The Eye of the World

Book One of The Wheel of Time

By: Robert Jordan

Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer

Length: 29 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

"These veteran narrators keep the plot moving and the narration fresh" (AudioFile Magazine)

This program is read by Audie Award-winning narrators Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, and includes a bonus interview with the author.

The Wheel of Time is a PBS Great American Read Selection!

Now in development for TV!

Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers and listeners around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters.

The Wheel of Time turns and ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

When The Two Rivers is attacked by Trollocs - a savage tribe of half-men, half-beasts - five villagers flee that night into a world they barely imagined, with new dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.

TV series update: "Sony will produce along with Red Eagle Entertainment and Radar Pictures. Rafe Judkins is attached to write and executive produce. Judkins previously worked on shows such as ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Netflix series Hemlock Grove, and the NBC series Chuck. Red Eagle partners Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon will executive produce along with Radar’s Ted Field and Mike Weber. Darren Lemke will also executive produce, with Jordan’s widow Harriet McDougal serving as consulting producer." (Variety)

The Wheel of Time New Spring: The Novel 

The Eye of the World

The Great Hunt

The Dragon Reborn

The Shadow Rising

The Fires of Heaven

Lord of Chaos

A Crown of Swords

The Path of Daggers

Winter's Heart

Crossroads of Twilight

Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

The Gathering Storm

Towers of Midnight

A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson

The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons 

The Wheel of Time Companion by Robert Jordan and Amy Romanczuk 

Patterns of the Wheel: Coloring Art Based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time 

Listen to more books in The Wheel of Time series.

©1990 Robert Jordan (P)1996 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Jordan has come to dominate the world that Tolkien began to reveal." (The New York Times)

Your first step down a very long and winding road.

The Eye of the World kicks off Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series and it is a step that should not be taken lightly. This first book is excellent and will likely have you listening to the next book in the journey before you know it. This is a long series (13+ books) and each book so far is between 23-41 hours of listening in unabridged format.

Some things you should know before you start:

1) Robert Jordan did not live long enough to finish the story, but he did pass along his vision for the conclusion to Brandon Sanderson who is writing the final books. Brandon Sanderson is an awesome Fantasy writer so the conclusion of the series is in good hands.

2) Robert Jordan can tend to be wordy at times and some of the books along the way feel a little bloated, but each one does advance the story.

3) The narration is done by 2 excellent narrators: Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Each chapter will be read by one or the other depending on the chapter's main character. If the main character is female then Kate will read the entire chapter including the male voices. Michael will handle the chapters where the main character is male and he will do the female voices. This means that you must get accustomed to 2 voices for each character. This put me off at first but I quickly became accustomed to it and now I really enjoy the format.

4) After a few books the narrators change the way they pronounce certain character names and this can throw you off until you realize that it is just a pronunciation change and not a different character. Just be prepared for it.

I am glad I started this long journey and I feel that audio is one of the best ways to experience Jordan's work. I had read The Eye of the World years ago but it didn't inspire me to keep going forward in the series, where the audiobook left me wanting more!

This Series Rocks

I am writing this review on the first of this series because as you consider beginning a multibook series you'll be wondering if the commitment is worth it. After having listened to all of the books now available on Audible (10 or 11 and the story is still not over) I am telling you to GO FOR IT. It took a several chapters to get my bearings with the material, but after that I was hooked in a terribly engrossing world of fantasy that I would never have thought would interest me. Some other reviewers have panned the narrators, and maybe with the first book they hadn't yet found their bearing either, but throughout the series they are outstanding in my opinion. I couldn't get enough of this story. I'm thankful that I came to it late, when there were already more than 10 books to enjoy. I admit that I have expected the author to wrap up this saga before now, but in reality I am thankful that he kept the characters and their world alive. I recommend this series with no reservations.

