Book: The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan

It was a random woman in the T-Mobile shop who recommended I read this. "It's so much better than the Game of Thrones books I see you reading" she said. Of course I discarded her advice as the rantings of a madwoman at first, but once I googled it I began to realise that the Wheel of Time books were actually quite epic - and due to finish this year. The idea of embarking on 14 volumes of 6-800 page books was quite thrilling too - this will probably keep me occupied for the next few years at least, I thought, and that kind of investment in a book was exciting.

So here I am at the end of the first volume, The Eye of the World, with mixed feelings. The good first then: there is tons of potential here with the huge map, the wonderful mythology and a plot you just know is being set up for the long game. It's just a shame that the whole thing was a little flat: in characterisation, characters themselves and drama. I hate to break it to the lady who introduced me to it but Games of Thrones this ain't, and I've yet to have my breath taken away in the same way ASOIAF did.

But it is good enough to have me hanging on and who knows: maybe the real reward does indeed lie in the long haul. I look forward to finding that out - the best thing about the series is that I won't have to wait to progress in it.