Their actions are dictated by two needs: to have certain characters in certain places at certain times, and to ensure that all the main characters are doing something every few chapters. They began their literary lives as uncertain do-gooders unwillingly pulled into legend, but now that they’re wielding magic, fighting gigantic horned beasts, and time-travelling, you would think they’d have some nuanced thoughts and complex emotional responses.

Well, maybe it’s unfair to call the characters insufferable. It was easy to overlook that those characters were basically insufferable and that Jordan could barely write dialogue. The vast maps and references to myths made it seem that the author had a rich and detailed world already in place that he was uncovering for us through the eyes of a few young adult main characters. In the first couple of books, it was not that difficult to get somewhat pleasantly lost in the insane amount of detail in Jordan’s world. The basic problem with The Wheel of Time thus far in the series is that without filler, the contents of the first four books comprise enough material to fill approximately one of Jordan’s door-stopper tomes. The Shadow Rising is a novel-length failure to heed the old adage “show don’t tell.” Characters’ childish internal monologues dominate and the tone shifts around so much that one can never really get a read on any character, let alone discern their motivations. The entire book seems to be setting up a few visually intriguing scenes, doing so in such bland fashion that the drama is sucked right out of those key moments.

Once again, the standard Jordan plot trajectory rears its head-decent beginning, listless middle, strongish ending. I should have known better, because most of the people who think The Shadow Rising is the crown jewel of the series also think the first three books qualify as minor masterpieces themselves. That being the case, I was looking forward to Robert Jordan streamlining his bloated narrative style and giving readers a legitimately great book one that cut the dross, focused on developing his vast fantasy world and refining his ballooning cast of characters. Many fans of The Wheel of Time point to the fourth book as their favorite in the entire series. “You read too much and understand too little.”

The shadow rising book cover