everything you need to know

If you read several of the listener ratings you will find that half love it and half hate it. This is not anything like LotR. This is bigger in every respect. The world is bigger, the characters are deeper and thjere are many, many, more of them. If you take on this series you need to be ready to focus. If you listen half heartedly you will be lost very quickly. I understand some of the points of the bad reviews. This series is detailed. You will always know what everyone is wearing and what every room looks like and some people will find it tiresome. I however really get a sense of being in the story and that is why I read/listen. If your thing is a movie type book, a few hours and everything is rapped up, then you are looking for something else. There are many great stand alone books on this site alone but if you are looking for a neck deep fantasy with as much intrigue as can be put on paper then look no further. Personally this and the Sword of Truth are my favorites. Be warned though that the author recently died and the 12th book (A Memory of Light) is now being written by Brandon Sanderson of Mistborn. The final installment is about 60% through the rough draft phase. I usually dont get books until the series is done because i cant stand waiting a year to see how it ends but just the fact that the last book is on its way has prompted me into a second go round on this series so I know exactly what is going on. WHether you get this one or not happy listening.

If you only knew what was coming....

This intro may seem slow to some, but it really is a great beginning to an amazing adventure. Not the best book in the series but it's one that will always be special to me simply because of the world that introduced me to.

If you want to spend 6 months of commuting wishing that your drive was longer so that you could listen to more.... This is your series.

Narrator

I got this because I remember reading it many years ago. Unfortunately, the narrator makes this sound ridiculous with an exaggerated, dramatic tone.

Mixed feelings

I read this series over a decade ago and waited anxiously for each new book to come out. I wanted to enjoy the series again while I drove 45 mins to/from work. It just didn't work for me. The reader just read too slow for me. And the use of two different readers who both read male and female parts - after the first reader had already read the female parts - didn't make sense to me. If you're going to use various readers, why not have them be consistent in reading the same character throughout the book? Very disappointed.

Amazing Series, Amazing Readers

I am overjoyed to find audible choose to carry this Unabridged series. It is pretty much the only place anywhere you can find this extraordinary Unabridged audio series. The abridged version of this series is horrible; however this version is a true and rare audio gem. I have listened to literally a few hundred audio books in my life, most of which were either sci-fi/ fantasy and this series stands out as one of the best I?ve heard. It has exquisite readers both Michael Kramer and Kate Reading are among the best audio readers I've ever heard. As anyone who has heard audio can probably relate to, the quality of the reader is vital to the experience of the book and these are simple two of the best in the business. They capture the characters perfectly and draw you in like few other readers can. Another great and fairly unique thing this audio reading does is when the books comes from the perspective of a female character Kate gives you the female voice to match, where as if you are in the head of a male character Michael reads to give you that male feel. This makes a big difference in the whole experience, how much the reading brings the character to life and draws you into their world. Speaking of which, Robert Jordan's WOT world is one of the most vivid, complex and original world I have experienced in fantasy. The world's complexity continues to grow throughout the huge epic series. It makes you want to know what is going on in different lands almost as much as what is happening with different characters. In the first half of this series each book is better then the one before as the main characters, the world and the adventure expands. If you get a chance, please request that audible carry the rest of this Unabridged series. As of now they carry book one (The Eye of the World) and two (The Great Hunt). I guess that's about it. Enjoy, I hope you have as much fun with it as I did.

Ugh... Way too slow, first 8 hours SOO boring

This book moves at a turtle‘s pace. So much unnecessary dialogue and description. After 8 hours I just gave up. The author seems to repeat the same basic conversation between various characters over, and over, and over again. He could literally eliminate over 1/3 of the book, and make it a good book.

A Masterpiece

There is very little in the way of accolades that I could add to what has already been written about this book except to second the praise for it. When choosing a book, I do consider how many people have taken the time to rate and review a book, as well as what the reviews have to say. Therefore, the value of this book to me requires that I say something to encourage others to take it as a selection. This was my first Robert Jordan book. It's about 30 hours long and I finished it in two and a half days. I could not put it down. It is a masterpiece in almost every aspect of the word and I do not know how the narration could possibly have been improved. I was blown away.

Give it a chance

My kids and I love fantasy books and were excited about starting a long series that we had heard a lot about. I'm not really sure where everyone gets that Michael Kramer is a great narrator unless they have stuck it out and listened to more books in this series. Frankly, he starts out AWFUL. We almost stopped listening just because of him. His cadence is so predictable and completely got on my nerves for the first 2/3 of the book. The first part that Kate Reading read seriously saved this book for us and we kept listening.

