The Eye of the World: Chapter Thirteen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: CHOICES

Hoo boy. This chapter is only five or so pages longer than the last couple, but it feels like enough has happened to fill several more. Once again, there are two distinct sections in this chapter, so I'll cover them one after the other.

The first section is basically a traveling montage of them traveling to the nearest town, Baerlon. Baerlon isn't on the new map, but it is on the big map, and thanks to it I think I know where the Two Rivers region is. It's so tiny it's no wonder I missed it earlier. It's also not labeled or anything, and I'll remind you that the maps aren't drawn with much attention to detail, so the rivers themselves don't look exactly the same from map to map.

Some time is thankfully skipped over during the travel there, and this doesn't really bother me as much as it seemed to bother Mark, but that may have to do with the way it's used here. The time-skipping stops to show important moments, like conversations between the characters, more talk with Egwene about the Aes Sedai, and Lan training the boys on how to use their weapons:

• "Now if you all had bows," the Warder said dryly when they started grinning, "and if the Trollocs agreed not to come so close you couldn't use them..." The grins faded abruptly. "Let me see what I can teach you in case they do come that close."

Bravo, so Mr. Stoic here has a sense of humor after all!

Speaking of Egwene, she's starting to get on my nerves. It seems that her role in a conversation is to role her eyes and go, "Men!"

• "Men!" Egwene snorted. "You get the adventure you're always prating about, and already you're talking about home." She held her head high, yet Rand noticed a tremor to her voice, now that nothing more was to be seen of the Two Rivers.

Lady, you're the one who was "prating about" adventure! You're the only Emond's Field native who went on this trip entirely of her own will! Rand and the others were sort of forced into it, or do you still not believe that after the giant bloody bat monster chased you? It's only natural these guys would start to feel a little homesick after a while.

She also gets into an argument with Rant about her being an Aes Sedai, mostly revolving around whether or not they can be trusted. To be fair, they both bring up some good points; Rand bases his argument about their shady reputation from the stories and the sinking of the ferry, and Egwene argues that without Moiraine, they'd probably be dead by now.

But something about the way Egwene is carrying herself now makes me think she's being reckless and naive. My feelings about Moiraine possiby using the group to her own ends persist, and while I don't expect a sheltered farm girl like Egwene to be that paranoid, it still seems that she's taking a huge risk by trusting Moiraine here. I fully admit that this line of reasoning has a flimsy foundation to it, but I can't shake the feeling.

Wait, maybe it's the fact that Moiraine threatened to kill them if they run away that makes me suspicious:

• "Is that the way you all feel? You are all eager to run off to Illian and forget about Trollocs, and Halfmen, and Draghkar?" [Moiraine] ran her eyes over them - that stony glint playing against the everyday tone of voice made Rand uneasy - but she gave no one a chance to speak. "The Dark One is after you three, one or all, and if I let you go running off wherever you want to go, he will take you. Whatever the Dark One wants, I oppose, so hear this and know it true. Before I let the Dark One have you, I will destroy you myself."

Jesus. The boys weren't even seriously planning on running away or anything. They were just idly daydreaming about the places they could see now that they've left Two Rivers. Egwene was there; she heard Moiraine say that. I wonder how she feels about it?

We don't know the answer, but we do know that the two ladies talk about magic at night. When Rand eavesdrops, we also learn that there are five powers, and men are strongest with Earth and Fire, that there's another woman in Emond's Field with magical potential (My first thoughts went to Nynaeve, since no other woman has been established all that well), and that Aes Sedai run the gamut of personalities and motives. But after Egwene asks why the Trollocs came to town, Moiraine looks right at Rand's hiding spot and scares him away. Oh well. I'm pretty sure I know the answer anyway.

The title of this chapter apparently comes from Moiraine reminding the boys that they can choose either to follow her or live short and brutal lives on the run. As they think, it's no real choice at all.

She says this after Baerlon comes into view, and after Moiraine tells them to keep a lid on their purpose here and call her and Lan by their aliases, they finally enter the boys' first city. Moiraine's gatekeeper friend covertly lets them in after briefing her on the news since her last visit. Some Children of the Light, or Whitecloaks, have arrived in town, and they don't like Darkfriends or Aes Sedai. Let me guess, they're this world's version of the Inquisition or the Catholic Church.

Meanwhile, in Ghealdan (a region just south of Two Rivers and Baerlon), the Aes Sedai are fighting the false Dragon and his followers, who he's dubbed People of the Dragon, a name that makes Moiraine scoff. He's moving toward the coastal city of Tear with them, and that's all the gatekeeper says. When Rand asks why, Thom (remember him?) fills Rand in on the relevant prophecy:

• "Tear is the greatest port on the Sea of Storms, and the Stone of Tear is the fortress that guards it. The Stone is said to be the first fortress built after the Breaking of the World, and in all this time it has never fallen, though more than one army has tried. One of the Prophecies says that the Stone of Tear will never fall until the People of the Dragon come to the Stone. Another says the Stone will never fall till the Sword That Cannot Be Touched is wielded by the Dragon's hand." Thom grimaced. "The fall of the Stone will be one of the major proofs that the Dragon has been reborn. May the Stone stand till I am dust."

Fat chance of that happening, Thom. Rand questions how the Dragon can wield the Sword, which is heavily guarded in the center of the Stone, without first taking over the city. The prophecy seems impossible to Rand, but I'm guessing that the Dragon's gonna sneak inside and steal the sword somehow. Prophecies have a way of coming true in ways people don't see coming. Just ask Lord Macbeth.

After the gang gets inside the city, they find The Stag and Lion, an inn where they can get their horses cared for, good meals, warm beds, and even baths. Finally, it seems they've found a safe haven.

Or have they?

NEXT TIME: Jesus Christ!

The Eye of the World: Chapter Twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE: ACROSS THE TAREN

Well, this is new. The first part of the chapter was actually kind of boring, and then it made me start thinking about one or two of the characters, then started off a promising new subplot with another. Intrigued yet?

Before we get to the good stuff, though, we sit through what feels like a retread of the previous chapter, with Rand's party sneaking furtively across the river and hoping that the bad guys don't notice or catch them. It isn't entirely the same, since now they're crossing a river with some bystanders instead of working their horses to the bone, but it feels like some of the mood has carried over from the last chapter.

Hightower the ferryman comes back with several helpers, and it's implied that they would have robbed the party if Lan hadn't hinted that he wouldn't hesitate to use his sword if they tried anything. It's really only confirmed in the conversation that he has with Rand afterwards. I'm not sure what I think about this new development. This incident basically confirms the stereotypical opinion that Rand has about Taren Ferry folk, and I don't normally approve of stereotypes being reinforced. Odds are that nothing will really come of this, though, so I'll disregard it now.

• Darkfriends! As if Fades and Trollocs and Draghkar were not enough to worry about. At least you could tell a Trolloc on sight.

Another entry for the enemy list, huh? I'm guessing that Darkfriends are normal people that sold out to evil. Yeah, I know there's a glossary at the end of the book that I could consult to know for sure, but I'm counting that as a spoiler.

The actual crossing happens without incident. Lan pays the ferryman the rest of the fee and Moiraine sinks the ferry. Wait, what?

• The haulers stumbled a few steps under Hightower's shoves, then stopped. The faint lights on the ferry spun faster, then faster still. The fog above them swirled, sucked into a spiral. The landing trembled. The cracking and splintering of wood filled the air as the ferry began breaking apart.
  
  "Whirlpool," one of the haulers said, his voice filled with awe
  
  "No whirlpools on the Taren," Hightower said, empty. "Never been a whirlpool..."
  
  "An unfortunate occurence." Moiraine's voice was hollow in the fog that made her a shadow as she turned from the river.

Damn, that's cold. At least that gold will pay for it, nobody got hurt, and since Moiraine wisley kept her true nature a secret, none of these strangers will blame her. This was a good move on her part, don't get me wrong, but it makes me wonder what other tricks she's got up her sleeve, and if she'd end up turning them on Rand if her duties suggested that she had to. Her cleverness extends further when she reveals that the fog she conjured covers the river, where the bad guys will think they're going, and not the direction they're actually going. This bit of subterfuge finally givens everyone the opportunity to rest.

