Genre: Fantasy
Rating: ★★★
Synopsis: Life in Emond's Field has been pretty boring for Rand Al'Thor and his friends until a strange young woman arrives in their village. Moraine is an Aes Sedai, a magician with the ability to wield the One Power, and she brings warnings of a terrible evil awakening in the world. That very night, the village is attacked by bloodthirsty Trollocs - a fearsome tribe of beast-men thought to be no more than myth. 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. For Moraine believes Rand Al'Thor is the Dragon Reborn, and that he is fated to unite the world against the rising darkness and lead the fight against a being so powerful and evil it is known simply as the Dark One.
First off, this is one epic series. There are THIRTEEN sequels to The Eye of the World, with the fourteenth set to be released early 2013, and as I have been reliably informed that the series gets better as it goes on, I am very much looking forward to reading the rest! It might take a while, however, as it took me about a month (possibly more) to get through this one. Not because it wasn't good though, I was just quite busy.
It was totally worth it though! Although it was quite slow going in the middle of the book, the story moved along just enough to keep me interested. I realise now that this book was mostly about introducing all the characters and creating this world, "setting the scene" for the rest of the books, but at the time I kept skipping ahead to find out when the chapter would change (NOT good, don't do it! I also tend to read the last page of the book - big spoiler in this case!) Don't get me wrong, it wasn't boring, but there is a LOT of sleeping in hedges and walking. Think Lord of the Rings, the Frodo and Sam chapters, but not quite as Gollum-filled or as deadly boring.
Right from the beginning there are clues about Rand's destiny, although I, in my befuddled state, didn't spot it until I was two thirds through. Apparently this is what the entire series is about and I missed it. Great. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but if you have a theory about it, then you are probably right. Unless it's a really stupid theory in which case no.
This review so far has been, if not negative, not particularly positive. So, positives! The characters are likeable and not one dimensional (Rand and Perrin are my favourites. And Nynaeve) which is refreshing, I've read too many books recently with characters who are ONE thing (eg. brave, kind, heroic) and one thing ONLY. The world they live in is described brilliantly, I could picture what it all looked like with ease and I especially liked the description of the clothes (don't worry, they aren't that long) because you hardly get those in fantasy books and I tend to dress everyone in jeans and a t-shirt otherwise... Which is definitely not in keeping with the story! I also really enjoyed that there are a lot of storylines left to finish off, lots of things to explore and find out about in the later books which I'm really looking forward to, such as other kingdoms, the history of the world, the peoples, and the Aes Sedai. It really quite confused me that the people of this world tended to be prejudiced against the Aes Sedai, although I think it's because they don't understand their power and are frightened of it. Not cool though, guys, not cool.
Overall, I would recommend reading this book if you are into epic fantasy with magic and swords and magic swords (maybe) and Dark Ones and all that, and also don't mind trekking through some relatively difficult parts to get to the awesome ones. If you are looking for a light romance for your holiday, you are most definitely in the wrong place, missus.
