arobinyouknow 's review for:

The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
5.0
adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective tense

What else can I rate the best book in my favorite fantasy series of all time? It’s absolutely five stars. 

As the pace slows down and the political maneuverings become more complex, the characters are brought into stark relief and are given the impetus that propels them through the rest of the series. So many iconic and defining moments happen in this book. While the previous volume felt stuck in a rut, this one comes out in full force as it opens the much more nuanced and — for lack of a better word — epic chapter of the series. 

This, to me, is where the Wheel of Time shifts from being a simple story in a complex world to a complex story in an ever-evolving world.

As ever, the one caveat is that the women are very clearly written by a man without much sense. The romance is, uh, awkward, and all that.