The Eye of the World: Book One of The Wheel of Time
Soon to be an original series starring Rosamund Pike as Moiraine!
The first novel in Robert Jordan's #1 New York Times bestselling epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time®.
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
When The Two Rivers is attacked by Trollocs--a savage tribe of half-men, half-beasts--five villagers flee that night into a world they barely imagined, with new dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.
Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters. The last six books in series were all instant #1 New York Times bestsellers, and The Eye of the World was named one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read.
The Wheel of Time®
New Spring: The Novel
#1 The Eye of the World
#2 The Great Hunt
#3 The Dragon Reborn
#4 The Shadow Rising
#5 The Fires of Heaven
#6 Lord of Chaos
#7 A Crown of Swords
#8 The Path of Daggers
#9 Winter's Heart
#10 Crossroads of Twilight
#11 Knife of Dreams
By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
#12 The Gathering Storm
#13 Towers of Midnight
#14 A Memory of Light
By Robert Jordan
Warrior of the Altaii
By Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
By Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons
The Wheel of Time Companion
By Robert Jordan and Amy Romanczuk
Patterns of the Wheel: Coloring Art Based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Reviews (176)
Changed my life. Truly.
(WARNING THE FOLLOWING IS LONG) Got a book to pass the time while I wait for power to return to Puerto Rico. This is the first book I ever read for pleasure. (No, i don't mean this is literally the first time I've read for pleasure.) I've read the entire 14 book series and 1 encyclopedia. I've read this book three times, going on fourth. The first in the series. It's like The Hobbit but much more adult and dark. I think the writing is better too. (I'm not really a Tolkien fan too much. Good story. Bad writing. #shotsfired) Funny story: I never intended to read this book. I wanted money from my great grandma Deeder (Great Deeder we called her). For a toy or something, I forget. But she didn't want to give it to me. So me binge a sly kid I thought, "ok, an educational gift the: a book." And I'd return it later for the cash and buy whatever I wanted. So I went into Barnes and Noble and picked a book up totally at random, checking only that the price was about the amount of cash I had wanted. She paid for the book. I went home and it sat on a shelf for months. Later on, I got really sick and stayed home from school. I decided to read it because I had nothing else to do and was on the toilet a lot. When I picked it up, the cover was literally was covered in thick dust. Disgusting. I cleaned it up and started reading. ...and reading. And four hours later I stopped. I remember it was four hours because I was shocked that it was 5PM and dinner and I was a little hungry. I couldn't put it down. I loved it. And the lessons it taught me and it's new ways of thinking molded who I became as a person. "Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain," became my motto for how to soldier and lead. And so many others. I loved the characters. I literally cried for them in moments of pain or death. Even minor characters are people you know. And I laughed out loud at jokes. Got excited in moments of lust or chase. Even felt genuine fear. Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney, Jr.) was an amazing man too. A taste for the fine old things. Pipes. Hats. Chess. History. He was also a military school guy (like me) at Virginia Military Institute (VMI). And part of the reason I went to military college (NMMI) myself and why I excelled in JROTC in high school. Even into my Regular Army career as Combat Medic (68W) and how I approached medicine and bedside manner (thanks Yellow Ajah and the Band of the Red Hand). Not just his example, but the examples of his characters that inspired me to lead and to be uncompromising in my self discipline, especially honor. Tragically Jordan died before he finished the books and the last three (or four) were written by his chosen successor Brandon Sanderson (who I had never heard of). And in fact Sanderson was surprised that Jordan wanted him to be his ghost writer. What a huge responsibility to finish the story that fans had been reading literally for more than a decade. I eagerly awaited each new book and when I first started reading there were only four or five, I think. I convinced my brother to read it too and he also became addicted. We would talk about the different theories and ask questions. It was exciting! Sanderson did an incredible job. I could not even tell that the writer's voice had changed. He used very detailed notes and talks with Jordan's wife, Harriet (for whom the first book is dedicated). Fans are waiting for the movies to be made. But that's been passed around for years to different studios and directors. It can't be done cheaply or wrong (like the Wizard's First Rule tv series for instance that sucked but the books were amazing by Terry Goodkind). Better no film than a bad one. Anyway, I got it again to pass the time. It's fun to revisit it from a more adult mindset and with the full knowledge of the 14 novel series. Things I overlooked or seemed unimportant now jump off the page. That sly devil, I think. He knew all along! And there are still unsolved mysteries that are debatable and interesting fan theories and even beautiful fan art. I could not more strongly recommend this book and the entire Wheel of Time series. I'm not being hysterical when I say it made me who I am. I feel like Jordan and his characters were some of my most important mentors. I perhaps never would have learned to love reading without this book. Any other Jordan fans out there? Tell me about your story.
