Robert Jordan (1)Reviews

Harder to get through but very good.

A series to read when you are not in a hurry, because Jordan is extensive in the way he tells the story, which can help with immersion, but you have to be in the mood to spend a lot of time in this world and with these characters.

I'm enjoying the series, although at times I wish the characters enjoyed themselves more. In the beginning Matt was my favorite character, because he was cheerful and a jokester, but then he got that curse thing and has been miserable since then. Rand is always moaning about how actual adventures are much more miserable than they seem in the books. Perrin hates his wolf-thing...

I mean, I get it, being in danger and having sinister people trying to kill you is not fun in real life, and I'm not asking for these guys to be partying all day, but I'm going to be accompanying these characters for a long time, and I think it would be fun for me as a reader if they had fun from time to time.

Another nitpick: I hate dream sequences, and there are quite a lot of those.

Still a pleasant read, although I'm getting rather tired of all the dream sequences, and the plot doesn't advance that much.

I had been dubious about reading this because of some criticism I have read online, and also because it's so long and people say the series have pacing issues later on. But, as far as this first book goes, I was pleasantly surprised. It took me a little to get into the story, but once I did it went very fast, and kept me thoroughly entertained.

The writing is not of a very high quality, but it's perfectly serviceable, which is not necessarily a bad thing, because some epic fantasy writers let their style get in the way of their storytelling.

The story had some typical elements (farmboys, evil dark lord, travelling around...) but also enough original elements to keep it interesting, mainly related to the mythology and history of the world, which is one of the strong points here, because the worldbuilding here has some real depth.

The ending was kind of rushed. The resolution was really quick, contrasting with how the author takes his time telling in detail all the rest of the story. But still, I enjoyed this, and I want to see where the story takes these characters next.

11308 pagine
4 milioni di parole
147 PoV unici e 1379 PoV totali
oltre 2200 personaggi

Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

finalmente la versione svecchiata!!!
addio descrizioni di vestiti lunghi 3 pagine e
addio a commenti sessisti ogni 15 righe
soddisfatta

Lan e Moiraine

cade la Pietra di Tear
Rand impugna Callandor
Perrin & Faile

Rand il drago risorto
Perrin l amico dei lupi
Mat l'aquila rossa
Egwenw futura Aes Sedai
Nynaeve la sapiente e Lan il Re Custode innamorati
Moiraine e la Cerca vittoriosa

Sammael morto

rand catturato

Rand svelato

Rand capo di tutti gli Aiel

(protagonisti sempre piu sessisti, ottusi, insopportabili)

I listened this book read by Rosamund Pike. Excellent! Hopefully she will continue to read the series.

This book was solid, and probably worth reading, but didn't do anything particularly exciting/didnt make me all that interested in any of the characters. In fantasy nowadays, one can do a lot better. That being said, I'm going to read the next few since they're supposedly good/better than the first.

There are several problems I tend to find when it comes to fantasy and sci-fi writers: they're too similar to the Lord of the Rings (or Star Wars), they're so childishly written as if they were penned by an eight-year old boy and they're overtly sexist. This novel, unfortunately, falls into all three categories. And the thing is, once you, as the reader, recognize these issues early in the book, you then can't stop seeing them the rest of the way through, essentially ruining the whole reading experience. I really don't see any reason to continue and waste my time with this Proust of a series.

F/SF

Holy moly. So many emotions in the last 30 pages. you know everything is coming to a head (Toman's Head, to be precise) and you can somewhat see the gears shifting in Robert Jordan's head but that doesn't make it any less dramatic.

Except for that one thing. Did not see that coming and I'm not sure how I feel about RJ playing me like that.

While this was certainly not the strongest entry in the series, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. After spending a bit of time out of the series it was refreshing to jump back into things. While nothing at all happened plot-wise, it is always great to be immersed in the world of wheel of time and check out what the characters are getting up to. This book marks the end of the "slog" which makes me super excited for the next book.½

This was a strong entry into the series and Sanderson did great job continuing it, despite noticeable changes like shorter paragraphs and more attention to the minor characters (saw way more Gawyn than I needed to). But the characters felt the same with multiple payoffs to thousands of words of setup.

This was Egwene’s strongest arc in the series. However, coming up against Elaida seemed a little too easy for her. She had little agency, but her victories did feel earned. There could be Mary Sue arguments, but her story isn't much different from Mat and Perrin's. If ta’veren is another name for plot armour/convenience she may as well be one. That doesn’t mean I don’t love her character, but I do prefer more struggle and agency.

Rand's story impacted me the most. Poor guy went through a lot, seeing his slow descent into madness (taint notwithstanding). When most protagonists go through hell, readers expect them to brush it off and move on (and that’s what happens in most books). All his tribulations affected him, and this book delved into the consequences. Put any real-world person in his shoes, you’ll see the same happen to them. His ending was impactful leaving tonnes of questions and theories to ponder.

