Subject: Review: Robert Jordan's _Eye of the World_

From: "Iliana" <[email-masked]>
Date: 20 Apr 2001 12:22:46 -0400

Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
	    Copyright (c) 2001 J. Lee

Traditionalists and postmodernists alike will enjoy the epic vastness and
crafty intrigue of The Wheel of Time.  Jordan combines the classic
ultimate battle between good and evil with intricate political maneuvering
and cynicism.  His packed narrative moves from moments of light humor to
adrenaline-pumping climaxes.  These books are a good read for anyone who
likes thick, weighty prose with a lot of drama and action.

The Wheel of Time world is medieval, with nations and organizations
trading loyalties and building alliances in the days before Tarmon
Gai'don, the Last Battle, in which the evil forces of the Dark will make
their last attempt to conquer or be vanquished forever.  There are the Aes
Sedai, women who have for three thousand years claimed to stand as a lone
flame of hope against the Dark.  Pitted against them in political intrigue
are the Asha' man, men of equal power who may save the world or destroy
it.  There are the warrior Aiel from the deserts of the Waste, the hardy
Borderlanders who fight to keep at bay the evils of the Blight, the
mysterious and terrifying Seanchan whose armies invade from the sea.

Prophecies say that the Dragon, the man who defeated the Dark One in his
last attempt to destroy the world, will come again to fight the Last
Battle.  Amid the chaotic pieces that form the nations who will -- and
must -- rise to defeat the Dark, the fate of the world rests upon one Rand
al'Thor, shepherd from Emond's Field, a tiny village in a forgotten
district called the Two Rivers.

Jordan follows his narrative through the experiences of good and evil
characters alike.  If there is any moral to be found in the confusion of
this vast world, it is that men and women are fallible and unreliable
creatures.  Loyalties shift as fluidly as the wind.  Leaders and followers
fumble in the dark to make their plans, and none are enlightened -- the
Dragon Reborn and the Dark One's most faithful servants least of all.

Readers in search of drama and political intrigue will find no lack of
either in Jordan's writing.  The author, an American residing in South
Carolina, spins a world so vast it is overwhelming.  While reviews are
unfailingly positive and sales reflect this, a fan of the series comments,
"One complaint I have is that every man is an island in the books.  That's
a rather cynical way of looking at the world, and I don't think it's
true."  But in Jordan's defense, he is a realist, and his writing mirrors
a certain turn-of-the-millennium angst.

Those who don't like to be left hanging should take heed: the series is
yet unfinished, and Jordan churns out a new volume about once every two
years.  Jordan originally signed a three-book contract with the publisher,
but the series has expanded and neither the author nor the publisher have
given a final count for the books.

%T The Eye of the World
%A Jordan, Robert
%I Tor
%C New York
%D 1990
%O paperback
%G ISBN 0812511816
%P 814pp

Opinions and quotations included in this review were contributed by the
Robert Jordan reader community at http://www.whitetower.org.uk/ .