Rage Reads The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time #1), Part 1
Rage Reads #1
February 15, 2026More than a decade ago when I was but a young child, my godfather had gifted me a book. By then I was already a reader, and I would ask my parents to buy me this book or that whenever we would pass by a bookstore.
On that particular birthday, my godfather who was a fan of all things sci-fi and fantasy decided to introduce me to the Wheel of Time series. Now, by that time I was only reading Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson, and The Mysterious Benedict Society, which are all easy enough reads for my relatively untrained mind. I had never heard of the Wheel of Time series before that.
But I still read it. And it was a daunting task. I remember finishing the book months later and only kind of vaguely knowing what happened in the book. But I remember enjoying what I understood, so I went on to buy and read the next five books in the series. And then I stopped. I moved on to other things.
This year, I decided to re-read Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World in hopes to actually understand what is happening, and also to finally finish the series this time. These are my thoughts on the first book of the series. Please be warned: there will be spoilers for The Eye of the World in this review.
Don’t be surprised, but I’ve never read any Tolkien book, nor do I remember what happened in Lord of the Rings when I watched it with my siblings (I think I was asleep for most of it). But I have seen reviews of this book, and this series as a whole, and a lot of them mention Tolkien. I am here to say: there will be none of that in this series of issues, because I know none of it.
The Eye of the World, despite being a full-length book, is a short introduction to a long, long series. In this first book, we meet for the first time Rand al’Thor and his friends Matrim Cauthon, Perrin Aybara, Egwene al’Vere, and Nynaeve al’Meara. We also learn about very many things about the world that Robert Jordan has created: the people and the culture of Emond’s Field, Aes Sedai and their Warders, Trollocs and Myrddraals, and many other myths and legends.
Egwene al’Vere
Egwene al’Vere is the mayor’s daughter, and basically betrothed to Rand al’Thor. Egwene is apprentice to Nynaeve al’Meara who is the Wisdom of the village.
Reading the book as an adult there were unsurprisingly many things I had missed the first time. First, I did not understand Egwene’s character as much as I did this time around. Even before the prologue we see Egwene as a child, Egwene who had always persevered, and pushed herself to break limits and set new records. The best to ever carry water from the river. The youngest ever to be allowed to braid her hair. An apprentice to the youngest Wisdom Emond’s Field has seen.
She’s an achiever, and we may not have seen her achieve anything extraordinary in this book but she’s been set up for greatness. Moiraine even mentions she may even become the Amyrlin Seat one day, which is high praise coming from an Aes Sedai. I don’t know (or don’t remember) what those amazing feats are yet, but I am excited to find out as we read on.
One thing I am curious about is why Egwene even showed interest in becoming an Aes Sedai at all. I know she was craving for adventure like the other boys, which is why she wanted to come with. But I wonder if becoming an Aes Sedai is just another check off the bucket list for her.
Nynaeve al’Meara
Another character I had severely misread was Nynaeve. Reader, I hated Nynaeve when I was a young teenager reading this book. She’s so… I don’t know. Uptight? Always angry? Always wanted to be in control, always wanted to be one step ahead. Always insisted that she’s correct. And, back then, teenager me always sided with Moiraine Sedai, who was cool with awesome powers and knew everything and everyone. Boy was I so wrong.
I don’t know how I had completely missed the gravity of Nynaeve’s upbringing. She was an orphan at such a young age, and the youngest Wisdom the little village has ever seen, and she’s gone through the unpleasant effects of touching the True Source by herself, alone with nobody to guide her. She had the whole world on her shoulders, and teenage me had no idea how that can affect a person. But now I understand, now I see. She had to learn how to be independent at such a young age. She holds herself to such a high standard, to such high expectations, she cannot bear to fail her people.
(Okay slight spoiler: I also remember Nynaeve becoming my favorite character later on in the series. I don’t remember exactly why, I just know I’m going to love her eventually.)
The one thing that caught me completely off-guard even on my second read was the romance between Lan, who is Moiraine Sedai’s Warder, and Nynaeve. I thought it came out of nowhere, although I can kind of see why Nynaeve would be attracted to somebody who she cannot outsmart or outplay or out-strategize. If Moiraine wasn’t an Aes Sedai I think Nynaeve would have liked her too (maybe a love-hate relationship). Also, I don’t know how old Lan is exactly but I know they have an age gap that was significant enough for me to not even entertain the idea of romance between the two—hence my surprise.
She cares enough about Lan to let her guard down and look vulnerable in front of Lan, which is so unlike Nynaeve that it really doesn’t help me accept the relationship between these two. But love does make people do crazy things, I guess?
