The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

this is a spoiler review

I just finished Wheel of Time Book 4: The Shadow Rising, By Robert Jordan. This book is generally talked about as the best book in the series.

This is the first time in the series where we really see “He Who Comes With The Dawn” really tear apart the world. You can see some of the seeds Jordan plants in previous books really come to life here. An obvious example here being the relationship between the Tinkers and the Aiel. The exposure of many of their ideals being the complete opposite to what they once were with Rand’s journey through Rhuidean. I also love Lanfear’s character and am really interested to see how she deals with her love for Lews Therin later on.

The book was not all perfect, I felt it sort of dragged on in the middle. Lots of chapters with traveling with the Aiel, or Perrin just kind of setting up this fight against the Trollocs. Don’t get me wrong, each of these plot lines finished up well, it just took a long time to get there. I also thought the Rhuidean chapter being told backwards was very confusing, but after a summary and a reread I appreciated it.

That being said, this series has been great so far. I am mainly looking forward to more with The White Tower and I am waiting to see how Mat’s role expands later on in the series.

Rating: 4 stars