The Eye of the World

Reading The Eye of the World was certainly an experience. It definitely follows the story beats of The Hobbit and other epic fantasies, but it makes a lot of unique choices and does a lot of strong world building along the way. I found myself endeared to many of the main characters and I appreciated the focus on strong female leads.

Upon completion, I was torn on whether I wanted to continue my journey with the rest of the Wheel of Time books, but for now I think I would like to continue. My hope is that much of the basis of the world has been laid out so far, and now it can be expanded upon in a more interesting way. The setting of the beginning of the book is indistinguishable from many other fantasy novels, but by the end there is a lot that feels unique to Robert Jordan's world.

There is a lot of online discourse about Wheel of Time as a whole. I know many love it and many have given up on it. I am remaining neutral so far, but I think it needs to be stated that there are lots of novels out there (including those in the fantasy genre) that have made me feel more with much fewer words.