The Eye of the World

Everybody loves this series but this first book, at least, I found it immensely boring. The characters were largely interchangeable - if I didn't know from elsewhere that Rand was the protagonist, I'd have confused him with Mat and Perrin, whom I definitely confused for each other. The arc of the story had little real momentum, with a lot of wandering, occasionally interrupted by portentous language that I assume was meant to heighten tension but meant nothing to me, and culminating in a conflict that felt a little out of nowhere and anticlimactic, even with its grandiose themes.

Interestingly this wasn't one of those fantasy novels that gets caught up in so many of the trappings: dense, faux-old-timey language, overdescription, chapters full of world building and history, etc. And it's not of the “grimdark” variety either. This should've been right up my alley. But since I first picked it up years ago I'd never been able to finish it. I finally just powered through – sometimes a book needs that push – and in the end ... meh.