My, my, my... What have I gotten myself into?

I have finally finished the first book of the very long series...I did enjoy it though, and I'm hoping that I'm one of those people who love the whole series!

Rand, Mat and Perrin.. Three normal quiet village boys... So they thought! They dreamed of adventure and boy did they get it! This book really gets you questioning. You really get to know the characters and then throughout the book little hints and bits of information which is like *BOOM* Plot twist! Bet you didn't expect that! I kinda got to the stage where I thought I had it figured out but nope wrong again.. So in the end I gave up trying to foretell what was going to happen. Cause I was wrong just about every time.... But that could just be me.. Who knows?

Sometimes, the information and in depth detailing got a bit long and I found myself skimming the pages. But once again that's probably me and my style of reading.

Just a few things I liked about the book:

• The Way of the Leaf. "The leaf lives its appointed time, and does not struggle against the wind that carries it away. The leaf does no harm, and finally falls to nourish new leaves. So it should be with all men. And women"
• Both Rand and Perrin have no idea how to handle women! The funny thing is, when they were in one of those situations they both ended up thinking "Rand would know how to handle this" or the other way around! I giggled at that part.
• I loved the one bit of "poetry" from one of the other main characters -Lan the Warder (and so much more, I believe)- "The rose petal floats on water" Lan recited slowly, "The kingfisher flashes above the pond. Life and beauty swirl in the midst of death."

Towards the end I was kinda thinking "There's only 50 more Pages to go! How are you gunna round it all up to end?" And much to my dislike, the end did feel rushed. It was all resolved a little too quickly, though the very last sentence was done perfect. A little suspense and awe that you want to read the next book, and at the same time, resolved enough that you could end it all there, at the one book, with no regrets.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and getting to know the characters. I liked the humour, it showed that the three boys are still quite young, with very big futures ahead. The slight love interests between some of the characters, I kinda thought they were cute and non-expectant. The fast paced moments I tended to enjoy the most but it did settle into an even medium/steady pace. Which I didn't mind.

And so, from me, I give The Eye of the World 4 thumbs up! :D

For those who haven't read it, and are into Fantasy, I highly recommend that you at least give it ago. Don't be turned off by the fact that there are over a dozen books in the series. Because the first book itself is quite a story!

I'm not sure whether I should go straight into the second book or maybe read a few shorter stand alone books first... Any recommendations?