Finished Eye of the World

[Lady of Winterfell]

Hello everyone! I am new to these boards so I apologize if this topic has been brought up before. I am afraid to read to many of the threads here as I don't want to run into any spoilers.

I have just recently finished Eye of the World. I started this series because I enjoy fantasy and this series is my brothers favorite. He's reread the books numerous times so I thought I should give it a try. I really enjoy the long series as I like to get caught up in characters and worlds. But I have to say that I wasn't as impressed with it as I thought I would be. I read Martin's ASOIAF right before picking up this book, which is now my favorite fantasy series, so I'm not sure if that has something to do with it. Perhaps I should have taken more time between reading ASOIAF and reading EOTW.

I don't feel any real connection to any of the characters yet. The interactions between the male and female characters started driving me crazy. I just felt the relationships were unbelievable. I never got the feeling that there was anything between Egwene and Rand, despite some of the hints he left. They seemed like nothing more than friends to me, and maybe that's correct, but I felt that Jordan was trying to intimate that they had more than just friendly feelings. I could be way off base here though too. As I said, I've only read the first book.

I just wondered if you feel that the next few books are better and flesh out the characters a little more. I have read that the first 4-5 books are the best, so I want to see why that is and if it's worth me continuing with the series. If you can compare them to EOTW that would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[Talysia]

The first four or five books do indeed flesh out the characters and their relationships, although there are moments when I got a bit annoyed with one or two of them for it. The backstories and histories of the characters are examined in greater detail, and whilst the books can be fairly similar in style I'd stick with them.

 

[C Of K]

Welcome, Lady of Winterfell.

ASOIAF is also my favorite series. If you enjoy long ones, Robert Jordan's WoT may be for you, but don't expect any moments like the Red Wedding, or Eddard's Last Stand, as I call it. The two series are totally different, and the first four or five books of The WoT series are good, as you have heard.

As for Rand and Egwene...all I can say is you're pretty insightful... Their relationship is shaped in the later books.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

Perhaps I will stick with them then.

C of K, I definately see that ASOIAF and WOT are very different. I do enjoy the long series, as long as it holds my interest. After I finish my current series, I may pick up The Great Hunt (I think thats #2 in WOT?)

Thanks!!

 

[Talysia]

Yes, The Great Hunt is the second book in the series.

 

[Marvolo]

Hello everyone! I am new to these boards so I apologize if this topic has been brought up before. I am afraid to read to many of the threads here as I don't want to run into any spoilers.

I have just recently finished Eye of the World. I started this series because I enjoy fantasy and this series is my brothers favorite. He's reread the books numerous times so I thought I should give it a try. I really enjoy the long series as I like to get caught up in characters and worlds. But I have to say that I wasn't as impressed with it as I thought I would be. I read Martin's ASOIAF right before picking up this book, which is now my favorite fantasy series, so I'm not sure if that has something to do with it. Perhaps I should have taken more time between reading ASOIAF and reading EOTW.

I don't feel any real connection to any of the characters yet. The interactions between the male and female characters started driving me crazy. I just felt the relationships were unbelievable. I never got the feeling that there was anything between Egwene and Rand, despite some of the hints he left. They seemed like nothing more than friends to me, and maybe that's correct, but I felt that Jordan was trying to intimate that they had more than just friendly feelings. I could be way off base here though too. As I said, I've only read the first book.

I just wondered if you feel that the next few books are better and flesh out the characters a little more. I have read that the first 4-5 books are the best, so I want to see why that is and if it's worth me continuing with the series. If you can compare them to EOTW that would be helpful. Thanks!

If you had read this before Martin you might be able to stomach it. I read Eye of the World back in high school and it wasn't bad. I reread it later on after getting into GRRM and I can't stomach the story. It is too slow moving and I just can't get lost in it.

I do appreciate his popularity though as I like reading and writing fantasy. Tons of authors (Martin himself) admit that he paved the way for their success.

But I don't like the books.

 

[power to the J]

I liked the first 6 books a lot, and then the series started to fall off a bit. Then I got to 11, loved it, and my feelings for the series were rekindled. Now, I may never read Book 12. Either way, I still think that ASoIaF is way better than WoT, but that's just me.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

Like I said, I've only read the first book in WOT, but I think that Martin is much better. I agree Marvolo, I think if I had read Jordan before Martin I would have liked it better. But I could say that about most books I've read since Martin.

