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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780812511819
ISBN number: 0812511816
Label: Tor Fantasy
Manufacturer: Tor Fantasy
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 832
Printing Date: November 15, 1990
Publishing house: Tor Fantasy
Sale Popularity Level: 14235
Studio: Tor Fantasy
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Product Description:
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
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Rated by buyers -
This is the book that started the Wheel of Time rolling into epic history. It is here we meet Rand, Mat and Perrin, three 'normal' kids in a backwoods village, thrust into danger unexpectadly, and dragged by the neck across the land by the mysterious Moraine, and her warder, Lan; all the while being nagged by Egwene and Nynaeve, and chased by agents of 'the Dark One,' Shaitan.
The Wheel of Time is the name of the central belief of the human race. Each age has come before and will come again, and three thousand years before this writing takes place, a man called the Dragon dealt a telling blow against 'the Dark One,' imprisoning him and his followers for 'eternity.' Prophecy says the Dragon will be reborn when once again 'the Dark One' starts meddling in the affairs of the world.
Yeah, it's all been done before, but rarely so well. The cliche gets turned on its head, old legends are made refreshingly new, and everything you've come to expect from epic fantasy has finally made its way to the printed page.
The writing in the Eye of the World is beautiful, almost poetic saga. There's no other way to describe it. Sometimes description wins out over plot and characterization, but the story flows well from page to page, chapter to chapter. You can see the people and places in your head as if reading Tolkein again for the very first time. I had a hard time putting it down when I initially travelled what fans refer to as Randland (Jordan simply calls the continent the Westlands, and never names the world).
From Emond's Field to Shadar Logoth, and from Caemlyn to the Blight, Robert Jordan's world is fully and colorfully realized. Every land has a culture and style all its own, and there has rarely been a series so steeped in lore.
Yes, there are a few soft spots. One, a reliance on prophecy for every central element of the plot. I'm not big on prophecy, myself. Second, is the religion of the land: it's a very large continent, and yet, everyone has the same set of religious beliefs. Two, language: everyone, regardless of being seperated by mountains and other geographical difficulties, speaks the same language.
The setup for magic, prophecy, and other mystical happenings are all cohesive and well-explained as the series progresses. This very first book retains alot of mysteries that help submerge the reader into the world of the Wheel of Time. Regardless of what people think of the series as a whole, the Eye of the World is definitely worth the read.
(A note: years ago, I picked up the fourth or fifth book in the series, and tried to start from there. I gave up after the very first chapter. If you don't read the series from the start, there is just too much information assumed to be known by the reader. Jordan never went back and explained or re-introduced anything as he went along. That said, a year or two later, I picked up this book, and I've been with the series ever since, for good or ill.)
Rated by buyers 
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I have read every book, the prequel, the supplement info and have to say, that I wish he was able to write more...I really don't want this series to end...I guess I can't fault anyone who does want it to end wanting closure to something, but this world was so indepth, so detailed where the cut of dress said alot about a person, the women acted like women I know...and the men had issues of their own...it was almost not a fantasy novel but a book that reminded me of my own life at times.
If you want a quick read, this isn't the series for you.
Rated by buyers 
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First off, let me start by saying I loved this book. And most of the ones that came after it. But there are two reasons you should think very hard before you start this series.
First, the books get more and more drawn out until, as in the 10th book, 700 pages basically covers the amount of plot development that 50 pages of the very first book accomplished. Part of the problem is that the list of characters continues to grow book after book. This means you have 30 characters or so and you jump from character to character, each allotted a significant amount of pages. This is not an exaggeration. Look at the reviews for the 10th book if you think I am joking. There are over 1500 One-Star reviews for this reason alone.
Second, as many of you probably know, Robert Jordan is dead. At the time of his death he had NOT completed this series. In my opinion that means this series was left unfinished. There are plans to release a 12th book to be written by Brandon Sanderson based on Robert Jordan's NOTES! Sanderson's ability aside, this is a far cry from actually having a 9,000 page series naturally concluded by the original author.
These are big issues and anyone interested in the Wheel of Time should really consider them before investing so much time into a series.
