Story becoming more involved and interesting, but cracks starting to appear

books:


	• The Shadow Rising (The Wheel of Time, Book 4) Robert Jordan Tor Fantasy, 1993 - 1008 pages average customer review:based on 268 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Shadow Rising

I've already loved the series in book form. The audio books bring it more to life for me.

Story becoming more involved and interesting, but cracks starting to appear

This is the point at which I became more involved and more replused by the Wheel of Time series. (Does Love-Hate sound familiar to anyone here? Anyone?). If you are reading this, you have either read this far, or have just finished and are seeing what other people thought. Either way, no plot spoilers needed.

The characters are separated into four groups as other revewers have discussed. The book gets more involved as Jordan decides to further develop his second line of characters. However, it starts to have a Sunday afternoon mini series feel.

Main things this book does well
1) Doesnt leave it to Rand to save everyone
2) Gives some of the other characters (Perrin, Nyaeneve, Elayne, Thom) room to breathe and develop
3) Has a better handle on the action sequences (not just 100 pages of Inns and smalltalk followed by 2 pages of action)
4) The dream sequence in Rhudean is pretty awesome
5) Nice return to the Two Rivers (Tolkien-feel) environment
6) Dramatic last 200 pages (first time I have been unable to put the book down since end of book 2)

Main things this book does poorly
1) Terrible opening 200 pages in Tear (esp the discussions between Elayne, Egwene and Rand)
2) Lot of stuff you never wanted to know about the Aiel
3) Moiraine's character role is getting weaker, as is Lan's, Mat's
4) Faile (although better than book 3)
5) Far too many redundant second layer characters
6) Poor English paragraphs more frequent
7) Blatant rip-off of various Dune book aspects (which I wouldn't mind in of itself, borrowing is perfectly acceptable in fantasy, but not taking a crisp concept for a people and watering it down to the point where we even get to know things about their society that we wouldn't even know-or care- about our own. There, Ive said it.)

When you get to the end of this book, its decision time. Many of the reviewers have said the first four books are the best. Some extend that to the first six. For me, there is still enough there for me to pick up book 5.

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Long Live the Dragon!!

Love this series!! the writing on this series is great!! It did take me awhile to get used to the reading styles of mike and kate, but I do enjoy the series!

An awesome continuation...

The history continues as well as characters and plot development.

Rand finally accepted being the Dragon Reborn, Mat yet refuses to acknoledge that he is Ta'veren and Perrin take the full role to protect the Two Rivers people from, let's say, menances. All this with Aes Sedai and their hidden reasons, Seachan and Children of Light plotting and the Dark One and his minions in the shadows.

The story is wraping, the text is fluid and surelly at the end you'll want to read the next book of this saga (Fires of Heaven).

I liked it a lot and strongly recommend.

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The wheel is spinning a lot of threads

'The Shadow Rising' is the fourth book in Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time' series. It follows the adventures of Rand, Mat, Perrin and an ever growing number of secondary characters and plot threads. It's a good book, but I'm glad there are websites that give quick summaries of the books in the series, so I can quickly get up to speed on a particular plot thread that was last mentioned briefly two books ago. There is a lot going on and there is no way I would be able to keep it all straight without some kind of help. But with those resources to rely on these books are a lot of fun as you can see things hinted at by Jordan two books ago start to play out now, and you know that some things hinted at now will manifest a couple of books down the line.
Knowing that there are seven (soon to be eight?) more books to come is daunting, but let's face it- I've been sucked in and am in it for the long haul.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The seals of Shayol Ghul are weak now, and the Dark One reaches out. The Shadow is rising to cover humankind.In Tar Valon, Min sees portents of hideous doom. Will the White Tower itself be broken?In the Two Rivers, the Whitecloaks ride in pursuit of a man with golden eyes, and in pursuit of the Dragon Reborn.In Cantorin, among the Sea Folk, High Lady Suroth plans the return of the Seanchan armies to the mainland.In the Stone of Tear, the Lord Dragon considers his next move. It will be something no one expects, not the Black Ajah, not Tairen nobles, not Aes Sedai, not Egwene or Elayne or Nynaeve.Against the Shadow rising stands the Dragon Reborn.....

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