2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising

Rhed al'Tere

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In case you're wondering why we're not reading Chapter 1 with the last 6 chapters of TDR... Well, just because. :P It didn't seem worth it to lump them in together. :D

Remember: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. Through the end of the series. Spoiler warnings are NOT necessary, nor are spoiler tags.

Feel free to jump in even if you're not participating in the re-read. Or if you want to join in the re-read, come on in! :D

[strike]1-7[/strike]
[STRIKE]8-14[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]15-21[/STRIKE]
[strike]22-28[/strike]
[strike]29-35[/strike]
[strike]36-42 [/strike]
[strike]43-49[/strike]
[strike]50-56[/strike]
57-58, prologue of Fires of Heaven
 
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Megana Vallentin

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising starting June 14

I got so messed up on the last book. I was behind, then I was ahead, then I forgot to post. :laugh: I'll start fresh with book 4, see you all there!
 

Wil Cambrae

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising starting June 14

So I'm ahead again >,< :laugh:
Thank you Mother for setting us straight.
 

Rhed al'Tere

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising starting June 14

:laugh:
 

Imzadi Hopewind

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising starting June 14

Thanks for making it clear, wasn't sure when to start with next book :D
 
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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising starting June 14

Alright! I actually remembered a day early, so I can dig around and find this book! These big old paperbacks tend to get up and wander off on me... I wish it was hardcover like most of the WoT I have, much easier to read in bed. A chapter a night works well for me, assuming I don't get too caught up in it.

Anyways, yay! Looking forward to this! :geek:whee

This is one of the books I've read the least, Eye of the World being the one I've read the most. I started in on this series around the time of Lord of Chaos, so I'd usually do a bit of a re-read before reading the newest book. As the series got longer, I started reading just the preceeding book or two when a new one came out, so this book and the next started getting neglected. Eager to refresh my memory!
 
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Aduiavas Ida

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising starting June 14

Shadow Rising is one of my favourite books in the entire series :pleased-1: It is before both Rand and Perrin becomes boring, and there is lots of Aiel :)
 

Rhed al'Tere

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

This is one of my favorites, too. I love the stuff with the Aiel.
 

Ryu Shadowborn

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

TSR: 1

Was there no prologue in The Shadow Rising? Even on my un-abriged Audo book there is no prologue in the book.

Min – Another major plot begins here, and one of the plots I simultaneously hate and love, I love that Ishamael was smart enough to have set up the Black Ajah as the tower first set itself up, and infiltrated it on the ground floor, in preparation for when the seals were weakening to distract one of the biggest threats to the Shadow.

On the other hand, a bunch of arrogant prats vs another bunch of arrogant prats does not exactly make for a side to “root” for, if not for Egwene the rebels would be about on par with the tower Aes Sedai in terms of “I hate you all” rating, because I am 99% certain if they could get away with it, The Rebels would have also pulled the stunt the tower did in regards to Rand.

Also, good job there Siuan, listening to the girl who you know can see visions of the future..and ignoring that a fight might be coming to the tower.

Elaida – yay enjoy being a puppet for the Shadow Elaida.

Dain – setting up for Perrin's plot in this book, not much to say here we don't get many POVs from Dain, he ends up being a very heavy drinker and does things that Bornhald the elder would slap him around for.

Suroth – not much to talk about here, we find out that Suroth discovered the secret behind Sul'dam, and decide to not make it public knowledge, I can't belive there is not a seeker or one of the Deathwatch Gaurds for her to send with the message to the Empress (may she live forever, or at least until Semmiharge gets a hold of her, then let her die quickly cause Semmiharge is kinda creepy)

TSR: 2

Perrin - Does Faile just not believe that Perrin is not Ta'veren, she gets angry at him for saying he has a “Duty” and he does in fact have a Duty to creation itself, that is pretty much the only reason for the existence of Ta'veren, and the bubbles of evil start up.

And Faile gets upset he shoves her out of the room, I am sorry Falcon but Perrin is entirely in his rights to do this just tactically. Perrin pushes axe away..it attacks her, if he pulls it away from her..it goes after him. It is a strategic decision, it means Perrin can actually do something aside from have a tug of war with the darned thing.