(Speaking of which, I just remembered another little tidbit that I read in Limyaael's fantasy rants way back when, about not treating horses like they're just four-legged machines. We finally get a mention of the horses being fed during this downtime, and Lan mentions that the spell Moiraine cast to rejuvenate them won't keep them from just dropping dead mid-gallop. There's also a mention at the beginning with the robbery that wasn't where Rand thought Mat's bowstring might be ruined by the damp. Jordan may suck at geography, but his eye for detail has served him well... so far.)

It's during this downtime that Jordan throws us a curveball. Moiraine asks to speak to Egwene alone, and it turns out they're talking about magic:

• "The One Power," Moiraine was saying, "comes from the True Source, the driving force of Creation, the force the Creator made to turn the Wheel of Time."

That's gotta be a new record for capital letter density in a single sentence. She goes on to explain that there's a Male Force and a Female Force in magic, and that the Male Force was Tainted by Evil. See, I can do it too. It looks silly, doesn't it?

When Rand hears that Egwene might get Aes Sedai training from Moiraine, he has a quiet little freakout, hoping that she'll fail the test and nothing will come of it. Sadly, Egwene proves to be one of the quickest learners Moiraine has ever seen, and she ends the chapter jubilantly celebrating the new course of her life.

At first I wondered why the hell she was celebrating. Rand has a perfectly valid reason to dread this new development, after all. The Aes Sedai are feared and hated pretty much universally throughout the world, if the stories Rand heard are as widespread as I believe. Egwene is pretty much sacrificing every opportunity she'll ever have to live a normal life (not that she values such a thing anyway, but still). Being an Aes Sedai is a dangerous line of work that could end messily, and most importantly, the Aes Sedai's agenda might actually be as sinister as everyone thinks it is. Since we only know what Rand knows, and Rand knows little, this is still a possibility. As I started typing up this post, I realized that Egwene could conceal her status like Moiraine just did, but that only alleviates my first point. The others still stand.

Still, this is a great cliffhanger to end the chapter on. After the chapter, there's actually a new map, showing the region southwest of Tar Valon. I still have no idea how it connects to the Two Rivers map, but it seems we've hit a milestone in this novel. And with that, I say goodnight.

NEXT TIME: Travel, intrigue, and refuge.

The Eye of the World: Chapter Eleven

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE ROAD TO TAREN FERRY

Before I started reading this chapter, I gave those two maps after the prologue another look, and discovered how they're connected. As it turns out, the Mountains of Mist, which form the Western border of the second map, appear inside the first one. The second map is zoomed in on a region of the first. I can't pinpoint which region exactly (aside from telling it's next to those mountains), either because I'm just being dense or because the maps aren't well drawn. It's not like the region is highlighted on the bigger map.

Anyway, the chapter starts with all of the party riding on horses galloping for dear life on the road north. It's an exhilarating ride, and the music that played in my head as I read it... was the travel music from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I don't think I'm completely invested in this narrative yet.

Bran has trouble controlling his horse, Cloud, which wants to race up ahead and catch up with Lan's horse when Bran's supposed to be watching the rear. I didn't think it was worth mentioning earlier, but the previous chapter brought up the last-minute alterations to the travel plans resulting from two unexpected companions. Bran was forced to ride on a problem horse, and Egwene got Bran's old horse, Bela, which he worries will have trouble keeping pace with the others. But they make it to Watch Hill, the next town on the road, just fine.

The boys make the suggestion of stopping to rest, but Lan and Moiraine not only put the kibosh on that idea, but make it unnecessary as well:

• [Rand] had vaguely noticed [Moiraine] moving among the horses, but he had paid no real attention to what she did. Now she brushed past him to lay her hands on Cloud's neck. Rand fell silent. Suddenly the horse tossed his head with a soft whicker, nearly pulling the reins from Rand's hands. The gray danced a step sideways, as restive as if he had spent a week in the stable. Without a word Moiraine went to Bela.

One of the perks of being an Aes Sedai is the ability to rejuvenate your friends. I wish I had a friend like that in college.

Then the Draghkar swoops over the party, spotting them and spooking the horses (except for Lan and Moiraine's horses, naturally).

• "Hurry, Rand!" Egwene shouted. The Draghkar gave shrill voice once more, and Bela ran a few steps before she could rein the mare in. "Hurry!"
  With a start Rand realized that instead of trying to mount Cloud he had been standing there staring at the sky in a vain attempt to locate the sounds of those vile shrieks. More, all unaware, he had drawn Tam's sword as if to fight the flying thing.

Heh. Points for bravery, but I don't think you're quite ready for that, Rand. Also, I bet Egwene believes Rand's story now, doesn't she?

Once again the group gallops north like mad, this time through a cover of fog, and at first I had no idea if Moiraine conjured this fog or not. On one hand, she tells Lan that she can't do something, but that something is implied to do direct harm to the Myrddraal or Draghkar. She says that she'll "use the Myrddraal's slyness against it," which I suppose means creating fog. Rand's afraid to breath in the fog at first, because it was created by an Aes Sedai, but he has to anyway.

• Rand had met few people from Taren Ferry. He tried to recall what little he knew about them. They seldom ventrued down into what they called "the lower villages," with their noses up as if they smelled something bad. The few he met bore strange names, like Hilltop and Stoneboat. One and all, Taren Ferry folk had a reputation for slyness and trickery. If you shook hands with a Taren Ferry man, people said, you counted your fingers afterwards.

The stereotyping make me a little uncomfortable here, but really, what did I expect?

Lan bangs on the ferryman's door to wake him up-

• "I thought he wanted quiet," Mat muttered.

-and demands passage, bribing the ferryman with gold when he says the ferry only leaves in the daytime. Passage is secured, and the chapter ends.

Not really a bad chapter, all in all. It kept up a sense of urgency and moved the characters forward. Nothing new was really revealed, but I'm okay with that for now.

NEXT TIME: Curveball!

The Eye of the World: Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN: LEAVEMAKING

Everyone leaves in the dead of night, doing their absolute best to leave in secrecy. Throughout the chapter, I finally got a handle on Lan's personality. He hasn't said that much in previous chapters, besides commenting on Tam's sword, but now that he's traveling with Rand and his friends, he comes across as a very serious man. All he speaks about is safety risks and keeping things a secret and making sure everything goes well.

• "That bow is a real weapon," Lan said suddenly. He propped an arm across the saddle of his tall black [horse] and regarded them gravely. "So are the slings I've seen you village boys with. Just because you never used them for anything but hunting rabbits or chasing a wolf away from the sheep makes no difference. Anything can be a weapon, if the man or woman who holds it has the nerve and will to make it so. Trollocs aside, you had better have that clear in your mind before we leave Two Rivers, before we leave Emond's Field, if you want to reach Tar Valon alive."

It kind of makes him a bit of a buzzkill, though, which is why it's nice to see Mat joking with Rand and Perring about the fact that they all brought weapons, and none too subtly. Rand has the heron sword his father had, Mat has a bow, and Perrin an axe.

Moiraine is also dedicated to the secrecy of the trip, but she's oddly tolerant of unexpected complications like these:

• "Not without me." Egwene slipped into the stable, a shawl-wrapped bundle in her arms. Rand nearly fell over his own feet.
• "She can ride the gleeman's horse," the Warder said. "I'll leave him enough to buy another."
  "That will not be possible," came Thom Merrilin's resonant voice from the hayloft. Lan's sword left its sheath this time, and he did not put it back as he stared up at the gleeman.

That's right, Egwene and Thom are coming along, too. Egwene figured the boys are going out to see the world and wanted to do the same, while Thom was leaving anyway and wanted protection on the road to his next gig in Tar Valon. She was smart enough to notice the signs that something was amiss, although Mat and Perrin kind of made it easy for her. I'm just saying.

