Landrin201 reviewed The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Long-time super fan review (no spoilers)
3 stars
I absolutely adore the Wheel of Time. It's by far my favorite series.
But, book one has some problems. Originally, I've always heard, Jordan wasn't sure if he would get to write more than 3 books with his publisher, so he structured the first 2 very differently from the others. He also hadn't fully fleshed out the world yet, so there are some inconsistencies with how magic works in this book compared to the other books. Jordan described EOTW as his homage to the Lord of the Rings, and it very much shows- if you've read LOTR, you'll see a LOT of similarities here. That is not true of the other books after this one.
The best part about this book is the story, but it has some pacing issues IMO. Jordan improved enormously as a writer in book 2, and by book 3 he had really cemented the world, …
I absolutely adore the Wheel of Time. It's by far my favorite series.
But, book one has some problems. Originally, I've always heard, Jordan wasn't sure if he would get to write more than 3 books with his publisher, so he structured the first 2 very differently from the others. He also hadn't fully fleshed out the world yet, so there are some inconsistencies with how magic works in this book compared to the other books. Jordan described EOTW as his homage to the Lord of the Rings, and it very much shows- if you've read LOTR, you'll see a LOT of similarities here. That is not true of the other books after this one.
The best part about this book is the story, but it has some pacing issues IMO. Jordan improved enormously as a writer in book 2, and by book 3 he had really cemented the world, his style, and the characters. The start may be a bit rocky, but it gets so much better!