Title: The Shadow Rising (Wheel of Time book 4)
Author: Robert Jordan
Genre: Fantasy (Epic)
Pages: 1008

Summary
The adventures of Rand al’Thor and friends continue as more prophecy unfolds. Again not going to spoil since it’s the middle of the series.

Notes
Ok…here’s where the wheels on the Wheel of Time bus start to fall off. By far the largest book of the series so far, the first half consists mostly of exposition. Explaining the backstory of the world and some of the characters that had not had their stories explained previously. Things get moving in the second half, but much like Rand keeps saying…things are moving too slow.

The pace of the series does slow down considerably from here on out as we transition from the introductory books to the middle of the story which sets up the ending (whatever that ending will be).

Jordan’s issues with writing female characters and dialog between men and women continues here. It feels more pronounced since it’s been the way things have gone for the past few books and one hoped that it’s something Jordan would have grown out of but it’s not so. Nearly everything  bit of dialog from a female character (especially things that Nynaeve says) has something to do with how much of a wool-brained fool men are and a good amount of what the men say are how incomprehensible women are. The 40th time Perrin thinks “Light! I’ll never understand women!” you’ll want to find Robert Jordan (were he still alive) and throw the book at him.

BUT. writing cliches aside, the story is still interesting and the reader is left with a hunger for learning what’s going to happen next.

Next Book
I’m taking another little break from the Wheel of Time to dive into a literary classic. After Wassy and I had a conversation on the way back from our wine country trip this weekend which turned to books we read in high school English class, I’ve decided to read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I need to make a better effort to read some of the more widely held classics that I didn’t get a chance to read in high school. And maybe re-read some of the ones I did for a better appreciation. But not Dickens. Oh god…I’m NEVER reading any more Dickens again.