Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

A few years ago, as a sort of participation in hype-backlash, I read George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books, without first engaging in the hit tv series. They were great books, but after that I wanted a series that would appeal more strictly to fans of high fantasy. So I decided to start Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Back in 2018, I could barely get through a few pages without falling asleep. In my year of a hundred books, I considered myself worthy to the task, and once again picked up Eye of the World.

That being said, if you are not a fan of high fantasy and, more exclusively, Lord of the Rings, then you will not care about this book. Really, for all of Eye of the World's three hundred thousand words, there isn't much in the way of original story. A world has been built for the story, but it didn't really grip me. The names and geography have to seeming significance.

Starting in the vanilla village of Two Rivers, Jordan gave us three village boys. One is small and quick, one is big and strong, and the last is tall and medium. One of these characters, who the readers were not supposed to immediately guess the identity of, is the one, sought out by Shades (Nazguls) and Trollocs (Orcs), who set out to ruin the party's quest to safety. The premise might have been more interesting if the party were instead trying to end in someplace dangerous like Mount Doom.

Besides the party's bard (gleeman) and bodyguard (warder), there are three magic using ladies. One wears a braid, one doesn't, and the other is in between. Aside from the fact that one is a love interest, they are all the same character. Maybe I'm being too harsh on this book. After all, it was published in 1990, and perhaps back then it was more acceptable for writers to make their books as long as possible, just for the sake of being long. And I don't regret reading Eye of the World to the end. After all, I had to know what I had been missing. Maybe Robert Jordan didn't want to pollute his creative process by exploring fantasy stories that weren't Lord of the Rings. Either way, I Eye of the World is the most boring thing I've ever read. Sorry if all of you hardcore fans think I'm wrong. If you have any good reasons, please let me know.