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The Shadow Rising

The Shadow Rising

Epic FantasyFantasy
Pages
1040
Published
1992
Language
English

Synopsis

With the impregnable Stone of Tear fallen and Callandor in his hand, Rand al'Thor turns east toward the trackless Aiel Waste and the forbidden city of Rhuidean, seeking to claim a fierce desert people by surviving a rite that has broken stronger men. What he learns there rewrites the history of the Aiel and of the world itself. The book scatters its cast across its widest span yet: Perrin returns home to a Two Rivers besieged by Trollocs and by the Children of the Light; Elayne and Nynaeve hunt the Black Ajah to the corrupt city of Tanchico; and within the White Tower, long-simmering treachery finally breaks into the open. One of the longest volumes in the series, this fourth installment is widely regarded by readers as among its finest, balancing an intimate homecoming against revelations that reshape everything known about the past. It is the point where the separate threads of the saga begin to pull toward a single vast design, and where the cost of being the Dragon Reborn becomes unmistakable.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

DarkTenseAtmosphericAdventurous
Chosen OneQuestMultiple POVsComing of AgeFound Family

Genres

Epic Fantasy Fantasy High Fantasy

About the author

R
Robert Jordan

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, James Oliver Rigney Jr. (1948-2007) wrote under the pen name Robert Jordan and became best known for the epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time. He served two tours as a U.S. Army helicopter gunner in Vietnam, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Bronze Star, then took a degree in physics from The Citadel and worked as a nuclear engineer for the Navy. A fall and a long convalescence in the late 1970s turned him toward writing full time. Before fantasy...

Characters

Rand al'ThorProtagonist

Leads his closest allies into the Aiel Waste and the trials of Rhuidean to win a people and confront their true history.

Perrin AybaraProtagonist

Returns to the Two Rivers to defend his home against Trollocs and Whitecloaks, accepting leadership he never sought.

Nynaeve al'MearaProtagonist

Leads the hunt for the Black Ajah in Tanchico, where she confronts the Forsaken Moghedien.

Matrim CauthonSupporting

Drawn deeper into the Aiel Waste, where ancient memories and a strange destiny take firmer hold of him.

Egwene al'VereSupporting

Studies the dream-walking arts with the Aiel Wise Ones, discovering a formidable talent.

All characters in The Shadow Rising

Frequently asked questions

  • Is The Shadow Rising the best book in the series?

    It is one of the most common answers when readers name the series' high point, praised especially for the Rhuidean revelations and the Two Rivers storyline. Opinions vary, but few volumes are cited as often as the strongest entry.

  • What is revealed about the Aiel in Rhuidean?
  • Which Wheel of Time book is the longest?

    By word count The Shadow Rising is the longest book in the main series, at roughly 393,000 words. It runs longer in text than later volumes even where page counts are comparable.

  • Why does Perrin go back to the Two Rivers?

    Word reaches Perrin that his home is threatened by Trollocs and by Children of the Light hunting for him, and he returns to defend it. The homecoming becomes one of the book's central and most beloved arcs.

  • What is the significance of Rhuidean?

    Rhuidean is a hidden, ruined city in the Aiel Waste central to Aiel ritual and prophecy. Surviving its trials is required to lead the Aiel, and what is seen there carries the weight of three thousand years of history.

  • Do the book's separate storylines ever reconnect?

    Yes. The Shadow Rising splits the cast more widely than earlier volumes, but its threads are deliberately laid for later convergence. The structure of parallel arcs becomes a defining feature of the series from here on.

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