The Wheel of Time Crosstalk: Did we enjoy reading The Eye of the World?

COREY: I think we continue to hit the same theme here: whether it’s the bad guys, the good guys, the plot, or basically anything else, The Eye of The World feels an awful lot like The Lord of the Rings. I think I’d forgotten that as I got further into the series. Five books in, The Wheel of Time is miles away from LOTR, and it’s strange to look back.

I hate to keep jumping ahead, but the Forsaken are easily the most interesting part of the novels to me. You’re right, the first two we meet ever so briefly at the climax of this book are fairly vanilla, but we aren’t given enough time with either to really know anything about them. I will say, those two jokers were the least powerful of the Forsaken, and they’re more than a match for Moiraine.

As for Shadar Logoth, I liked the idea that they established there was a separate power from the Dark One. You learn more about it later, but in Eye I do remember Moiraine making it clear that the power there was evil, but it was not of the Shadow. That reminded me somewhat of Shelob or Smaug, in that they weren’t serving Sauron, but they weren’t exactly good neighbors either.

As for the story’s structure, I’m a fan. Much like A Song of Ice and Fire, splitting everyone up broadens the narrative and allows us to see how characters act independent of each other. In a group there always tends to be a leader or two, and when everyone is separated people have to make their own choices and live with the consequences. I’ve mentioned how I was not a fan of Mat, Rand and Perrin all ending up with super powers of a sort, but I do enjoy that their powers all feel different. I feel like the female characters tend to approach problems a little more similarly, while the male characters tend to have different ways of solving the issue at hand.

Regardless, being the first book of the series, Eye remains my favorite of the series thus far, mainly because of its pacing. As the series moves on, things begin to drag very heavily. Did you find the pace enjoyable? Or was it too bogged down with exposition?

DAN: Yeah, I thought Eye moved along at a good clip. Looking back, it really did take us on quite the journey. The sleepy Two Rivers region is very different from Baerlon, the first proper town they visit. That’s very different from the haunted city of Shadar Logoth, which is nothing like the bustling city of Caemlyn, which shares nothing in common with Fal Dara, a city in the Borderlands that’s always ready for war with the Trollocs.

In between, we get to know most of our main characters pretty well. Again, splitting them up in the middle definitely helped — I felt like I only really started to warm up to Egwene and Perin, for example, when they were off by themselves spending time with the Tuatha’an and magic wolf men. (I assume the wolf stuff is what you mean when you talk about Perin’s “superpower?” I don’t think Mat has a superpower in this book, unless you count getting possessed by a knife and turning into a dick for a while. So don’t spoil me!)

And then Jordan brings in Loial, a member of an ancient race that built many of the cities the humans now call home. I was also very interested in the Ways, the sort of fast travel system the male and female Aes Sedai built back before the men were all driven mad by the Dark One…or at least I think that’s what happened. Then there was the Green Man, and all the talk about Tar Valon, which we don’t see at all…

And I agree with you on the evil in Shadar Logoth being different from the evil of the Dark One — that’s a neat idea that opens up some cool possibilities. I want to know more about it. I want to know more about a lot. There is so much STUFF in this book, so much for a nerd like me to chomp down on, and I almost feel like there wasn’t enough exposition. I already mentioned not getting as much info on the Aes Sedai as I wanted. And the evil in Shadar Logoth…well, if it’s not from the Dark One, where does it come from? And what was chasing down people in the Ways?

And I think that’s mostly intentional on Jordan’s part. This is a looooooong book series, and he’s setting up things to develop later. I thought the world-building was the best part of the book, and it’s what has me most excited to read more.