Lezersrecensie
The Dragon
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass leaving memory that becomes legend. Legend fades to myth and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.
The Eye of the World, the first novel in "the Wheel of Time"-series by Robert Jordan, saw daylight in 1990. For a Fantasy novel at that time, it was hard to be printed if the story wasn't like Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. And so, The Eye of the World has a lot of likeness to The Lord of the Rings. Robert Jordan didn't mind that; he was a fan of Tolkien's story.
The series has all the elements a great Epic Fantasy needs: high stakes, high rewards. But also friendships, hard times and darkness, betrayal, conspiracy, joy, progression, bravery, honour and all the other emotions that life give. In the series Robert Jordan put a lot of philosophical ideas from different nations: Imperial China, Roman and Japanese among them. Although it does not always feel like it, the setting for the series is Renaissance France and not mediaeval, which is found more in Epic Fantasy. The differences are subtle but there, and come more to the foreground in the later novels. It is also one of the few Epic Fantasy series that has a closed end.
Robert Jordan described almost everything in detail, specifically persons, because he believed strongly that the clothes people wear say something about who and what that person is. Almost every character you encounter has a name, even when that character only appears once. This makes it sometimes hard to distinguish between the different side characters. The descriptions carry you through the book and the characters are lifelike in what they do and know. For instance Perrin, Mat and Rand point to each other on who's better when dealing with women.
To immerse to reader further Robert Jordan created a lot of self explanatory expressions his characters use, that are related to the time period he describes, and get better and easier understood the further the reader is along "The Wheel of Time".
The chapters in these books are long and of differing length. Some of the prologues are 100 pages long! Luckily that usually also entails a prologue that has multiple character points of view, and there are breaks between these views.
I will be rereading the novels in the order they were published, which is also the order in which Robert Jordan recommended you read the books. I will remark on that when I review A New Spring, on why I agree with that, although that will also be a spoiler, so beware.
The Magic System
In "The Wheel of Time" magic comes from The One Power which draws from the essence of the universe or the True Power, symbolised as a vast, ever-turning wheel, which in turn spins the life treads of every living being into a great tapestry. People who can wield the One Power are called Aes Sedai. The One Power is divided into two parts: Saidin, the male half, and Saidar, the female half. However, when Lews Therin Telemon, the first Dragon from the Age of Legends, imprisoned the Dark One in The Bore, the Dark One lashed out and the male half of the One Power, Saidin, was tainted. Every male Aes Sedai wielding Saidin, slowly became mad. Some tried to stop wielding the One Power altogether, but not wielding Saidin was like not living.
There are five threads coming from the One Power: Fire, Earth, Water, Air (sometimes called Wind) and Spirit. A wielder usually has better grasp of one of these threads, some with two, but three would already be very rare. Even in the Age of Legends having a grasp of all five of the threads was considered extremely rare.
Although the power to wield the One Power lies with women, gathered in Tar Valon, the women who can wield it are dwindling for decades. Not only the numbers are dwindling also the amount of power they can wield with the One Power is dwindling. And because the Aes Sedai meddle in the affairs of all the people - and are feared by a lot - they are mistrusted.
In the series we follow a group of friends from Emond's Field. This is their story.
In Emond's Field, just before Bell Tine and on the day of Winternight, Rand sees a black rider on the road when he and his father are taking brandy to the Winespring Inn. De rider seems to push fear into Rand, and his cloak doesn't swing in the wind, but when Rand turns to his father and looks back, the rider has disappeared. When they are in the village, Rand finds out that his friend Mat and some other boys in the village, also saw the rider.
Rand is surprised to see that three strangers arrived, a gleeman (a sort of acrobat and story teller in one), and a Lady and her servant. Tam is however adamant that they return to the farm, because there is more work to be done. Tam and Rand return to the farm and do some chores.
In the night the farm is attacked by Trollocs, and Tam (perilously wounded) and Rand flee back to the village, where they find out that the Lady is in fact Moraine Sedai, een Aes Sedai looking for the Dragon Reborn in the surrounding lands. She heals Tam when Rand asks for it, but also establishes that the Trollocs are looking for the Dragon Reborn, and that either Rand, Mat or Perrin should be him, because they were born within weeks of each other and within the time that was determined that the Dragon should be born. She convinces Mat, Rand and Perrin that they should leave for Tar Valon for the safety of the village - and to be safe themselves - because only Rand's farm and the houses of Mat and Perrin were attacked by the Trollocs. The Dark One is also looking for The Dragon Reborn. Rand reluctantly agrees as he's still suspicious of her, even though she healed Tam, she is still an Aes Sedai.
At the moment that they are about to leave, Egwene comes out of hiding and insists of leaving with them. Just after Egwene revealed herself, Thom Merrilin, the gleeman, also reveals himself and eases his way into leaving with them.
Hunted by a Myrdraal, his Trollocs and a Draghkar, they are chased from Emond's Field and try to reach the safety of Tar Valon ...
Supporting Blogs:
Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time (WOT) https://www.hebban.nl/blogs/robert-jordan-and-the-wheel-of-time-wot
WOT: The One Power: https://www.hebban.nl/blogs/wot-the-one-power
WOT: The Dark One: https://www.hebban.nl/blogs/wot-the-dark-one
WOT: Aes Sedai: https://www.hebban.nl/blogs/wot-aes-sedai
WOT: Shadowspawn: https://www.hebban.nl/blogs/wot-shadowspawn
The Eye of the World, the first novel in "the Wheel of Time"-series by Robert Jordan, saw daylight in 1990. For a Fantasy novel at that time, it was hard to be printed if the story wasn't like Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. And so, The Eye of the World has a lot of likeness to The Lord of the Rings. Robert Jordan didn't mind that; he was a fan of Tolkien's story.
