Second read: 27/06/20 - 27/07/20

This is the second bloody time I am writing this review, because Goodreads is stupid and deleted my previous one. Gee, thanks Goodreads. Why do I keep using this site, honestly. It is the worst platform I have ever come across. Ok, now to see if I can remember what I wrote like five hours ago.

Rating: (still) 5 stars

I'm only one book in on my second read through of this series, and I can already see why people call The Wheel of Time one of the most rereadable (that's a real word, spell check can just suck it) series out there. I picked up on so much more of The Eye of the World than I did on my first read, especially with Logain, knowing how much of a bigger role he plays in future books. I particularly tried to watch out for the early stages of the romances, specifically

Spoiler

Lan and Nyneave, Moiraine and Thom,

but I still didn't notice anything significant. This is perhaps because of my ignorance in that area, and my inexperience with the romance genre, or it could be a result of RJ's lack of ability in terms of romantic relationships, with is both widely acknowledged and accepted.

I am now onto The Great Hunt, which actually became one of my favourite books in the series while not immediately after I finished it, but as I was making my way through later books. I also have to finish the last two volumes of The Eye of the World graphic novels, which I started reading alongside the novel, but they obviously became left behind.


First read: 01/02/20 - 27/02/20

Rating: 5 stars

Reading The Eye of the World feels like reading a book by fellow die hard The Lord of the Rings fan - which is pretty much exactly what it is! And I am in no way mad at Robert Jordan for writing it that way. I have reread The Lord of the Rings (fully as a trilogy, but I also regularly will read scenes and chapters that I particularly enjoy) so many times in the past, and I am not going to be annoyed if little snippets show up in other books I read as well (which, considering Tolkien's mass influence over the fantasy genre, is going to be rather frequent). Being a big Tolkien-head myself surely played into how much I loved this first book, and I can understand why others would not think so if they are not hugely into The Lord of the Rings, though I do understand that The Wheel of Time does break away from it's roots as the series progresses.

Spoilers for basically the entire romantic subplot of The Wheel of Time, and some minor ones for The Kane Chronicles and The Stormlight Archive:
J.R.R. Tolkien influenced Robert Jordan, and Robert Jordan influenced Brandon Sanderson. Seeing that Tolkien and Sanderson are two of my favourite authors, it only makes sense that I should read from the man that tied their literary works together. So, in theory, I really should have read The Eye of the World years ago, but I didn't. The main reason why I put off reading The Wheel of Time for so long (the infamous slog was also pretty intimidating) was honestly for the most stupid reason I have ever felt truly justified my actions:

Spoiler

because I knew Rand was going to end up with three women at the same time. Call me a terrible person/reader, but I always look up the end of a series before starting, mainly who ends up with who so I can basically not pay much attention to any romantic sub plots that I know aren't going to amount to anything (i.e. I can ignore the romance between protagonist and lover A because I know the whole time they will end up with lover B). So when I found out all three of Rand's love interests were eventually going to end up dating/marrying him at once I freaked out and didn't start the series. Incredibly stupid, I know. And I hear that most people prefer Min as Rand's love interest, but the fact that both his other wives are going to bear him two or more children each is kind of scaring me. Like this is worse than when Rick Riordan literally shoved Anubis and Walt into one body so they could both be with Sadie at the same time. And I get that a guy having multiple wives is more common than not in human history. BUT HOW CAN YOU SHARE YOURSELF LIKE THAT!? From either perspective: the wives or the husband. It's weird. I just need to get over it. Dalinar and Navani was weird at first, but here I am two books later and I'm fine. Surely after 14 books I will be used to the love square that Robert Jordan somehow thought was a good idea.

I was well aware of this going in, but wow there are SO many Lord of the Rings parallels! Just listen to this plot description: We have a powerful wizard Aes Sedai named Gandalf Moiraine who takes four three hobbits humans away from their normal farming life in the Shire Emond's Field further from home than they have ever been before. They depart, accompanied by others bringing the total to nine eight, and begin their journey across lands with only the clothes on their back and an assortment of weapons. These weapons include Aragorn's Rand's sword, Gimli's Perrin's axe, Legolas' Mat's bow and arrow, and Gandalf's Moiraine's staff. Chasing them are various servants of the Dark One Sauron Ba'alzamon, such as orcs trollocs, as well as the Black Riders called Nazgûl Myrddraal and all those loyal to his cause.Yeah. The Fellowship of the Ring or The Eye of the World? No one will ever know (spoiler: it's both).

And then of course we have the Mountains of Doom, which in name closely resembles Mount Doom, and the Mountains of Mist rather than the Misty Mountains. Usually, I would be annoyed at these similarities, but Jordan writes them in a way that makes them feel like tributes to Tolkien, rather than carbon copies he is passing as original. The Wheel of Time is Jordan's take on The Lord of the Rings, and that was his very intent when he started writing the series. I will say though that the last few chapters of The Eye of the World definitely differed from a traditional Tolkien-esque ending, but didn't feel too unnatural or forced.

One thing Jordan does know how to do, like Tolkien, is writing a complex world. I listened to part of The Eye of the World via audiobook, and on the particular platforms I was using I could not increase the speed. Let me tell you, never have I been almost fine with listening to an audiobook on x1 speed! There is so much in every sentence, and it felt worth listening to each word distinctly in order to grasp the full meaning and appreciate the level of craftsmanship put into the story.

The magic system in The Wheel of Time, even the little bit revealed in book one, is very cleverly written and designed, and the way that the "chosen one" prophecy works in with the issue surrounding one aspect of the magic is very intriguing and I look forward to reading more.

In terms of characters, I didn't really have a stand out favourite, which is normal for me and does not signify badly written characters, to me anyway. I liked Rand enough to be quite happy spending time inside his head for most of the book, and I wouldn't be surprised if I grew to like him more as the series goes on. Rand and Mat reminded me so much of Frodo and Sam respectively, that I kept forgetting Perrin was only one person, not two characters equivalent to Merry and Pippin. Mat was also a fun character to read, as was Lan because of his interesting backstory, (Small spoiler for The Eye of the World:)

Spoiler

but didn't understand where his relationship with Nynaeve came from. All of a sudden she was telling him how Aes Sedai didn't marry often and he was saying how jealous of her future husband he would be because it wouldn't be him. And I swear like a chapter earlier there was nothing of the sort. But whatever.

Elayne annoyed me from her first appearance, and though I tried to leave my feelings on her undecided, it quickly became hard to deny that I really didn't like her.

So, in conclusion, The Wheel of Time is of to a good start, and the potential for this series to climb my favourites list is rather high.