I was starting to become very disappointed with the Wheel of Time series after reading The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, both of which I rated 3 stars. While I was enjoying Robert Jordan’s story, I found his books in desperate need of editing and his characters in need of depth. But The Shadow Rising pleasantly surprised me and is easily my favorite book of the series so far. It’s the only book that I’ve given a 5-star rating at this point.
Perrin Comes Alive
I’ll start with my favorite aspect of this book, which is Perrin’s storyline. Upon hearing of the rumors of White Cloaks in the Two Rivers, Perrin decides not to stay with Rand and heads home to Emond’s Field instead. Faile, Loial, and three Aiel accompany him, or maybe he accompanies them. Either way, he returns to Emond’s Field and starts to develop into a strong character apart from Rand and the original Fellowship of Emond’s Field. While I don’t really care for Faile as a character, I do like the way their romance is handled and I think this book is setting the groundwork for great things to come with Perrin and Faile. We also get to see how the folks back home are carrying on, and may be seeing the rise of Manetheren once again.
The Dragon Reborn
Rand’s story has been one of the weaker points of the plot so far; His “rebirth” has taken three books to flesh out and I just want to get that over with. This book finally seems to move that plot line forward as he goes to fulfill another one of his prophecies. We also get to see much more world-building through Rand’s POV and Jordan offers us some hints about what is to come. Unfortunately Mat is just along for the ride and doesn’t contribute much, if anything, to the story at this point. The same could be said for Moiraine and Egwene, which brings me to the weakest parts of this book and the series as a whole.
Weak Female Characters
As far as I can tell, Egwene, Elayne, and Nynaeve are still the same annoying, catty, childish character. Yes, character, because there is no distinction between those three; they are the same person down to every sniff, dress smoothing, and hair tugging. Nynaeve does something cool in this book, but it’s overshadowed by her incompetence and her annoying reaction to that incompetence. There really isn’t much more to say about this character. Min, on the other hand, returns to Tar Valon and provides the Amyrlin Seat with some very important information. However, the Amyrlin either ignores or forgets about this information, which sets off a chain of events that left me wondering why? This was important to the story, and I understand that it had to happen, but it was executed very poorly.
Conclusion
This book finally stepped away from the formulaic plot-lines of the previous two books and provided the reader with much more substance. I was fully engaged in the story throughout this book even though I found myself hating some of the characters and questioning how, after all this time, they could still be so stupid. But the developments and the world-building out-shined these moments for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Shadow Rising.