Book Review: THE EYE OF THE WORLD by Robert Jordan

THE EYE OF THE WORLD (The Wheel Of Time #1) by Robert Jordan (Tor Books, November 1990) Mass Market Paperback, 814 pages.  ISBN # 0812511816 / 9780812511819  

Summary from the Goodreads website . . . .

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.

My review on the Goodreads website . . . .

     This is an epic tale, indeed. I picked this out of my bookshelf to read during a February vacation and,after getting through several hundred pages as a airline read and then a poolside read, it took me a lot longer to finish. 

     I found myself getting a bit bogged down in the details and resisting the urge to rush through it, often pausing to reference the glossary in the back to refresh my memory of names and details. Halfway through I had to pause, put the book aside, and read some other genre (crime, horror, nonfiction) until the urge came back to return to this book. 

     I'm not trying to indicate it's not worthy of the effort. I just sort of begrudge the time it requires to absorb. The fact that there are so many equally lengthy books remaining is very daunting. The Eye Of The World is very good, and deserves all the attention and followers it has received. I did enjoy it and marveled at the incredible amount of detail and backstory that Jordan put together. I'm going to read the entire series, but I'm going to return to this first volume again (when I'm ready) to really immerse myself in the fictional mythology. I have a feeling it will be worth it. 

     In contrast to The Lord Of Rings, I read those books when I was in high school and was not as well-acquainted with fantasy of this type at that time. For that reason, those books will remain my all-time favorite. Despite the presence of equally dire threats and monsters of various types (just like in The Eye Of The World), the Lord Of The Rings (to me) seemed much more whimsical and light-hearted compared to Jordan's book. Maybe it's the absence of eccentric and endearing human-like creatures like hobbits and dwarves. I do like the characters and their personality quirks and concerns in Jordan's work, I'm just not as attached to them. 

     If you're reading this because you also haven't read Jordan's series yet, and are deciding whether to jump in - - I think you should. Just be prepared to be sucked in and wrapped up in Jordan's world-building for the next several years. 

    Now that Goodreads has added a way to track books you choose to read more than once, I feel better about my decision to return to this book at some unspecified future date.