... and then about 2/3 of the way through it get SO much better. We are now almost finished with the 2nd book in the series and it is wonderful. Yes, this book has a slow start. But as you continue with the story you understand why - it NEEDS a slow start. I'm rating it pretty high even though I never thought I would get through it. Give it a chance and you will have a great start on an epic series.

Fab

Epic fantasy at its best. Delighted there are so many books in the series as this will solve the commuting boredom problem for many weeks yet!



Very much like Brandon Sanderson (or rather, Brandon Sanderson is very like Robert Jordan). Reminds me of Sanderson's Stormlight book - a very similar feel.



The narration is good - perhaps not the best I have ever heard, but it doesn't detract from the story at all.



Occasionally I would like the female characters to be slightly different from each other - they all seem to be cut from the same cloth, and therefore are a little predictable and perhaps a little boring, but the storyline itself is compelling, and you can't help but download the next book in the series immediately the current one finishes (I am about to download number 5 - still happily enjoying it all).

Epic Story with a couple of issues.

At approximately 457 hours this series of books are not for the faint hearted and there are a couple of things that I had an issue with.

Firstly, Mr Jordan does like to describe what a character is thinking and in particular, what they are wearing. Heaven help you if there are 10 or more characters in any one scene as you will soon discover in turn what each person is wearing (down the buttons and trim), what facial expression they have, the length of their hair, what they are thinking and everything in-between. This becomes infuriating at times and on more than one occasion I found myself yelling at my phone "Just get on with it!" Honestly, if he had cut down these descriptions I reckon he could have cut the length of the books in half.

Secondly, the vast majority of the female characters are quite unlikable. In the most part I would use the word horrible to describe them. This is toned down a bit when Brandon Sanderson takes over at book 12.

Lastly, the 2 narrators were unnecessary in my opinion. Just a little thing but worth a mention.

Now for the good. Oh my, its epic! Some of the pacing may be a little off in places but it is an excellent story. The pay off is definitely in the last 3 books. You will not be disappointed. No spoilers here but “The last battle” makes the battle of Pelennor Fields or the Siege of Dros Delnoch look like a minor skirmish.

In conclusion, if you have the time and can cope with the issues above (and you will know by the first couple of books) its well worth the listen.

American narration such a turn off

Love Americans and the accent, but fantasy novels so quickly become cringe-worthy when narrated in an American accent. there's a reason why, when you watch The Lord of the Rings there's not an American twang in earshot. totally kills the immersion or any credibility/authenticity.

Excellent series ... until book 8

I have been listening through this series for a few months now and really enjoying it. I would have given 5 starts to it apart from some of the slightly repetitive statements. Then I got to book 8 and it is not available (the other 10 are), having contacted Audible they informed me that they have not yet got the license for it. I have to say that has put the dampers on my listening pleasure.
If you are thinking about starting this epic listening experience I would wait until it is available.

Acceptable not classic delivery

While Jordan was American I am disappointed they used people with such heavy accents. It is okay but I would say when compared to Fry reading Harry Potter you will be hugely disappointed.

Absorbing....

5 well deserved stars from me for this book - part one of the Wheel of Time series.

After listening to the preview a few times I very nearly didn't bother to buy this book. I thought the narrators voice would grate on my nerves and stop me from enjoying the book.

I was attracted by the length of the story, thinking that over 29 hours of 'read' time would keep me occupied for quite some time. Also the number of books available in the series on Audible means I'll not be short of a book to read for quite some time!

I was quickly absorbed by the story and forgot the narrators American accent, although it was a bit of a 'jolt' when a female narrator cut in part way through the book! (Although she only reads a few chapters here and there before the male narrator returns)
The 29 hours passed too quickly and I'm eager to 'read' the second book in the series.

The Eye Of The World reminds me of the Lord of the Rings in lots of ways, strange names, battles, good against evil, a quest, all well told, well described and very enjoyable.

A very good read which I'll probably return to in the fullness of time.

