Casey Blackbird’s Reviews > The Shadow Rising: Book Four of 'The Wheel of Time' by Jordan, Robert (October 2, 2012) Paperback > Status Update

So yeah, the third to last chapter was a good conclusion, the last two chapters weren’t well done. It drew some ideas together, but left too much fuzz around things that Jordan was doing 800 pages ago.

So, the final chapter in Emond’s Field was powerful. Jordan’s idiosyncrasies took a backseat to some real beauty. Only one allusion to the next book that leaves us baffled. THE LAST CHAPTER THOUGH? dog water. He did this with the last chapter of the Eye of the World—only Jordan can picture what’s going on. The web he wove wasn’t tight enough.

OK so the last act of this book jumped out of nowhere, to the point where it didn’t make sense. We knew that this was coming, but I thought it’d be a couple books down the line.

We’re at the point where I should be getting an idea how the book is going to end but I have no idea what’s going to happen. Also, we need Elyas to return and give us wolf lore. I WANT WOLF LORE.

This series could’ve been two books if the good guys would’ve just paused to compare notes. “Hey all, I know we have differing motives, priorities, and interests. But we could probably stave off the apocalypse and keep Rand from breaking 3+ hearts needlessly if we all just put our cards on the table instead of all this conniving.” Loial could be a fair third-party. Everyone loves and trusts Loial.

(1) Lan deserves better than being bullied and pushed aside by the strong women in his life. He has impeccable character, is kind, and cares for the vulnerable. Thom, Loial, and Lan deserve better than this whole apocalypse and scheming thing.
(2) The gender-dynamics are getting REALLY REPETITIVE. And weird.
(3) It does something to a man to be on p.605 but only 57% through the book.

This is a 1k page book and I’m finally convinced that I won’t DNF. Reading this size of book on Kindle is SO MUCH BETTER. Also, I’m happy to see the return of the character in book one who got me hooked. That said, Jordan’s prose is weaker in this one and it’s missing the “journey” that the other three each had.

Let us be so for real: Loial is the greatest character ever. If he ever dies, in any of these 97 books, I will never forgive Robert Jordan and his Episcopalian soul. We had a close call where I thought he was going to be sloppily killed off. Don’t. Loial’s hero’s death is spending his centuries of life writing histories and playing that weird board game by the fire.

It was nice to have the gang back together for a few chapters.