Classic Fantasy Done Perfectly
These are my thoughts about the entire series: I think many people who complain about this series miss the point entirely. You'll notice the majority of the complaints stem from those who find the books too long winded, too slow, taking too long to get to the point, and focused on too much minutia in detail. To those complaints I say: That's the point. This series isn't about getting to the climax as fast as possible. These aren't plane ride or beach day books. This is a series for fantasy fans who want the minutia. For those who revel in being able to visualize every single detail of the world. These are for people who want to escape their mundane worlds for some time and live in another, more fantastical world. If that's what you're looking for in a fantasy series then that is what Wheel of Time offers in droves. To those who say that this series is just generic fantasy, you're right. But, man, it's wrapped in a brilliant packaging. I would say this is the generic fantasy trope (chosen one destined to defeat big bad) done the best it could possibly be done. It's a beautifully realized world in every way. I think people are really hard on this series. It does what it sets out to do and does it brilliantly.
Tolkien Ripoff with the Addition of a Longwinded & Tedious Writing Style
See Headline. If you like a writing style than can take multiple pages to describe a young man walking to town or a sunrise or a river then this book is for you. To that I will add that book 1 does have it's moments, a few, but I can't recall the details of them except the ending which I found to be interesting but still a relief to get through. The plot is pure Tolkien. The author just changed the names - plot is so similar that by a third of the way in what was going to happen became fairly obvious at which point I was tempted to just put the thing down. Didn't though; WoT is such a popular series I thought there must be a twist, a surprise, something different but it never happened. I had high expectations for this series. Been seeing them on library shelves, book store shelves and all the times the series gets recommended by some book service or other. Wheel of Time has been around for years and based on the selling price per book must be in high demand but not for me which one supposes puts me in a rather small minority. For $1.99 a book (Kindle) they might be worth it - might - but not for the price the series is selling for on Amazon. I can be bored for free.
Better TheSecond Time!!!
I started this series when I was 15 and am now 37. I read them as the books came out, waiting years in between releases and decided to re-read the series in full. There is so much you miss or forget after 22 years!!! I remember hating Nyaneve when I was younger, now though, I love her! This review is for people debating whether or not to do a second read through. My answer is 100% yes!!! As complex a world as Robert Jordans Wheel of Time series is, knowing some of the main story opens up many details you missed the first time you read it.
GLORIOUS
Not to verbose at all. Not hard to understand. Not boring or any of the other negatives stated by the low star reviews. The language is Descriptive and puts you right in there in to the book. I could see, taste and touch and that is rare for me. So what if he took inspiration from Tolkien? Every author takes inspiration from somewhere and more often than not, it's from another author. Don't be afrid of the so called verbosity. Many of the best authors in the world can be "accused" of this. As for me..... I loved it! On to the next one. Hoping it won't be as bad as some reviews say. Happy reading! :D
Very good books with detail
Very good books with detail. Before you get involved be sure you can read continuously all 13 books, because if you don't, you will forget who's who in the zoo. This was my problem. I got into these books but ended up hesitating with the reads with month long gaps before picking the book back up and I found myself forgetting the importance of each character. There are approximately 1600 different characters that pass through the pages of these books. Many of these characters are seen only once.
