“You read too much and understand too little.”
Now Rand grapples with the weight of being a ruler, but quickly things go wrong. Evil strikes, and a series of inanimate objects turn rouge, attacking their owners. Egwene and Elayne attempt to find the rest of the group, and to make up their minds about Rand. What happens in the fourth installment of the Wheel of Time series?
The Shadow Rising is one of my personal favorites of the series. I thought this book just had more going on than the previous ones, following more plotlines with more characters and whatnot. I just prefer more worldbuilding/plot focused narrative opposed to the more character focused stories. This book is probably my favorite in the series. Partially because I feel the story was most interesting, but honestly what it really comes down to is that it’s in the perfect place. The Tree of Life storyline with Mat was one of the more interesting ones of the series, and I also enjoyed the political unrest in Tarabon, as the politic side of fantasy has always been more interesting to me than the battles. I will say Rand in the Aiel Waste was a bit dull, but of all the long and (mostly pointless) adventures they have him go on, this one at least made sense for the narrative. As the fourth book, you have enough lore and world building you start to feel like you truly understand the series, but it’s not so far in that you’ve given up all hope and only mindlessly slug along to fulfill your promise to your father. The perfect medium. Overall, my favorite of the series, but still some definite room for improvement. 4 out of 5 stars.