Blue Armadillo weblog

Tuesday, July 09, 2002

I rather unexpectedly finished Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World last night. It's not that I didn't expect to finish it; it's that it ended about 20 pages sooner than I expected, thanks to the glossary and the preview of the next book in the series.

On the whole I enjoyed The Eye of the World. It was, as they say, a ripping yarn, which is what I want out of a fantasy novel. There were other things I liked about it too -- it was well-written, the characters were interesting, and it had maps. I like books with maps, because it shows the author has thought things through pretty well in advance. But had it not been a ripping yarn, none of those other things would have mattered.

On the other hand, I also found it to be a very aggravating book. There were certain parts were it seemed to me that Jordan just gave up trying to be original and opted instead to add or subtract a letter or two from some other well known thing.

• King Artur Paendrag. Didn't he live in Caemlot?
• tabac, a leafy substance people put in pipes and smoke. I have trouble believing anyone would do something like that.
• The ritual blessing of those who follow the Way of the Leaf: "As it once was, so shall it be again, world without end." I believe they call that the D'oxology.
• sa'angreal, a lost item of immense mystical power. Which is in no way at all like the san greal, or Holy Grail.

That last one actually made me wince.

I haven't decided if I'm going to read the remaining books in the series. I am modestly curious about what happens next, and I'm interested in learning more about how the Aes Sedai are organized. But does that translate into a desire to read the rest of the series. Don't know. I'll probably pick up The Great Hunt, since I can sort it into the queue without much difficulty, and make my decision after finishing it.
posted by John Heaton 1:32 PM | link

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