 

[Talysia]

Yes, the first six books were definitely better than the others, although it's been a while since my last reread.

Welcome to the Chronicles, Power to the J!

 

[power to the J]

Yes, the first six books were definitely better than the others, although it's been a while since my last reread.

Welcome to the Chronicles, Power to the J!

Thanks!

BTW, now Brandon Sanderson will be finishing the book so um...don't expect much better. (He is even worse than Robert Jordan was, IMO)

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

I wonder if most fans of Jordans works feel the same about Brandon Sanderson taking over the last book. I haven't read any of his works.

 

[viZion]

BTW, now Brandon Sanderson will be finishing the book so um...don't expect much better. (He is even worse than Robert Jordan was, IMO)

At this point does it matter? I think people (me, at least) just want to find out how it ends. I'd seriously be happy with just Jordan's notes on how it ends let alone an entire novel even if it ends up being poorly written. However, it sounds like the guy is a good writer but I've never read any of his material.

 

[power to the J]

I wonder if most fans of Jordans works feel the same about Brandon Sanderson taking over the last book. I haven't read any of his works.

In his defense, I've only read Elantris, but I couldn't even finish that. But that might just be my weird opinion.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

In his defense, I've only read Elantris, but I couldn't even finish that. But that might just be my weird opinion.

Well I think that was the one that got the good reviews, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Talysia]

At this point does it matter? I think people (me, at least) just want to find out how it ends. I'd seriously be happy with just Jordan's notes on how it ends let alone an entire novel even if it ends up being poorly written.

This is how I feel about the situation. After spending so much time reading the series, I just want to find out how it ends.

 

[power to the J]

I'm actually starting to care less after looking back and realizing that RJ had great ideas, but his execution was flawed. Hopefully the new guy will write faster.

 

[Thadlerian]

The interactions between the male and female characters started driving me crazy.

If this is what you feel already, having read just EotW, I'm afraid you won't find the next ones very much of an improvement.

 

[Elyas MACHERA]

Isn't it wonderful that we can all have such differing opinions on the same subject matter.

Personally I have loved just about everything about the WoT series. I didn't mind the 'slow down' too much in the mid books although I am not the greatest fan of political intrigue. To me a lot of the series is like a vast game of chess, the opening moves are quite exciting as they set theshape of the contest to come. The middle game is all about manouevering your pieces into the best position to gain the slightest of advantages for the coming end game whilst trying to deceive your opponent as to your true intentions. This slow movement prepares everything for the ending where you hope for a spectacular and 'bloody' (metaphorically) ending. I never at any stage put down any of the books in this series thinking "I don't want to continue" and I have now reread the series numerous times.

I can't say the same for aSoIaF. Halfway through the second book, I put it down for three months. I've now read a further couple of chapters but find this series much more of a struggle than any of the WoT books.
I've decided to read the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series as this has been recommended elsewhere on this site.
I am determined to revisit aSoIaF when the series is concluded but apart from some individual stand out moments I find there is little of a story thread to this series. It is mainly one army marching on another, fighting a battle, one or more major / minor characters die. Repeat.
I find it extremely difficult to care about any of the characters and I never had that dificulty with WoT.

It can't just be that WoT was the first SF series I read. (I'm not counting the Narnia series which I truly do still love and reread if I only have a spare couple of days)! I'm sure you retain extra love for your first but that can't surely explain why my feelings for WoT appear to be much stronger than most people posting on this site?

 

[Boaz]

I can't say the same for aSoIaF. I find it extremely difficult to care about any of the characters and I never had that dificulty with WoT.

I think I know exactly what you mean... because I feel the exact opposite.

It can't just be that WoT was the first SF series I read. (I'm not counting the Narnia series which I truly do still love and reread if I only have a spare couple of days)! I'm sure you retain extra love for your first but that can't surely explain why my feelings for WoT appear to be much stronger than most people posting on this site?

