DNF @ 48%

Third time I'm attempting to read this, and this is the farthest I have got, but it's headed for the dnf pile once again. I'm all for huge ass series with epic quests, but oh gawd, this is like reading bad fanfiction. The reason I even tried so hard is because some years back I read the prequel New Spring and liked that so much, I reread it the following year. I got The Eye of the World hoping I could read more about Lan and Moiraine; instead I got some whiny brats (mind, I don't only include the three young men when I say 'brats') whom I could not learn to like, and rather awful portrayals of Lan and Moiraine.
I realise there are 14 years worth of experience as a writer separating the two books, but yeah, sorry. I can't keep doing this to myself in the hope that maybe 5 or 10 books into the series Jordan may begin to write in the style that I had liked in the prequel.
Further gripes:
1) What's with the names? I'm not even sure how to properly pronounce half of them, and they're all so ridiculous.
2) Also, I'm supposed to somehow relate to these people? Why should I, when they're acting like of bunch of spoiled brats. I mean, sure, they have the mentality of people coming from some backwater little village where they get any news only when the peddlers visit, but they are bullheaded to the extreme and refuse to see sense, even when they realise they're in the wrong. Because if they do deign to see reason, they'll have to - god forbid - admit they were wrong.
The only character I really like is Lan, and that's only because I've read the prequel, and not because of the way he's portrayed in The Eye of the World.
3) Also, word vomit much? Seriously, I could do with less tedious details, especially when they're supposed to be fighting for their lives in some supposedly fast paced scene. There's description, and then there's nitpicking at every little detail, making the story drag, which is what we have here. My copy has 800+ pages and halfway through, only about a week has passed for the characters.