Rated by buyers -
The Eye of the world lays the foundation for the Wheel of Time series, and introduces us to the colorful worlds of false Dragons, Darkfriends, Trollocs, Aes Sedai, Ogier, gleemen and more. It's a classic take on good and evil, with a twist. Edmonds Field is a small village that is suddendly attacked by evil creatures called Trollocs, who serve the Dark One. The main characters, Rand, Mat and Perin are then caught up in an ongoing adventure as they travel to Tar Valon for safety. The book spends a lot of time painting a picture of each place visited and how the people lived, but it didn't bore me. I've read fast-paced novels before, and Eye of the World is not one of those novels. However it makes up for this in substance. There are some things that should not be rushed. In the book, magic comes from the True Source, but only the feminine side is safe. Men who are born with magic inside them eventually go dangerously mad and die. So the only organized groups of magic-users are women(Aes Sedai, the male magic users are ruthless hunted down and "gentled" to prevent them from using magic. If you are looking for battle scenes on every other page, you won't find it here, but if you are looking for a well written epic and gradually draws you into its world until you are hooked, then Eye of the World is the book for you.
Rated by buyers -
I won't really go into the plot summary of this book, as I think it will be virtually impossible for me to keep this review reasonably short.=) It would be hard for me to give that summary and not want to add spoilers from later books, because things that occur in The Eye of the World you encounter later on and doesn't get expanded upon until later. So how could I explain without spoiling?
It would also be difficult because I'd inevitably refer to words, phrases, or characters that the newbie to Robert Jordan would have no clue what I'm talking about, leading me to have to explain...and well, you get the point!LOL I will instead give some of my opinions and thoughts about this book, The Eye of the World, and the series as a whole.
In anticipation of the 12th and final book to be released subsequent fall, A Memory of Light, I decided to re-read this series. For those who don't know, Robert Jordan passed away last year in the fall of 2007, and died before he could complete the series. But, the final book will still be published and released with new fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson, to finish the series.
Okay, what did I think of this book? The very first time I read this book, it was a bit hard going as I had to familiarize myself with the world Jordan created, and it wasn't until I read it a second or third time that I noticed aspects of the story I had missed the very first time around. But even at the very first time reading of the Eye of the World, I instinctively grasped knew this was a beginning of a *great* epic fantasy series.
Anyways, that can be a hinderance, it takes time to get to know this fictional world, and all the details in characters, countries, cultures, etc can be overwhelming to one new to the Wheel of Time world. Trust me, it may take more than one read of the books, but it's definitely worth it. I feel that the Wheel of Time series is one of the best epic fantasy books out there, and I've read my share. I am still in awe that Jordan could have created such an incredibly rich, detailed, and complex world populated with characters you get to know so well (yes, love 'em and hate 'em!) that you feel like you know them personally.
Another sticking point for some people is Jordan was the kind of writer that loved details, the more the better in his eyes. Being a details person myself, I love details, I didn't find this detracting from the story. I felt it helped me picture the story in my mind's eye more effectively, as I said before, this world is incredibly complex so I felt his detailed explanations of scenery, clothing, culture, etc was very helpful in seeing this world more clearly.
A lot of people notice this particular book borrows heavily from Tolkien and it is true, the flight of Rand (the main character) and his friends from their small village, The Two Rivers, with a person of magical* abilities (in this book they aren't called sorcerors or sorceress, but Aes Sedai, I'll say more on this later*) fleeing the minions of a big, bad evil guy. Very similar to LOTR. That is the only tribute, or rip-off (depending on the person you're asking.heh) to Tolkien because as you find out in later books in the series Jordan had pretty much gone in his own direction. He has even taken from our own real world mythological stories, such as the King Arthur legend and incorporated into this fictional world and changed them to suit his purpose. I'm pretty sure he incorporated other elements of real world mythological stories and characters into his series, but as I'm not familiar with all of them, I can't say for sure exactly which.
*It's later.LOL. Okay, I wince and cringe to refer to the powers (called One Power) in this book as "magic", it's never referred to in this fashion and neither are the practitioners called wizards, witches (okay, take that back the Aes Sedai are sometimes referred as "that Aes Sedai witch" in a negative connotation.heh.), sorceress, and the like. Jordan completely described these wielders of the One Power and what the One Power is in such a way that you don't think of it as magic, or I didn't anyways. It's too simple to just say, "it's magic".
One thing I never noticed my very first time reading the series, but I eventually grasped, is he teases you with glimpses of small descriptions of the "Age before the Age of Legends", and these descriptions have led some to believe (myself included) that Jordan was alluding to our own real world. In other words, this Age was the modern day Earth we live in yesterday (note, in this series, the time period is referred to by "Ages"...so, for instance, "Age of Legends" refers to a time period of wonder undreamed of by the present cast of characters in the Eye of the World). This is but one example of what I meant by the fact it may take you more than one or two readings to truly comprehend this world, Jordan uses a lot of symbolism ... Read More
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