Summary
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…
Review
I feel conflicted about The Shadow Rising because I feel like this is the best Wheel of Time book so far in the series, but at the same time it was also the one I struggled with reading the most. I unintentionally took a year’s break between reading The Dragon Reborn and The Shadow Rising, simply because I became distracted with so many other amazing novels, but I determined that I would finish WoT in 2024. Well, I immediately changed my mind on that goal because it took me so dang long to finish The Shadow Rising. A book this size will normally take me 5-6 days to read, sometimes less if I really love it. I spent 15 days on this one, it just dragged so much and I couldn’t bring myself to read for long periods of time. I will definitely be continuing the series and I want to finish it, but I need longer breaks between books so I don’t burn myself out on WoT.
I don’t want to be too negative because like I said, I do think this book is the best of the WoT books so far. It really changed up the plot structure from the first 3 fetch quest books, and I loved all the worldbuilding we got. I feel like this is the book where Jordan really finds his feet and we start seeing the bigger picture. The characters start coming into their own and act less like annoying teenagers, though I am nervous about where Rand’s love life appears to be heading. I quite enjoyed the premise of all 3 of the storylines we follow in the novel. I know a lot of people don’t like Perrin’s story in the book but I didn’t mind it at all, and I liked his character growth back in the Two Rivers. And especially everything that happens in the Aiel Wastes was just mind blowing. Without going into spoilers, there were so many amazing scenes there, and so many reveals with larger implications for the series. I continue to love the worldbuilding of WoT, definitely still among the best fantasy has to offer.
This is why I feel conflicted though because despite there being so much to love in this book, I had a very difficult time working my way through it. And if this is considered by many to be one of the best of the series, I’m a bit nervous for “the slog”. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m more well read in adult fantasy than when I read the first 3, but I had a much harder time with The Shadow Rising. I think the writing style just doesn’t work as well for me. This probably isn’t saying anything new for seasoned WoT fans but the repetition of lines is just ridiculous. If I never heard the line “trollocs will eat anything, as long as it’s meat” again, it would be too soon. And every time one of these lines that Jordan repeats over and over would pop up, it ripped me out of my immersion and I had to put in more work to get back into it.
I think my view of the book is less negative than this review may make it seem. I actually enjoyed most of the characters, plot, and worldbuilding quite a bit. Though I do still find Nynaeve and Egwyene annoying. I will definitely be continuing the series, and I really am looking forward to seeing where the story goes. I think this is just a series that shows its age somewhat, and will require me to take it at a slower pace than I would prefer.