Mat – Not much to talk about here, nother bubble of evil and Mat taking gold and silver from Lordlings, who frankly deserve it from the way they talk about War with Illian and how “Rand is so evil, making Laws apply to everyone..Equally.”

Of course..the important thing here is that we see the first bit of Aiel humor, with Rhuarc trolling the heck out of Mat, suggesting he plays Maiden's Kiss with the Maidens. I will admit, there is part of me deep down that thinks Maiden's Kiss sounds fun, depending on the Maidens that play.

Rand – Berelain, tries to be all manipulative..which doesn't really work with Rand. Using Sexual appeal on someone who is more or less a prude, then the bubble of evil hits, not much to say about it, mirror fights, and he absorbs them upon touch.

I wonder if since the reflections of Rand are made of evil, if he absorbed any taint from them.

TSR: 3

Another chapter with not a lot to talk about, Rand is sliced to all heck, he calls for Moraine, and The Dragon and the Aes Sedai but heads, I can't blame Rand for not really being worried about Mat here either, dude just had to fight several reflections of himself, tired, sliced up and bloody. There must be times when he just wants to sleep an entire day.

TSR: 4

So Thom is actively trying to keep Mat in the Stone of Tear, is that a thing of the pattern or does Thom have a good reason to want to keep Mat around?

Also you see Thom trying to help Rand keep the Lords of Tear in check, I don't think this is one of thoes Ta'veren things, I think this is the fact that Thom while he would never admit it, he loves to play De'esDemar, that it helps Rand is just a bonus.

TSR: 5

So here is an interesting thing, Amico after being stilled gives away the plot that the Black Ajah, and presumably The Forsaken or the Dark one have, we see foreshadowing that the Black Oaths are taken on the Oath Rod, I wonder how Dark Friends are bound to the Shadow since there is the only one Rod, or are the non Channeler Dark Friends basically bullied into keeping their oaths.

Also Joiya pretty much lies her rump off, The Shadow does have a plan for Mazrim Taim, but it is not for him to be a false “Al'Thor” I honestly doubt he is even really freed by the Blacks, I would bet he was released by Damedred.

TSR: 6

Moraine lays down the hammer here, she has obviously had quite enough of everyone and everything for a bit, basically outright putting Joiya into the hotseat and telling her that she is on borrowed time.

Moraine also does not seem to give one small crap about the fact that the 3 Girls are not full Aes Sedai, and are posing as Aes Sedai, and only really seems to get angry at Nyneave when the Wisdeom directly confronts her about Moraine's lack of assistance with tracking down the Black Ajah, and the whole love thing.

Lots of stuff about Dating, that does not exactly bore me but is not quite worth much discussion. Rand, Min, Elayne and Aviendah end up in a relationship that they are comfortable with..mostly, and that is really all there is to say about it.

You know, it occurs to me. Gabril is a Lord. Did he claim he was a “lord from the west” when he arrived in Caemlan? If he did then how did ANYONE fall for that, a Lord appears from quite literally nowhere, and nobody questions it.

If he was lorded as a reward for helping quell the riots in the city while the queen was away, then why in the heck, after learning about events in the Two Rivers. Morgaise absolutely had to ASK about these things while she was in Perrin's camp, then why in the name of the great lord of the dark was she so angry about Perrin being a “Lord” to the people of the two rivers. They don't refer to him in Royal Terms, they do not use King, or Grace or Majesty.

They don't even call Rand by a Royal Title even after he takes the Illian either.

Anyways, Moraine is angry at Rand for wanting to read the Prophecies. I am of a split mind on this, on hand, to quote Tyrion Lannister “Prophecy is like a mule, when you think you have it trained and will be of use, he will turn around and kick you in the head” which is completely true, Prophecy never turns out the way you think it will.

On the other hand, knowledge is power. Rand is in a situation where he needs as much information as possible, knowing the themes and words of The Karaethon Cycle can guide Rand in situations where he could recognize when something that was foretold is happening, which I think is part of why he did what he did in the waste, he saw the situation, who was there and what was happening and knew what to do because of the words of the Prophecies, but I will talk about that when it happens, because I think that is one of the telling moments of Rand's story arc.

