ordered around my more scary beings called Myrradal. If you have read or watched Lord of the Rings all of this sounds familiar, but things really branch out in a different direction after this point.
The characters are told to leave with an Aes Sedai named Moiraine Damodred who is a wizard like character, and her Warder named Lan who is a warrior like character. From this point the boys along with two girls from the Two Rivers named Egwene al'Vere and Nynaeve.
It’s during their travels that the world really shines. From the creepy feel of Shadar Logoth to the massive city of Camlyn. They are richly told areas of the world. Along with some of the other map locations lead to great explanation of the world of the past.
In the middle of the book there are series of events that lead to a creepy feeling as the characters are fighting to continue on as well as stay out of sight from potential enemies. The way this section continues on really makes me feel the strain that this is causing the players that is a really good read as well as leading to even more questions that some of the characters are asking themselves.
The end to the book does not disappoint and it leads to a charged feeling of wanting to start the second book. Now my review of this series is going to be unknowing to the future novels as this is my first read through of the series. The start of Wheel of Time is fantastic.
There may be many that would ask the question that I did back before starting Wheel of Time. “Should I read Sword of Truth or Wheel of Time?” The answer is now for sure Wheel of Time. If comparing the two, both stories are fantasy settings but Robert Jordan has so much more to offer in every way from character building to world building. Where one series feels much more childish with numerous segments of clearly inspired content. Wheel of Time trends new grounds in the fantasy genre that I can appreciate and enjoy.
So would I recommend this book? Yes! If you have not read Wheel of Time, give Eye of the World a chance. The series many novels long but the way that I was sucked into this one really wins out. If you would like to purchase the book you can use my affiliate link here that helps out DickWizardry at no extra cost to you. Expect a “Great Hunt Review” later on as I read through these books!
