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Mar 31, 2009

Kat rated it:

3.5 stars

In The Shadow Rising, things start to slow down. In fact, it often feel like the reading of the story must take longer than it took for the events to actually occur.

Part of the problem is that Mr Jordan tells us nearly everything except when the characters make a bowel movement. Also, he regularly launches into pre-set spiels in which he re-describes something or someone who we've encountered numerous times before or re-explains something we've been told dozens o More...

2 comments like (13 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2009

Mary-Ann rated it:

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0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 25, 2011

rmunk rated it:

I have really enjoyed reading "The Wheel of Time" series. The amount of detail Robert Jordan has put into his fantasy world is phenomenal. The characters are well thought out, diverse, and develop gradually as the story progresses. One of my favorite things about the books is the diversity of the peoples that populate Jordan's world. Jordan has taken elements from almost every different (mainstream) religion on the planet. He has elements from Islam, Hinduism, Shinto, Buddhism, Judaism More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 10, 2011

David rated it:

Book 4 is something like book 3. There are hints of what's to come (referring to the tedium warning I mentioned in book 1 review). The plot and storyline advance at different paces in the book. The number of characters that are now present as well as the number of plot lines that are going on at the same time is starting to become difficult to juggle, for both the reader and, seemingly, the author. There have been hints of that in book 3 and it's more obvious here - resolutions to critical probl More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 02, 2011

Sanchita added it

"The Shadow Rising" by Robert Jordan is quite interesting. This is different from it's prequels because it doesn't have a major twist. Everything goes according to "plan" and no point is the reader shocked. But, what it lacks in the surprise element, it makes up for in minor turns, that keep you interested until the end.

Rand has begun fulfilling prophesies and attempts to unite the Aiel under one banner, along with Mat. The Two Rivers is in danger and Perrin goes to save it f More...

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Jan 23, 2012

Christopher rated it:

I find The Wheel of Time series tiresome, for the most part. The plot and characters vastly improved over the course of the first few books, but there is no relief from Jordan's penchant for over-describing everyone and everything in his fantasy world, down to the last fingernail or grain of dust. I doubt I'll manage to plow my way through the entire series before the next Breaking of the World.

Having said that, I think it's worth commenting on one thing Jordan does really well. He's v More...

2 comments like

Oct 03, 2011

Jude rated it:

The last few pages of this book was what catapulted it to one of the best books i have read in recent times..... The ending without a doubt is so compelling that is paints an unforgettable experience in your mind..... Yes an experience as it is described with such clarity that you find yourself tumbling through the rubble as the world crumbles in a haze of stones and the one power...... Once the dust settles you are left with a feeling of profound satisfaction..... to have witnessed such an epic More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 18, 2011

Justin rated it:

I did not finish this book, which is something I seldom do. Even with a couple of months of distance from the series, I don't know if I'll ever pick it up again. I might see in a while, but who knows?

I felt like nothing was accomplished in almost 700 pages of text. All of the characters continued to repeat irritating behaviors, and I just felt no longer invested in anything happening to them. The fact that I was less than a quarter finished with the series which felt like it was alread More...

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Jul 20, 2011

Gerald rated it:

At over 900 pages, I can honestly say I really can't remember what the beginning of the story was about. Not that this is a discredit to Jordan and his series. Reading "The Wheel of Time" is a lot like watching a TV show with a vague goal in some distant future. You love the show and you keep watching, and just like that, the story continues from book to book, along with character growth and event development.

"The Shadow Rising" follows the progress of our protagoni More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 29, 2011

Michael rated it:

Wow...All I can say is wow. 1000 pages of pure awesome. The beginning of The Shadow Rising is a bit slow, but soon picks up pace. Throughout the entire read I was enthralled. This book finally starts giving us in-depth looks at other characters besides Rand al'Thor. We are able to witness much maturity and growth of Egwene, Perrin, and Nynaeve. Faile plays a much bigger role in this book and the romances that Jordan hinted toward in previous books actually come to fruition - and he does it More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 06, 2011

Ryan rated it:

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Apr 18, 2011

Angie rated it:

I remember this book being my favorite in the series after Eye of the World, mainly because of Perrin's adventures. What can I say--I love the small villageness of the Two Rivers, and watching someone return home is something I long to see in all the Emond's Fielders.

This book is so long though that I'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to talk about. Did this book really start after the fall of the Stone? Did Elayne and Rand's "courtship" really just start, and was it th More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2011

Halden rated it:

Well book 4 has come and gone and I am still very much impressed by the Wheel of Time series of books. Once you get passed Robert Jordan’s repetitious and sometimes long winded nature you get rewarded with some excellent stories and fascinating characters. As the series progresses many characters begin to take part in isolated story lines some of which are excellent (Perrin Aybara), essential (Rand Al’Thor) and others I could skip over (Elayne, Nyneave and Egwene) but they all form the tapestry More...

1 comment like

Dec 23, 2010

Chariti rated it:

This series is brilliant. There is just the right balance of fantastical detail and speed of reading. The way the author writes, as I get more and more involved in the story, the more plausible everything seems... the perfect fantasy novel. There are rare moments where he gets a little too tied up in detailing the scene environment, but overall, this is an excellent story.
He does follow the story formula, which probably is what adds to the simplicity and readability of the storyline. Howe More...

