The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Book one in the Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World, is a reread for me. I read this book about a year ago, but just finished the audio book. There are at present 12 books in the series, with the final 2 coming in Oct 2010 and Oct 2011. I figured that if I continued with the audio books I might just be caught up by the time the final book is released. This first book is one of the smaller ones, 25 cd's long, approx 31 hours in total. One of the books I think has to hit 40 hours. Hopefully the walking that I do while reading will help me drop a few lbs.

In one short decade, Robert Jordan''s Wheel of Time has become the bestselling American fantasy series of all time-comparable in depth and scope to J.R.R. Tolkien''s legendary trilogy, The Lord of The Rings. In the THE EYE OF THE WORLD three young friends; Rand, Matt and Perrin are attacked by subhuman monsters,bestial Trollocs. With the help of Lady Moiraine, an Aes Sedai, a woman who can wield the One Power and her Warder, Lan--the young boys flee their homeland. But they are pursued relentlessly by the forces of the evil Dark One--and begin an adventure across an imaginative, fantastical world of strange wonders and deadly horror--where goodness stands on the brink of destruction--for the Wheel of Time is weaving a web in the pattern of ages, a web to entangle the world.

The only reason that I started this series was at the insistence of 2 of my sons. Apparently this is the best series they have ever read. I did hesitate to start because it was a fantasy, along the lines of Lord of the Rings (and I alway fall asleep trying watch that one). And fantasy is just not a genre I have read before so I wasn't interested in it. But I did finally give in, I did want to quit reading just a few chapters in, it was rather boring and nothing exicting had happened it. They begged me just to read till the end of chapter 5, which I dutifully did. Well that chapter 5 just did it for me and I was hooked. Alot happened in that chapter to set everything in motion and the action never stopped.

I love the chacters Rand, Mat and Perrin. Maybe because I have sons I can relate to how crazy they are. It is magical, mythical, action packed with a tad bit of romance (I am sure that will develop more as the series progresses).

Why am I doing a reread just a year after reading this book? Actually I have read the first 4 books, but feel that missing things, it is one of those stories that is quite intense at times. Obviously this series is like others, things mentioned in book 1 might not be fulfilled or mentioned again in another book, so listening to the boys talk about things I felt I missed somethings. Plus with the ipod I can walk, drive and clean the house while reading at the same time. Gotta say my kitchen was really spotless listening to this book.

Now onto The Great Hunt, books 2.