For a series that is supposed to span 14 books, the first one is a tame start to the series. The book opens in a similar manner to The Fellowship of the Ring, a small town where something out of the ordinary occurs and someone wise to events occurring in the outside world decides to lead a party of seven on a mission. Oh and just like The Lord of the Rings, there are Orc-like creatures (Trollocs), something akin to a Nazgul (Myddrraal) and a Dark Lord. Jordan wanted the books to start similar to Tolkien’s epic before it diverged so I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
The positives:
Robert Jordan’s prose is truly remarkable. Throughout the journey, his writing makes it so easy to visualize every aspect of his world. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the various major cities or towns, the routes between them or the groves that they stop by. Each and every setting is fully realized and this adds a lot to the reading process. He also provides enough interesting pieces of information on other parts of the world such as Tar Valon, Illian, and Amador, which I am positive will be covered in the rest of the series.
A lot of fantasy authors forget to include interactions between everyday folk and the main cast. The fact that Jordan does this makes the whole story just a little bit more believable. The majority of the characters are regular farm people, and you cannot expect them to get through the journey without a little bit of help from people living in the world around. Getting a glimpse of how these people live their lives provides a richness to the world and makes you think how the character’s actions will affect these regular joes moving forward.
There quite a few factions that are established by the end of the book which gives me hope for the rest of the series. There are supporters of the Aes Sedai –women who can use the True Source and have a lot of political power- and their detractors The Children of the Light who frown on them. Supporters of the Dark One called Darkfriends who lurk around everywhere, the Warders and those who fight against the Blight in the North. A lot of different parties involved in the story.
Neutral:
Not enough has been established about the magic system for me to pass judgment. We are given the bare basics of the True Source, and how there are two components to it that can be drawn out. Then there is the Wheel of Time itself, that supposedly builds out patterns and dictates the actions of the world. Is a character destined for doom or glory in a series like this due to the actions of the Wheel? Can people influence the Wheel externally and change the course of history? A lot is made about the past, how the Dark One keeps defeating the Dragon -a prophesied hero of sorts- and how the Cycle might be different this time around. The book leaves us with enough questions and topics that need to be answered in future books.
Generic plot: You can’t go wrong with a standard Good vs Evil storyline. Then there’s the added conflict between the Children and the Aes Sedai in the backdrop as well. So there’s enough going on to keep you interested in the story.
Negatives:
Story Choices: The plot weighs down midway through as the characters get spread out and we get a chance to see a lot more of the world the story is set in. I am not a fan of world-building when it does nothing for the plot. For example, what was the point of Perrin Aybara meeting Elyas? It establishes a telepathic connection between Perrin and the wolves but it doesn’t move the story forward in any manner. We could have skipped Elyas and proceeded directly to the Travelers instead. There could be a payoff later on in the series, but when you examine a book on its own, the plot just gets bogged down by various little plot points such as this.
Characters: I think Brandon Sanderson has spoiled me for the worse. After reading so many of his books with a variety of interesting characters, all of Jordan’s characters seem pale by comparison. Almost all of them possess a single character trait, and very few have any character development at all. The only one that stood out to me was Thom Merillin. Thom is a traveling gleeman who goes about entertaining the masses with tricks, fireworks, music, and stories. He shows a lot of heart, does his best to help out the main cast, is plagued by mistakes from his past and is prone to being swayed by greed. He is neither overly smart nor is he an expert when it comes to self-defense. It’s a stretch, but I would rather see him in future books than some of the other characters in this book.
Lan is a Warden sworn to protect Morraine, who is an Aes Sedai working against the Dark One. He is the Marie Sue of the book, a typical combat expert/tracker/navigator who helps get the cast from point A to point B as safely as possible. His thing is to brood for most of the book.
Morraine Sedai has a lot of knowledge about the Wheel, the Dark One, his followers, and has access to the True Source (So, a lot of magic stuff like lightning bolts, smoke screens, and flames I think at one point). Her trait is to smirk at others who question her or ignore people for the most part.
Nynaeve is the village Wisdom -someone who heals people- and is a part of the Woman’s Circle in her village. Her trait is to scold people when she gets ticked off, or try to one-up Morraine.
Egwene. She wants to see the world and become an Aes Sedai like Morraine.
Now the three main characters.
Mat Cauthon- a whiny bitch (language, I know) who can’t shut up, likes to play pranks and is a general dumbass who cannot bother to think for even a second.
Perrin Aybara, the more well-developed of the lot, is the son of a smith, wields a mean old ax and has wolf powers.
Rand al Thor, son of a herder, has a heron marked sword, smarter than the Perrin and Mat, wants to do the right thing but isn’t qualified at all. He stumbles through the story for the most part. I don’t think I can blame him though since it seems like the Wheel has major plans for him, and a lot of what he ends up doing is out of his control.
Phew.
As you can see, there are a lot of characters in the first book alone. I wish a lot more time was spent developing these characters more thoroughly. Moments of consequence had a lesser impact when we did not get to see how certain characters react to their own actions. The three main leads were written to be everyday folks who become part of something larger without their approval. And I understand that they are inept to face the troubles that they come across in the story. But it wouldn’t be remiss to include a few redeeming qualities, especially for Mat who just seems to be written as someone who causes trouble for the rest of the gang. Nynaeve has a lot of potential beyond just scowling at Morraine. The first book in the series starts out in meekly, as its characters let it down. They have room to grow and improve and considering the dedicated fan base, the series should get better from here on out.
6/10
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