Naturally, Rand attempts to dissuade her, trying to convince Egwene that the journey will be dangerous, but Moiraine gives her permission to come, saying that her intrusion (and Thom's, for that matter) are all "part of the Pattern" (read: destiny). Destiny is another thing that I find a bit iffy about stories, especially in fantasy. A lot of the time, it's just used as an explanation for why the plot goes the way it does, precluding any further explanation. Granted, I'm glad that Egwene and Thom are coming, but still, did "the Pattern" have to be invoked for them to come along with Rand?

The departure goes off without a hitch, except for something Rand spies out of the corner of his eye:

• A black shape flew slowly across the silvery ball of the moon. Rand's involuntary jerk on the reins halted the gray. A bat, he thought weakly, but he knew it was not. Bats were a common sight of the evening, darting after flies and bitemes in the twilight. The wings that carried this creature might have the same shape, but they moved with the slow, powerful sweep of a bird of prey. And it was hunting. The way it cast back and forth in long arcs left no doubt of that. Worst of all was the size. For a bat to seem so large against the moon it would have had to be almost within arm's reach. He tried to judge in his mind how far away it must be, and how big. The body of it had to be as large as a man, and the wings... It crossed the face of the moon again, wheeling suddenly downward to be engulfed by the night.

This is a Draghkar, another type of minion for the Dark One, and one with an apparently murkier history than even Trollocs and Halfmen.

And that's it. This was another short chapter, all told.

NEXT TIME: The group makes amazing time going north. I'm just saying.

The Eye of the World: Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE: TELLINGS OF THE WHEEL

I'm absolutely confident in telling you that this is without a doubt the best chapter in the book so far. It's good enough for me to start understanding why this series has die-hard fans who stuck around long enough to be disappointed by later books. Those books may in fact suck on toast, but as long as there are more chapters like this later on in Eye of the World, I'll have to give this book a recommendation. Here's a list of reasons why I liked this chapter so much. People still like lists, right?

1: The dream sequence. These are the first few sentences of the chapter:

• Rand's heart pounded as he ran, and he stared in dismay at the barren hills surrounding him. This was not just a place where spring was late in coming; spring had never come here, and never would come. Nothing grew in the cold soil that crunched under his boots.

At first I had no idea how Rand got here. Wasn't the last thing he did in the last chapter sitting in a chair, trying to get to sleep? Then I understood that this was a dream, and decided to see where it was going.

The sequence is well-written, with striking imagery, disorienting pace, and a sense of urgency as Rand is pursued by unknown forces. First he stumble upon a sinister, desolate mountain, which might be the fountain created in the prologue, then he falls and transitions to a highly-populated city, where the people celebrate his arrival as he ascends to a high tower. He opens the door, the Myrddraal speaks, and then he wakes up, catapulting himself into a sitting position as fictional characters are wont to do after a nightmare.

2: We get another scene with Tam. When the last chapter said that he would be recuperating for weeks, I assumed - actually, I believe we were explicitly told - that he wouldn't wake up to talk with Rand before Rand departed for Tar Valon (I keep wanting to type Tal Verrar instead). Fortunately, this is not the case, and Rand manages to bring Tam up to speed. Tam's a little apprehensive about Moiraine, still.

• "You see, lad, Aes Sedai are tricksome. They don't lie, not right out, but the truth an Aes Sedai tells you is not always the truth you think it is. You take care around her."
  
  "I've heard the stories," Rand retorted. "I'm not a child.
  
  "So you're not, so you're not." Tam sighed heavily, then shrugged in annoyance. "I should be going along with you, just the same. The world outside the Two Rivers is nothing like Emond's Field."

3: Information on what Wardens are. Turns out that Wardens are bonded to Aes Sedai, and get a healing factor and loads of stamina from the bond, as well as a less frequent need for food, water, or sleep. It's an interesting concept, and it also make me think that Tam wasn't one after all. I'm not ruling out the possibility, but why would he be so wary of the Aes Sedai if he was bonded to one?

4: The Coplins show up. They've formed a rather pitiful mob to chase the Aes Sedai out of town, blaming her for the Trolloc attack. Turns out that Occam's Razor applies here; my guess that the Coplins and Congars are dickheads seems entirely accurate, based on this one impression of them. Also, Cenn Buie is with them. Big surprise.

Bran gives them a lecture about their behavior, reminding them that Moiraine saved their stupid asses and healed all of those grievous injuries that would have crippled or killed them otherwise. Then Moiraine herself joins in with her own righteous annoyance, which segues into...

5: The lost history of Two Rivers. Turns out the ordinary hometown that Rand hails from isn't so ordinary after all. It used to be the site of a great city, doubtless the same one Rand saw in his dream, but then the Trolloc Wars spread there, and the people of Manetheren found themselves fighting a losing battle. After King Aemon lost his life fighting the Trollocs, his wife Eldrene sacrificed her life and the grand capital city to cast a gigantic spell that single-handedly turned the tide of the Trolloc Wars in favor of the forces of good.

This was sort of an interesting story, and I was hooked on the way Moiraine told it. I wasn't the only one:

• Some villager raised a small cheer then, but Moiraine kept on as if she had not heard.

That actually got a chuckle out of me.

After the story ends, Moiraine and her party are allowed to pass unhindered, and the journey begins.

• Trying to convince himself that he was beginning a grand adventure, Rand followed them through the darkened kitchen and out into the stableyard.

NEXT TIME: The party gathers and ventures forth.

The Eye of the World: Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT: A PLACE OF SAFETY

It occurs to me that my continued moaning about how predictably the story of the Wheel of Time begins might be grinding on your nerves a little. So I suppose I should probably try and ease up a little so as not to sound like a broken record. This chapter doesn't make that an easy task, though, as it follows up the cause of the attack on Emond's Field with the effect of Rand leaving town on a quest. He and his party don't know he's going on a quest, but he probably is.

Good news first, though: Tam's gonna be okay! Moiraine managed to cure him of the supernatural taint the Trolloc's weapons infected him with, which once again evokes Lord of the Rings with the Nazgul stabbing Frodo. The idol Moiraine uses to cure him (the angreal) doesn't remind me of anything, though. I am curious to know where Jordan got that idea.

• "This" - [Moiraine] took a small bundle of white silk from her pouch - "is an angreal." She saw [Rand's] expression. "You know of angreal, then. Good."

I don't. Please tell me, mysterious lady. I haven't heard all of these legends my entire life like Rand has. Guess I'll have to wait for my answer, huh?

Speaking of Tam, Lan comments on the heron emblem on that sword of Tam's. This combined with that bombshell he dropped about finding baby Rand on a battlefield makes me certain that Tam has a backstory, perhaps as a Warder like Lan. Judging by how long these books are, that backstory is coming, sooner or later. Bottom line: Tam will live (yay!), but his recuperation ensures he'll be out of the story for a while (boo!).

• Something on the Green caught his eye. He stared, then realized it was the blackened stump of the Spring Pole. A fine Bel Tine, with a peddler, a gleeman, and strangers.

I actually liked this bit of cruel irony on Jordan's part. It was a nice, subtle touch. Predictable for anyone with a working knowledge of the genre, yes, but still pretty nicely written.

But I'm missing the main point of this chapter: an infodump courtesy of Moiraine. I will give you the highlight reel here:

• "Halfman, Lurk, Fade, Shadowman; the name depends on the land you're in, but all mean Myrdraal. Fades are Trolloc spawn, throwbacks almost to the human stock the Dreadlords used to make Trollocs. Almost. But if the human strain is made stronger, so is the taint that twists the Trollocs. Halfmen have powers of a kind, the sort that stem from the Dark One. Only the weakest Aes Sedai would fail to be a match for a Fade, but many a good man and true has fallen to them. Since the wars that ended the Age of Legends, since the Forsaken were bound, they have been the brain that tells the Trolloc fists where to strike."
• "In the Age of Legends," Moiraine went on, "some Aes Sedai could fan life and health to flame if only the smallest spark remained. Those days are gone, though - perhaps forever. So much was lost; not just the making of angreal. So much that could be done that we dare not even dream of, if we remember it at all."
• "Some houses were only torched to create confusion. The Trollocs ignored them afterwards, and people who fled from them as well, unless they actually got in the way of the true attack. Most of the people who've come in from the outlying farms never saw a hair of a Trolloc, and that only at a distance. Most never knew there was any trouble until they saw the village.
• "The Trollocs did not come to Emond's Field by happenstance, and they did not do what they did for the pleasure of killing and burning, however much that delighted them. They knew what, or rather who, they were after. The Trollocs came to kill or capture young men of a certain age who live near Emond's Field.

