This serves to make all three of the main characters interesting in that the reader is not simply given a single main character and a handful of insignificant side-characters who just happen to be tagging along.

The plot is made more intriguing in this particular instance of farmer-boy-becomes-hero in that there are three main protagonists, each with their own special thread of plot driving their character forward. This particular story revolves around three young boys from a backwater town of Two Rivers, who are randomly attacked and hunted by said great evil for reasons they don’t know. The story is squarely in the vein of the more optimistic fantasy worlds out there, where the young peasant boy embarks on an adventure to defeat the great evil of the land, fairly black-and-white and generally just a lot of fun. Finally I decided to take it as my only source of distraction on a flight and force myself to get into it – a two-hour layover later I was at last into the story, and once it picked up it didn’t slow down. Two or three times I would sit down in my reading chair with some tea or a drink intent on delving into the world of the Wheel of Time, and each time I would read a half a chapter and find myself bored, and would pick up whatever other book was handy. Even after buying the book it took me a while to get around to reading it, though not for lack of trying.

The book is one that I had seen on many lists of best fantasy – apparently it’s extremely well-known and widely read – and one which I had heard mixed reviews on from those I know who read fantasy. In my quest to read the great fantasy novels I have arrived at one of the more epic series of our time, Robert Jordan‘s Wheel of Time.

The eye of the world by robert jordan