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Dec 22, 2010

Peter rated it:

Jordan wastes some time in the beginning; about 200 pages of it. Absolutely NOTHING happens in the first 200 pages, and only my expectations and experiences from reading the first three helped me to pull through. Jordan also seems to be emphasizing romance a little more, where every woman seems to be beautiful and wearing clinging, defining silk or low-cut dresses. Most of the romance (to me) comes out of the blue, but I found it everywhere here: Rand, Elayne, Min, Perrin, Faile, Aviendha, etc. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 11, 2010

Ross rated it:

There are a couple of reasons that I have chosen to undertake this immense series that will require days and days of my life in order to consume it. One of the reasons, is the large cast of characters in addition to these characters have very strong archetypal leanings. So when the first three books always climaxed the same way, with all the characters together battling pure evil, it got a little dull, also the author would refer to many mysteries, but never reveal any of them. This novel, st More...

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Jun 28, 2010

James rated it:

If I had any complaint about the second and third books of the Wheel of Time, it was that everything happens to come together in one big unlikely climax. Had, I say, because I take it back. The fourth book is the first in the series to have branching storylines that don't come together in the end - rather than a single, highly coincidental climax, there are three independent ones. And frankly I preferred the last two.

It is not the story of the Shadow Rising that I take issue with, but More...

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May 17, 2010

Stoyan rated it:

This is the best of the early volumes of the Wheel of Time. We follow the Dragon Reborn and Mat to a city in the Aiel Waste -- Rhuidean. Rand fulfills a prophesy and becomes the Car-a-carn -- the Chief of Chiefs for the Aiel. Mat encounters the snakelike aelfinn and the foxlike eelfinn -- beings who answer questions and grant wishes. Jordan weaves these wondrous fairy tale elements into the story making it ever more complex.

Yet, this is, above all, Perrin's book. The childhood frien More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 15, 2010

Mark rated it:

This review stands for the entire Wheel of Time series.

The Wheel of Time appears to be in good hands with Brandon Sanderson penning the last Book (in three parts) of Robert Jordan's epic.

Although I have been reading these books for as long as I have been reading Katherine Kerr's Deverry novels, and will be reading them at least until 2012 when the final book is due out, I have enjoyed them so much that I am willing to ignore the length of time it has taken. It must be almost More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 18, 2010

Jen rated it:

I own the english version and the Finnish versions of this great book. The english version has been translated into finnish as 3 parts: Pimeän Varjo (eng. The Shadow of Dark), Lohikäärme herää (The Dragon arises) and Kultasilmä (Golden eye). I don't know why but all books from Wheel of time has been translated into 2 or 3 different books, of which usually the first book has the same name as the "motherbook" of those few separate books.
Wheel of time has been my favorite past time r More...

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Oct 22, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

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Mar 23, 2009

Emily rated it:

Finally. Finally. FINALLY.

A book of Jordan's series I liked. From Perrin's point of view (which helped me).

This book was starting to become humorous with all the love lines happening. Men were trying to protect the women but being stubborn when the women would not yield to them. The women would try to guide the men, and the men would become extremely stubborn. >quite funny. Yet interesting because I found myself rooting for a lot of them.

Mat, Perrin and R More...

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Sep 06, 2009

Gabby rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 17, 2009

Melina rated it:

Until this book, I really enjoyed this series. But at #4, it starts to take a harried, complicated turn and I started losing interest in the characters because so few of them act realistically at all as far as emotions go. And the attitudes toward female characters finally wore thin. At least in George RR Martin's books, even though the women were treated like crap, raped, beaten, etc, they still maintain dignity, bravery, and are overall very well-developed characters. Almost all of the females More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 01, 2012

Ricky rated it:

It really is as good as everybody says it is, and tSR represents the best part of the story. I’m seeing a very solid Pattern (ha ha) to the books, as each is a complete story, in and of itself. There was definitely more romance in this volume, even a wedding (Perrin and Faile), and a lingering romance between Rand and Elayne (though it never really takes off, and who knows when it will). The last four hundred were much better than the first, and perhaps the reason I liked this one so much was More...

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Jun 01, 2010

Dorian rated it:

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Jan 21, 2009

Carrie rated it:

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Dec 22, 2008

Jon rated it:

Never finished it. Arguably the worst thing I tried to read. It took me a while but in this book I realized that "ta'veren" is just a cheap disguise for deus ex machina. Jordan does whatever he wants, handwaves while yelling ta'veren, let's you think the world is pulling all the strings.

This was so bad I didn't do any pleasure reading for 18 months afterwards.

9 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 04, 2011

Mark rated it:

This is another enjoyable book that sees some great action and some very enjoyable plot dumping. You really get the feel that Rand is starting on his path to uniting the people of the world, and as he does so, the world is falling apart, and established institutions are collapsing. The Shadow is indeed rising, and its influence is spreading.

I love the parts with Lord Perrin taking control of the Two Rivers, reluctantly, and all the lovely combat with the Trollocs, and those dastardly More...

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Feb 21, 2009

MsMiz (Tina) rated it:

This was the best out of the series thus far. Granted it could be because the good guys get a leg up for once. With that said, I found this one to show more of the human side of things. Even the stoic Aei Saidei show some weakness, yet strength in needing. To sum this book up, I would say love and caring are a prominent theme. I can say that I am now officially sucked in and will complete the series without hesitation. I am also intrigued to see how the last book is woven as someone else wil More...

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