Books : The Shadow Rising (The Wheel of Time, Book 4)

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Rating:

- A sexists, tedious,mess of a book.
Wow, what a mess of a book. I had read the first three about a year ago, and recently picked up the second 3 in a set.

Books with lots of characters and backstory are fine, but not to the point where you need a scorecard to keep track of whos who.
There are 3 main male and 3 main femal characters. Then add the head bad guy, his 12 forsaken, their varios minions. Next add a boyfriend or girfriend to each character. Finally add various officals, and people who join the team, people from history, a dozen evil `sisters' and you are looking at close to 100 characters.

And just to make in more difficult, all the the ancient ones have multiple names, and several of the other character use aliases. The characters will use someones true or alias first or last name willy-nilly. I actually had to make a note sheet with all the characters, and who was in what group.

Considering that the book is near 1000 pages, that is a much one os R.A. Salvatores Dark Elf Trilogy, but not nearly as satifiying. The story hops around between all the characters. Is so bad that at one point that the mother of one of the girls who likes Ran, one of the main males, meets a ex-wife of one of the Lords from when Rand was King of a city (for about 300 pages) and one of the 12 forsaken. There was an enitre chapter of them meeting.

The story hops around so much that you barely get to no anyone. It wouldn't be so bad but the book is so tedious. There is so much bloat in the book that the plot crawls along.

But the worst part of the book is its rampant sexism. Holy cow, if the author wrote a book treating women the way men are treat NOW would have a book burning party. The women are constatly making derogatory comments and treating men like slaves. (i.e. Male bodyguards are passed around from `owners' and forced to marry whoever the owner says.) Everyone in power is female and they make rude and sexist remarks constantly. I am actually hoping that every woman in this book dies and slow and painful death.

The story picks up at the end. I've still got 2 more to go in my boxset. Oh, joy. Maybe I can get a root canal instead

Rating:

- Greatest series ever!
This is a must read book and series. I've read a lot of books and i have to say Robert Jordan is very good. He is very detailed and although he does seem to drag things out a bit to much, he has a great plot. Anyone else that says they do not like this series doesn't know what they are talking about. If you're a true reader then you will enjoy this series. I can't express how great this book and series is. You MUST read every book, DO NOT SKIP AHEAD!

Rating:

- Fulfilling the prophecy
You really start to get into the Wheel of Time now that Rand has fulfilled the first part of the prophecy. You have to have it to read the next part of the series.

Rating:

- The peak of the series
I'm writing just as I'm starting Knife of Dreams (Book 11). I really feel the series peaked with this book and *The Fires of Heaven*. The info (especially the big thread of getting Rand recognized by the Aiel) is fresh, original, and thought-provoking (and Lan, for my money the most interesting character in the series, is still a Presence). Definitely a page-turner. I was sad to learn that the later books where the plot is really bogging down and Jordan is introducing yet *more* characters to an already mired series, are the ones that made #1 on the NYT bestseller list while the earlier books, where something was actually happening that you cared about, didn't rate as highly. I'm reading the series mainly for closure at this point and have been borrowing them from the library rather than buying. But at this point, the series was still a real grabber.

Rating:

- A great continuation to The Dragon Reborn
Jordan keeps up his same full-description, action-adventure writing. Its impossible not to get involved in the story. All thumbs up!!!

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