**spoilers contained**

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been off the review track here so I’m back again to pick up where we left off with the 4th book in the series proper: The Shadow Rising.

We kick off with Min, one of the more enjoyable female characters in the series. She spends the opening of the book foreseeing upcoming violence at Tar Valon.  The suddenness of the visions is in some ways annoying because it’s probably one of the few story lines that could viably been stretched out more, with a bigger build-up.  Then again, Jordan seemed to think the series would be much shorter and probably still did at this point (sometimes I imagine him repeating “just two more books and it’s done” as his own personal mantra).  Then we see glimpses of other nominal characters that create ripples across the storyline, none more repugnant than Elaida who seems to lack any redeeming characteristics whatsoever.  It never occurs to Elaida that she could ask about any plot involving Rand and the tower, instead deciding that pitching the white tower in to civil war would be a better idea than whatever plot could be underway.  She’s cartoonishly evil to the point that I wouldn’t be surprised if she ate soup out of freshly hollowed out panda skulls.

The book moves along, roughly two weeks after the end of the prior book, and shows us all our major characters together in a confined space, now with Rand struggling to be who he thinks prophecy dictates he should be.  We get our first glimpses at bubbles of evil (especially attracted to Ta’veren it seems) that appear so regularly later.  There is also a touching moment between Rand, Egwene and Elayne, please allow me to summarize it for you:

Egwene: I don’t love you anymore.
Rand: I don’t love you anymore either.  Can I make out with your friend?
Egwene: Totally.

It really is moving.  This whole section of the book builds up to Rand once again taking a step towards being a non-character.  He walks out of his bedroom and finds a battle going on in the tower he lives in… and then pretty much kills every bad thing in the tower.  Later characters begin to shuffle off and have their own adventures and more breadcrumbs are thrown out leaving clues about who is and isn’t a darkfriend (“time to die, Hornsounder.”), also there’s a chick-fight over Perrin, but no slapping, spanking or foxy-boxing is involved.  There is also the introduction of the Aelfinn and the Eelfin and one the mystery of what was said to Rand and Moiraine while they were in the other realm.  Much of the middle of the book is hints about the past (Thom committed regicide, or close enough) and the future (male a’dam).

Nyneave and Elayne are also sent off to hunt black Ajah because that went so well the last time, but Nyneave does thwart Moghedien and finds out she is just as powerful as one of the Foresaken (DNC).  Perrin forms a temporary alliance with White Cloaks (who want to kill him) to fight off Padan Fain and his army (who also want to kill him) and then, through victory, raises Manetheren from the annals of history.

Then, Rand breaks the Aiel.  He tells them the truth about their hippy past and this is enough to send some spiraling into a deep depression while others become enraged and leave.  Then Asmodean sticks his head in the situation and ends up getting shielded by Lanfear and virtually enslaved by Rand.  My favorite point is when Lanfear tells Rand she never kills or hurts without cause… she neglects to mention that “cause” could be as insignificant as being the person who brings her bad news and is then skinned for it.