Reviews

The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

cultneophyte7's review

5.0

Easily top 3 books in the series, one which marked the point of no return on my first read, and something I can only appreciate even more on this third read. It feels like much further in the series for some reason, the characters already showing glimpses of their final forms, and boy oh boy, the whole Rhuidean sequence is just incredible!!

house3000's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

livistarr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

gilliske's review against another edition

5.0

ja, wat kan ik meer zeggen dan: Waauw, alweer een prachtig verhaal en vooral op het einde super spannend.

Het blijft verrassen hoe goed deze reeks is uitgedacht. Terloopse opmerkingen/feiten van vele hoofdstukken/boeken geleden blijken een stuk later opeens terug te komen mét betekenis. Het blijkt achteraf allemaal te kloppen. Ik kan met gewoon niet voorstellen hoe een auteur hieraan begint. Hoe kan je in boek 1 al zoveel incorporeren dat x aantal boeken later pas echt een rol zal spelen? En er voor zorgen dat de lezer zich ook bewust is van deze referenties...

Niet te veel over nadenken zeker... gewoon genieten van het resultaat.

Veel woorden ga ik er niet meer aan vuil maken... ga gewoon aan de volgende boek beginnen.
Alleen dit nog: Nynaeve is coool !

vlafreek's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This one was a STRUGGLE for me to get through. While there were definitely interesting aspects to the story (the Aiel storyline in particular), I just felt like this book draggedddd. I will continue the series, but it might be awhile before I read #5.

seattlehols16's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

nohadon's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

3.5

As a fourth entry into a fourteen book series, this is a solid middle book, not great, but not terrible. TSR suffers from character perspective bloat, and especially suffers from how contrived Perrin’s plot line is, and how much of the book his plot is for it being so weak. Rand’s plot

in Rhuidean gaining the allegiance of the Aiel

with Moiraine, Mat Egwene strong supporting characters whose growth and character moments I enjoyed quite a bit. 

TSR’s strongest area is in the classic fantasy trope of mystery in the history and form of the magic system.

The Aiel originally following the way of the leaf,  Mat speaking the old tongue and entering the ter’angeal arches, wondering what Moiraine and Rand asked in the arches themselves, the fall of the White Tower

. 

qjbrown96's review

5.0

Oooo mama this was a good one. I loved the battle sequences and the world building. Learning about the Aiel was cool and learning about Rand’s true heritage was cool but I wish it was more climactic like a Jon Snow bombshell. My only complaint with Jordan’s books is Loial is my favorite character yet he barely is ever in these dang books!

blairfink's review

adventurous

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

willjohnson98's review against another edition

5.0

When I read genre fiction, particularly the hyper-escapist, no-literary-merit-whatsoever fantasy fiction that this series epitomizes, I know not to expect much. This book, for what it is, still wowed me with its ability to redefine, thousands of pages into this series, what it means to be in this world. Not much more than entertainment, but highly recommended nonetheless.