The Shadow Rising (Chapters 19-24)

Annals of the Homestarmy

Tuesday, July 30. 2013

Posted by Ancient of Days in Wheel of Time Read-Through

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The Shadow Rising (Chapters 19-24)

For me, these chapters are really great; probably the best part of book four so far. I don't recall choosing these chapters on purpose, but we get in this 5 chapter segment exactly the kind of depth of universe development that I love in Jordan's books (and find lacking in most other "epic fantasy"). Had an interesting discussion with MG the other day about how just as he's starting to get excited about the books, I'm hitting some of the rocky parts that make the series difficult for me. Thankfully, after this read-through is done, I won't ever again have to hear the glorification of women manipulating men to get what they want, and men being "wool-headed" fools, falling for it every time.

Chapter 19: Shirtless women
Elayne and Nynaeve are going to Tarabon, and they decide to go by way of the Atha'an Miere (the Sea Folk). Jordan has worked out so much of their culture - even down to the formal greeting rituals, their cultural proclivities and taboos, and thier means of operating among the land-dwellers...this is the kind of thing that really gets me going about the series. You could probably write another four or five books just exploring the culture of the Atha'an Miere. Moraine sends Thom to join them, while Rand (through Lan) sends Master Sandar. Nynaeve continues to prove the most worthless character of the series, while Elayne is far more pragmatic than any princess I've ever heard of - except for when it comes to her feelings about Rand. *sigh*

Chapter 20: Atha'an Miere can channel
And it lets their ships go REALLY fast (up to ten times faster than expected); oh, and just in case we thought the Atha'an Miere were a fluke, we get some juicy hints about Shara - the land beyond the Aiel Waste.

Chapter 21: Rand is going to Rhuidean
But he's leaving Callandor behind, in the worst pun of the series ("and that MIRACLE appeared...in London town...the sword...in...the Stone").

Chapter 22: Rand uses an angreal
I really like the way Lan helps Rand out. They use a Portal Stone and travel to Rhuidean. If you pronounce "Rhuidean" the same way as the audiobooks, you're ugly and stupid, and I hate you.

Chapter 23: The Aiel have depth, too
Man, so much cultural exposure in such few chapters...this kind of crunch makes me wish this series had been another 10 books longer. Aiel Wise Ones can channel, Aviendha can channel, and Couladin is a moustache-twirling villain from the outset, chewing the scenery quite appropriately. Rand and Mat both go to Rhuidean, as do Aviendha and Moiraine. We find out some information about ji'e'toh, and it makes perfect sense to me as a reader - but the characters, frustratingly, don't get it. Egwene starts learning to be a dreamwalker.

Chapter 24: It's not named Rhu'idi'on
Rand and Mat reach Rhuidean, to find tons of ter'angreal as well as Avendesora, the Tree of Life. Rand sees two figurines - a man and a woman, each holding a crystal sphere. Rand goes into a ter'angreal that sounds an awful lot like the thing Aes Sedai use when raising a woman to a different tier in their order. Mat finds another doorway, and goes through; although - this time - instead of finding Snakes, he finds Foxes. They won't answer questions, but they will give him gifts; unfortunately, he doesn't set the price for his gifts, and so the last thing he knows he is being choked, and the world goes dark...

As I said, the things I like about these books are the way they're a window into an alternate reality, and books/chapters that make that world live and breathe are far more exciting to me than those that merely "advance the plot." It's why I liked "The Great Hunt", and why I liked these chapters more than any that we've read in book four thus far. I honestly would have read a hundred books about different people, places, and events in this world.

Rhuidean (Roo-ih-dean) is pretty cool, and has some great back-story. I'll be able to say a lot more about this once we've started book 6, which is when Jordan published his atlas/almanac "The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time", which has a lot of background info about a lot of things we've discussed. Reading through this time, the scenes from Rhuidean recalled to my mind Lev Grossman's "The Magicians", an interesting book which contains a "city between the worlds" that bears a lot of similarity to Rhuidean.

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Curtis on :

As I was reading the chapters with Elayne and Nynaeve, the thought occurred to me, "I wonder who is going to have to write about this ridiculousness." I guess I need to leave Nynaeve alone, because apparently some readers really like her - I don't understand that, but I can accept it.

These chapters also returned to the theme of keeping secrets. Everyone is keeping secrets from everyone else now. Perrin has a wolf secret. Rand has secret plans for fulfilling the prophecies. Mat is keeping secrets about his trip through the doorframe. Moiraine has secret plans to ensure Rand is at the Last Battle with Perrin and Mat. Egwene is keeping secret the fact that she's not full Aes Sedai. I could go on.

I'll be honest about ji'e'toh. I understand the way it works as a reader, but I could never live like that. It seems absolutely absurd, so I can appreciate Egwene's confusion. To be fair, she was also stubbornly intent on acquiring all the knowledge she can from the Wise Ones as quickly as possible. I think Moiraine gives us the thought that Egwene's instincts are good but her focus is too narrow. She needs a broader understanding that more is happening around her.

Which brings me to my next point. How awesome was it seeing Rand playing the Game of Houses?! He handed it to those Tairen High Lords like he was born to it (Thom helped of course, but it was still Rand who made the decisions.)

The Foxes and Snakes are one of my favorite mysteries of The Wheel of Time. I strongly suspect and fervently hope that we get more information on them later in the series.

Duke on :

The thing I find the most interesting about what Jordan has done is how he hints toward the history of this world. In chapter 20 we find Elayne asking Thom about his plans on writing an epic about the Dragon, a good question considering Thom's favorite pastime of relishing in attention. I found his response to be interesting. He talks about how history changes with time. He happens to question if Mosk and Merk were giants, and if they really did fight with spears of fire. For multiple reasons, this type of storytelling personifies why I love Jordan's writing. So very subtly he shows us why it is just so hard to understand prophetic writings. Here we have men describing things long since past, that they don't fully understand to begin with, in ways that they can comprehend. Merk and Mosk are apparently how the gleemen tell the story of Moscow and America. Two giant powers fighting with nuclear missiles.

As fantastic as this sounds, this was confirmed by Mr. Jordan himself, Now, whether this takes from the world or adds to it I leave to you.

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