The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

The Shadow Rising is the fourth book in Jordan's Wheel of Time series.  Do not pass this point if you haven't read the previous books, this is a series that is meant to be read in order.  Otherwise you'll be hopelessly lost.

So we all know by now that the Dragon Reborn has returned and holds the Tower of Tear.  And in doing so he has fulfilled one of the prophecies.  But there are others that he must accomplish, and one will send him off to the waste where the Aiel people have lived for hundreds of years in a harsh and unforgiving land.  But the Aiel aren't like the other people he's come across, and what he has to do may take more power than he thought he had.  Meanwhile, Nynaeve and Elayne have to hunt down the dark Aes Sedai that mean to capture a tool that can be used against Rand, even if it means putting themselves in great danger as well.

Rand again is pretty unapproachable in this book.  I'm not sure if it's because he's the Dragon Reborn and supposed to be, or because Jordan just didn't put as much time into him in this book.  Nyneave and Elayne actually got quite a bit of time in this book though and I'm glad of that.  Even if Nynaeve does sniff and pull on her braid too much and act scatterbrained once in awhile, she's still one of my favorite character and I like when Jordan actually uses her strengths and gets her in the mix of things.  Egwene takes a back role in this book though and is lost among the shuffle of the Aiel for a good part of the book, as is Moiraine.  Mat has a small part in the book and as usual, he is entertaining to read about.  But Perrin, Perrin was strong in this book and a good portion of it was devoted to him, and he's one of the most logical (and therefore a pleasure to read about) characters in the book.

I kind of thought of this book as filler again.  It's not that nothing happens in it.  Quite a lot does actually.  But most of the book is detail and Rand being in the Aiel Waste with a lot of talking and planning going on.  So even though there are battles (especially on Perrin's part) it just seemed as if we were getting more of the story and world building instead of the action.  And if you're not fond of detail you might have trouble really sinking into this book.  I even got a little tired of the different veils in Tarabon being described.  After awhile you just don't care how sheer they are.  But still, it was as captivating as usual and made me want to start the next book right away.

An excellent series if you can stand the length.  Lots of detail and different "cultures" built by Jordan in his world.  It's one of those series I can read time and time again.

The Shadow Rising
Copyright 1993
1006 pages

The Almond Tree by Michelle Cohen Corasanti

**This book was received as a part of the GoodReads Giveaways program**

This book covers some fascinating and horrifying subject matter.  And it expresses many themes that are well thought out and poignant.  But the writing is only so-so and I didn't appreciate the book near as much as I wanted to.

Ichmad Hamid is a young boy when his father is thrown into prison and he must quit school to work to support his mother and siblings.  He is gifted in math and sciences though, and a local teacher volunteers to tutor him so that he can maybe one day achieve great things.  But with his heritage being against him and war between Israel and Palestine making tensions high, it seems an impossible dream.  Even within his family there is much dispute over how Ichmad should run his life.

Ichmad doesn't really have a lot of personality.  Sure he struggles a lot and has a number of atrocities heaped upon his family and him, but it was hard to care about him in a sense because he didn't really have depth.  There were flashes of personality once in awhile, but not enough to make him feel real, even if what was happening to him was realistic.  His brother Abbas, was actually a little more fleshed out in character I think, and his father was quite wonderful.  But they were not the main characters in this story so we didn't get to see that much development in them.  His sisters and mother were barely mentioned at all except for his mother being a source of consternation against his life choices.

The plot and the themes of this book were very sad and very real.  And there was a lot of violence and description in this book, starting from nearly the first page.  And this actually was at odds with the writing level of the book.  The writing level seemed that it was aimed at middle schoolers rather than adults, but the subject matter was too heavy for that age level I think.  It might just be a lack of polish, but it almost seemed as if the writing was purposely made simplistic.  Add in the numerous math problems found throughout the book and it seemed as if it were designed to teach children, because adding the math otherwise was simply extra detail that didn't add anything to the story or even move it along.  When there wasn't a bunch of math and science explanations, the pace was all over the place.  It would just from day to day or year to year without much of a break in between or no set timeline.  Despite that though, the story worked in that way and it was nice to see how Ichmad grew and how his thoughts changed.

If you're willing to slog through the math and somewhat simplified writing this is a decent book on the Palestine/Israel conflict even if it is fiction.  Though it weighs heavily towards the Palestine side of things, it does offer some unbiased views of the conflict and the fact that working together towards peace would be the best route for everyone to take, regardless of their background.

The Almond Tree
Copyright 2012
348 pages

The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan

The Dragon Reborn is the third book in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  This is a series that is meant to be read in order, so if you haven't read the previous two books, stop reading this review and go start at the beginning.

After a great fight that took place in the sky, Rand Al'Thor has been declared the Dragon Reborn by some, although he has not yet fulfilled the prophecies.  Sheltered in a camp high in the mountains he dreams of a sword of light and tries to hold back the desire to channel the one power which will drive him to madness.  But after an attack on the camp, he disappears, and the others realize he is drawn to the sword of light and must follow after him.  Mat, escaping from Tar Valon to deliver a message, discovers that some women from his home village are in trouble and has to decide what odds he wants to take in rescuing them, and Perrin is traveling with an Aes Sedai, and attracting more attention than he would like.  Meanwhile, Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne have all been raised to the ranks of Accepted with the Aes Sedai, but have been set on a task to seek out darkfriends, which could cost them their lives.

Nynaeve and Egwene got on my nerves in this book.  They used to be stronger characters but they were whining idiots this time around.  Ok, maybe that's a little strong, but compared to the intelligent women they started out as, it just seemed to be a bit of a character change for them.  Rand we didn't see much of, even though the book is named after him, this story was more told from everyone else's perspective.  And he did seem quite a bit mad already.   Perrin is still my favorite.  He is strong, does what's right, and seems to be very patient.  Mat, he's fun to read about and probably has one of the most interesting plotlines.  But really, there are so many characters in this book that it is hard to keep track of them all.

This was more of a filler book than anything.  Not a lot actually  happens until the very end, it's more just developing story.  And that happens a lot in Jordan's books.  Not that it's a bad thing, but those expecting non-stop action might be a little disappointed.  But the characters are intriguing, the plotline sound, and Jordan has a great magic system in his universe so it's a pleasure to read about his world and the different cultures.  He might have been a tad too wordy in this one, but it drove the plot along and made you interested in the next book so no harm done. 

A great series if you're willing to invest a lot of time in it.  The books are all massive and there are plenty of them.  But they're entertaining and well worth the read in my opinion.

The Dragon Reborn
Copyright 1991
700 pages