The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

Summary

Book four of the Wheel of Time series follows the continuing adventures of Rand al'Thor and his companions.

This book's story begins shortly after the events of the previous book. Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, Moirraine, and Lan are hanging out in the fortress called The Stone of Tear with their new Aiel friends and the uneasy nobility of Tear.

The 'Great Lord of the Dark' isn't happy and sends some bubbles of evil at them. At least that's how Moirraine explains it. Rand ends up fighting his reflection, Perrin gets attacked by his axe, and Mat gets stabbed in the finger by a playing card.

Rand decides to send all the lords of Tear on foreign missions to get rid of them, and plants his sword into the floor of the Stone so that the folks will remember him and heads off on another mysterious quest into the Aiel waste. His adventure takes him to Rhuidean, the mysterious city where the Aiel go to become clan chiefs or 'Wise Ones.' He goes in and has a vision explaining the entire history of the Aiel people and their link to the Dragon. When he comes out, he is marked with two dragons on his forearms, and the Aiel make him their chief of chiefs or something like that. He then takes a journey to a place where all the Aiel will gather so he can tell them. On the way, they get attacked by Trollocs and Draghkars and by the end, some of the Forsaken even show up.

Mat goes through a mysterious twisted doorway and enters another world where he can have any three questions answered. He finds out that he has to go to Rhuidean with Rand and ends up finding another twisted doorway, but when he goes through the people there try to kill him or something, but he won't talk about it. After that, he just follows Rand around and gibbers in the Old Tongue, and finds out that he has other people's memories in his head.

Perrin finds out that the military society, The Children of the Light, has invaded his home town, looking for him (because he killed a few of them in book one). So he gets Loial, the Ogier, and his girlfriend, Faile, and their three Aiel friends Gaul, Bain, and Chiad to come with him. At first he intends to surrender to the Children of Light to make them leave his family alone, which is why he tries to leave Faile behind, but she persistently follows him. When he arrives, he finds out that his hometown is being ravaged not only by the Children of Light but also by Trollocs. So he buckles down and helps the people defend themselves against the increasingly savage Trolloc attacks.

Meanwhile, Egwene contacts an Aiel Wise One in her dreams who promises to teach her how to dream better if only she'd come meet her in the Aiel waste. So, she goes along with Rand and Mat.

Nynaeve and Elayne keep pursuing the Black Ajah and their hunt takes them to Tanchico and throws them in the middle of some kind of civil turmoil. They meet Egeanin, who is a Seanchan, sent back to mop up after the Seanchan's failed invasion at Falme in book two.

What I liked

The suspense. This was the most suspenseful book yet. It kept me turning the pages late at night.

Also the character development. I liked how the characters developed in this book. I found the characters a little more complex and interesting than in the previous books.

What I didn't like

The drama. As always. Elayne loves Rand, she sends him a letter to tell him so. Rand doesn't react the way she wanted him to, she sends him a nasty letter. Rand is very confused. Berelain tries to force herself on Perrin. Faile finds out and gets angry at Perrin. Perrin tries to make Fail stay behind when he leaves for Emond's Field. Faile gets even more angry and gives him the silent treatment almost the whole way there. It seems a little too melodramatic--like if these people come from a dumpy trailer park and watch too much Jerry Springer and Maury.

This book was LONG! One thousand pages! It took me a really long time to get through it and it was extremely suspenseful. At the end of the book, Rand uses a talisman that he has been carrying to open doors while he's having his climactic battle but I couldn't remember where he'd picked it up or what its significance was or anything and it had all been explained near the middle of the book.

Conclusion

This is my favourite book so far in the series. A little long, but good, and entertaining. 4/5 dragon tattoos.