The Eye of the World definitely starts with a lot of classic fantasy ingredients. Small village, mysterious strangers, something evil shows up, and suddenly a group of people who have barely seen the world are running for their lives.
None of that bothered me because pretty quickly I cared more about the characters than whether the setup was something I’d seen before.
Rand, Mat, and Perrin were probably the biggest reason I wanted to keep going. They start out as three friends from the same small village, but it doesn’t take long before you start seeing how differently each of them handles everything being thrown at them.
Rand feels like the one trying hardest to hold onto the life they had before all of this happened. He wants answers, but I don’t think he necessarily wants those answers to change who he is. There’s this constant feeling that the world keeps getting bigger around him whether he wants it to or not.
Perrin is quieter and more careful. He thinks about things before he acts, sometimes probably too much, and there’s a seriousness to him that separates him from the other two. He’s the guy I’d probably trust to stop and think through a terrible idea before everybody runs straight into it.
And then there’s Mat.
Mat was the one I had the most fun with. He’s sarcastic, reckless, curious, and has this ability to make a bad situation worse because apparently leaving something alone is never an option. He gives the friendship some humor when everything around them is getting increasingly dark. There are definitely times where you want to ask him what the hell he was thinking, but that’s also part of why I liked him.
What I really like about the three of them is that they don’t feel interchangeable. Rand, Mat, and Perrin start in basically the same place, but they react completely differently once that comfortable little world disappears. You can already see the beginning of three separate paths, even while they still think of themselves as three guys from the Two Rivers who are supposed to be looking out for each other.
Moiraine is interesting because she knows a hell of a lot more than any of them, but knowing more doesn’t automatically make her trustworthy. From their point of view, this woman appears out of nowhere, tells them they’re in danger, and basically says, come with me and I’ll explain what I feel like explaining when I feel like explaining it. I completely understood why they were suspicious of her.
Egwene is different from the boys because she seems much more willing to believe there could be something bigger waiting for her outside the Two Rivers. Where Rand is looking backward at what they’re leaving, she’s much more willing to look forward.
The biggest weakness for me is probably the amount of traveling. There are stretches where it starts feeling like they go somewhere, something bad happens, they escape, and then they’re back on the road again. The ending is also a little confusing compared with some of the later books. There’s a lot happening very quickly, and I don’t think Jordan makes all of it as clear as he could have.
But the world kept pulling me in.
You keep getting little pieces of history, old stories nobody completely understands anymore, different cultures, the fear surrounding the One Power, and hints that what these characters know about their world is only a tiny piece of what’s actually going on.
Looking back after reading the rest of The Wheel of Time, one of the things I like most about The Eye of the World is seeing Rand, Mat, and Perrin before everything gets so damn complicated. They’re just three friends who have absolutely no idea what’s coming for them.
And knowing where all three eventually end up makes the beginning even better on a reread.
Who I’d recommend it to: Anyone who likes big epic fantasy and doesn’t mind a series taking its time. The world gets a hell of a lot bigger from here, but this is where you first start caring about the people in it.
Caution: There’s a lot of traveling, and the ending can be confusing the first time through.
Discussion question: Of Rand, Mat, and Perrin, who were you most interested in after the first book—and did that change by the end of the series?
— Cory Lane