The Eye of the World: The Graphic Novel, Volume One

I was gonna write a long review but decided to cast my judgmet after i finish the first 4 books.

honestly it wasn't as bad as I thought itd be, I have a lot of hope for the future books.

(if this book was cut in half nothing would've changed, it was so long for no reason, you'd think with a book this long there'd be a lot of world building/characters building/ events, but noooo nothing happens)

I honestly didn't know what I was getting into starting this book in a really long series. I love the premise and the story of the book, and the magic system is interesting. But these books are LONG and I feel like I have to drag through them to get to the good parts at the end. Still, a good first book to get to know the world

Obsessed already This is my new favourite fantasy series without a doubt. This first book brings you into such a fully-realised that you could almost believe it's based in some truth. The character could do with a little more personality but you definitely learn to love and dislike them. But as I said, the world, cultures and civilisations is where this book excels. Making you feel like everything is tied and has its own space in this vast land that Robert Jordan has created. If I could give this six stars, I genuinely think I would...

Really weird impression this book left on me: I couldn’t put it down and yet I felt that the story was taking too long to be narrated and I thought there were too many standard, expected tropes. I don’t know how to feel about the book but I’ll watch the tv show.

The Wheel of Time was my favorite fantasy book of the year! It kind of reminds me of LOTR(which is why I’m obsessed with it). Highly recommended!!!!

Really great story, but Jordan is extremely detailed; such detail turns the reading into a slog/chore.

This is probably the best book I've read since Lord of the Rings. I cannot wait to read the next one, I am entirely engrossed in this world and fascinated by it's characters. I may actually read all 14 books.

Im going to use the same review for the first 3 Wheel of Time books. Partly because they all follow a similar plot line. They are simply extensions of themselves. Mainly though, because It’s been a little while since reading them and I’ve forgotten much of the way I felt upon closing out each chapter.

What I can say, is that I largely wanted to get through them. It often felt like I was reading to achieve a goal, rather than enjoy the story itself. Something I really try to not do, and something that I usually look back on as a sign of a book I did not love.

That brief criticism aside, I did very much enjoy these books. I wouldn’t dare critique the fantastical genius if someone so well regarded as the late Robert Jordan. But Robert, I’m hoping for a little more here my brother. I was staging to tap out after 3, but a close friend (and respected fantasy enthusiast) hinted that the turn i’ve been seeking is waiting for me with the Shadow Rising. Do i believe it?? Well, a girl can dream. Will I make it to the fabled final 3 books penned by the demigod Sanderson? Will the peloton-esque middle 7 books be enough to carry me through?? Who am I to say? The Wheel of Time Turns, and Ages come to Pass. I’ll see you back in the third age kid.

I really wanted to read this after seeing that there was going to be a show, and then even more so when I saw there was supposed to be accompanying movies to go with it. As much of a fantasy person as I am, I never really had a desire to read it before honestly. Even though most of bookstagram loses it over the series. But like, a 15 book series?! Why I’m sure my opinion will make a few people disappointed, so I’m sorry for that, but I definitely don’t mean for it to be a hot take at all. I started reading the physical book. I have the 30th anniversary edition hardcover, which I think is very nice. At around 300 pages I still wasn’t all that drawn into it, and with me not getting through it in September, and wanting to read horror for Halloween, I switched to the audio instead. I figured this way, I’d still finish it, I’d avoid a DNF on something I wanted to know about, and I’d have time to read physical horror. 300 pages in left me started the audio on chapter 19, so I can’t speak to anything before that. The audio is supposed to be a male and female narrator, which I believe people rave about them online…it wasn’t that I disliked either of them, but I was just very surprised when they were trading chapters. I guess I figured they’d share voices or something similar, so that threw me off. What I found even weirder though was the fact that the trading off was wildly uneven. I feel like the female narrator had like 5 chapters throughout the entire book? Unless she read everything prior to chapter 19??? Anyway, there is obviously some masterful world building in this novel, but to me it was at the extreme detriment of everything else. Sometimes entire chapters would span something that was only very loosely attached to the entire story to the point where I’d forget where I was? The entire 800 something pages is all build up and then I felt like the climactic fight was maybe 15 minutes long, and very confusing at that? I feel like I also need to talk about the dream chapters. I am never really a fan of dreaming/dream prophesies in the novels I read, but I mean this guy really knows how to beat a dead horse of a trope doesn’t he. There’s probably 1/8th of the story in dreams where the same thing (almost) happens every time and it doesn’t exactly progress anything?? I’m still interested in seeing if the series improves though. I’ve heard that the show will pull from books 2 and 3 as well and I think that’s a really good idea cause honestly not much of anything happens in this one.