And those young men are Rand, Mat, and Perrin! There are a few points that I'm not clear on, like how shadowy men with no eyes in black cloaks can be related to gruesome amalgamations of man and animal, or why the Dark One chose this particular time to have Rand and company killed, or how he knew the time and place in which the Dragon Reborn would be, well, reborn, but I'll roll with it for now.

Rand reacts understandably by acting completely gobsmacked that anyone could want anything with little old him, all while quietly telling himself for what feels like the tenth time that he is his father's son no matter what Tam said before. He is to move to the town of Tar Valon, farther away from home than he's ever been before. As someone who might set up shop in a different state soon, I actually do kind of feel for him here. We close the chapter with him fitfully trying to sleep, still a little bit shell-shocked from the day's events.

(Incidentally, I turned way back to those maps after the prologue to see where Tar Valon is. It's on the first map, whereas the second map is comprised entirely of the Two Rivers area. Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't tell how those two maps connect at all, so I'm hoping for some directions in the chapters to come.)

NEXT TIME: A dream and a legend.

The Eye of the World: Chapter Seven

Once again, I placed this blog entry days before I actually wrote it. I'm going to do multiple entries of Wheel of Time a day in order to make up for slacking off over the weekend. On to our story.

CHAPTER SEVEN: OUT OF THE WOODS

I'm going to separate my experience with this chapter into bullet points in order to represent the trains of thought I had during this chapter. This is honestly what went through my mind when I first read it.

1: Did I call it or what? Just like I expected, the Trollocs hit Emond's Field as well. How many times have fantasy stories been kicked off with a rural protagonist who doesn't leave on a journey until his village is burned to the ground? We've seen it in Conan the Barbarian, we've seen it in Beastmaster, we've seen it in Tales of Symphonia, and that's just to name a few examples. Hell, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy kicked off with the entire planet Earth getting blown up!

I know why writers do this; it's to show that the hero is a humble man (or woman, though I can't think of any female examples at the moment) who wouldn't dream of abandoning his humble country roots until destiny finds him and shows him the way to a grander life. But I have three problems with this reasoning.

-First, it implies that the rural life is simpler and purer and more wholesome than urban, cosmopolitan living, which is not always the case. In the interest of full disclosure, I've never dealt with the hardship endemic to either lifestyle, since I grew up in picket-fence suburbia, but I know that there's ups and downs to both of them.

-Second, it makes the hero start out passive and reactive, responding only when the forces of evil rear their ugly heads. This can work in some stories, but there are also interesting stories that can be told if the protagonist makes the first move. True, that would be putting him in a moral gray area, but if the author plays their cards right that'll make the story a lot more interesting!

-Third, and most importantly, this storytelling device has been done to death. I'm going to cut Jordan some slack here, because this book was published in 1990, and I presume that the trope still retained some degree of freshness. But it's 2011 now, twenty-one years later, and this particular part of the story hasn't aged well.

To all aspiring writers out there, I have this to say: If you must use this particular trope, put a new spin on it that hasn't been done all that much (if at all). The Fellowship of the Ring did this before the cliche became, well, cliche. It was only the threat of Sauron's legions overrunning the Shire that convinced Frodo to take the One Ring on a journey to destroy it, which makes him look braver and more proactive, not to mention adding tension to the start of the story.

And to be fair to Jordan, he does add a variation on the trope by having Emond's Field not be entirely destroyed. In fact, none of the characters we established in earlier chapters appear to have died (except maybe the peddler, I'm not sure about him), which is good. Killing them would have made the effort in establishing them to the reader almost entirely pointless. How is the village still standing, you ask? That leads me to my next point.

2: Moiraine is an Aes Sedai, and Lan is a Warder. There was a scene in an earlier chapter where the village children speculated that he was, and I apologize for not bringing it up then, mostly because I didn't know what a Warden is. I'm still not entirely sure, but I assume they're an elite warrior organization, based on how the Mayor describes Lan's skill with weapons. According to him, it was Moiraine's magic and Lan's martial prowess that saved the day.

Notice how I said that the Mayor tells Rand about this. Rand doesn't see it himself, and since he doesn't see it, the reader doesn't either. If aspiring writers are told anything at all when they start to learn the tricks of the trade, they are told never to tell when they can show. Which would you rather see: a firsthand account of a spectacular battle, or a character recounting a spectacular battle? This goes for action events, character traits, moral messages, basically everything that can possibly occur in a story.

Now, there are ways you can do "telling" and still make it interesting to read. Homestuck's done that plenty of times. But I'm not seeing that here. The only reason Jordan is telling the reader about what Moiraine and Lan did is because Rand wasn't there. And I would actually accept this if Jordan couldn't have easily had Rand stay in Emond's Field to see the Trolloc attack, or had the attack occur before he and Tam left for home. Jordan wouldn't have had to sacrifice the plot point of Tam getting fatally wounded, or babbling about Rand being adopted. Sure, we wouldn't have seen Rand hiding from the black rider in the woods and dragging Tam to the village, but I honestly think it would be a worthwhile trade-off.

Speaking of Tam's wound...

3: Nynaeve sadly can't do shit about healing him, dashing the hope that carried Rand forward for the last chapter and a half:

• "You have to do something. You have to. You're the Wisdom."
  
  Pain twisted her face, but only for an instant, then she was all hollow-eyed resolve again, her voice emotionless and firm. "Yes, I am. I know what I can do with my medicine, and I know when it's too late. Don't you think I would do something if I could? But I can't. I can't, Rand. And there are others who need me. People I can help."

That right there is my favorite part of the chapter, because it gives us more insight into Nynaeve's character. We can tell that she's trying her best to live up to her duty as Wisdom, and it hurts her to experience the limits of her power firsthand. Also, she's not coming across as a bitch here, for once overcoming the temptation to snap at people, which I totally understand. If Tam dies, and that's likely, she'll be supplanting him as my favorite character. I honestly do want to see where Jordan's going with this, more than I want to follow Rand. Why isn't the story about her?

All hope is not lost, however. Rand has heard stories about the powers of the Aes Sedai (the only confirmed one so far being the ability to generate ball lightning), and he decides to take the chance that they can heal his father. He knows this is a risky venture, as the Aes Sedai are apparently always villains in the murky stories that Rand's heard, and there's always a price to pay for their services. Moiraine, however, has not proven herself suspicious or untrustworthy in any way, so I do hope this bargain he strikes with her works out.

4: Something called the Dragon's Fang was inscribed on the innkeeper's door, and the Coplins are immediately blamed. What the fuck did the Coplins do to earn the undying scorn of everyone in Emond's Field? Are they just a family of dickheads? Is it like the Hatfield-McCoy feud, with the entire rest of the town taking the other side? I expect an explanation for this at some point.

I also expect backstory for Nynaeve, now that I think about it. Did she seek the position of the town's Wisdom or was it forced upon her?

That's about it for this chapter and my nitpicks regarding it. At least things are happening, and I can't really complain that, even if I've already seen a lot of those things before.

NEXT TIME: Moiraine explains things!

The Eye of the World: Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX: THE WESTWOOD

Sort of a short update today, but the this is a rather short chapter. It lasts a paltry eight pages, which at first lead me to believe that perhaps it would be better combined with the previous or following chapter. But since the last chapter was about Rand and Tam escaping their house and the one after this will probably be about them arriving in the village, I suppose I'll let it slide.

And for what it's worth, Jordan manages to make this pretty concise and suspenseful. Tam's wound is infected and making him delirious, taking him back mentally to when his wife Kari was alive. Rand is making those wagon shafts into a stretcher for him, and they barely manage to avoid a patrol of Trollocs lead by the black rider. I can't decide, however, if the imagery of Rand attempting to carry his father in a stretcher, having to drag one end on the ground since there aren't any other people to help him, is sad and pitiable or hilarious and over-the-top. Since I like Tam, I'll be generous and go with the former.

