I’d had this on my list of books saved at Amazon for several years, but more or less forgot about it until there was word of a new streaming series based on the Wheel of Time series. It reminded me that I had thought it worthy of looking at once, so I ordered it. I have a natural hesitation of starting long series that I don’t know anything about, which is probably why it sat stagnant in my list for so long. But I’ve never been happier in my life for finally pulling the trigger on a book! I loved it! I can see now why they want to adapt it into a visual medium and I’m already sure I’d be disappointed if I ever saw it.
It hits all the beats of a high fantasy premise and the hero's journey while retaining an originality in world building. It's main theme and philosophy is centered on reincarnation as time turns over and again, the ages repeating themselves with variations in each pass. We join the wheel in the first part as it's circling around to another age in which the evil Dark One must be defeated again by one called The Dragon who is prophesied (because there's always a prophecy 😏) to be reborn with the purpose of doing just that. But it's not that cut and dried. The ages are thousands of years long and the people have become unacquainted with their world's history. The stories have become skewed in ways that aren't favorable to most parties involved in the previous ages, leaving everyone paranoid, superstitious, and seeing the prophecy as a dangerous thing. Seeing the hero as the villain, not without some reason. And wanting nothing to do with the magic and magic users involved with helping to keep the Dark One at bay, going as far as to run them out of towns. Also, although the prophecy only regards one young man, nobody knows which one it is of a possible three that are being watched, and the other's lots are possibly just as important and certainly intertwined with the reborn Dragon. More than just those two are swept up in his fate, of course. All is accredited to the way the wheel weaves their destinies. Dragged almost unwillingly away from their home, the companions are faced with dangers that only existed in in their fiction tales, and still do in many places. Guided by a powerful, magic wielding woman they don't trust, everyone stays secretive and plotting alternate options to take and nobody is on the same page until the end when they can no longer deny the reality that they only thought to be legend. Reality which feels more like defeat than a great responsibility. Along the way they're separated, reunited, and take their own personal detours in the midst of the collective journey discovering new and, thusfar, unrelated things about themselves. They end up bypassing their original destination of safety altogether in this story to skip to The Eye of the World and a battle nobody is ready for.The Dark One is slowed in the end, but not stopped.
It mixes up the normal fantasy casting tropes a bit too. I have no way of knowing for sure yet, but I don't think this story features elves and dwarves. The human race is primary and magic use is exclusive to the women with a couple exceptions. The magic source is the One Power, a magic force that usually requires a channeling agent. I always appreciate it when authors make sure that the rules that govern the magic are unique to the world created. So far the only non-human ally is an ogier, which has beastial characteristics blended with human. There are not classic trolls that appear with deformed human features, but trollocs that have animalistic qualities. Other antagonists include Myrddraal, corrupted human forms reminiscent of grim reapers with some magical ability and a terrifying presence, evil spirits, and humans allied with the dark forces.
It just checks so many of my boxes of things that I love in a fantasy novel. A long, slow build of the world and character
development. Pro tip: when reading a series that comes with a lot of background lore built in, read the book first, or at least most of it first before spending too much time in the glossaries or indexes trying to take it all in and understand it in one sitting. Letting the story unpack itself makes it less confusing and it's kind of the best part. This first book has only scratched the surface. There's not too much given away. There are many avenues left open ended to be explored later. The romances are unrequited. There's even a little color coding going on regarding the sects of Aes Sedai (the lady mages), which is something I've always been entertained with in things like anime. But it's not just checking my boxes. There's a strong, overarching female presence which I know my friend, Laney, likes. And the characters, except in the brief prologue to set up their simple society and meager aspirations for their lives, are of age and basically adults, though still young and fresh off the farm. Quite literally.
There are 14 books all together in the series so I realize that at any point this could veer off into disappointment as The Dwarves (Markus Heitz) series did for me. But so far I'm really into this story and I confess, even after posting a few days ago that I couldn't honestly indulge in any new books this year, I bought the next one in this set straight away because I can't wait to see what happens next.
I recommend it to fantasy fans wholeheartedly.