So, Robert Jordan. Since brevity is the soul of wit, I shan't be as wordulent as he in summarily dubbing The Wheel of Time the most obese hero's journey that I ever held the futile hopes of reading in its entirety. But, I finished this volume. And it only took two tries, and a whole lot of willpower. I even kind of liked this one most of the time. (Note: I'm reviewing six or seven years after having read the book. The details are sketchy, so I'll talk mostly in impressions.) I enjoyed the way Jordan did magic here. And worldbuilding. He is good at worldbuilding, which is something many authors are short on. His badguys are hateable, his good guys mostly likeable. Our Hero Rand is a bit of an emo kid, whining about his sad, sad fate even more than Harry Potter does. I must admit wanting to bitchslap Rand a bit more, probably because he doesn't have charming sidekicks like the Potter kid does to make him more entertaining. Instead, he has Matt and that other guy. The other guy is forgettable (obviously), while Matt is the most interesting part of the story. If my memory is correct, he's the bad boy of the trio, gambling and carousing and whatnot. Unfortunately, I must report the female characters are no more interesting than the other guy. I remember several, vaguely, but can't remember the details. In general, the characters suffer from a lack of depth, which is quite an achievement for an opus this verbose. (I'm generalizing about the series right now, not just talking about this particular doorstopper.) So, despite Jordan's knack for creating a very cool fantasy world, his story and characters feel no more complex than a David Eddings series. That being said, I understand the appeal of the series: for those that (1) like traditional hero's journey fantasy; (2) enjoy Tolkienesque worldbuilding without it being as totally xeroxed as Dragonlance; and (3) actually prefer series fantasy to shorter works, this is the beginning of a really cool series. But these aren't all good recommendations for a reader like me. In reading this book, I don't remember feeling genuinely surprised a single time. I never cared much about any of the characters. I didn't like that everyone was good or evil, not shades of grey. And, although I have a tolerance for them, I don't like cliffhangers. (*SPOILER ALERT FOR THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH*) And I fucking hate when out of the blue somebody discovers their insanely developed magical powers after never having used them before, AND conveniently discovers them right when all the goodguys would've died otherwise. If you're already saving characters in this sort of lame way at the beginning of the series, what should I expect for the rest of the series? More predictable, lame escapes? No thank you. This review of The Wheel of Time is to be continued. . . in my review of The Great Hunt.

** spoiler alert ** I have been having troubles with this book for a long time. I first tried reading it in my mother tongue, French. But I did not really like the translation, or I could not really get into the book. I then tried again and again but could not get past the first 200 pages maybe. I tried again after watching a few videos about it (mainly Daniel B. Greene's). But this time in English. I got more motivated and I have to say, I feel so great about having picked it up again ! I really got hooked on their quest and really loved the diversity of the characters. I liked the strong female characters, but all strong in their own way. The three guys were a bit frustrating at first. I get that they are in danger and everything, but at first they just seem scared and homesick. Concerning the writing style, I was challenged, since my attention span is pretty short. I had to focus to get through the descriptions, although I enjoyed it since they really contribute to the world building. I just found it underwhelming to read the battle between Rand and the Dark One. The descriptions of the clothes, the environment, ... were always so detailed and to get the battle depicted in a few lines, made it less memorable than the scene where Loial sang the Tree Songs in front of the Green Man's grave.

Robert Jordan's interminable journey begins. Honestly, it was... fine. I don't feel like I want to pick up the next one though. There's a lot of "ambient literature" here, to draw a comparison to the videos of beaches or quiet libraries you start on YouTube that you leave on in the background.

It was an enjoyable fantasy romp. More like a throwback, Lord of the Rings style. Not a lot of action and there were some moments that dragged, but I'm still glad to have read it. Wish the lead character wasn't Rand though.

Really enjoyed it! Slow to start but once they got out of the two rivers the adventure really opened up. Excited to read the rest of the series!

An epic intro to an epic story. It might be considered boring by most due to all the wandering from the characters. It's also a split pov since the characters aren't always together and even though some pov's were more interesting than others, all of them were still enjoyable and had their purpose (mostly lore, character development). what i mean is: what seems to be "boring parts where u follow people just walking towards a destination" are actually very important to the plot. every detail matters in the end <3 this to say, this isn't a story for those who like quick pace action (though it has that) but for those who like to fully understand a world, deeply know the characters they are following until they are so invested they can't put the book down. and in the end they are rewarded with an epic finale full of intrigue and very fast pace action.

