The Shadow Rising

by Robert Jordan

Reviewed by Coral

Having proved himself to be the prophesized Dragon Reborn, Rand now looks to confirm that he is the Aiel’s prophesized “He Who Comes With the Dawn”. Travelling to their holy city Rhuidean, Rand must survive both the city itself and open hostility from other Aiel if he is to unite the Aiel tribes behind his banner.

He is joined on his journey by Moraine, Lan, Egwene - who has been told the Aiel Wise Women can teach her how to navigate the dream world - and Mat - who has been told that unless he also travels into Rhuidean, forbidden to non Aiel, he will die.

Meanwhile, Perrin, Faile and Loial hurry back home to Emond’s Field and Two Rivers to protect it from Whitecloaks. But the Children of the Light may not be the biggest threat facing their home. Trollocs are rampaging through the country side and Perrin’s wolf dreams also warn him of a great evil called the Slayer.

Before joining Rand, Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne had been questioning the two members of the Black Ajah they had captured. Each of them has a different story to tell, with one claiming the Black Ajah will free the captured false dragon Mazrim Taim to have him impersonate Rand and destroy his reputation. The other claims that the Black Ajah are in Tanchico, trying to undermine the authority of that city. Nynaeve and Elayne must choose which threat is greatest to try and stop it.

Having arrived at Tar Valon, Min is taken into the confidence of the Amyrlin Seat, Siuan Sanche. She is asked to use her visions to try and root out any remaining Black Ajah sisters. But her visions only show her death and destruction coming to many of the Aes Sedai in Tar Valon. Can she find the cause of all this death in time to prevent it? Or are her visions truly set in stone?

I think this may be the first book that really didn’t feel like a “quest” book. Thankfully the travelling from place to place went by a lot quicker and a lot more time was spent in the various locations with the various plots. I know they were introduced before, but always having Waygates or Portal stones around to cut down on travel time feels like a cop out some times, though I am grateful not to waste time on the actual travelling.

The plot gets pulled in a lot of different directions in this book, which is one of the problems I had in remembering everything back when the books first came out and why I put them aside until they had all been published. I sometimes wish that the chapters could be ordered differently. We get a lot of chapters in one plot, then a lot in another, then a third, so it can feel like a long time passes before we get back to the first plot. Also, as it happens when they all first split up, it sometimes feels like a lot of the book is set up as we are getting the introduction of each plot one right after another.

I really disliked the Elayne-Min-Egwene-Rand thing the first time around and I am not liking it much better this time. With so many threats to them, I wish that they could focus on something more than their romantic entanglements. I think sometimes, it can be to the detriment of Elayne and Min’s characters especially when they are willing to sacrifice or ignore things just for Rand.

Honestly, given everything that is happening, I just want to scream at Elayne for ignoring Mat’s warnings about her mother’s lover. I think the last book made it quite clear who he was supposed to be and I think if she looked at it she would see the danger there to her mother. But of course she ignores his warnings as exaggerations.

Faile is a hard character to get a read on. I wish we could have some chapters told from her point of view.

Rand continues to make stupid decisions. If possessing a sword will mark you as the Dragon Reborn, I would never leave it behind, I don’t care how many magical traps you place on it. And of course it takes him forever to figure out who Selene really is, even though he should have known she was an enemy two seconds after he met he in book 2. In this book she tells him her true identity to his face and he still doesn’t believe it right away. Moron.

Despite feeling that I am not enjoying it as much as the first time I read these books, I am still enjoying them. I want to know what happens (and given how easy it is to get spoilers, I am trying really hard not to ruin the books for myself).

Grade: B