bullock_books 's review for:

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

3.0

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This is many people's favorite series so I had to try it out for myself. The main issue I found with it was the writing of Jordan (at least for this book). I found it to be clumsy and overly meandering. The pacing wanders, with long stretches of not much happening, then bursts of action that feel recycled, and a climax that rushes past. The heroes are serviceable if unremarkable, and the Tolkien copies are hard to miss. Dense infodumps sometimes pop up at awkward moments, stalling the momentum. A few plot elements appear without setup and resolve almost instantly, which undercuts their impact. Overall felt like a lesser and cheap ripoff of Tolkien.
That said, the worldbuilding pulled me in enough to continue the series. Jordan’s history, lore, and magic system add real intrigue. I've heard this book is the most different in terms of writing style from the rest of the series so let's see if I like it more.