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 rather the structure. The story is actually quite good, including a number of excellent scenes. The story here splits in three (four counting one brief but important sequence), and two of the three branches are quite strong. (The third, on the other hand, is likely the root cause of so many fans hating the various Aes Sedai-in-training in the series.) All three of the original ta'veren have big roles to play here, coming into their own in many ways. If the Dragon Reborn set them on the path of who they would come to be, the Shadow Rising carves that path in stone.

Here we finally see more of the Aiel society, one which has been fairly polarizing among the fans I know. The Aiel certainly have strange ways, and that is kind of the point, but they're not for everyone. This is also the book where we begin to see that, of all the channelers across the land, the Aes Sedai are in many ways the least effective. In truth, this is not so - more a matter of the perspectives we have than actual practice - but it's a subplot that irks me to a degree. On a similar note, here we begin to see that in some ways the younger, inexperienced characters are more capable than those who think they know everything. Surely this is not the case in every storyline, and in fact the conflict is tackled from a number of angles, but that does seem to be the overarching conclusion.

Aside from the Aiel, we also meet a few more of the Forsaken, learn more about the Two Rivers, and see a few old faces, including one ship captain who may have to be ta'veren himself to justify his constant appearances. However, we learn surprisingly little of what's going on in the world at large during the book. Between that and the unconnected and strangely unsatisfying climaxes, I wonder if this is the first book that didn't progress quite as Robert Jordan had originally envisioned. (Though it's certainly long enough.)

The story may be well and good, but as I mentioned above, it's the structure of the book that bothers me. Not the unconnected endings - I can't think of any better way to have handled that. Rather the way the narrative flips between storylines so rapidly, often sticking to a particular plot for only two or three chapters at a time. It is inevitably disappointing when a new point of view character appears just as things are getting interesting, and this happens pretty much constantly. Not that separating out the stories entirely would be preferable (at least one of the later books did just that, and it was awful), but the individual chunks could be a bit bigger.

That said, the Shadow Rising is considered a favorite book among a number of fans, and for good reason. Perrin and Mat are both incredibly strong characters during the book, and one scene in particular that gives us a glimpse at the Age of Legends is on the short list for "best-written scenes in the series." Most of the best parts of the next book are set up here, making the Shadow Rising perhaps a better book in the grand scheme of things than it manages to be on its own.