The start of this book was too much like the "Lord of the Rings"; I couln't even get through the first part; I found my self day dreaming about other things, the story could not keep my attention.

I would recommend "Eye of the World" to all friends of fantasy who are looking for a fun and entertaining trek through a swords and sorcery world.

I would happily recommend "Eye of the World" as entertainment for fans of the fantasy genre. This is good fantasy entertainment, but I would hesitate to recommend this book to anyone with only a passing interest in fantasy. Nothing here transcends the genre and would convince readers who might normally shy away from books on sword and sorcery. A very fun book and I'm on to "The Great Hunt" already.

Kate Reading and Michael Kramer do a great job of performing Robert Jordan's work. I enjoyed both performances and appreciate the change between male and female perspectives, which represents the important plot distinction between saidin (male) and saidar (female), the twin sources of the One Power.

The trouble with listening to any fantasy work is that when dozens of characters and places with otherworldly names are introduced, it can be difficult to keep track of them without the placeholder of a written name. In the first four hours I often mistook the name "Lan" for "Rand", in Michael Kramer's pronunciation and it took me momentarily out of the story each time.

There are also more significant differences where Robert Jordan is having fun with his audience and his invented language variations: "Rand al'Thor" is taken for a lord in book one in some part because of the "al" in his name. Like Al'Lan Mandragoran, we are told the "al" implies Rand's place in the nobility. Without ever seeing the invented names, the listener doesn't know if this is accidental or intentional.

This is a minor quibble and one that is no fault of Reading or Kramer, but having never read these books before coming to the audio I was surprised.

Certainly it needs a follow up, though I'm hard pressed to imagine how it needs thirteen of them!

The narrators for a start

No

Never.

Maybe

If you have an extra credit, maybe if you're into it, listen to the preview first. Not worth the price if you're out of credits

No. But only because when I read I have my own versions of what the characters sound like.The audio version isn't bad, it's just different than what I had in my head.

The depth and detail.

Mostly.I found that the characters of the boys started to sound alike after a long period of listening.

No. I started having trouble distinguishing between the characters, they all started to sound alike.I need a break now and again to keep my ears fresh.

I just could not stay interested in the story

No, I love this type of book. I just could not stay interested in the story.

none

none

I did not get in to this book it was hard going.

N/A

not been so flat

no

I am a fan of fantasy, but considered taking a break from the genre after this. For the most part, the story was unoriginal. It actually felt like the plot was lifted from The Lord of the Rings in many places.

The book went on, and on, and on with the same scenario repeating again and again. They run, they are safe for two minutes, they run again, repeat.

I may be willing to listen to the next in the series as many say it gets better. If that is the case I will attempt to update this review.

However, for now, I found it unoriginal and unsurprising.

The narrator was good.

I have really enjoyed listening to this book. I have read many of the books in this series and just noticed Jordan had written another one I haven't read yet. Instead of re-reading the very long series I thought listening to the books would help me remember the finer details. Well read and a great story to read and or listen to. Highly recommend.

Good characterization without distracting from the story.

Fantasy/Action wagon ride!

I knew prior the cliches I would confront (as friends had warned me), but this was the worst kind of kiddie fantasy. Direct rip off of Tolkien, filled with characters and places with stupid names sounding like "Shanshahar" or "Bor-Ag Kel"...kind of like fantasy literature bingo was played by Jordan. What is worse are the characters who display a tedious lack of depth and commit the classic crime of poor fantasy: actions without consequences. The wizard in their party seems to be able to do almost anything with minimal drain.

After reading anything by George Martin you will quickly realize this Wheel Of Time rubbish belongs to another age....

Based off all the positive reviews for this book and the series in general I expected that I would be getting ready to drop 13 or 14 credits to finish the series. After spending 29 hours trudging my way through this slow and tedious book I've decided to get off of this train before I waste another credit and hour.

Brandon Sanderson please finish A Memory of Light and get back to the Stormlight Archive (The Way of The Kings) series.