The Shadow Rising

I didn't like this as much as the others so far. I would get interested in one of the characters stories and then the story would switch to a different character.

Wow that was the original review when I first read it. Enjoyed it so much better this time!

Among an intricate plot and strong character development, with fascinating new aspects into the world,

The Shadow Rising is plagued with the pacing issues purportedly the series’ weakness.

The plot has so many subplots that it requires quite a bit of set-up and POV-jumping. It feels like being adrift for the first part of it; as soon as the story seems to rest on a character’s story, it’s moving on to the next. However, once the initial groundwork is laid out and the plot begins to settle for longer periods of time, it becomes truly engrossing. It starts and stops unevenly, but the last quarter is nothing but high-tension, epic climax. Of the first four Wheel of Time novels, the plot in this installment was easily the best, not only because of the successful linking of many dangling threads, but also because it felt more complete on its own, without relying on much set up from previous books, or for conclusions to come in the next.

The character development was well-drawn as well. Faile and Perrin continue their relationship, and it’s very cute—when they’re not throwing up red flags. The ebb and flow of tension between them makes for an interesting addition of a different type of drama compared to the series’ usual fare; a little relationship issues here and there makes for the icing on the cake. Outside of romance, however, Nynaeve shows a new side as well as she struggles with defining herself and a newfound friend in the context of a conflict between their interests. Of course, Rand, the Dragon, had the most attention. His troubled thoughts, juxtaposed with how other characters, such as Mat or Elayne, view him, made for a complex and well-rounded portrayal of a young man coming into new responsibility. He makes mistakes, but he learns from them; he’s a bit of a coward, but also shows courage where unexpected.

In terms of the One Power, Jordan continues to amaze with his magic system. A climactic fight between Nynaeve and a newcomer to the series perfectly illustrates the flexibility and ingenuity of it, and the subtlety pervading not only its use, but how Jordan weaves his stories.

(As an aside, the sass in this novel is still alive and kicking, but thankfully, the unneeded ‘extraness’ that seemed to plague half the Aes Sedai in the last installment has been written at a more tolerable level)

Extremely repetitive in places and some story lines feel dump and forced (the romance parts). I'm in it for the story now....

This is a hard book to review. It took me three tries to finish it without DNFing. Third time's the charm, I suppose.

My biggest problem with this book was how the women were written. I could feel myself inwardly cringing away from the women's POV--someone in a review said that Robert Jordan disliked women. After reading this, I can believe it.

The men don't understand the women and the women don't understand the men. Everyone gives everyone else headaches.

The story itself is good, but I feel like it's buried under mounds of dreck. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get through the next book in the series--I doubt I'll read the whole series, even if I want to read Brandon Sanderson's contributions.

The best one since the first one. This one felt like Dune meets Lord of the Rings, but without the weirdness of Dune and the succinctness of LotR. Could have been 5 stars if it wasn’t so stinking long.