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A review by eesh25
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
4.0
3.75 Stars
Some confused feelings with this one. And I've withheld judgement while reading this book to an extent which only happens with my favourite authors. It's just that I've heard so much about the series, and I read the book weirdly. I read a quarter, switched to audio, listened to a bit, put the book on hold, and then picked up the audio again a couple of months later and finished it. Writing the review was bound to get difficult.
The story follows a group of villagers from Two Rivers. When their village is attacked by Trollocs—half-men, half-beast creatures—three boys whom the Trollocs seem to be after flee with two strange visitors who showed up in the village just days ago.
And I know that's like the vaguest synopsis ever, but it's hard to know what to say. A lot is going on in the book, and much of it is based on history that we don't know, so I thought it'd be safe just to go with what the main plot is. Because yes, almost all of the book is just the main characters on the road travelling to one place or another. And we experience what feels like every second of their travel.
If that sounds like a complaint to you... it kind of is? But also not really because it didn't both me as much as I would've expected. The characters visit so many new places, and their experiences are varied, with danger never far off. It was interesting to read and interspersed with facts about the world, history and magic. Though that last one needs more development.
Now, the characters. The three boys from Two Rivers are Rand, Mat and Perrin. The protagonist is Rand al'Thor, and he's probably the least interesting of those in the travelling party. Like, I kinda hate Mat, but at least I have some feelings toward him. With Rand, there's not much there. Perrin was my favourite of all the characters by the end. But that's not saying much since I didn't really love any of them. There was Egwene, who was just annoying. Nynaeve switched between annoying and great. I didn't trust Moiraine. Lan was fine.
I also wanna mention relationships. I liked Rand and Perrin's friendship. And I'd heard that the romances in the series are pretty bad and got evidence of that. I mean, there was a set-up for one near the end, except Jordan jumped straight from set-up to I-would-die-for-you, so that ruined everything.
What else... I enjoyed the setting. The world is huge, and Jordan makes the reader feel that hugeness and potential for exploration far beyond what we see, and we see quite a bit. In fact, it's better to let some of the names of people and places just roll over you. There's a lot of them, and they can feel overwhelming. Or at least they did to me. Besides, if it's important, Jordan will tell you about it a few more times.
Finally, the pay-off at the end wasn't as great as I'd have liked. There were also times when I wondered whether certain scenes were really needed. And whether there was a need for such a detailed description of someone's attire when it didn't matter what they were wearing. But overall, I liked this book, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
Some confused feelings with this one. And I've withheld judgement while reading this book to an extent which only happens with my favourite authors. It's just that I've heard so much about the series, and I read the book weirdly. I read a quarter, switched to audio, listened to a bit, put the book on hold, and then picked up the audio again a couple of months later and finished it. Writing the review was bound to get difficult.
The story follows a group of villagers from Two Rivers. When their village is attacked by Trollocs—half-men, half-beast creatures—three boys whom the Trollocs seem to be after flee with two strange visitors who showed up in the village just days ago.
And I know that's like the vaguest synopsis ever, but it's hard to know what to say. A lot is going on in the book, and much of it is based on history that we don't know, so I thought it'd be safe just to go with what the main plot is. Because yes, almost all of the book is just the main characters on the road travelling to one place or another. And we experience what feels like every second of their travel.
If that sounds like a complaint to you... it kind of is? But also not really because it didn't both me as much as I would've expected. The characters visit so many new places, and their experiences are varied, with danger never far off. It was interesting to read and interspersed with facts about the world, history and magic. Though that last one needs more development.
Now, the characters. The three boys from Two Rivers are Rand, Mat and Perrin. The protagonist is Rand al'Thor, and he's probably the least interesting of those in the travelling party. Like, I kinda hate Mat, but at least I have some feelings toward him. With Rand, there's not much there. Perrin was my favourite of all the characters by the end. But that's not saying much since I didn't really love any of them. There was Egwene, who was just annoying. Nynaeve switched between annoying and great. I didn't trust Moiraine. Lan was fine.
I also wanna mention relationships. I liked Rand and Perrin's friendship. And I'd heard that the romances in the series are pretty bad and got evidence of that. I mean, there was a set-up for one near the end, except Jordan jumped straight from set-up to I-would-die-for-you, so that ruined everything.
What else... I enjoyed the setting. The world is huge, and Jordan makes the reader feel that hugeness and potential for exploration far beyond what we see, and we see quite a bit. In fact, it's better to let some of the names of people and places just roll over you. There's a lot of them, and they can feel overwhelming. Or at least they did to me. Besides, if it's important, Jordan will tell you about it a few more times.
Finally, the pay-off at the end wasn't as great as I'd have liked. There were also times when I wondered whether certain scenes were really needed. And whether there was a need for such a detailed description of someone's attire when it didn't matter what they were wearing. But overall, I liked this book, and I'm looking forward to the next one.