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The Shadow Rising: Book Four of 'The Wheel of Time' | 
| Author: Robert Jordan
Creators: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $89.95
Buy New: $56.67
You Save: $33.28 (37%)
Rating:  275 reviews
Sales Rank: 170378
Format: Audiobook, Cd, Unabridged
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Pages: 1008
Number Of Items: 34
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 6 x 5.3 x 4.1
ISBN: 159397535X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781593975357
ASIN: 159397535X
Publication Date: November 1, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The seals of Shayol Ghul are weak now, and the Dark One reaches out in The Shadow Rising, book four of the Wheel of Time, as The Shadow is rising to cover humankind. In the Stone of Tear, the Lord Dragon considers his next move. It will be something no one expects, not the Black Ajah, not Tairen nobles, not Aes Sedai, not Egwene or Elayne or Nynaeve. Against the Shadow rising stands the Dragon Reborn...
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| Customer Reviews: Read 270 more reviews...
The WOT enters a new phase November 15, 2008
Joseph Cheverie (San Diego, CA USA)
With the Shadow Rising, Jordan's narrative takes a turn away from mainly adventure mode, and starts mixing in a lot of political intrigue. It's not too bad in this book, but it definitely becomes a problem in later books. The trip to Rhuidean produces numerous repercussions down the road, and the historical backstory is quite interesting and adds good depth. However, it was in this book that Faile really grated on me, and I can't help but cringe every time I see her name in subsequent books. This is also the last book where all plot lines complete the mission they set out to do within the same book. Overall, a good read and relatively tight narrative.
Great Read October 17, 2008
LitLover (NC)
The entire Wheel of Time Series is phenomenal the first time around, but even better the second. A familiarity with the characters provides even deeper insight, making them more like a family than a novel. Even for the first time through, this one delivers new character, shows the growth of the familiar characters, and in true Jordan style, has plot twists you'll never suspect. This book is faster paced than some of the later books, and full of intimate details, the like of which Jordan is famous for. Enjoy this one when you can read it through for a concentrated dose of The Wheel of Time!
Blinded by the Light (best yet?) October 12, 2008
Kawika (San Diego, CA United States)
This book was SO unecessarily long, but in the end, I loved it and thought it was possibly the best yet in the Wheel of Time series. First, I'd like to give props to the online WOT encyclopedia, which details all thousand+ characters (and their duplicate/triplicate names) in the saga that you might have forgotten about up until this point. You won't believe what perils await Perrin, and I don't mean Trollocs. His girl is about as obnoxious as they get, until the development of other girls in the story. Such a shame to see something like that happen to such a cool hero. I'm just glad I've never met women even close to this whack. But something wierd happened as I read this book - I actually didn't want Nynaeve to die. Nynaeve has become much less annoying. Moraine's lines are basically that same old as the wheel turns comment, and little else. This book also contains one of the most dragged out and ridiculous breakout scenes I've ever read. Will our hero Rand fulfill the prophecy of the Aiel? Be prepared to meet a lot of fremen...I mean Aiel characters. Will Rand slay the nefarious Asmodean? Find out here!!! If you have a life, this 980-page small-fonted long-winded and repetetive beast will take some time to read, but it's enjoyable.
 Best book in the series October 8, 2008
A. Whitehead (Colchester, Essex United Kingdom)
The Shadow Rising is the fourth Wheel of Time novel and, through the highly scientific method of checking a few fan-forums, appears to be regarded as the best. At a whopping 1,000 pages and just shy of 400,000 words in length, it's also the longest.
The Shadow Rising picks up after the events of the third book. Anyway, Rand al'Thor has taken the Sword That Is Not A Sword, Callandor, The Sword Which Cannot Be Touched, The Sword Which Has Too Many Fricking Names, Just Pick One And Stick With It. As a result he has been proclaimed the Dragon Reborn and the nations of Tear and Mayene have sworn loyalty to him. With the evil Forsaken seizing control of other kingdoms across the continent, it appears that Rand has little choice but to go to war against them. Instead, he wrong-foots both his enemies and allies by delivering humanitarian aid to the neighbouring, warring kingdom of Cairhien and travelling into the Aiel Waste, where he hopes to unify the feuding warrior-clans under his leadership. At the same time, his friend Perrin returns home to the Two Rivers, which is under attack by Shadowspawn, and Nynaeve, Elayne, Thom and Juilin head to the distant city of Tanchico in pursuit of the evil Black Ajah, Aes Sedai sworn to the service of the Dark One.
This breaking of the narrative into three storylines which proceed simultaneously worked very well for the third volume, The Dragon Reborn, and continues to work well here. Jordan's sometimes sluggish pacing isn't so much of a problem as we flip between events in Tanchico, the Two Rivers and the Waste fairly rapidly, and there's an additional subplot set in Tar Valon which delivers some devastating plot developments on the Aes Sedai front in a very economical manner. The worldbuilding is advanced impressively as we get a decent look at the Age of Legends and the way the world was before and during the War of the Shadow, and character-wise we see some interesting maturing and advancement for the likes of Mat, Nynaeve, Perrin and Rand. Unfortunately, other characters come off badly. Moiraine is inert for a lot of the narrative, and Elayne continues to annoy whilst Aviendha is probably the most irritating character in the series at this point. Also, Jordan's somewhat juvenile views of male-female relations reaches their apex here, with supposedly comedic or ironic musings on the way men and women interact falling very flat indeed. The book also wears its influences strongly, although the mixing of Dune with the Scouring of the Shire is diluted by enough original characters and ideas so it doesn't irritate as much as the first book's nods to Tolkien.
The pacing is crisp, the characters and world develop most satisfyingly, and Jordan very cleverly laces some narrative time-bombs into the mix which don't bear fruit for several books, but when they do are all the more satisfying.
The Shadow Rising (****) is indeed the best book in The Wheel of Time sequence and impresses as it marks the transition of the books from the 'adventure' phase to the 'political' phase and does so most satisfyingly. The book is published by Orbit in the UK and Tor in the USA.
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