Book #6

The Shadow Rising
Robert Jordan

Having just finished book #4, The Shadow Rising, I’ve decided to give up on the Wheel of Time books for a time.  I have two reasons.  One, I do not like them as much as I had hoped, and two; they are each so long that it is taking me way too long to get through one.  I will never get anywhere near 100 books reading these massive things.

The Shadow Rising is 980 pages in paperback.  While the writing is okay, and the stories are enjoyable, there is just way too much filler to keep you plugging along and they are just too long.  I have felt this before and even mentioned it before, and in my opinion, some editor should have told him to cut at least 100 pages out of this thing.  Each of the four I have read would have been better for significant tightening.

But, not liking them is a much harder thing to describe.  I can point to what I do not like, which includes the entire plot line about the Seanchan, but I have not been able to figure out exactly why I do not like that plot line, except that is makes me nervous and anxious.  All I can clearly say is that I do not like it.

The Shadow Rising includes a change in the general formula of the first three books.  Just like the first three books, Jordan splits the group up and sends them in different directions.  Perrin returns to the Two Rivers with Faile; Elayne and Nynaeve are off to Tanchico in Tarabon looking for the Black Ajah and; Rand, Egwene are off to the Aiel Waste.  Unlike the first three books, Jordan never brings them back together.  Each of the three groups deals with the problems before them, and finally Rand takes another step forward to his destiny.

But, I won’t be back to them right away.