The end is near after so many pages spent with these characters. This world feels so fleshed out and real and I’m excited to see how this all ends.

This was a great read and definitely one of my favourite Wheel of Time books. After the long "slog" this book was refreshing to read (although I didn't not enjoy the slog). There were great payoffs to long story arcs and I am excited for what is next to come.

There were a few anticlimactic moments but I don't feel as though they detracted from the story at all. Mat stole the show and Egwene's arc was a close second. Perrin's story was close behind and an improvement on his previous chapters. I don't usually enjoy the palace politics so much but Elayne's succession arc was good. Rand didn't have too much to do but when he did it was impactful on the story.

Overall this was a great book and a favourite of the series.

Jordan was good with a pen and knew how to tell a story, but my goodness... his writing is like someone took a bottle of peroxide and poured it on a George R.R. Martin Novel. Sterile.

I'm certainly late to the party on this one. This book sat on my shelf unread for over two decades before I finally cracked the cover and it was already old and well beloved by the time I purchased a copy. Now that I've finally dipped my tip into the monumental work that is Jordan's Wheel of Time series, I can understand the appeal.

The prologue quickly set up some tension and intriguing insights into the overarching storyline and mythos. It also left the reader with plenty of questions, just the thing to keep pages turning.

The book does a great job of introducing us to a wealth of characters, locations and stories. I was pleased that most of the characters quickly felt distinct with their own characteristics and voice. Their actions and reactions felt fairly believable given the circumstances and the nature of each character. We didn't get a ton of depth into the characters from the prologue but moving into the first chapter, the author methodically puts characters into our path and drops details to us in a slow but increasingly steady pace.

The worldbuilding was also interesting. The physical structure of the world felt familiar enough as it stretched across the landscape similar to many other fantasy books. The social structure and nature of magic and religion was quickly identified as something unique to this world and something to keep an eye on. The first few chapters also quickly identified the mystical threats lurking on the fringes of the page, ready to send the characters and the plot into action. As the plot revealed itself, it also felt familiar enough to be a comfortable Hero's Journey tale while also being unique enough to be compelling.

As our band of heroes set off on their adventure, I was excited to discover each obstacle and misadventure they were sure to encounter. Naturally each step of their journey allowed for moments of exposition to allow the reader more insight into the backstory of the world and the motivations of each character. Without going into spoilers, I did enjoy the mystery surrounding our heroes and their own particular relevance to the plot and it was fun to see different revelations slowly unfold.

My main gripe with the book was that the story, plot and pacing sometimes felt muddied by the writing and structure. I wholeheartedly appreciated the wonderful details peppered throughout the pages to enhance the plot and provide suspense and intrigue but there were other chunks of text that felt descriptive and wordy merely to take up space. It felt like foreshadowing of problems I had heard from people who say the series had moments where it really bogged down and lost momentum. Even from this single book I felt that there was a fair amount of content that could have been trimmed in order to streamline the pacing and flow of the story.

Still, The Eye of the World sets up what is sure to be a sprawling, epic adventure. I am not yet wholly invested in the characters and the plot but I am entertained enough that I will likely seek out the second book at some point. I don't yet feel like I can invest to read the entire massive series but I'm willing to try out the next one and see if it hooks me enough to want to continue on.

***
3 out of 5 stars

Interesting, but definitely not my cup of tea. Narrator is very good.

This is the first novel in the The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. It is a fantasy novel centered around several main characters that is a good against evil tale. Emond's Field is a small village that does not attract too much attention in the kingdom as it mainly consists of farmers. One night, though, it is invaded by Trollocs, monsters that are bred to be an evil fighting force. There to help the village is a woman who wields a lot of power, a so-called Aes Sedai by the name of Moraine. Together with her Warder Lan, she helps keep the evil forces at bay and prevent total destruction of the town. This begs the questions: Why do evil forces invade such a small and apparently insignificant village? And why does a sorceress come to their help? It is soon revealed that some of the villagers seem to have a special role in the fight against the evil force, the Dark One. Matrim or Mat Cauthon, Perrin Aybara, Rand al'Thor, Egwene al'Vere and Nynaeve al'Meara leave the village with the Aes Sedai to start their quest of fighting against the evil forces. The first novel in the series follows the group along their way through the kingdom and relates the challenges they have to face and the obstacles they have to overcome.

At first, I found the story a bit hard to get into as I had to familiarize myself with all the different characters and the lingo that is special to the Wheel of Time universe (there is a glossary, though). Once I got into the story, it kept me reading and wanting to learn more, both about the characters and about the fight of good versus evil. There is a lot of background that is slowly revealed and at points the motives of the different characters are questioned. I will definitely continue with the series and would recommend it to readers of fantasy fiction. It is no Lord of the Rings (yet?), but it is highly enjoyable. 4 stars.