★★★★★ The start of something great

The Eye of the World

Robert Jordan

I first read The Eye of the World in the 1990s, not long after it came out. I re-read it most recently 10 years ago (25-Sep-2012). The Eye of the World is the first book of Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's Wheel of Time series, which, at an estimated 4.4 million words, possibly holds the record for the longest conventionally published series of novels. (I included the weasel words "conventionally published" to exclude The Wandering Inn.) It is very nearly a single-author work. The first eleven books were written by James Oliver Rigney, Jr under the pen name Robert Jordan -- the last three were completed by Brandon Sanderson after Rigney's death based on Rigney's notes. Sanderson, who did a great job, graciously gives Rigney the credit.

I have written an overview of the entire series in my review of Book 11, Knife of Dreams.

The Eye of the World introduces the main characters that will carry us through the entire series: the five from Two Rivers: Rand, Egwene, Matt, Perrin, and Nynaeve. Also introduced here are Aes Sedai Moraine and her warder Lan and the wandering bard Thom Merrilin. It also begins the introduction to the mythology of their world, and we are introduced to fades, trollocs and darkfriends, who fight on the side of the Dark. We do not, in The Eye of the World, learn much of the community of nations and peoples in which the series will take place -- that comes later.

Still, this is plenty to be getting on with. And the five young folks from Two Rivers are well drawn and contrasted. I had no difficulty deciding after first reading The Eye of the World that I wanted to continue reading this series.

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