Product Description

Life in Emond's Field has been pretty boring for Rand Al'Thor and his friends until a strange young woman arrives in their village. Moraine is an Aes Sedai, a magician with the ability to wield the One Power, and she brings warnings of a terrible evil awakening in the world. That very night, the village is attacked by bloodthirsty Trollocs - a fearsome tribe of beast-men thought to be no more than myth. As Emond's Field burns, Moraine and her warrior-guardian help Rand and his companions to escape. But it is only the beginning of their troubles. For Moraine believes Rand Al'Thor is the Dragon Reborn, and that he is fated to unite the world against the rising darkness and lead the fight against a being so powerful and evil it is known simply as the Dark One. Part One of the opening volume to Robert Jordan's classic Wheel of Time series, The Eye of the World continues with TO THE BLIGHT, also available in March 2003.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9827 in Books
• Published on: 1992-07-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 832 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Eye of the World and its sequels in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series show the extent to which one can go with a traditional fantasy framework, with added gusto. Stock elements are abound: a reluctant hero--in fact five humble village folk--plucked from wholesome obscurity to fight dark powers; an eternal evil enemy who can be defeated but not destroyed, until the end of the world, which is fast approaching; a mysterious sisterhood with vast powers and who love to manipulate thrones and kingdoms from the shadows (think of the Bene Gesserit of the Dune series); a ferocious battle-hardened warrior race (echoes of the Fremen of Dune, or the Haruchai of the Thomas Covenant novels).

Jordan didn't become a bestselling author merely by mixing up traditional ingredients; a master storyteller, he ingeniously gives unusual twists to these conventional fantasy elements. He also excels in the descriptive and narrative skills needed to create a detailed and coherent imaginary world. The many lands he portrays are vast in scope and contain amazingly varied countries and peoples, while retaining the inner coherence needed to make them satisfying places for a fantasy fan to roam around in. However, Jordan's writing never attains the subtlety or sophistication of, say, George RR Martin and there are some annoying stylistic tics: he seems unable to introduce a female character without commenting on her neckline and thereafter has them forever smoothing their dresses.

To his publisher's credit, Jordan's books are fortunate among fantasy novels in not having covers that look like an explosion of a teenager's bedroom. The absence of such lurid artwork is, perhaps, part of their appeal. --David Pickering

Review
'On very rare occasions, very talented storytellers create worlds that are beyond fantasy; worlds that become realities. Robert Jordan has' - MORGAN LLYWELYN 'Epic in every sense' THE TIMES '[With} The Wheel of Time, Jordan has come to dominate the world Tolkien began to reveal' THE NEW YORK TIMES

Vast, improbable fantasy that touches all the standard bases, with an unimpressive though complicated good. vs.-evil/cyclic-history backdrop. Upon peaceful, bucolic Emond's Field suddenly descends a horde of bestial, vicious Trollocs directed by sinister shadowy Fades at the behest of the Evil One. Their targets are three young men: sheepherder Rand, blacksmith Perrin, prankster Mat; all three miraculously escape. Also on hand are Moiraine, a well-dressed lady of the Aes Sedai (those who can tap the One Power to work magic) and her sidekick, the warrior Lan. Clearly, the only safe place for the three is Tar Valon, the magically defended city of the Aes Sedai. So, accompanied by the village Wisdom (witch) Nynaeve and her apprentice Egwene, they all set off. After some adventures and hairsbreadth escapes - the usual heroic-travelogue padding - they join up with a cuddly giant Ogier, Loial, who takes them through magical tunnels to see the Green Man. Nearby is the Eye of the World, which the Evil One fears: it's a source of power to be used against him. Finally, some sort of ethereal battle ensues, as Rand taps the power of the Eye to destroy the Evil One without quite knowing how. Neither will his readers. Despite one or two encouraging signs of inventiveness: portentous, ponderous, and contrived, with a rationale that's not even half worked out. (Kirkus Reviews)

THE TIMES
'Epic in every sense'

Customer Reviews

Good first book
This is the first of the Wheel of Time series and is a great first book. All the main characters are introduced (even if they appear in a couple of pages) and though some times the first book in a series is slow this is not the case for this book.

Robert Jordan keeps you entertained throughout the entire book and keeps the reader entertained throughout.

Personally I find Rand and Mat the best characters and they are both in this book for long periods of time (unlike the laster books in the series).

The plot isn't too complex and I highly reccomend the Wheel of Time series to everyone.

Seems harsh to give it only 3 stars but...
I've got mixed opinions about this book.

It's well written, got good characters, good plot / story and has obviously been well thought out. I enjoyed reading the majority of it and would recommend it to any fan of the genre. It's one of the better books i've read of this type for a while. In fact when I was getting near to the end of the book I was worried i'd finish it and want more so went out and bought the second book in the series (which I haven't read yet).
One of the things I like most is that when you read it, you feel like there's a real history behind the story. You can imagine other books telling of events before this as there are many references to times past and legends of old. You always get a taste of what was that leaves you wanting more.

So why only the 3 stars?

Well for a start it has taken a bit too much from Lord of the Rings. Many books of this type will have something similar to ogres, orcs, trolls, elves, wizards, etc, which I actually usually like. But this takes it further than that. The completely out of the way village where our heroes start out from, the "wizard" (for lack of a better word) who visits, the fact that they suddenly have to leave, the dark riders chasing said farmers, the dark one employing all manner of beasts as spies to track them, the race to reach the ferry to cross the river to mention a few.

Secondly there are several times when you end up skimming pages. Whilst its nice to have a good description of the surroundings, it does at times seem to go on a bit too much to the point of breaking up the story. This is probably more of a personal thing as i'm sure some readers will like it, but for me it did seem to bring the book down a bit.

Thirdly the action / fight scenes are not the best i've read. Don't get me wrong on this, the idea behind them, the setting and the build up is always great and if you can fill in the blanks you'll be loving it. But they always seem to be over too quickly or seem to jump ahead of themselves. There is just something missing.

Despite all this I still would have given this book 4 maybe even 5 stars, but then comes the ending.

Don't worry, I won't ruin it for anyone by saying what happens. It's just that after such a long but enjoyable build up, after everything that gets thrown in, all the twists and turns, it just seems like the writer got fed up of writing, abandoned the imaginative thought and crammed everything into 2 pages. After enjoying so much of the book, i'm now not sure if i want to read the second.

To be honest it is a good book. Just don't be suprised if your left wanting more for all the wrong reasons by the end of it.

Wheel of time
I have now read all books so far in this series, having first read this one back in 1992.

Good book. Not a bad series. Lost its way a little after book 3. Waffling for the sake of more money I suspect. In my opinion books 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 could have been condensed into a few paragraphs. Then maybe the author could have finished this series before he died. A touch cold, but true.

A lesson learnt for me - do NOT buy a book in a series until you know it is finished.