The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan — The count down to the release of The Crossroads of Twilight has begun for me (it's due out early in the New Year). As such, I've begun re-reading the series. I do this every time a new book comes out so I can have everything fresh in my mind. Since I started reading the series shortly after The Shadow Rising came out... well, you do the math. I've read the series a number of time. Add about 3 or 4 more times to that number when I got tired of waiting and that's a hell of a lot of WoT. If I can keep up a pace of a book a week I should finish reading them just in time for the new book.

I was actually given The Eye of the World as a gift. I must admit, I didn't like it. I tried to start the book no less than three times before I finally got into it. Mostly, it was the prologue's fault. There were too many unfamiliar terms for me. It threw me a little and made it difficult to get into. After a co-worker at the bookstore I worked at convinced me it was worth it (thanks Mark, if by some bizarre chance you actually read this) to get me to finally finish it. I read the next three books over a span of 3 weeks. Then I had to wait forfreakingever until the next book came out. I've been hooked ever since.

When it's all said and done, the Eye of the World is about setting things up. Hard to believe when a book is some 800 pages long. I enjoyed the book. I actually wanted to see more of Tam al'Thor in the story. I think he's a very cool character. I hope he gets more play time in the last few books. The book was pretty good at setting up much of the basic geography and rules of the world while providing a good "coming of age" type story. Although I think it lead you a little by the nose. I mean, if you hadn't figured out who was going to be the Dragon Reborn before you were halfway through the book, you just weren't paying attention.

07/11/2002 — I've have been sooooooo busy lately I've barely touched the book! I'm already falling behind schedule! Nonetheless, I'm pretty close to the end... our intrepid heroes are entering the blight. May the Light protect them