To the Blight

In this second part of The Beginning of the Wheel of Time, Rand and his friends have fled from the city of Shadar Logoth overrun by Trollocs and Myrddraal. Sailing on the Spray ship down the Arinelle River, they decide to go separately to Tar Valon after hearing about a lost treasure, and to Caemlyn to talk to the Queen. But along the way they face many dangers along with their adventures.As Perrin, Elyas, and Bela are heading to the city, they run across the Tinkers, a group of traveling people. Stopping to visit with these strangers before moving on, they learn that the Tinkers are believers in The Way Of The Leaf, a way of living with people without using any violence. Meanwhile, Rand and Mat are struggling to survive on their own by trying to earn money and a place to sleep. They wind up entertaining people by playing the flute and juggling balls in exchange for the things they need. When Rand and Mat finally get to Caemlyn, they are relieved to find that the rest of their friends are alive. But they still face danger in the city of Caemlyn. Aginor, a wielder of the One Power and an ally of the Dark One, challenges Rand to a battle. Will Rand win against the One Power? Will he discover his true identity and destiny?I liked this book because it made me think about what I would have done if I had been Rand traveling with his friends. What would you have done to survive? TO THE BLIGHT is part of the classic fantasy series, Wheel of Time, and I think you'll enjoy them. --- Reviewed by AshleyH88

The Wheel of Time is probably the best-known and most widely read fantasy series other than The Lord of the Rings. When this book was published in 1988 or 1989, it created a sensation -- a tremendous first volume that had the usual good-evil battle and tons of action but also was filled with magic, history, politics, sociology, cultural background and realistic characters. When I re-read the first five books, I was amazed at the details of history and politics that Jordan provided in his world. Jordan also has numerous protagonists, not just one or two primary ones like many other fantasy writers.Moreover, Eye of the World features strong men and, through their magical abilities and powerful personalities, stronger women. Jordan has been rightly lauded for the prominent and powerful roles he created for the female characters.The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising and The Fires of Heaven followed and created a tremendous series such that The New York Times noted that Jordan had come to dominate the genre that Tolkien made famous. In Eye of the World, the writing is smooth, the various characters and their motivations work well, and there's action aplenty. The sense of innocence and mystery that correspond to the heroes' relative lack of knowledge of their surroundings and the world at large is palpable and realistic.Unfortunately, starting with Lord of Chaos (book 6), Jordan's creation became unwieldy. Instead of concentrating on following the themes and story-threads of books 1-5 (which combined are more than 3500 pages, hardcover), he created new storylines, bogged down the narrative and halted the pace of the epic. Book 8 in particular is an unmitigated disaster -- 650 pages (hardcover) of wheel-spinning (pardon the pun) with almost no progress to the story. Book 9 began to jump-start the narrative once again.The series is at 10 books (the tenth will be published in about two months from now) and growing (13 total possible -- it's a common numerical theme in the books), thus the last volume will be published in 2006, at the earliest. The Eye of the World is great, as are the next four in the series. They are, however, addictive, so know what you're getting into.

i think the tree is grabbing it, and she is trying to free herself by cutting off the hair the tree is holding/entangling, whatever.oh, and the book is good, too.

The Eye of the World was one of the most fun books I've ever read. It's a strait-out fantasy epic based in a fully realized fantasy world. (If you read the rest of the WoT series anyway...) Nations are involved in power struggles and have their own heritage and culture. Some of these are archetypal and some are created purely from Jordan's fantastic imagination. In essence, it is still a story of a king risen from a farm boy, heroes, honor and love. However, Jordan does a wonderful job weaving a plot that intrigues from its start and gets delightfully complicated as it progresses. (Sometimes having 5 or more main plots going on at the same time.) The characters are easy to relate to. (Or so it seemed) There are several main ones, and each has a loveable and unique personality. When I picked this book up at age 15 I believed that any fantasy that wasn't Tolkien was a sacrilege or a copy off. This book was perhaps the best bet to convince me otherwise. Jordan's views on magic and the races (i.e. elves, dwarves, etc.) are refreshing, although they too have been copied several times. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves epics, classic sword and sorcery archetypes, or a refreshing fantasy.