My introduction to Robert Jordan was in my freshman year of college and I hated The Eye of the World. It was too derivative, especially the part that was directly derivative of Tolkien (which was the entire first half of the novel). I found the writing style to be a bit simplistic and I couldn't stand the failed attempt at copying Tolkien's linguistic efforts.

I wasn't going to read any more Jordan books. He was going to be one of those authors, like Terry Brooks, whose books actually went into a garbage bin (something I hardly ever do). My friends, who had recommended Jordan to me, begged me to try the next book.

The FIRST time I read The Great Hunt, as a result, I thought it was moderately better than The Eye of the World because it was less derivative. Fain taking over the group of Trollocs, Dark Prophecy, the Seanchan and a whole host of other things that were a bit less formulaic, made me say, "I guess it's not such a bad story." I still wasn't thrilled with the writing style but it was fun. It was because of The Great Hunt being a bit more innovative that I went on to read The Dragon Reborn. It was after reading THAT book that I was committed to the series.