The Eye of the World
2015 is the year I finally read Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time. Or at least make a dent in it. There are 14 books, each nearly 1000 pages long. I could easily do it in a year if that's all I read. But I want to make room for other things, too. We'll see.
For now, I'm off to a great start, having finished the first book, The Eye of the World, just a few days into the new year. Yes, I read half of it last year. It counts as this year anyway.
I was pleasantly surprised by the first book in the series. Yes, parts of it are plodding. The plot takes over 100 pages to show up, and seems to disappear again halfway through the book. Jordan borrows heavily (and I mean heavily) from both The Lord of the Rings and the Arthurian Legend. And ultimately it feels like nothing more than setup for the rest of the series. Which, with 13 more books is to be expected.
Despite this, I was thoroughly entertained and finished with a strong desire to start the next book. Which I didn't own yet. I won't make that mistake again.
What surprised me the most were the characters. Yes, the traveling band contains stand-ins for Merlin, Morgaine, and Aragorn. And we get the typical, mostly boring, Chosen One. But his friends are amazing. A trickster, descended from kings, wrestling with a new dark side. A strong, steady, young man with an affinity for wolves. And two amazing, magical women. In my wildest dreams I would have hoped for one woman to be included in this classic fantasy from the early nineties. To get three main female characters, each with their own strengths and agendas, and with three distinct relationships (sisterly love, mentor-mentee, and proud antagonism) was just fantastic. More than anything else, this, and the wealth of women on the sidelines, is what made me fall for this book.
I've heard this series takes a dip in quality in the middle, but that it finishes strong. Knowing that it has a good ending is what pushed me to finally jump in. I am a bit worried about that middle stretch, though. Perhaps it will go the way of A Feast for Crows, which I read in snippets between other books. Perhaps I'll just stubbornly plow through. In any case, I'm determined to finish this series, however long it takes me. And right now I feel really good about that decision.
For now, I'm off to a great start, having finished the first book, The Eye of the World, just a few days into the new year. Yes, I read half of it last year. It counts as this year anyway.
I was pleasantly surprised by the first book in the series. Yes, parts of it are plodding. The plot takes over 100 pages to show up, and seems to disappear again halfway through the book. Jordan borrows heavily (and I mean heavily) from both The Lord of the Rings and the Arthurian Legend. And ultimately it feels like nothing more than setup for the rest of the series. Which, with 13 more books is to be expected.
Despite this, I was thoroughly entertained and finished with a strong desire to start the next book. Which I didn't own yet. I won't make that mistake again.
What surprised me the most were the characters. Yes, the traveling band contains stand-ins for Merlin, Morgaine, and Aragorn. And we get the typical, mostly boring, Chosen One. But his friends are amazing. A trickster, descended from kings, wrestling with a new dark side. A strong, steady, young man with an affinity for wolves. And two amazing, magical women. In my wildest dreams I would have hoped for one woman to be included in this classic fantasy from the early nineties. To get three main female characters, each with their own strengths and agendas, and with three distinct relationships (sisterly love, mentor-mentee, and proud antagonism) was just fantastic. More than anything else, this, and the wealth of women on the sidelines, is what made me fall for this book.
I've heard this series takes a dip in quality in the middle, but that it finishes strong. Knowing that it has a good ending is what pushed me to finally jump in. I am a bit worried about that middle stretch, though. Perhaps it will go the way of A Feast for Crows, which I read in snippets between other books. Perhaps I'll just stubbornly plow through. In any case, I'm determined to finish this series, however long it takes me. And right now I feel really good about that decision.
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