Then Tam's fevered ramblings give us this bombshell:

• "I couldn't just leave a child. ...no children of our own. ...always knew you wanted children. I knew you'd take it to your heart, Kari. Yes, lass. Rand is a good name. A good name."

How dramatically convenient that Tam would remember this at this exact moment. Naturally, Rand denies that he's a foundling and redoubles his efforts to go back to Emond's Field, closing the chapter out.

I suppose I'm already starting to get bored. Of course Rand has a special destiny and special parentage. It makes perfect sense. I mean, it's not like I'm gonna predict this book word for word or anything, but the ending of the chapter gave me deja vu.

NEXT TIME: You will not be surprised!

The Eye of the World: Chapter Five

Gold star, Jordan. Gold star. You took me by surprise and gave me exactly what I thought was lacking in Eye of the World up to this point. But before I can elaborate on what exactly happened in this chapter to be so generous to Jordan, I have to explain a few things about how this blog is currently being run.

I am currently operating this out of Google Blogger, because it's free, it's easy for me to use, and it saves your posts in progress every few minutes. That last part is a godsend when you accidentally hit the back button on your keyboard because it's right next to the arrow keys, and you haven't the good sense to pre-write everything in Word to avoid losing your work. I'm just saying this in case I decide to switch hosts and post it on some other site. I'm currently new to the world of blogging, and I have no real knowledge of what advantages some hosting sites have over others.

More importantly, there's the matter of my update schedule. I've tried to update every day, but unfortunately my erratic sleep schedule and current lack of real responsibility in my life has made that difficult, and I had to cheat to technically make this entry continue my streak, editing in almost all of this post hours after I originally submitted it. One of the reasons I started this blog is because I needed something constructive to do with my time, as I have yet to be gainfully employed and I have no more school to take.

Also, since I am inexperienced at blogging, I'm still trying to find my voice and more importantly, an audience. Social networking is a new and uncomfortable experience for me, so I'll probably have to devote more time to getting the word out about this place as well as making a buffer of chapter review posts so that I don't miss a deadline again.

But who cares about all that, really? On to the chapter!

CHAPTER FIVE: WINTERNIGHT

• The sun stood halfway down from its noonday high by the time the cart reached the farmhouse.

Oh, right, my bad. In the last chapter I said that Rand and Tam were out riding to go on patrol, when they were actually just going home for the night. Goody. I was hoping to get more info on the minutiae of our protagonist's daily life.

• "I don't think the black-cloaked man came here," Rand called to his father...
  "I suppose he didn't, [Tam] told Rand, wiping his hand on his coat front. "All this about men and horses I can't see or hear just makes me look crossways at everything."

Have I told you yet that Tam is my favorite character in the book thus far? Because he is. He's just about the only thing that makes me want to read more about the evening chores he and Rand do around the farm, or cooking dinner. Even when Tam gets out what is apparently a rare and well-made sword, like what Rand saw Lan keep at his side, doesn't really excite me all that much.

• As [Rand] straightened from the fire, a heavy thump at the door rattled the lock. All thoughts of the sword, or the hot kettle in his hand, flew away.

What was that?

• Both of [Tam's] hands rested on his sword hilt. "I don't think-" he began, and the door burst open, pieces of the iron lock spinning across the floor.
  A figure filled the doorway, bigger than any man Rand had ever seen, a figure in black mail that hung to his knees, with spikes at wrists and elbows and shoulders. One hand clutched a heavy, scythe-like sword; the other hand was flung up before his eyes as if to shield them from the light.

Holy crap!

• Rand felt the beginnings of an odd sort of relief. Whoever this was, it was not the black-cloaked rider.

Yeah, it's just a gigantic musclebeast who broke down your door. True, Rand does react very quickly when he sees that the intruder has ram's horns and a wolf muzzle, but it makes me wonder how he'd react if this was a normal human being who broke his lock. How hospitable can you get?

• "Run, lad! Hide in the woods!" The bodies in the doorway jerked as others outside tried to pull them clear. Tam thrust a shoulder under the massive table; with a grunt he heaved it over atop the tangle. "There are too many to hold! Out the back! Go! Go! I'll follow!"

I wish my dad was as awesome as Tam.

The entire rest of this chapter manages to be pretty damn suspenseful, as I didn't know if Tam would die in the attack and really didn't want him to. Tam's got the Sword of Damocles over his head because he's the closest thing to a wise old mentor in this story, and I've lost count on all the wise old mentors who've gotten the axe in order to give their student motivation to fight.

• Idiot! For a moment he lay there, trying to stop panting. Coplin fool idiot!

One thing I forgot to mention in previous chapters is that there's a family called the Coplins and another whose name I forget, and they have a reputation for being dim and or the butt of jokes. And apparently this reputation is so well-known that their family name is a euphemism for stupidity. I wonder if the actual Coplin family turns out to be misunderstood.

Tam and Rand both manage to get out of the building, at which point Tam explains just what attacked them:

• "If anything belongs in the Shepherd of the Night's flocks, it is Trollocs. They kill for the pleasure of killing, so I've been told. But that's the end of my knowledge, except that they cannot be trusted unless they're afraid of you, and then not far."

So they fulfill the same role as Tolkein's orcs and look like the Remade from Perdido Street Station. Got it.

Tam didn't get out unscathed, though. He got hurt in the scuffle, and though he insists it's not that big a deal, Rand decides he needs Nynaeve's healing hands and goes back to get supplies for the journey back into town. I'm just going to cover key points for the rest of the chapter:

-Rand sees one Trolloc has stayed behind, and it tries to convince him to disarm so that a Fade named Myrddraal can talk to him. Rand obviously refuses and kills it in self-defense.

-Fades are supposed to be huge fuck-off monsters that can vanish by turning sideways. The mental image reminded me of Paper Mario, which gave me a bit of a chuckle.

-The cart is destroyed and Bela, the family horse, is nowhere to be seen. Looks like the guys are walking back to the village.

-Rand uses his dad's sword to cut the wheel shafts (the axels on which the cart's wheel's spin), and marvels at how little the process damaged the sword. Clearly this is no ordinary weapon.

-He takes the shafts back to Tam, and then the chapter ends. I have no idea how he's going to use them, though.

So yeah. This chapter managed to be suspenseful and interesting. I had my doubts that the series would add conflict this early in it, because the sheer length of it and what I've heard about the pacing problems of later entries may have clouded my opinion. So far so good.

NEXT TIME: Not that much, really.

The Eye of the World: Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR: THE GLEEMAN

The man who tumbled out of the inn is the titular gleeman, of course. His introduction consists of complaints about the shabby treatment he got upon his arrival in Edmond's Field. He got bad directions on the way there, he was greeted with suspicion, and naturally Cenn and Nynaeve gave him a hard time to boot. When Rand tries to explain that it's because there's news of war, the gleeman practically rolls his eyes.

• "Old news, even in Baerlon," the gleeman said dismissively, "and that is the last place in the world to hear anything." He paused, looking around the village, and dryly added, "Almost the last place."

I kind of regret making fun of small country towns earlier, especially if that made me sound like this.

The gleeman's name is Thom Merrilin, and he begins plying his trade in earnest, showing off by somersaulting, then juggling six colored balls while talking about the multitudes of stories he has to tell:

• "Tales of great wars and great heroes, for the men and the boys. For the women and girls, the entire Aptarigine Cycle. Tales of Artur Paendrag Tanreall, Artur Hawkwing, Artur the High King, who once ruled all the lands from the Aiel Waste to the Aryth Ocean, and even beyond."

That last one sounds familiar, but I can't put my finger on why...

• "But I have all stories, mind you now, of Ages that were and will be. Ages when men ruled the heaves and the stars, and Ages when man roamed as brother to the animals. Ages of wonder, and Ages of horror. Ages ended by fire raining from the skies, and Ages doomed by snow and ice covering land and sea. I have all stories, and will tell all stories."

