A review by stormlightreader
The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

4.0

 "Where men have built ten houses together, there is the potential for violence" 

I don't feel like I can produce coherent reviews of this series, so I'm just going to provide lists of what I've enjoyed (or not enjoyed) which have nothing to do with my rating, it's just plot threads that are irritating me 😂 

Things I did enjoy:
  • Lanfear 
  • watching Rand getting darker is fun
  • going back to The Two Rivers 
  • Mat and his hat 😂
  • this is a very questy book.
  • I had to chuckle at one point because it felt like Perrin has become that employee who accidentally became important and just needs a break 😂 
 
Things I didn't enjoy:
  • Faile is such a brat
  • I could not be convinced that her and Perrin were a romantic couple 
  • Lan is lovesick for Nynaeve and it seems hard to believe
  • Nynaeve is unbearable and and can't stand someone else being good at something - a terrible character trait
  • this book really demonstrates Robert Jordan's inability to write women, referring to women as 'plump' and referring to their 'chins' 
  • Aviendha's was unbearable! Why could she not shut up about Rand and Elayne?!

This book felt a little anticlimactic but after nearly 1000 pages, I was sort of expecting that but ultimately I did enjoy this book. Overall, the biggest flaw for me is the length of time between seeing the groups of characters makes it difficult to invest in a character (or a baddie). You can go dozens, if not hundreds of pages before revisiting a character, making it hard to follow some things.