Is it just me or are those chapters from Shadow Rising the best gift ever given to his readers. You know the chapters I mean...

 

It's one of the few places RJ sits us on his knee and says, "Right guys, you want a brief history of Randland from the breaking up to now..."

 

What's even more amazing if you think about it is all those POV's we see are Rand's ancestors. So yep, one of Rand's great-great-great-great (ad three thousand years worth) grandfathers was the Aiel servant of Lanfear... ah if only she'd had the foresight.

 

Jeff

Remember when he talks to Rhuarc later. It's only your direct ancestors until the Carheinin bit, everyone sees the same after that (before that ;) ).

The pre-Breaking visions varied in both content and PoV. The post-Breaking visions still varied based on PoV. This was possible because all surviving Aiel are descended from someone who witnessed those events. The founding of Rhuidean was the last event that all surviving Aiel had ancestors at. We were even told that any Aiel that didn't accept the importance of Rhuidean would die out.

Yes, The Shadow Rising has been by far my favorite book of the series.

Yes, The Shadow Rising has been by far my favorite book of the series.

 

Mine as well. My first WOT book in fact. I read a used paperback copy of Shadow Rising during my freshman year in high school and from then on I never looked back.

 

I just randomly opened the book to pass time during my boring English class. It was a Perrin in the Two Rivers chapter.. :D

 

I read through everything that had his storyline first as I had no idea what any of the other threads of the story had to do with anything. Essentially, I was just reading the story of Perrin, the homeland hero. It was great. I stopped when Faile and him were reunited and started at the beginnning of the book. It changed the way I looked at literature.

 

Before, I used to struggle to stay with a book all the way through. Few stories grabbed me at that point. I remembered that I liked Lord of the Rings, when I read it, and this book was as good as any to try finding a comparable experience. What luck for me to find this book at that time.

 

Shadow Rising is the watermark book for me in the series and in fantsy literature.

I believe The Shadow Rising was the book that got me through a term paper I didn't want to write. I was really enjoying the book, so what I ended up doing was using it as a reward system. I would only let myself read some if I had made measurable progress on the paper since the last break. It was, and still is, what I consider to be the best of the series. Interestingly, if you factor in the font size, I think it is also the longest book in the series. Quality and quantity. You can have them both.

Interestingly, if you factor in the font size, I think it is also the longest book in the series.

 

I remember when I first got the book I was actually dishearted because of the font size and the lack of margins. With the compelling story, however, I didn't even notice the length, and I was wanting more when the story ended.

Remember when he talks to Rhuarc later. It's only your direct ancestors until the Carheinin bit, everyone sees the same after that (before that ;) ).

Maybe, but remember that there were very few of the original Aiel to follow a path of violence; all Aiel may be direct decendants of them.

Remember when he talks to Rhuarc later. It's only your direct ancestors until the Carheinin bit' date=' everyone sees the same after that (before that ;) ).[/quote']

Maybe, but remember that there were very few of the original Aiel to follow a path of violence; all Aiel may be direct decendants of them.

They'd have to be if the Rings tell it right, the Jenn are gone ;)