(WARNING! SPOILERS! Do not read any further if you don't want to read spoilers for Robert Jordan's _The Eye of the World_. You have been warned. Do not complain to me if you read on because you don't know what the word "spoilers" means.)






Ok, this is the third time I've tried to post. Two times before this my browser window died on me while trying to write out my treatise on Jordan. I think it's a conspiracy.

Anyway, for those of you who still care (all two of you) here is my latest update on my Wheel of Time Experience.

I must say, I'm finally hooked. It took about 500 pages, but Jordan finally did something that made me want to keep reading. Unfortunately, I have no idea what that thing was. I just know I'm suddenly interested. Maybe it's the good feeling of looking at the book and seeing more behind my bookmark than ahead of it. Anyway, I'm on page 650 or so, and I actually want to keep reading.

However, I will also say that if I do end up liking the book/series, I will not ever be one of those people who say "You didn't give it enough time!" or "You can't judge it by just the first 100 pages!". A book is primarily for entertainment, especially a fantasy book. A *good* book hooks the reader and keeps him interested all the way through. I understand what Jordan was doing in the beginning (trying to set up a sense of normalcy, so when everything went crazy later the reader would understand that these things were Fraught With Portent). However, I really don't think what he wrote accomplished that, for all its verbosity. Heck, it's an epic fantasy story, I *know* things are going to get strange. I'd be serious PO'ed if things *didn't* get strange. You don't need to spend 100+ pages lulling me to sleep before you throw the haymaker. Furthermore, the endless, endless journey from the Two Rivers until Shadar Logoth was just inexcusably long, with very little of note happening (a few interesting things in Baerlon, and then pretty much nothing until Shadar Logoth).

However, my interest seemed to perk up a bit once everyone got separated. I think this was because Jordan finally had manageable groups of people in which he could get in some actual character development. Also, I *hate* when characters get separated in novels, and then spend forever getting back together (as a general rule), so I usually scream through these parts at breakneck speed because I just want everyone to get together again. But this is a purely personal quirk, I'm sure.

>
> Hmm, I actually found Moiraine and Egwene to be
>quite interestin (well, once things had got
>going a little)

Moiraine's single distinguishing characteristic is that she's confidant and steady. Otherwise, her main purpose in the story is to use her powers at plot points. She makes me angry more than anything, because she won't tell anybody anything of note, even though she obviously knows tons of useful info.

Egwene hasn't done much of note yet. She started to get interesting when she was discovering her powers, but then Jordan basically forgot about that and now she's boring again. Her main purpose so far has been as a foil for Rand.

> ... as for Rand, he was pleasant
>enough, I suppose, but had nothing about his
>nature that made him stand out particularly from
>his two friends, Mat and Perrin.

Rand's distinguishing characteristic is that he's the main veiwpoint character. That seems to be enough for Jordan. Oh yeah, and his whole identity crisis thing. Pop quiz: You're carrying an amazingly identifiable sword that the man who may or may not be your father gave you. Do you (A) wear it constantly, futily trying to pull your cloak around it when its already been seen by anyone who cares to look, leaving a trail of witnesses behind you for the bad guys to easily follow, or (B) dump the sword in the nearest haystack and keep going? Ok, so he doesn't want to part with it, since it's the "last link to his father." So take it off and wrap it up or something, or at least strap it to your back where you might actually be able to hide it under your silly cloak. This might be a harder decision if Rand every actually *used* the sword for its intended purpose. But so far, the sword has done *nothing* for him except get him noticed when he doesn't want to be. Duh.

Mat I still hate. When he's "himself", he's stupid and annoying. When he's under the influence of that dagger he found in Shadar Logoth, he's stupid and mean.

Perrin was actually starting to become an interesting character, when during his time with the wolves. But then everyone got back together, and Perrin is pretty much forgotten again.

>
> Interestingly, Perrin becomes a much more
>developed character as the novels develop (IMHO)
>while Matt and Rand become even less appealing
>and remain otherwise two dimensional ....

I agree (see above)

> Rest assured, Thom is there for a reason ; - )
>

To do all of one thing of note and then 'die'? I'm sorry, but that whole story about his nephew was totally unconvincing to me. It sounded more like Jordan suddenly realized "Hey, this Thom guy doesn't really have any business tagging along with everyone else" when Rand and Mat *finally* brought up that fact in Whitebridge.

That's probably my biggest peeve with Thom--*nobody* every questioned his motives! They just blindly let him stay with the group. Moiraine mumbles something about the pattern, and everything is supposed to be explained. No, I don't think so.

Probably the biggest boost to my interest in the story came when I discovered the glossary at the back of the book. I read it straight through, not worrying about spoilers at that point, because I was thinking I might not be reading the book much longer. In fact, if I didn't want to be able to BAM it, I probably would have quit a long time ago.

But the glossary had actual *information* in it! Instead of vauge references and unexplained utterances, I got actual *facts!*. My interest in the Aes Sedai was rekindled when I read about the different Ajah within the organization, something that is only hinted at in the first 600 or so pages of the book. That one entry in the glossary piqued my interest in the Aes Sedai more than Moiraine had in 600+ pages. I'd had my fill of the whole "woman of mystery" thing about fifty pages after her introduction--this actual info in the back of the book got me interested again. I was really looking forward to them getting to Tar Valon--but of course, Jordan masterfully skipped that part. *grumble*. Well, I'm sure in eleven more books, they have to get to Tar Valon *sometime*.

I find it utterly *dumb* that the book even *needs* a glossary. All of the info in the glossary should be integrated with the text. A good writer would have no trouble doing it unobtrusivly--why Jordan chooses not to is a total mystery to me.