The series has all the elements a great Epic Fantasy needs: high stakes, high rewards. But also friendships, hard times and darkness, betrayal, conspiracy, joy, progression, bravery, honour and all the other emotions that life give. In the series Robert Jordan put a lot of philosophical ideas from different nations: Imperial China, Roman and Japanese among them. Although it does not always feel like it, the setting for the series is Renaissance France and not mediaeval, which is found more in Epic Fantasy. The differences are subtle but there, and come more to the foreground in the later novels. It is also one of the few Epic Fantasy series that has a closed end.
Robert Jordan described almost everything in detail, specifically persons, because he believed strongly that the clothes people wear say something about who and what that person is. Almost every character you encounter has a name, even when that character only appears once. This makes it sometimes hard to distinguish between the different side characters. The descriptions carry you through the book and the characters are lifelike in what they do and know. For instance Perrin, Mat and Rand point to each other on who's better when dealing with women.
To immerse to reader further Robert Jordan created a lot of self explanatory expressions his characters use, that are related to the time period he describes, and get better and easier understood the further the reader is along "The Wheel of Time".
The chapters in these books are long and of differing length. Some of the prologues are 100 pages long! Luckily that usually also entails a prologue that has multiple character points of view, and there are breaks between these views.
I will be rereading the novels in the order they were published, which is also the order in which Robert Jordan recommended you read the books. I will remark on that when I review A New Spring, on why I agree with that, although that will also be a spoiler, so beware.
The Magic System
In "The Wheel of Time" magic comes from The One Power which draws from the essence of the universe or the True Power, symbolised as a vast, ever-turning wheel, which in turn spins the life treads of every living being into a great tapestry. People who can wield the One Power are called Aes Sedai. The One Power is divided into two parts: Saidin, the male half, and Saidar, the female half. However, when Lews Therin Telemon, the first Dragon from the Age of Legends, imprisoned the Dark One in The Bore, the Dark One lashed out and the male half of the One Power, Saidin, was tainted. Every male Aes Sedai wielding Saidin, slowly became mad. Some tried to stop wielding the One Power altogether, but not wielding Saidin was like not living.
There are five threads coming from the One Power: Fire, Earth, Water, Air (sometimes called Wind) and Spirit. A wielder usually has better grasp of one of these threads, some with two, but three would already be very rare. Even in the Age of Legends having a grasp of all five of the threads was considered extremely rare.
Although the power to wield the One Power lies with women, gathered in Tar Valon, the women who can wield it are dwindling for decades. Not only the numbers are dwindling also the amount of power they can wield with the One Power is dwindling. And because the Aes Sedai meddle in the affairs of all the people - and are feared by a lot - they are mistrusted.
In the series we follow a group of friends from Emond's Field. This is their story.
In Emond's Field, just before Bell Tine and on the day of Winternight, Rand sees a black rider on the road when he and his father are taking brandy to the Winespring Inn. De rider seems to push fear into Rand, and his cloak doesn't swing in the wind, but when Rand turns to his father and looks back, the rider has disappeared. When they are in the village, Rand finds out that his friend Mat and some other boys in the village, also saw the rider.
Rand is surprised to see that three strangers arrived, a gleeman (a sort of acrobat and story teller in one), and a Lady and her servant. Tam is however adamant that they return to the farm, because there is more work to be done. Tam and Rand return to the farm and do some chores.
In the night the farm is attacked by Trollocs, and Tam (perilously wounded) and Rand flee back to the village, where they find out that the Lady is in fact Moraine Sedai, een Aes Sedai looking for the Dragon Reborn in the surrounding lands. She heals Tam when Rand asks for it, but also establishes that the Trollocs are looking for the Dragon Reborn, and that either Rand, Mat or Perrin should be him, because they were born within weeks of each other and within the time that was determined that the Dragon should be born. She convinces Mat, Rand and Perrin that they should leave for Tar Valon for the safety of the village - and to be safe themselves - because only Rand's farm and the houses of Mat and Perrin were attacked by the Trollocs. The Dark One is also looking for The Dragon Reborn. Rand reluctantly agrees as he's still suspicious of her, even though she healed Tam, she is still an Aes Sedai.
At the moment that they are about to leave, Egwene comes out of hiding and insists of leaving with them. Just after Egwene revealed herself, Thom Merrilin, the gleeman, also reveals himself and eases his way into leaving with them.
Hunted by a Myrdraal, his Trollocs and a Draghkar, they are chased from Emond's Field and try to reach the safety of Tar Valon ...
Supporting Blogs:
Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time (WOT) https://www.hebban.nl/blogs/robert-jordan-and-the-wheel-of-time-wot
WOT: The One Power: https://www.hebban.nl/blogs/wot-the-one-power
WOT: The Dark One: https://www.hebban.nl/blogs/wot-the-dark-one
WOT: Aes Sedai: https://www.hebban.nl/blogs/wot-aes-sedai
WOT: Shadowspawn: https://www.hebban.nl/blogs/wot-shadowspawn
1
Reageer op deze recensie
