The Eye of the World
ISBN: 9781857230765
Description
Life has been pretty boring for Rand Al'Thor and his friends until a strange young woman arrives. Moraine is a magician with the ability to wield the One Power, and she brings warnings of a terrible evil. That very night, the village is attacked by bloodthirsty Trollocs. As Emond's Field burns, Moraine and her warrior-guardian help Rand and his companions to escape. But it is only the beginning of their troubles.
Reviewed on 24th May 2025
Inspired by the release of season three of the TV adaptation, I decided to revisit the books. I notice that the series has affected my thinking and I am now seeing the cast when picturing the characters, particularly Morraine, Lan, and Rand.
In some respects it's the classic story about the prophesied chosen one - with baddies out to get him, and a wise magic user wanting to guide him. However there are three candidates and neither side knows which one it really is.
I found I really enjoyed re-reading this. I knew the broad strokes of the plot, and the characters in some detail, but there are plenty of elements that I've forgotten, and others that stand out more in a re-read. I was also surprised by the amount of foreshadowing, and things that I didn't remember being introduced so early in the series.
There are a few moments that make me wonder if I'm reading sexism on behalf of the author, but those are all passages portrayed from the point of view of a teenage boy, so can possibly be judged as within that context. I was surprised that were stuck with Rand's point of view for the majority of the book, as the series is well know for multiple viewpoint characters, but it seems in these early days that was much less common, though we do eventually step into the shoes of two other characters as well.
Looking forward to revisiting book two, but probably not for a little while as it's a lot to do back to back.
Reviewed on 13th May 2009
I've read this, the first book in a series of 15 (maybe...!), under pressure. I'm not normally a fan of tolkien-esque fantasy - in fact, I rather quickly gave up on Lord of the Rings on the basis that it was awful. I would have given it 1 star if I was rating it for this website!
However this novel wasn't as bad. Yes, it was fairly slow in places, and sometimes it was hard to see where things were going. There were a couple of things that popped up halfway that I wondered why they couldn't have been told it earlier.
The storyline is complete by the end of the novel, however there are clearly a number of places to go later on, and a number of unresolved plotlines to follow up on. The characters are all very different people, each with their own skills, quirks and personalities, although some seem (so far) to be unnecessary to the storyline.
Overall, I'm not convinced that it deserves the raving that I've been surrounded by, but I suspect I will read the second book.