Quite a feat he's boasting of, isn't it? But Thom does put on a good show that would certainly keep my attention if I were a part of that crowd. And then, like a car driver slamming on the brakes, he stops his speech when he notices Moiraine watching him (though he doesn't actually drop the jugging balls, to my disappointment). He clearly isn't pleased to see her, though he pretends to be friendly and not recognize her from wherever they've met before. Only Rand seems to notice anything before Thom vamooses.

He leaves, and the Village Council comes in his place, bickering amongst themselves. Cenn, Nynaeve, and Bran (who is apparently the Mayor in addition to being the innkeeper) bicker at each other, driving my respect for Cenn even lower and giving me the sinking feeling that Nynaeve is going to end up a shallow antagonist after all.

• "If you please, Wisdom," Bran said stiffly, "kindly leave who should worry me to my deciding. Mistress Moiraine and Master Lan are guests in my inn, and decent, respectable folk, so I say. Neither of them has called me a fool in front of the whole Council. Neither of them has told the Council it hasn't a full set of wits among them."
  "It seems my estimate was too high by half," Nynaeve retorted.

Nynaeve, I'm pretty sure there are other ways to persuade people without making enemies out of everyone in the village. But what do I know about being a Wisdom?

The argument prompts Rand and friends to visit his father and talk about what to do. Tam doubts that any warmongers will come calling, but he's pushed for a border patrol of Two Rivers anyway. Later, when Rand's riding with him to go on patrol, Tam talks to him about how people work, and how to lead them:

• "People don't always think or behave the way you might believe they would. Those folk back there... let the hail beat their crops into the mud, and the wind take off every roof in the district, and the wolves kill half their livestock, and they'll roll up their sleeves and start from scratch. They'll grumble, but they won't waste any time on it. But you give them just the thought of Aes Sedai and a false Dragon in Ghealdan, and soon enough they'll start thinking that Ghealdan is not that far the other side of the Forest of Shadows, and a straight line from the Valon to Ghealdan wouldn't pass that much to the east of us. As if the Aes Sedai wouldn't take the road through Caemlyn and Lugard instead of traveling cross-country! By tomorrow morning half the village would have been sure the entire war was about to descend on us. It would take weeks to undo. A fine Bel Tine that would make. So Bran gave them the idea before they could get it for themselves.

Then he starts asking Rand about the black rider again, actually making plans about how to deal with it instead of just dismissing what Rand saw out of hand. He thinks it's an ordinary stranger who might be a thief instead of the supernatural omen it probably is, but it's a great start. Oh, and apparently only other guys Rand's age have seen it, including some we've never seen, which kind of disproves my theory that it's marking out the main protagonist party.

This exchange makes Tam my favorite character so far. He's got a good head on his shoulders and he's imparting to Rand what is actually a fairly decent leadership lesson.

• [Rand] was surprised to realize that his steps felt lighter. The knots were gone from his shoulders. He was still scared, but it was not as bad as it had been. Tam and he were just as alone on the Quarry Road as they had been that morning, but in some way he felt as if the entire village were with them. That others knew and believed made all the difference. There was nothing the black-cloaked horseman could do that the people of Emond's Field could not handle together.

I can't wait for the book to prove that last sentence wrong.

NEXT TIME: Home on the range!

The Eye of the World: Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE: THE PEDDLER

Things pick up again in this chapter when the peddler Padan Fain makes his annual arrival in Edmond's Field to sell his wares and share news of the world outside the region of Two Fields, and the news isn't good.

• "What could be worse than wolves killing sheep, and men?" Cenn Buie demanded. Others muttered in support.
  "Men killing men."

Yes, war's breaking out elsewhere in the world, and all because a man is claiming to be the Dragon Reborn. The original Dragon, as we saw in the prologue, screwed up the world in his quest to be rid of the forces of darkness, and now everyone hates him. The people believe that his reincarnation is going to ruin things even more, or at least most of them do:

• "I heard a story once," Mat said slowly, "from a wool-buyer's guard. He said the Dragon would be reborn in mankind's greatest hour of need, and save us all."
  "Well he was a fool if he believed that," Perrin said firmly, "and you were a fool to listen."

Now, this actually kind of interests me. The characters listening to Fain, Cenn Buie especially, may not have much reason do doubt the veracity of this distant warmonger's claims, but we do. We all know that Rand is going to end up being the Dragon Reborn. There's no use pretending otherwise. It's the classic "chosen to save the world" position that you see all the time in stories like this. But here it seems that the legends are muddled and confused, and few believe that he's going to be a good guy. Hopefully the story has him hide his status in order to avoid being persecuted by the people he's trying to save. That would be legitimately interesting. I'm not going to say that misunderstood heroes are new to me, but I can't recall seeing them in the world of fantasy (unless you count Harry Potter), and I'm curious to see how this turns out in the end.

The Aes Sedai, an order of female spellcasters, also get their first mention here. They share the blame for wrecking the world along with the original Dragon, and now they are ironically the only thing that can stop the new Dragon impostor, because he can wield the One Power.

• "He'll go mad and die! In the stories, men who channeled the Power always go mad, and then waste away and die. Only women can touch it. Doesn't he know that?" [Ewin] ducked under a cuff from Master Buie.

I wonder if there's any sort of magic the men can wield safely? I kind of doubt it, but there was a male force mentioned in the prologue, so maybe I'm wrong.

Anyway, there's more new people to meet! Rand's other friend, Perrin Aybara, the blacksmith's apprentice. He seems level-headed, with a bit of a sarcastic side, a decent counterpart to Mat, who's excited about stories of far off wars while Perrin just hopes they stay far-off. Mat lets slip that Perrin also got a silver penny from Moiraine and saw the rider.

Looks like we might have a three-man protagonist team. This and the presence of a Dark One who people are reluctant to name make me start thinking of Harry Potter. Maybe J.K. Rowling read this series before starting hers?

All this talk of the Dragon Reborn and the Aes Sedai vexes Nynaeve, who shows up for the first time, proving herself to be all business and no pleasure:

• "If you are done staring like a moonstruck lamb, Rand al'Thor," Nynaeve said, "perhaps you can tell me why you were talking about something even you three great bullcalves ought to have sense enough to keep out of your mouths."

She's got a stick up her ass, that much is certain, but I can see why she would. It's been established by now that several of the village think she's too young for the job of Wisdom, and she probably feels she has to overcompensate and prove that she can handle herself just fine. I do so hope that this is the case and she isn't just a bitch.

She's accompanied by Egwene, who isn't at all the pest I imagined her to be when I first heard that Rand wanted to avoid her. Turns out he just doesn't want her to pressure him into going out with her. But that might not happen after all, as Egwene is taking Wisdom lessons from Nynaeve and might actually disregard any potential suitors for her career.

• His amusement melted as fast as it had come. "Outside the Two Rivers? I'd never see you again."
  "And you wouldn't like that? You have not given any sign lately that you'd care one way or another."

I wouldn't bet on it, though. I'm guessing that she and Rand are Meant To Be. Unlike the three guys, she hasn't seen the rider and doesn't believe it's an ill omen, so who knows what she'll be doing in the near future.

• Egwene drew a sharp breath and opened her mouth, but whatever she had been going to say vanished as the door of the inn opened and a man with shaggy white hair came hurrying out as if pursued.

And then the chapter ends. I'm fine with these little end-of-chapter cliffhangers for now, but I hope there aren't very many more of them. They do get old after a while, especially if they're used on trivial things like the arrival of new characters. TV shows tend to abuse cliffhangers at the end of episodes all the time, and it gets annoying fast.

Also, I probably don't read fantasy as often as I should, so I'm not sure if it's normal for a book of this length, especially the first in a long series like this, to take this long in establishing things for the plot without any sort of perilous situation actually happening to the characters. It's not like I'll stop reading if trends continue, but it still worries me.

NEXT TIME: Showboating and words of wisdom!

