And Rand must go to Rhuidean, says the Aiel. Mat tags along because he is compelled to go.

Since Egwene was carelessly hopping around Tel’aran’rhiod, one of the Wise Ones of the Aiel summoned her for a study abroad program so she joins Moiraine, Mat, Lan, and Rand as they travel to the Aiel Waste, to Rhuidean. Three of the Aiel join him and Faile as well as Loial, who leads them through the Ways. Shortly after the attack, the characters decide on their chores for this installment. The decisions: Perrin returns to the Two Rivers with the annoying Faile in tow. I wonder if all the books are structured this way. Totally did not see that coming (rolls eyes).

Like in the previous three books, it is the attack that gets the characters moving and it is always preceded by a moment of security, or of the characters dawdling, wondering what they should do and then-Surprise!!-the trollocs attack. What gets the characters moving is a trolloc attack. Perrin wants to return to Two Rivers to help his people, who are being attacked by White Cloaks and trollocs, but wants to protect Faile as well. Mat wants to leave Tear but can’t because of Rand’s pull as a ta’veren. Rand has Callandor and is trying to control his power while staving off Moiraine’s influence, rule Tear, and keep some of the Forsaken at bay. We pick up with everyone (Rand, Perrin, Mat, Moiraine, Lan, Nynaeve, Elayne, Egwene, Faile, Loial, Thom) in Tear. We see a bit more of the Aiel and learn their history we realize how corrupt the White Tower is, or rather, how divided it is and we see Perrin become the leader he is destined to be. The length of the series should have been an indicator that Jordan never realized that he was going overboard with length.ĭespite that, this installment of the Wheel of Time series was great in that we learn more about this fantasy world as we see it begin to change. But for some silly reason I thought (or convinced myself) that by the fourth book Jordan would realize how unnecessary it is to make his books so long for no reason. This might seem like unnecessary ranting since I’ve completed the first three books in the series, which are all hefty, and read the prequel of the series shortly after completing The Shadow Rising. Although it is a good read, the length turned me off and soured my enjoyment of the story. Available on Amazon and at your local bookstore.

The shadow rising book cover