Elyas, that just may be it. I'll always love Narnia, just like you. I'll always love Middle-earth. I'll always love Barsoom. (Barsoom is the name Edgar Rice Burroughs made up for Mars in his John Carter stories.) But I don't really read them anymore... I'm at a different point in life. I'm sure I'll never reread Burroughs again... the plots are absurd and formulaic, the characters are sterotypical, and the outcomes are never in doubt... yet, I loved every alien technology, every monster, and every gratuitous act of violence (i.e. pulp heroism) when I was thirteen. Barsoom is not Middle-earth nor Narnia. The techs are different. The settings are dissimilar. The theological underpinnings, the authors' motivations, the actions, the pacings... are all different. Yet I love them all. And now I love ASOIAF... I don't know all the reasons these stories have caught my imagination... I just know I love them.

Of all the girlfriends I've had, none of them ever looked alike. You'd think I'd have a type, but no. Hair color, height, ethnicity, age, family, political view, perfume, education, employment... are all different. The only thing they had in common was liking me... and then disliking me. I think it's a bit the same with stories... I look for a type of story, but there's not guarantee I'll get hooked.

You should love The Wheel of Time if you desire. It's a big, biiig, biiiiiiig story... at least ten times the size of Tolkien's magnum opus. There are a host of characters. The plot moves in the material world, the spiritual world and in the fourth dimension. Somehow the plot, the characters, the setting, the pace and the message caught your imagination... Amen.

Isn't it wonderful that we can all have such differing opinions on the same subject matter.

Absolutely.

The more you read on the Chrons, you're more and more apt to find some of my posts regarding the plot and structure of The Eye of the World, The Iron Tower trilogy by Dennis McKiernan, and The Sword of Shanarra by Terry Brooks. My criticism of these stories is that they borrow heavily from The Lord of the Rings, especially The Fellowship of the Ring. I read Brooks and McKiernan when I was young and was actively looking for something exactly like Tolkien. And they were. I liked them a lot. I really did. But as I read more and more, I realized how much Brooks and McKiernan actually copied Tolkien. I don't lump David Eddings' Belgariad in with these because he changed the structure of the story enough (in my opinion) to step up from 'borrowed from' to 'influenced by' Tolkien. TEOTW did not fire my imagination because I felt I'd already read the story numerous times. If I'd read Jordan's opus as a teenager... or at least before Tolkien, I'm confident that I'd place The Wheel of Time right up there with Narnia and Barsoom.

Edit: Elyas, by the way, you might find Malazan exactly what you're looking for. It's a huge story in a huge world. I read the first two books and it had the political intrigue, the supernatural machinations, love, war, betrayals, villains, heroic moments, gritty setting, dire consequences, fascinating magic... and yet I did not continue to the third because the second book started from scratch and I felt after two books that I did not have an empathic connection to a main character and I still did not understand the divine battle taking place.

If Malazan does not fire your imagination, then keep looking through the authors page.

I remembered one thing... six of them were volleyball players... so maybe I do have a type.

 

[Elyas MACHERA]

Elyas MACHERA said: ↑
It can't just be that WoT was the first SF series I read. (I'm not counting the Narnia series which I truly do still love and reread if I only have a spare couple of days)! I'm sure you retain extra love for your first but that can't surely explain why my feelings for WoT appear to be much stronger than most people posting on this site?
Click to expand...
Elyas, that just may be it. I'll always love Narnia, just like you. I'll always love Middle-earth. I'll always love Barsoom. (Barsoom is the name Edgar Rice Burroughs

This is really worrying. It would seem that in order to take a place in my heart a series will now have to be monumentally better than WoT. Thinking about it, I have the same problem with other fiction. I grew up with Alistair McLean and adored his books. Where Eagles Dare is probably the best and most faithful film reproduction of any of his books. I still remember reading the cable car fight scene and being on the edge of my seat gripped with excitement. As I grew up, having finished his 20+ book library I picked up two other authors, Frederick Forsyth (The Day of the Jackal etc) and Robert Ludlum. To this day, The Jason Bourne Trilogy ranks as my favourite non Science Fantasy work and it is so much better than the films.

I may be doomed forevermore to a life of dissatisfaction with anything new that I try. Same with music. For me it is still The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Diamond and Abba.

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I remembered one thing... six of them were volleyball players... so maybe I do have a type.

This seems to say more about the locations from which you are making your female locations because if you have randomly selected six females in completely different non-sporting locations and they have all turned out to be volleyball players, then that is decidedly freeky coincidence.