"Epic Fantasy books"

[Jones]

Reincarnation is also a theme where one of the main characters, Nevyn who is a Merlin like character, has chosen reincarnation to atone for an action he took that resulted in the untimely death of others.

I decided to read the Deverry series again and I misremembered the above. Nevyn actually decides not to die until he has atoned for the harm he caused others. To that end he lives a very long time and meets the others as different people in different incarnations.

 

[hobnob]

Some series that haven't been mentioned yet, unless I missed them:

The Prince of Nothing by Bakker - This is about a false prophet, near in quality to Game of Thrones.

The Chronicles of Amber by Zelazny - This is as fun as The Matrix, but any character development may be absent.

The author Guy Gavriel Kay takes different historical periods and adds magic. A Song for Arbonne, for example, though not great, serviceably depicts Cathars and throws in owls perched on priestesses' shoulders.

 

[aragorn]

Okay, I just finished reading book one of The Wheel of Time series, The Eye of the World, and...wow, yes this was easily as good as everyone here has said! I'm repeating what maybe millions of readers have said, but Robert Jordan has (or, had) a unique talent in describing, depicting and presenting every character in such detail and brilliant 'spot on' way that you truly get to know and "see" each one inside and out. I'm not sure how to say it, but it's like he finds these unique 'archetypes of personalities' and then he knows exactly how each character display it in their mannerism, talk, and behavior. The same applies to his depiction of surroundings and enivronments, brilliant.

I'm the type of reader that when I read these stories I sub-conciously try to find 'holes' in the logic or things that don't make sense, inconsistencies, contradictions. However, so far I haven't found any, which means that Jordan must've made good and detailed notes and plans before commencing his writing.

The only parts that I didn't find quite on par with the other parts of the book were these 'battles in higher spheres' type of sections. At least in this first book they appeared a bit too scrambled and filled with all kinds of things, almost like he was trying too hard. From what I've read of other people's reviews, Jordan's writing apparently improves with each book in the series. I just started book 2, so I'm waiting with excitement what it will bring.

As to the story, well...it's as epic as epic gets! And I really like the core of it, how the wheel turns in eternity, weaves the pattern, there's no beginning and no end. Very close to what I believe is the truth, and what the C's have also told us.

 

[Iain]

Okay, I just finished reading book one of The Wheel of Time series, The Eye of the World, and...wow, yes this was easily as good as everyone here has said! I'm repeating what maybe millions of readers have said, but Robert Jordan has (or, had) a unique talent in describing, depicting and presenting every character in such detail and brilliant 'spot on' way that you truly get to know and "see" each one inside and out. I'm not sure how to say it, but it's like he finds these unique 'archetypes of personalities' and then he knows exactly how each character display it in their mannerism, talk, and behavior. The same applies to his depiction of surroundings and enivronments, brilliant.

I'm the type of reader that when I read these stories I sub-conciously try to find 'holes' in the logic or things that don't make sense, inconsistencies, contradictions. However, so far I haven't found any, which means that Jordan must've made good and detailed notes and plans before commencing his writing.

The only parts that I didn't find quite on par with the other parts of the book were these 'battles in higher spheres' type of sections. At least in this first book they appeared a bit too scrambled and filled with all kinds of things, almost like he was trying too hard. From what I've read of other people's reviews, Jordan's writing apparently improves with each book in the series. I just started book 2, so I'm waiting with excitement what it will bring.

As to the story, well...it's as epic as epic gets! And I really like the core of it, how the wheel turns in eternity, weaves the pattern, there's no beginning and no end. Very close to what I believe is the truth, and what the C's have also told us.

Yeah, the first book is one of those almost re-worked Lord of the Rings type stories that pretty much wraps up by the end. It is the one book in the series that feels like a standalone story (bit like the first Star Wars film does). I agree that it can be a little rushed, so much going on - the complete opposite of the other books, that slow to a crawl at times.

Given the amount of old fantasy series that start off with a book like this, I wonder if it was a requirement for a publishing deal - the author needed to get a single book story done to see how well it sold before the publisher would continue with a full series.

There are definitely a few ideas at the end of Eye of the World that, as far as I remember, don't really come up again in the rest of the series. The themes that do come back up though, Jordan gets to explore in great depth - especially the concepts of duality in his world, and, of course, the Wheel of Time in general.

 

[aragorn]

I just want to add that what I also found refreshing, and what other reviewers have pointed out, was how Jordan's characters are not all black-or-white. Even the 'good guys' have doubts, moments of anger and bad behavior, do stupid things, and they fail with their tasks every now and then. These 'shades of gray' add a more realistic compontent to the story, makes it more interesting and gives more depth. I think I even read somewhere, that this was one of Jordan's primary intentions – to create a more realistic 'epic fantasy' series by the above.