The Eye of the World

by Robert Jordan

Reviewed by Coral

The people of Emond’s Field live a quiet life, far removed from the rest of the realm outside the small nearby villager, until now. Not only are there strangers in the village (a gleeman, a peddler and two travelers unlike anything the village has seen before) but there are rumours circulating of a False Dragon at the head of an army, one who can wield the tainted male half of the One Power, and an army of Aes Sedai – women who wield the One Power – marching to stop him.

When the village is attacked on the eve of their Bel Tine festival, it is only the beginning of the hardships ahead for friends Rand, Mat and Perrin. Targeted in the attack for unknown reasons, they will need to trust the ulterior motives of the strangers in their town, as evil chases them from their homes and all across the realm.

It’s been a long time since I first read this book, around fifteen years I think. But after having finally bought the last book in the series, I am finally getting around to rereading the first 9 books before working through the last 5 that I have previously not read to finally know how it all ends!

Like the first time I read this series, the style of writing just drew me in right away. I wanted to know more about the world and the characters. I want to dive right into the second book!

There are some slower parts of the book. For me a lot of the middle section of the book could have shortened without really losing anything.

Knowing where some of these characters end up (at least by book 9) made rereading how their journey starts a little hard at times. There were moments where I wanted to smack a couple of them for being idiots (Mat more than Rand, but Rand had some dumb moments as well).

I was a little disappointed in the ending of the book. The story had been building towards one goal and the near the end it veers off to something completely different and ends a little anti-climatically for me.

I also thought the relationship between two of the characters was kind of rushed. We didn’t get a lot of chapters told from either of their perspectives and they seemed to jump from grudging respect to love rather quickly off-page. I would have liked to see the beginning of their romance develop more on page instead of being surprised be it (at least the first time I think I was. Rereading I knew they got together but thought it still felt rushed and under developed).

Grade: B