The Eye of the World: Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO: STRANGERS

The chapter begins with a gathering of members of the Village Council. Tam and Cenn are among them, as are the blacksmith and miller. Rand and Mat (and by extension the readers) don't hear what they talk about, though Mat thinks a prank he played might have something to do with it:

• "You see, I covered two of [the blacksmith's] dogs in flour, so they were all white. Then I let them loose near Dag's house. How was I to know they'd run straight home? It really isn't my fault. If Mistress Luhhan hadn't left the door open they couldn't have gotten inside. It isn't like I intended to get flour all over her house." He gave a bark of laughter. "I hear she chased old Luhhan and the dogs, all three, out of the house with a broom."

Obviously I've never had anyone do this to me, so maybe I'm not in a position to say I kinda like Mat's style. I mean, let's face it, this is probably the height of entertainment in a peasant village like Elmond's field.

Then we get to the real meat of the chapter:

• Feet clattered on the stairs, and Ewin Finngar half fell into the cider in his haste, his pudgy face shining with eagerness to impart his news.

Ewin kind of reminds me of those little kids who try to tag along with the bigger kids and do cooler, more grown-up things with them, much to their annoyance. I didn't actually realize he was a kid at first. I thought he was around Rand and Mat's age until I noticed that he was acting really doe-eyed and childish throughout the chapter. Then I went over it again and noticed that Mat described Ewin and his friends as "snot-nosed" and that there were "only fourteen" years separating him from Rand and Mat. That's what I get for not reading more deliberately.

He tells Rand and Mat about two exotic strangers from faraway lands, a lady dressed in blue clothes fancier than anything the locals would ever wear, and her companion, a man with a cloak that blends into the environment, I suppose.

• "They're the ones I meant to tell you about," Mat muttered, "before you got me off onto-" He cut off, opening his eyes for a sharp glance at Ewin.

Mat was about to tell Rand about them? Oh yeah, that was in the previous chapter. That's another thing I missed. Anyway, Mat saw them too, and he's rather taken by the lady Moiraine's appearance:

• "And her, Rand. I never even imagined anyone like her. She's out of a gleeman's story. She's like... like..." He paused to give Ewin a sour look. "...like a high-born lady," he finished with a sigh.

Once again I can't claim to understand the life of people who live in small country towns, but is this really the most beautiful woman Mat has ever seen? Has he never left the village? Are all the local women just really frumpish?

Then we learn that Nynaeve has a bit of a temper when Ewin relates a misunderstanding between her and Moiraine. We still haven't seen Nynaeve yet, but I bet we will soon.

As the three of them walk through town, Rand and Mat catch a raven looking at them, and it doesn't go away even after they throw rocks at it. Now, I'm not against the presence of ominous foreshadowing in fantasy, because even good fantasy stories like Locke Lamora or Name of the Wind tend to use them. The key is that they use them sparingly, and in a way that comes into play later in the plot, so that they don't just come off as unrelated portents. I do hope that ravens come back later, otherwise this one here is kind of incongruous here.

Right now it serves to attract the attention of Moiraine and Lan. The description of Moiraine's appearance is too long for me to transcribe here. Suffice to say she's pretty. I imagined her looking like an elf, except I don't think elves exist in this world.

Rand does get a bit flustered at being in her presence, but thankfully he composes himself and asks the question that was on my mind: what brings them to Edmond's Field? She tells him a cover story about being a historical scholar and looking for old stories, once again bringing up the whole history repeating thing.

She pays each of the boys a silver penny to do various odd jobs for her during her stay, which Mat and Ewin immediately fetishize like lovestruck saps. After she leaves, Mat and Ewin argue a bit over whether or not the "gleeman" (a minstrel of some sort) is coming, when suddenly a peddler comes to town and the chapter ends.

I like Rand a little more this time, and I think he and Mat have the potential to be a good team together. Since Mat has noticed all the ominous things that Rand has, I think they'll get that chance when the time comes.

NEXT TIME: News from afar, and it's all bad!

The Eye of the World: Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE: AN EMPTY ROAD

Before I get into this chapter, I think I should probably make my position clear on what sort of fantasy I'm used to reading. My favorite fantasy book is The Lies of Locke Lamora, because it's just fun. The premise of a gang of vulgar urban con artists pulling the wool over the eyes of complacent nobles Ocean's Eleven style is pulled off with aplomb, causing a riveting, endearing, action-packed story that made me want to read through the whole book in one go. Last year I tried to make a blog like this about that book, having picked it up on a lark for that project, but I decided that I didn't want to stop reading every chapter to write a blog post when I could just keep reading.

Doesn't seem reassuring that I don't seem to have that problem with Eye of the World, does it?

The point I'm trying to make is that Locke Lamora isn't what most people refer to as "high fantasy," the classic fantasy sub-genre about epic quests of save the world from an objectively evil cosmic power that's as old as time itself. Just imagine the basic plot line of Lord of the Rings (I wonder how many times I'm going to reference that series?), along with archaic dialogue, portentous, sweeping storylines (often with omens and prophecies) and the general lack of self-awareness or irony and you'll get the idea. And honestly, it kind of pisses me off when people assume that this is the only sort of story that the fantasy genre is capable of. Maybe these other people just have a view of the fantasy genre that's only narrow enough to contain this one story, but in my opinion, as long as there's magic involved, it counts as fantasy.

So far the Wheel of Time looks like it has its heels planted squarely in high fantasy territory, and I have to admit that I might not be the best person to read this sort of story. But I'm not the worst person either; I haven't come across anything annoying or offensive yet, and I'm willing to accept this series with an open mind. So without further ado, let's meet Rand al'Thor!

(Oh yes, and there is a map between the prologue and the first chapter that shows two mountain ranges meeting at a ninety-degree angle. I know Limyaael beat me to it, but that can't actually happen. Also, the left side of the map is dominated by an ocean, which for some reason seems to show up all the time in fantasy maps. I guess some writers aren't much for geography.)

• The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.

Yet again I see a weird similarity between this and the Lord of the Rings movies. Did the screenwriter get the idea for the "legends becoming myth" phrase from Robert Jordan? Or is this just a coincidence based on recurring themes within high fantasy? The idea of history literally repeating itself kind of intrigues me, though. I'll have to see where Jordan's going with it.

We first see Rand taking a cart to the town of Elmond's Field with his father Tam. On the way there, he looks behind him and sees a black rider on a black horse staring daggers at him. When Rand points it out, Tam doesn't see the rider, and they continue on their way.

The atmosphere in this chapter is low-key, with just a hint of trouble on the horizon. Elmond's Field is preparing for the festival of Bel Tine (not to be confused with Bilbo Baggins' birthday), and several other characters are established in rapid succession.

First there's Nynaeve al'Meara, the town's Wisdom (which I assume to be a seer of some sort). She's regarded as too young for the position by a few of the town's men, but since "the Wisdom is women's business," they're restricted to grumbling about it in private. The idea of gender-specific magic was hinted at in the prologue, and I see a few ways where this concept can end up turning out offensive or at least annoying. We'll see.

• The Wagon Bridge marked where the North Road, coming down from Taren Ferry and Watch Hill, became the Old Road, leading to Deven Ride. Outsiders sometimes found it funny that the road had one name to the north and another to the south, but that was the way it had always been, as far as anyone in Elmond's Field knew, and that was that.

Huh. There's a couple roads like that around where I live. Oh right, the characters.

We also meet jolly innkeeper Bran al'Vere and pessimistic old curmudgeon Cenn Buie (a name I'm not sure how to pronounce), and also hear about the mayor's daughter Egwene, who has a crush on Rand that he doesn't reciprocate. I don't know why Rand wants to avoid her so much, but it kind of gives me a bad feeling for when we'll finally meet her. Most importantly, there's Rand's friend Mat Cauthon, a childish prankster who plans to let loose a badger on the village girls. Then Rand finds out that he saw the black rider, too.

• "All he did was sit on his horse looking at me, just outside the village, but I've never been so frightened in my life. Well, I looked away, just for a moment - it wasn't easy, mind you - then when I looked back he'd vanished. Blood and ashes! Three days, it's been, and I can hardly stop thinking about him. I keep looking over my shoulder."

