A Beginning

Book: 1; The Eye of the World.   

Chapter: 9, Tellings of the Wheel 

Character groups:

Rand          Moraine         Nynaeve         Thom
Mat            Lan                Egwene
Perrin


 "The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past..."

So begins each book of the Wheel of Time series and they have become almost a meditation for me. I read those words and I can shut out the rest of the world and focus on a different one.
That paragraph can also tell you quite a lot about what is to come. You can expect cryptic phrases, sparse explanations and a liberal sprinkling of Capital Letters.

To be fair, the first few chapters of tEotW (The Eye of the World, get used to the acronyms) are actually quite heavy on the exposition, even if it is history 101 for the last 3000 years rather than current events. To be honest, its pretty impressive how these people can know, so certainly, what happened over three millennia ago when we in this pitiful dimension can't be absolutely sure of what happened last week! We have learned about cataclysms, prophecies and the fall of the great nation once occupying our heroes' homeland but only had a few paragraphs about the war going on in the next kingdom over! Oh well... I'm sure it will turn up again later if it was important.

We have also been introduced to most of the main characters at this point. Rand is a shepherd, Mat is a farmer and Perrin is a trainee blacksmith. Nynaeve is the Wisdom (village healer) with an anger management issue and Egwene is her new apprentice, just allowed to braid her hair signifying that she is now old enough to marry, a revelation that terrifies Rand. Thom is a travelling performer. Moraine and Lan are the mysterious strangers revealed to be a powerful Aes Sedai and her Warder (magically empowered super-soldier) when all hell breaks loose in the quiet farming village of Emond's Field. Well, not all hell, but a large enough portion of it to make an impression on the terrified villagers.

So I'm nine and a half chapters in and the players are in place. Normality has been torn down clearing the way for the band to get on with some serious sword and sorcery stuff. After all, that's what we are all here for right?