It is the easiest thing in the world to denigrate something purely through the use of snide remarks and anecdotes condescendingly offered.

This review is the equivalent of a sarcastic teenager making fun of a movie he wants to hate. Everybody caught the obvious parallels to LoTR in RJ's work the first time we read it. We all noticed his often long winded descriptions. But this guy picks out a few of the most obvious criticisms of RJ's work and digs no deeper.

His description of the Ways as simply a cheap short cut to mordor is absolutely ridiculous. The concept of the ways was absolutely critical to the entire novel. If you read the book and gave it even a little thought, the usage of the ways from Caemlyn did not seem contrived at all (or like some kind of lame cop-out). The only thing that seems like a cop-out is the appearance of Loial to take them through the ways.

There is so much more to WoT than this reviewer cares to discuss. There is an incredible depth, consistency, and wonderful imagination in these works. The prologue to the Eye of the World is still one of the most fantastic passages of fantasy I have ever read. After reading it I knew I was about to dive into an incredible story.

I suppose in short I am trying to say that this guy's review did not do justice to EOTW. Anybody here could effectively lampoon any work simply by imitating the tone of Adam Roberts. It is sad that Adam Roberts offered a few bits of drive by sarcasm as a review of the first two books of one of the most successful fantasy series of all time. The simple fact that EOTW began a series of twelve 600-900 page books with book twelve hitting #1 on the NYT best seller list indicates that a deeper look into the merits of the book is warranted. It is not just a tolkein rip-off. If that is all you came away with then it is your own fault.