The Shadow Rising: Book Four of 'The Wheel of Time'

Great read

The Shadow Rising is the fourth novel in the Wheel of Time series, following the events of the climatic third book which has seemingly killed the Dark One's strongest Forsaken as well as resulted in the crowning of Rand al'Thor the Dragon Reborn for all of the world to see. The book opens with Rand struggling with his new-found position as the King of Tear as well as his friends' struggle to deal with these new changes to his personality. Perrin has begun a relationship with the beautiful noblewoman Faile, their personalities contrasting as well as cultural background. Mat, despite having been healed by Aes Sedai, maintains a great distrust for channelers and avoids associating with any of his former friends who now can, Nynaeve as well as Egwene struggle with the Black Ajah, and there is increasing tension at Tar Vallon which will soon boil over into outright civil war within the Aes Sedai. It is Robert Jordan's greatest talent to be able to weave together hundreds of minor plots and characters into a single coherent tapestry. Usually, in these sorts of books, there's always one or more characters I find intensely annoying. Instead, almost all of the Wheel of Time's characters are extremely likable. The only member of the group I want to sometimes punch in the face is Mat and that's only intermittently, oftentimes when he's displaying the qualities of a faithless friend or ungrateful jerkass. The Wheel of Time's protagonists may be unrealistically good but they have a Clark Kent, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia-like decency which reminds us why we're supposed to root for the side of right over wrong. Likewise, while the villains may not be as interesting as the heroes, Robert Jordan avoids making them two-dimensional. Lord Bornhald's motivations are a desire to avenge his father, no matter how misguided his belief Perrin is responsible for his death may be. Lanfear is motivated by her ambition and lust for power but also a desperate desire to be loved. Elaida may be acting against our heroes in the White Tower but the extremist has a point about how their actions must look to outsiders. The book provides us with a lot more insight into Aiel culture as well as the events surrounding the Breaking of the World. While I, initially, was a little nonplussed by the insertion of post-apocalyptic imagery into the otherwise feel-good series, I came to like how it highlighted how so much of the past had been forgotten. Discovering the Aiel had been a very-very different sort of people worked well to illustrate that. Rand's arrival brings the possibility of them learning from their forgotten past as well as the change promised by a tradition-bound culture which discovers most of their ideals are based on lies. The book expands on the character of Aviendha and I'm very interested in her coming relationship with Rand. Robert Jordan is not subtle in his foreshadowing of a marriage between Rand, her, Elayne, and Min. Aviendha's relationship with Rand is complicated by her extremely strong females for Elayne which, while not intended by Jordan, could easily be subjected to a queer reading. The conversations between them get a bit on the monotonous and repetitive side but I think she's probably my favorite of Rand's girlfriends. We also get a humanizing look at the Seanchan with the way the revelation that their traditional hatred of channelers may not, in fact, be as justified as they've traditionally believed. I hate slavery, even in fiction, perhaps because I grew up in the South and know how it can be rationalized away in cultural memory, so I am personally hoping for a series of dramatic rocks to their society. I, genuinely, hate the Seanchan far more than I despise the Dark One's forces and look forward to seeing them brought low. If the book has any major flaws, it's that not much really happens this time around except for the events in the White Tower. Which, shockingly, is handled in all of one chapter. Robert Jordan's work always moves at a languid pace but I felt this one was even slower than usual. I also disliked the removal of any moral ambiguity from Lanfear and was hoping there might be something redeemable to her. Despite this, there's genuinely affecting moments throughout. I, especially, loved the plotline in Two Rivers where events remain close to home for our heroes. I also liked the developing romance between Faile and Perrin. They may come from different worlds and have different attitudes to love but you can tell they have a deep affection for the other. In conclusion, The Shadow Rising is yet another installment I greatly enjoyed. I will continue this series right up until the very end.10/10

