Wheel of Time Book 1: The Eye of the World Review

Books are inherently cool. Not to knock oral tradition or anything, but books sort of take the blue ribbon in the carrying-on-stories-and-knowledge department. I've been an avid reader since I was a young kid. I devoured books growing up (much like I devoured food. Mmm... food). In high school specifically, I spent most of my time in class ignoring whatever was going on and instead reading the already massive Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. At that point, the series already had nine books out there with a tenth on the way and no signs of stopping. However, Jordan paused to write a prequel, New Spring, and the time between books grew and grew. I went to college, and between the rigors of classwork and actually having an active social life, reading sort of dropped away. When the eleventh book in the series came out, I discussed it with Brian - my stalwart fellow reader - but quickly forgot it.

Then Robert Jordan passed away, God rest his soul. Hope of having the series finished flitted away...until Brandon Sanderson, a self-professed fan of the books and author in his own right, was called in by Jordan's widow to finish the series. My senior year of college, the twelfth book of a finally confirmed fourteen book series was released. Suddenly, I had to play catch-up.

So as I read, I figured I'd review the books and offer my own comments as I go along. At this point, I've re-read Books 1-6, and have started Book 7. My reviews will likely be fairly short until I get closer to my current novel. For now though, here's The Eye of the World.

“The Five Shows You Should Be Watching”

I am a TV freak. I love television. I don’t sit in front of one every second of my free time, or even the majority of it, but I love TV as a storytelling medium. I wince every time someone says “there’s never anything good on” or that they don’t own a television because “what’s the point?” Sure, a good 75% of television is utter mindless crap. But in the interest of picking out the diamonds from the turds, I present my five shows you should be watching.

"Get Off My Lawn"

            Kids these days…

Back in my day you had to buy shiny discs to listen to music, you had to allow a demon to possess your computer to get on the interwebs, and your game controller had four buttons and a D-pad. Ok, so when I conceived my blog, I can honestly say I didn’t plan on making my second post turn me into Old Man Rivers. But after talking to some younger co-workers and customers (I refuse to call them “guests” when not being paid for my time), I’ve realized that… man, kids these days.

"Write What You Know"

            “Write what you know” has been the mantra of anyone I ever asked for advice (and some who I never really approached) about my writing. My father, my teachers, even professional-opinion-havers like people who actually get monies to write/edit/judge literature agreed: Write what you know. Why? Because… well… it’ll seem more honest. There will be a depth and sincerity to your prose otherwise lacking in a five hundred page opus of space monkeys and undead machines. Contrariwise, you can give your supernatural epic some sort of grounded human theme like loss, greed, or the great topics of the day (like is it ok to disagree with the President even though he’s black?).

            Real heady stuff.