Soooooo... holy crap. There were a lot of things that I had to get past, or get used to, with this book, first of all. One, I haven't read any high or epic fantasy since early high school, so that was new for me. Secondly, I didn't even realize until halfway through that there was a freaking GLOSSARY in the back, because of the way the book is formatted for the Kindle. Thirdly, there were a few moments where tense, dramatic moments were ruined by melodramatic writing - for example, characters screaming, "Nooooooooo!" in nightmares, or watching others die, etc. However, this was pretty freaking fantastic. I constantly got Perrin and Mat mixed up until about halfway through - and then when their characters were more contrasted, I was able to appreciate all the characters individually. I can't think of a character in this book that I didn't find compelling. There were points where I thought, "Well, would have seemed a lot less abrupt and afterthought-like if we'd had even some hint or related incident of this earlier in the book" (for example, the wolf thing seemed rather, I dunno, convenient). However, it all made sense, and while I got a little distracted by some heavy LOTR overtones, for the most part I enjoyed ever moment of this book. Can't wait to move on to the second one. Actually, I can; I'd like to blow through a couple shorter books before I sit down with another volume that will take me two months. XD

So good!! I had forgotten how awesome it was!!

this was a solid first book of a really long series. the worldbuilding was great and the characters were interesting. i just wasn’t invested in the story that much. the middle parts dragged as well. there were parts that were unnecessarily long (it kinda put me in a slump tbh) and i wish those were just cut short. but overall it was pretty good.

the wheel of time is for people who already love fantasy. i wouldn't recomend this series to new fantasy readers because, apart from its lenght, it could bore them to death if they're not used to slow-paced narrations, long descriptions and a plot purely based on traveling from one point to another and then to another one. but that was not my case, i really loved it. with only one book i can say that i love robert jordan's prose because i really appreciate extremely detailed descriptions. it was a pleasure to read them, being able to form a clear picture of every city the main characters visited throughout the whole book as if it was a film taking place in my mind. it was a nice experience. and for this very reason i can understand that some people think the very opposite. the world is very interesting, the characters are likeable (some of them with more layers than others) and slowly growing up as they go on with this adventure. the world is incredibly interesting and detailed too with aspects that are still not explored in this first work (obviously, because there is a long way ahead). a lot of traditional fantasy tropes are included and come off as very obvious, but it really didn't bother me. even if i wouldn't say i'm a big fan of traditional high fantasy, i enjoyed the eye of the world a lot. the fact that brandon sanderson finished writing this series is also a fact that motivated me to start wot, along with the tv show that is coming out very soon. and i don't regret my decision. i'm very excited to slowly but surely reading the 13 books i've left! i think wheel of time has the potential to become a fave for me.

What on earth do I say about this book? The world was vast, the characters brilliant, the magic freaking cool, and I have new swear words to learn! Maybe I'll write a more in-depth review if I reread the series. I really hope this series is as brilliant as I think it will be.

4 ⭐️ : upon second read. I thank the tv show for making me obsessed with the world building and looking forward to what’s coming next in this insane epic world. Thank you very much

Ugh finally. I’m just glad it’s over. I wanted to like this one so badly but I couldn’t connect with the characters, they are not very likeable or memorable and I expected more epicness. Some say it really gets epic toward book 3 so call me insane but I am going to continue with this series.

Picking this book felt like picking a chocolate cake, then taking a bite but not tasting any chocolate.

I’ll go with 0 expectation though.

PS: Started this book on august 2021 💀

The wheel turns as the wheel wills. But it could turn a little faster please? This books is clearly and introduction to the series, to a hopefully great series, but in itself it didn’t live to the promise. Not much happens in the entire book. But what made me want to continue was the hope that all this world building will pay off later. It starts getting interesting to late so I guess now I need to start with the next one :)

*4.5 I loved this way more than I thought I would. Only taking away half a star since it took me 3 tries to get past the first 15 chapters.

Why did I pick this book out of all other books to read?

I watched the Amazon TV series and felt that was rushed near the end and left unfinished. After seeing a discussion from fans of the book series about how different it was, I figured I better check it out for myself.

What is this book about?

The book follows a group of teens from a small town. An Aes Sedai, or witch, visits their town and rounds them up after disaster hits. She thinks they are special and wants to take them to her leader. As they travel, they get split up. The story follows each as they try to find each other again, while they do some discovering on their own.

Even though it does have its own plot and concepts, I feel it important to note that there is a similar feel to the Lord of the Rings with this story. Places or characters that are comparable.

What did I like about this book?

1. Adventurous story - Characters are not kept in one place and the settings are diverse. You are lead through a range of mountains, to dark corners, a river of pirates, and deserts.

2. Interesting characters - Each had their own personality, and felt different from the others. Motivations are clear and no one felt one toned. Even the citizens of the different areas the characters travel to felt they had a purpose for being in the story.

3. The world building - The set up of what is inherently believed - spiritually all people are part of a wheel, as it turns, it takes and gives as needed - was interesting. Along with how magic comes from the wheel... two ancient beings that once lived and prospered now fighting for balance.

   
   

What did I dislike about this book?

1. The pacing - it kept going back and forth between a lull and rush. Towards the middle of the book, this pattern became repetitive and somewhat boring. I had to push myself to finish the story.