This has always been my favorite book of the series. That it should never have come to pass and that this series should have ended at three is something I have mentioned in my series of reviews before. The backstory of this particular book, or the set-up takes a full third of the book to get thru.We have a technique that Jordan has used before, in this book which shows us that often no amount of read and find out, his RAFO term that is a disservice to fans of the series and if he were still being raised you could scold him for it by some authority figure that Jordan might listen to. Instead Jordan's Hubris is such that he would use RAFO often and it is clear at least here, that he does things for which he does not think of the consequence.Men can channel, so why do we have our male lead hero (we have several by now) lose it with a miasma of the power leaking thru. (If you are afraid of spoilers in these reviews, my reviews are of my many times reread, and this being the fourth book of the series (fifth with the prequel) you should have some idea of what has happened and what will happen.)Oh the Aes Sedai covers the gaff and says that these things happen. Rand has been able to channel since book 1, and this is the first time it has happened. And it will not happen again. So a better name for the problem and better explanation should have been done.But why do I think this book is so good... Perrin and the Two Rivers. Here Perrin really develops. In the very first book and the others since, we break up our questers into various groups, once again three as one group is Rand, one is the near Aes Sedai girls searching for the Black Ajah, and Perrin.The sequence that takes place in the Two Rivers has always been amongst the best best i felt that was written, still (I have read all of it up to the 11th book.) Rand and his walk through the Aiel Waste could have been better I think, why just clan chiefs and a small honor guard. Why not the dream messages to the clan chiefs summoning the entire clans on the move. Rand wants an army to use.He has learned a little in two years away from being a sheepherder, and he has more to learn. But as he talks to himself he wants to assemble a force. He knows he wants an army, he has delayed the sense of urgency he keeps harking on.With the third leg of the quest we begin the world is so large I forget who I have whose met who problem. Thom Merrilin spent several days aboard Bayle Domon's boat, and they both know Floran Gelb. It would seem that they should acknowledge each other, why keep it secret, they can trust each other, and a run in with Gelb would surely have been a resolution to that bad person, who is just bad and not a Darkfriend.Then there is Byar and Bornhold. Perrin emerges as a good leader but he is shortsighted when it comes to these two. Bornhold also is not written convincingly. First he cares about the people he is charged to protect then he doesn't. Certainly does not have any of his fathers genes... These little quibbles are something that Jordan, or someone who could have talked to Jordan, could have made better. Life does have inconsistencies, but not so significant ones.Overall, the series is still worth constant rereading. and a very good time of it. Worth the price of admission and then some. And now rumors of movies... I hope that transition to the screen is handled as well as Tolkein. It is all worth it.

Really good condition. The spine on the dust jacket is a bit sun bleached, but for from that it looks good.

The Shadow Rising...the longest book in the entire Wheel of Time series, and perhaps the best installment yet in the series.As with the Dragon Reborn, the plot is divided across three primary threads. This time, however, Rand has come back into the limelight and taken one of those. He heads off to the Aiel waste with Moiraine, Egwene, and Mat. In the second thread, Nynaeve and Elayne journey to Tanchico to continue their quest to thwart the Black Ajah. In the third, Perrin Aybara returns to the Two Rivers with Faile, Loial, Gaul, and several Maidens of the Spear. In the fourth, Min is at the tower, where she witnesses some seismic events in the tower's history.Of the characters, Perrin has the most individual POV, but the largest portion of the book is spent on Rand's thread, which is dominated by Rand himself but also contains the POVs of each of his major companions. Min's portion of the book was, thankfully, the smallest. Of these three, I enjoyed Rand's the most. The other two major ones were definitely good, but both got a little side-tracked at times. Min is far from high in my opinion, but at least she wasn't given more than a minor amount of page-time.In terms of character development, The Shadow Rising proves to be even better than the first three books. The best of it all has to be Rand's character interaction with Elayne and Egwene. "Playing with Fire" and "Hard Heads" had some of the best conversations and funniest moments in the book. It's too bad that these three don't spend more time together.The plot has an excellent premise and resolution, though it tends to drag a bit in the middle. The earliest and latest parts of this book and indisputably the best. I really liked the ending of TSR. We get a lot of plot points tied up, some very intense action scenes, and Rand's Channeling makes a leap into the next level. Jordan's worldbuilding is also at it's best in this book. We really start to see the finer points of the magic-system in this book, and Rand's powers are(thank the Creator) growing stronger and more developed in every book.I'm beginning to get seriously annoyed by Jordan's portrayal of women, though. Half of them seem to have the same personality, or at least the same unpleasant traits. It would have been interesting if the novel had explored the ramifications of a world where women have traditionally been socially dominant, as opposed to this behavior just being portrayed as "how women are." I'm not really entertained by the whole "battle of the sexes" stereotype that these books keep repeating. It's not just the women, either. Thom's behavior was really quite inexcusable. Why does Elayne even put up with that old s**t, anyway?All in all, the Shadow Rising is another good book, if still perhaps a little over-detailed, like the rest of the series.