Nevertheless, I’m most excited to follow Nynaeve’s story in this series, however big or small that may be.
Perrin Aybara
Ah, little wolf boy. Perrin Aybara is an apprentice blacksmith of the village who works in Master Luhhan’s forge. He is friends with Rand al’Thor and Matrim Cauthon.
Perrin was not enough of an interesting character for me on the get-go to really pay attention to his story. In fact, I often looked out for reasons why he’s one of the three. It was not immediately obvious to me what sort of promises come with Perrin other than the fact that he is Rand’s friend. It wasn’t really until the journey to Caemlyn that we get an idea of what the future might hold for him.
There’s a part of me that is just excited with the idea of humans psychically communicating with wolves, and that may be why I have taken a small liking to Perrin as the story went on. I think he has a good head on his shoulders, but I cannot imagine him in any leadership position or any position of greatness. He seems very meek and timid, even more so after he killed two men.
The most interesting tidbit that made me pause while reading Perrin is that he, at some point, a very small point, had considered mercy killing Egwene. That’s interesting, and something I believe not a lot of people will consider if they were in his position. Would you rather kill your friend, by your hands, to save them from a more gruesome, more painful fate?
When he is not around his friends, Perrin sounds like a young man grappling with control and leadership or gentleness and level-headedness. Throughout the book he had often been just a second, third, or even fourth opinion. When left alone with Egwene in an unfamiliar forest with Trollocs hot on their heels, he takes it upon himself to take on the role of the leader, which is an unfamiliar role for him.
Matrim Cauthon
The trickster. Like Perrin, I did not find Mat interesting. He did seem like the typical boys will be boys type—pulling pranks, never serious about anything, probably only cares about himself. But very early on we know that the Old Blood of Manetheren (a name they called Emond’s Field many, many years ago) runs strong within him. That may be an important part of his story, and why he’s one of the three.
Mat can be very self-centered, he likes to show off when with friends. He is also greedy, when presented with treasures from Shadar Logoth he could not help but take a ruby-hilted dagger that would eventually be something his fate is tied to, even when he was warned not to take anything from the cursed place.
The most interesting thing about Mat, on the journey to Caemlyn after he’s been infected by the evil in Shadar Logoth, is how much of a friend he still was to Rand despite the fact that he was… not himself. His mind was likely poisoned with evil thoughts, and he was always looking over his shoulders. He was suspicious about anything and everything, and yet he still took care of Rand when he was sick. He trusted Rand to a certain point. From that I know his relationships with people aren’t as shallow as it appears.
I wish we could have gotten more POV from him during the time he and Rand was running from Whitebridge to Caemlyn.
Rand al’Thor
And the chosen one. Most of the book was in Rand’s point of view, and how unfortunate is that? Okay, a little bit harsh but I didn’t think he was interesting either. None of the boys were interesting enough, none more than the myths and legends, the history of the world Robert Jordan created. Rand is a sheepherder, who looks nothing like his neighbors but insists he is his father’s son. That’s the biggest part of his story in this book, which wasn’t enough to convince me that he is interesting.
Maybe I’m too quick to judge. Maybe all I’ve ever known are chosen ones who are very obviously chosen ones. I know that Rand being not his father’s son is a big part of who he is, but also I thought he should have had something else going for him. He’s a sheepherder but he’s a sheep. I wanted him to be somebody else, but maybe I’m too impatient and maybe we’re building towards that. Maybe he’ll be interesting enough for me to care as the story progresses. After all, this is his journey.
The only glimpse we see of Rand’s power was towards the end of the book, when he touched the One Power from the Eye to sever Ba’alzamon’s tie. Moiraine mentions that very few could have channeled that amount of One Power unaided without being destroyed. And Rand did it, against Ba’alzamon. So apart from Egwene and Nynaeve, Rand is also mega strong.
Aside from the Chosen One stuff, it has also been established early on in the story that Rand and Egwene are somewhat of a thing. It certainly seems like they care about each other that way, but the only eventful thing in their relationship is when the other talks to someone else—like Rand with Min and Else, and then Egwene with Aram the Tinker. Min did mention that they won’t be in each other’s life the way they expect, which I am curious about. If Egwene does become Aes Sedai, there’s a high probability she won’t marry, right?
Those are my thoughts on the five. I have more thoughts on everything else, which I’ll publish in a separate post next week. But I’d love to hear your thoughts on this series, and your thoughts on the five people I discussed. No spoilers beyond The Eye of the World please!
I will likely be talking about Wheel of Time the whole year, but I’ll try to read other books or series in between. You’re welcome to comment your suggestions for books you think I should read.
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Note: This was originally posted on Substack.