The Wheel of Time: A Waste of my Time
“The Wheel weaves what the Wheel wills. The Wheel of Time turns, and ages come to pass, leaving memories that become legend”
Book One of The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World, the first in an epic fantasy series said to be one of the best in the high epic fantasy genre. This series, published in 1990, was written by Robert Jordan and then continued by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan’s death in 2007. It spans fourteen volumes and is rooted in the cyclical nature of time found in Buddhism and Hinduism, but also consists of many Christian themes including good and evil, end-time revelation, and creationism.
I did not enjoy it, which is why I’m giving it 3 out of 5 stars.
The evil forces in this story originate from The Dark One — The Father of Lies — The Lord of the Grave. His goal is to break hearts and spirits. He will be released from prison. Until then he haunts dreams and manipulates thoughts from his prison. He commands the ones he wishes to bow to worship him, threatening their souls if they refuse.
The story follows a band of male and female adolescents who set out from their farm town of Emond's Field, running from wolf-humanoid creatures called Trollocs who are led by a dark figure in a cape with no face. Most of the story consists of this traveling band of boys and girls who follow an ageless Aes Sedai named Moiraine and her Warder, Lan. Moiraine wields The One Power, and her mission seems to be guiding and protecting the group. As the story progresses and the group moves from village to village, they (along with the reader) meet many characters along the way and learn the history of their world, the magic in it, and the evil that seeks to destroy it.
The story is told from a third-person perspective, switching from group to group when they’re separated, but mostly follows Rand, a sheepherding farm boy. There are six main characters including Rand, Lan, Perrin, Nynaeve, Egwene, and Mat who are all from the small town.
The world-building in this story is complex and intricate, mostly because there are thousands of years of backstory building up to the current situation. There are multiple “ages,” ie: The Breaking of the World and the Age of Legends. This history foreshadows the danger ahead and builds depth to the world, making it realistic for the reader. Most of the challenge in this book is understanding and piecing together this lore and history in order to find meaning in The Wheel, The Eye, and The Dark One.
The main reason I didn’t enjoy this book was that the mysteriousness behind the things mentioned above did not intrigue me. The concepts and plot premise to me just weren’t interesting enough to keep me engaged. The concepts were too simple: The Dark One is evil, he will eventually be released, and bad things will happen. In the meantime, there are dangers to escape, and the main goal most of the time is to stay alive and go where people say to go. The why and the how were not fully explained, making it frustrating, not fascinating. Evil exists and bad things happen just because “the wheel weaves as it wills.” I’m guessing this is explained further as the series goes on, but there are other reasons I will not continue this series.
One is the endlessly repeating cycle of boys and girls running from evil things, making a close escape from evil things, getting just enough time to rest and meet some interesting characters and hear some lore, having nightmares, running again, and the cycle continues. Similar to Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, this book is about the journey, not the destination. Unlike Lord of the Rings, however, this story was less magical, less whimsical, and I cared less about the characters…..which brings me to the third reason I didn’t enjoy this book.
This book was clearly written for adolescent boys. Rand, Mat, and Perrin struggle with finding courage, facing girl issues, and overcoming pre-pubescent emotions. The thoughts and behaviors varied among them, but overall their characters were fairly immature in the way they adapted to situations and lacked insight into their own emotions and the emotions of others. The relationships between them represent the relationships between adolescent boys. Although the characters do change and evolve throughout the story, it was not in any way that influenced, motivated, or inspired me. I do, however, think this book would be very relatable to adolescent boys. The two adolescent girls in the story do have their own insecurities and strengths, but the insecurities frustrated me much more than the strengths most of the time. The one female character who I did enjoy was Moiraine, the Aes Sedai, because she was more mature, and showed the other girls how to be brave even if they chose not to listen. I liked how she was wise in her words, and dedicated to her duty of protecting others with her magic. I would have enjoyed this story more if there was more backstory on her. I didn’t feel like the author wanted her character to be explored and discovered in this first book of the series.
For me, this book felt a lot more like Huckleberry Finn than what I expected in a fantasy. It felt like teenage boys going on an adventure, having to learn and grow and find meaning in their world. I actually wished it was a little more fantastical and magical. I enjoyed that the narration itself felt more adult than young-adult in its descriptions, although the descriptions were often dry. There were good metaphors and the best writing to me was the experiencing of supernatural events like nightmares and visions. I would have enjoyed more imagination in the writing style and more meaning behind the end goal/destination.
The most frustrating part was knowing where the group was going at times, but not really knowing why it was important. To compare with Lord of the Rings again, at least it was clear why Frodo and friends must journey, and the implications if they failed or didn’t reach their destination. When the characters in this story did finally get to their destination, I was somewhat relieved as some of the importance was realized, but I still did not completely understand why they had to go there in the first place.
Rand: “Why did you bring us here?”
Moraine: “Because you are ta’veren……because the Dark One’s power will strike here, and because it must be confronted and stopped, or the Shadow will cover the world. There is no need greater than that. Let us go back out into the sunshine.”
747 pages into the epic journey to discover this deep truth……the same thing I already knew. This is why I will abandon my attempt at the Wheel of Time.
The reason I’m not giving it one or two stars is because I think many people would enjoy this book, and there is nothing inherently or objectively wrong with it other than I just did not enjoy it. I recommend this book for adolescent boys or anyone who enjoys epic, high fantasy, or an adventure packed with action. I do not recommend this book for people who enjoy character-driven plots, who are picky on good prose, and who like more insightfulness into the character’s thoughts and emotions. I wish I had read more reviews on this book before I picked it up, and I hope this review helps somebody.