A very enjoyable read!
Eye of the World is all but a classic in many reader's minds. It is an outstanding story that introduces the reader to the world that Robert Jordan builds with each book of the series. The writing is superb. The story is awesome, and it deserves a 4 and a half star rating, in my opinion. That said, however, there was one thing that tended to dampen my read of this book. At times, especially in the beginning, and in other places throughout the book, Jordan waxes very poetic in his details and descriptions. While it is certain many readers like that, I, for one, found it slowing down the pace far too much for me. Jordan had a detailed vision of what he wanted to portray, and he detailed it. While I, personally, prefer to visualize things using my own imagination. Perhaps that is the writer in me, I'm not sure, and I certainly am not slamming Jordan's work. It is exceptional. At any rate, Eye of the World is a great read, though a long one, and any fantasy fan would certainly enjoy the tale.
After reading this series....
I waited to review this series until I completed reading it. I have to say I loved the characters. The storyline was good but not great.... When this series was recommended to me it was in this fashion “If you like Tloken you’ll love this series!” No, this is not of the caliber of Tloken. There is a continuity with Tloken that is lacking in this series. The Wheel of Time series has smatterings of every belief system out there ... seriously, New Age to Christianity, Judaism to reincarnation, and everything in between. For me it made the storyline sloppy and a bit scattered. That being said, I found the strong ties of friendship and sacrifice along the same lines as Tloken. This series is fairly clean. Very little explicit content and the only “swearing” was “blood and bloody ashes!” And a few other choice sayings. Strong sexist content... sheesh, the men had no brains and could do nothing with out a woman correcting or chastising. This did get better as the series continued. I did find it annoying however. Over all this is a good series... not a waste of time at all. This is an epic and not for someone who wants a quick and easy read with no strings attached. It’s a story that builds so be prepared to spend months reading this series :)
All hail the mashup king
Narration is okay. Since most names are made up (more or less) the pronunciations are less important (really hate it when narrators either mispronounce or misread something). The vocal characterizations are difficult as the narrator does not have much range when it comes to trying female tones so he seems to have decided on accents, which are wildly varying at times. As for the story, it's LOTR meets Dune with Arthurian based names and relationships. I read most of the series years ago, pretty much as it was being written, and at that time, thought they were derivative but good. Now, many years later, I find that Robert Jordan was either woke before it was a thing or was trolling feminism hard. Recurring theme throughout all of these is that men are stupid and women, despite making most of the worst decisions available throughout the book, are vastly more intelligent than the men (in their own minds) but most men (the good ones at least) appear mostly dominated by the women of the story... In short, it ain't a bad yarn but no seat belts required as this puppy moves like the seasons....
Disappointing
Character development: 1/5. Just the thinnest characters I’ve ever read. Why are any of these people going on the journey? Whats their goals? Besides Rand, do ANY of them have a past? The books 800 pgs. He couldnt squeeze in some character development there? Atrocious. Plot: 2/5. Oh wow really surprised me there with: “Hero with uncertain lineage goes on journey with help of troubled and flawed friends.” Gee what famous fantasy novel does it sound like? All of them? There was some fun stuff in there. But not too much. Compared to GOT (which lets face it if youve read GOT youre gonna compare) this plot looks absurd. There was a point where I said out loud: “if I have to read about these folks going to another inn I am closing the book.” I think its six total inns these people visit. Always the same result. Writing: 3/5 the actual nuts and bolts of the book are fine. Sentence structure, description, strong verbs, tight chapters. Decent, if flat, dialogue. Action: 1/5. kind what we’re all here for right? Only decent. Again for 800 pages he really spent too much time on the inns and the riding of horses over hills. Caveat: im not a huge magic/fantasy guy. Its galling to go 800 pages and wow some waving of the magic staff kills all the Orcs or whatever. Hate that. And there was plenty of that.
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