A Sizable Literary Feast

Years I ago I read this book as a very young 13 year old. It was daunting then (the sheer size of it, and the sequels) and I gave up half-way through. It's still daunting now, but in a way that I relish - it's massive. This book alone is 29 hours long, and there's currently 13 sequels out with another one on it's way. If you're looking for a series to sink your adventuring teeth into then look no further.

I was initially weary of the American narrator, and I doubted I could listen to his accent for 29 hours, let alone the sequels. However my fears disappeared within the first chapter - he does an excellent job, and I honestly forget about the accent altogether.

I shan't dwell on the book itself, since its continued success and legacy stands testament to its quality. You'll find a plethora of reviews of the Amazon site proper, but my advice is to just dive into this book - it's superb.

Narrator grew on me

At first I was also afraid that the narrators voice and accent was going to make listening to this book a struggle, but am pleased to say that this is not the case. After a while the it all seems perfectly natural.

The two narrators work well together with Michael reading the chapters revolving around the male characters and Kate reading those for for the female.

These are unabridged versions of the book, so any Jordan fan will know what to expect in terms of content.

I have now listened to the first three books and am waiting for my credits to arrive so I may download the next instalment.

Awful narration

I genuinely hope they redo this with the new series for Amazon coming along - I can't believe that these are the same people who did Stormlight Archives - that was a 5 out of 5 for me. The male narrator is so monotone, I've had to turn off.

If it's possible, read the books, because they are amazing. If not, I'm sorry, I hope you have a better experience than I did.

Bah

Remember, you're embarking on a 450-hour journey. I'll review it in its entirety. I finished the audiobook series a while ago, but apparently I never wrote a review.

As you might know, the author died before he could finish the series. Brandon Sanderson used his notes to officially finish the series. For whatever reason, those last 3 books are the best in the series.

It's a very good story, when looked at from the outside.
It's the only story I'll never recommend.
Book 10 (out of 14) is atrocious. I gave up on it and read the summary on Wikia. You should too when you realise that nothing is happening in that book. Your time is more valuable... unless you're in jail I suppose.
The last 3 books are excellent.
The story is too long for what it's worth.

The main characters are immature.
The main characters get into a lot of trouble.
The world-building is extensive.
There is magic... a lot of magic.
There are thoroughly depicted and unique cultures.
There is a versatile, but not thoroughly prepared, magic system.
The author does not know how to exploit the potential of his own ideas, or he didn't care.
Many ideas are diamonds in the rough and I weep for their wasted potential.
Yet there are quite a few unique ideas.
Some of those ideas still cross my mind, one year later, after experiencing tons of other fantasy stories.
The idea to length ratio is still not high.
The story is too long.

It's a plot-driven story.
There are some very epic scenes.
The plot warps the characters. If something epic needs to happen and the characters aren't where they should be, they'll start acting out of character until the pawns are all where the plot can have the greatest effect.
After a little practice, I could predict epic scenes with 100% reliability based on when characters stopped acting like themselves.
There aren't THAT many epic scenes, in the grand scheme of things.
The story is too long.

The author filled the story with a lot of annoying characters.
Most of the female characters look down on men.
Most of the male characters look down on women.
Most of the female characters are incompetent, especially the young ones.
Some of the main characters bicker constantly.
Sometimes I felt that the author's best method of achieving realism was to describe it in real-time.
The story is too long.

Most of the time I just wanted The Dark One to succeed because he was more relatable/mature than everyone else. Maybe that was the point? He is pretty old.
The book follows a pretty standard formula, stretched to its breaking point.
The story is too long.

Individually, each book could be described as 5/5 if I were generous.
Only the final book offers any sense of closure.
A shocking plot point towards the end of the story poisoned the ending.
When the closure was offered, it didn't matter because of the aforementioned plot point.
None of the other books are worth reading on their own.
The story is too long.

Despite my determination to complete a story I'd invested so much effort in, I often found myself pausing the audiobooks to do nothing. Doing nothing was less boring than a lot of the scenes. I'm glad I finished the series though because like I said, not finishing it would have been a waste of the time I'd already spent listening to it. It's called effort justification.

Do not listen to it unless you have a good reason to believe you'll enjoy it.
I can't with a good conscience recommend somethig so massive to anyone.
The story is too long.