They speculate about which mythical dark figure it could be and muse on how to prove that the rider was real before agreeing to drop the subject. We close out the chapter with this little tidbit:

• "You young fellows think for a minute. Everyone's excited bout the fireworks, true, and that's only at a rumor. Think how they'll be if the peddler doesn't get here in time, after all their anticipating. And with the weather the way it is, who knows when he will come. They'd be fifty times as excited about a gleeman."
• "And feel fifty times as bad if he hadn't come," Rand said slowly. "Even Bel Tine might not do much for people's spirits after that."

I just know that this is some sort of foreshadowing. I'm going to assume that this situation will come into play later, except replace "fireworks" with "Dragon Reborn" (which I assume is the messiah figure of this fantasy world).

Most of the other chapter is just villagers talking shop, and this may seem like a nitpick, but I think I prefer urban settings, which high fantasy doesn't. The whole festival thing going on reminds me of the opening of Neverwinter Nights 2, where the festival games were a pretext for a tutorial on the mechanics of the game. And just like that game, I fully expect the bad guys to come along and burn the village to the ground. It's just something that happens in this sort of story.

As for Rand himself, well, nothing about him really stands out. He just seems like your typical reluctant hero, with not much to distinguish him from the crowd. Mat seems like a more interesting character (I would love to see an angry badger chasing girls around too), but there's potential for him to be an annoying comic relief later in the story, just as there's potential for Rand to grow more interesting.

NEXT TIME: More character introductions!

The Eye of the World: Prologue

PROLOGUE: DRAGONMOUNT

• "You cannot escape so easily, Dragon. It is not done between us. It will not be done until the end of time."

As it turns out, this is the only part of the prologue that I really remember from the time I read it as a kid. I knew that there was a confrontation between a good guy and a bad guy long before the time frame of the main narrative. Turns out it wasn't exactly a confrontation so much as the villain rubbing it in the hero's face. But I'll get back to that.

My first thought on the prologue was in noting the similarity to the opening of the Lord of the Rings films. (I haven't read the books in a long time, or finished the whole series ever, but I don't remember them opening like this as well.) In both stories, we have a high fantasy-style conflict between good and evil that explains the mythological background of the story and will no doubt tie in thematically with the events in the main narrative. Additionally, both events are a stalemate of sorts, with the forces of good preventing evil from winning outright, but faltering when the chips were down, making it a bittersweet victory at best.

Isildur may have killed Sauron's physical form, but he was manipulated into not destroying the One Ring and finishing Sauron for good. Likewise, Wheel of Time's ancient champion of good, the Dragon Lews Therin, failed to finish off the Dark Lord (actually the Great Lord of the Dark, but that's too archaic and wordy for my tastes) and was punished for trying by being manipulated by dark magic into killing his wife and children.

The main difference, of course, lies in how the story is told. In Lord of the Rings, the events with Isildur are narrated simply and unambiguously, whereas it's unclear at first what happened to Lews Therin. The prologue begins in the ruins of his house, after the fact. The reader doesn't know what happened until the evil Elan Morin (who dresses in black, natch) appears and forces him to remember what happened, as Lews Therin had repressed those memories. When he realizes what he's done, Lews Therin commits suicide in what might be one of the most melodramatic ways I've ever seen in fiction: he channels far more magic than he can safely handle and uses it to create a gigantic mountain.

• The air turned to fire, the fire to light liquefied. The bolt that struck from the heavens would have seared and blinded any eye that glimpsed it, even for an instant. From the heavens it came, blazed through Lew Therin Telamon, bored into the bowels of the earth. Stone turned to vapor at its touch. The earth thrashed and quivered, like a living thing in agony.

And so on. The prologue is a bit unclear as to whether or not Lews Therin actually dies, and what, if anything, making a mountain accomplished.

My second thought on the prologue was that it seemed like the grand climax and tragic ending to another story that the reader doesn't get to see. In addition to emphasizing just how godlike and cataclysmic the mountain-making process is, Robert Jordan's prose does a serviceable job of conveying the maddened desperation Lews Therin feels in looking for his wife, not yet knowing what he did to her:

• He gazed at his own image with as much wonder. A tall man just into this middle years, handsome one, but now with hair already more white than brown and a face lined by strain and worry, dark eyes that had seen too much. Lews Therin began to chuckle, then threw back his head; his laughter echoed down lifeless halls. "Ilyena, my love! Come to me, my wife. You must see this."

The only thing missing is an emotional connection with the characters and the readers. Even the best prose can't hide the fact that we barely know who this man is, and we don't know who his dead family members are at all. As such, the drama doesn't quite feel earned here. I admit I'm a little curious about seeing the story with this ending, but I doubt I'll get to it anytime soon. We do have another protagonist to follow, after all.

NEXT TIME: Setup, setup, and additional setup.

Introduction

One of my favorite things to do on the internet is to observe the endless discussion of popular works of fiction, an activity that has consumed the lives of millions of people across the world. People invest such energy and passion into defending or deriding one story or another that it was only a matter of time before commentary on entertainment became a form of entertainment itself. Whether it's a comedic affair dedicated to getting laughs at the expense of godawful entertainment, a more serious examination of complex, overlooked, or misunderstood works, or just a man sharing his exploration of a series for the first time, a website or blog subsisting on other entertainment media can attract its own fanbase, effectively coming full circle.

But just as books have fallen intro relative obscurity thanks to the popularity of movies, television, and video games, there doesn't seem to be as much exposure for people who write about books. So when I decided that I too would add my drop to the bucket, I decided to throw myself directly into the Wheel of Time.

My main inspiration for this project is Mark Oshiro, who started a similar blog out of curiosity and a desire to avoid making knee-jerk, uninformed opinions on the Twilight books. He didn't want to natter on like a broken record about the ridiculousness of sparkling vampires or judge the series based on the behavior of its fans. He looked for real reasons to hate the series, and by God he found them. After that blistering barrage of bullshit nearly killed his soul, he cleansed his palate by reading Harry Potter, which turned his disposition around from critical and infuriated to awestruck and enraptured so suddenly that readers got whiplash. Most importantly, he kept his writing interesting and varied, and channeled enough energy into it to make people care.

But the Wheel of Time is a different bird than Twilight or Harry Potter. There hasn't been a single movie based around the series (yet). You'd be hard-pressed to find a single cosplayer dressed as a character from the books. There's only one licensed, non-canon computer game with the series name on it, as well as an aborted attempt at a tabletop RPG. And while "Snape kills Dumbledore" has become a memetic, ubiquitous spoiler, you'd be hard pressed to find people who know any Wheel of Time characters' names, much less who kills who. No, the Wheel of Time belongs solely to hardcore bibliophiles, and fantasy bibliophiles at that.

So why do I choose it to read? Part of the reason is boredom, and the need to occupy myself with something besides looking for a job. But mostly it's because my father has the complete series at home, a collection that has only grown with time. Ever since I was a boy I've shared his home with a fantasy story that's nearly as old as I am, and yet despite being an avid reader I've never really opened these books and discovered what my dad saw in them. All I read was the prologue to The Eye of the World, years ago, before deciding to drop it and do something else.

I don't know if this series will be as bad as Twilight, as good as Harry Potter, or somewhere in between. I don't know if I'll be able to finish writing about the whole thing, a feat which I think will take at least two years to accomplish. I only know that the hero, Rand Al-Thor (sp?) struggles with dark magic, there's an order of bitchy women called the Aes Sedai and an evil dark lord somewhere in the story, and that this series has apparently suffered from pacing problems and purple prose.

My name is Bradley Armstrong, and I'm a recent college graduate. I'm going to read and write about one chapter each day, just like Mark did, until I finish the Wheel of Time or the Wheel of Time finishes me. Hopefully, the currently unreleased final book in the series will be out before it comes time for me to read it.

To those of you who comment, please refrain from posting spoilers. I want to be surprised and I think I've ruined too many other stories by getting spoiled ahead of time. And yes, I realize the irony and hypocrisy in making that request when my analysis will completely spoil the entire series for anyone who reads it first. Those are the breaks, my friend.

The Eye of the World starts tomorrow. Wish me luck.

NEXT TIME: Backstory, and the end of someone else's tale.