TSR: 7

I think Egwene is wrong about Rand's new temper being a change in him, quite frankly him only shoving the high lords out physically is showing a great deal more restraint than I would have. Call me a cruel harsh tyrant but the I doubt I could have went the time Rand had in the Stone without having one of those Sycnophantic Jerks out a window, of course I probably would have a nice layer of padding just so I can placate my desire to throw Highlords out a window..and not kill people.

We learn Rand can feel women holding the power near him, and we learn that Rand, is just straight up Monstrously powerful, I wonder if this is a measure of the differences in how men gain strength in the one power vs women and how Men can gain gigantic leaps in strength where women grow gradually, however with Egwene and Elyane currently, Rand out powers them easily. I do want more information who compares with who in terms of strength in the one power, we know Nyneave can match the forsaken in terms of power.
 
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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

The first chapter is certainly quite busy. We get Min popping back into the story, with an emphasis on her viewings. I agree that Siuan doesn't seem to pay much heed to Min's warning, but in all fairness, what could she do about it? I think she's aware that if she tries to take some drastic action on account of this viewing, she could send the Tower spinning into the disaster she wants to avoid (or into an even greater disaster). It's not like she can do much about what Moiraine is up to.

Ah, Dain Bornhald. Such an erratic figure; I always fancied that his drinking and hatred were a result of his prolonged interactions with Ordeith. You've got to hand it to Ordeith, he certainly knew which group to wriggle into. The Whitecloaks are certainly ripe for the whole "use the Shadow's own tactics against them", when you look at what the Questioners are always up to. Also, we see the Tinkers moving towards the Two Rivers as well, which is kind of a curious choice for them. Possibly just lingering effects of Perrin as Ta'veren, sweeping threads of the Pattern in his wake?

Suroth... grrr! So vile, she sets the audience up to hate the Seanchan as much as some viewpoint characters. Even though the damane thing is completely despicable, it's not like they're a whole nation of Darkfriends. Just like any other nation, there are plenty of heroes and rotten apples in the mix.

The pot really gets stirred right off the bat in this one. The story starts to spiral off in different directions here, getting more complicated and involved.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

The first chapter of SR is totally a prologue. So many different viewpoints, just like we get in the later prologues... Only difference is that we actually see some of these characters again in the book, like Min...
 
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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

I completely agree, Aduiavas Sedai. I would also add that the length of this chapter is similar to later prologues; significantly longer than a typical chapter.
 

Kassina Tendar

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

The first chapter is 40 pages. :brown-blink: I may get a bit behind this week.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

Better than the 100 pages prologues that are coming up ;) But like I said, the first chapter is totally a prologue...
 

Kassina Tendar

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

Well I hope we won't be reading 7 chapters a week when those come up. :p
 

Rhed al'Tere

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

I thought about cutting down the number of chapters for this week, but didn't because it evens out. Ish. If the reading's too long this time, I'll start taking page count into consideration in the future.

The 100 page prologues will be a week by themselves, no worries. :laugh:
 

Rhed al'Tere

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

FYI, I'll for sure be behind. :laugh: I've got a book I need to read for my *other* book club. But it's short and is looking to be a fast read. :D
 

Imzadi Hopewind

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

That's ok Mother :pleased-1:

In chapter 4 Thom thinks about something that happen 15 years ago. Is that what happen with Morgase?
 
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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

Imzadi I think he's referring to what happened to his nephew, but that of course led to the situation with Morgase.
 
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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: The Shadow Rising Chapters 1-7

Imzadi Sedai, the reference there is what happened to his nephew Owyn. That's why he helped the boys in the beginning; then once he found out that Rand was a man who could channel, it made it even more personal.

It does have to do with Morgase, since he was spending his time with her, helping her play The Great Game and being her lover. While he was spending his time doing that, Owyn was gentled and then died from complete apathy or committing suicide (I don't know if it was ever specified).

Edit: Ah, Aspirant Mai beat me to it! :P
 
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