Laurien's Journey Through The Shadow Rising

Laurien Achaur

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Chapter 1: Seeds of Shadow

- No prologue this time. Interesting!
- Siuan's admission that they're trying to steer Rand is infuriating, but it has me shaking my head. The Tower's hubris is going to come around to bite them in a big way pretty soon, I think.
- Poor Min! Now she's going to have to witness the cause of her viewings surrounding the Aes Sedai firsthand, not to mention endure whatever disguise Leane is supposedly going to squeeze her into.
- ...Well, Elaida's a space case for all she's obviously scheming some way to uproot Siuan.
- I'd honestly forgotten about Bornhald and "Ordeith." A Whitecloak having a temper tantrum and the Dark One's Hound is a combination destined to become a hot mess, I'm sure.
- Ugh, why can't the Seanchan just be gone? The sul'dam/damane thing is so revolting it makes my stomach knot!
 

Alisen al'Harld

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Things are about to get big and interesting for you, dear! Three of my personal favorite arcs have their starts in this novel.
 

Ilverin Matriam

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- Siuan's admission that they're trying to steer Rand is infuriating, but it has me shaking my head. The Tower's hubris is going to come around to bite them in a big way pretty soon, I think.

is this a foreshadowing on your part :laugh:

I was trying to put myself in Siuan's situation and I cannot see how I would act differently. Someone so important running around doing whatever he wants scares me as much as probably they were supposed to be scared (her and Moiraine).
 

Alisen al'Harld

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is this a foreshadowing on your part :laugh:

I was trying to put myself in Siuan's situation and I cannot see how I would act differently. Someone so important running around doing whatever he wants scares me as much as probably they were supposed to be scared (her and Moiraine).

Around this point in the books I was tired of the Amyrlin Seat being just as scared and quick to judgement as she has been, but considering how no one but the reader has full knowledge of what is going on, and even then that is still faulty, I have to agree. If all I ever got was the information she seems to have received I would be making the same decisions as well.
 

Laurien Achaur

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is this a foreshadowing on your part :laugh:

I was trying to put myself in Siuan's situation and I cannot see how I would act differently. Someone so important running around doing whatever he wants scares me as much as probably they were supposed to be scared (her and Moiraine).
A bit, I suppose. :laugh:
Around this point in the books I was tired of the Amyrlin Seat being just as scared and quick to judgement as she has been, but considering how no one but the reader has full knowledge of what is going on, and even then that is still faulty, I have to agree. If all I ever got was the information she seems to have received I would be making the same decisions as well.
In principle, I agree. However, the prophecies have been around for much longer than any of them, and the fact that Siuan and Moiraine believe that the only possible way Rand can fulfill those prophecies is with them steering him is what irks me. The prophecies will come to pass and Rand will do what needs to be done regardless of Aes Sedai involvement, if the Wheel truly weaves as the Wheel wills. That's how I see it, at least!
 

Laurien Achaur

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Ugh. Y'all. Real life makes keeping up things like this dang near impossible sometimes. As much as I'd love to keep this thread going for TSR and future books, I've got to prioritize things like work and all the writing I need to do for class above this for the time being. I'm reading whenever I can; I'm almost halfway through The Shadow Rising at the moment.

That said, if you'd like to ask me for thoughts on various parts of the book that I've gotten through, feel free! I will answer as I'm able. Hopefully I'll get to a point where I'm able to hop back on this particular wagon at some point in the near future. :wink:
 

Aduiavas Ida

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How far have you come? :look: There is one part I am very anxious to hear your thoughts on...
 

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Laurien, dear, you take all the time you need. Your life comes first, and afterward we can talk books all day long.
 

Laurien Achaur

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How far have you come? :look: There is one part I am very anxious to hear your thoughts on...
So I've just gotten to Perrin returning to Emond's Field and finding out his entire family was killed by Trollocs. :cry2:Which means I've gotten through Mat and Rand going through Rhuidean. Some immediate thoughts:

- I do not like Faile. She may love Perrin, but she's abusive (or at the very least extremely immature) and shrewish. Maybe I'll learn to like her later, but I don't have high hopes right now.
- Rand's walking through Rhuidean and seeing the entire history of the Aiel (and by extension the Tuatha'an) unfolding backwards is by far my favorite part of everything I've read from the start so far. Seriously. It blew my mind and made me pretty emotional.

Have I gotten to the part you're anxious about yet?
Laurien, dear, you take all the time you need. Your life comes first, and afterward we can talk books all day long.
Thank you. :happy: Though I'll happily talk books whenever, too!
 

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- Rand's walking through Rhuidean and seeing the entire history of the Aiel (and by extension the Tuatha'an) unfolding backwards is by far my favorite part of everything I've read from the start so far. Seriously. It blew my mind and made me pretty emotional.
This remains one of my favorite sequences in the whole series.

As for Faile, I personally felt that she matured greatly by the end of the series (and even a great deal by the end of this book), but where you're at right now, she's at absolute best a brat with a tendency to throw fits and abuse others to get her way.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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- Rand's walking through Rhuidean and seeing the entire history of the Aiel (and by extension the Tuatha'an) unfolding backwards is by far my favorite part of everything I've read from the start so far. Seriously. It blew my mind and made me pretty emotional.
That is the part I wanted you to read! That is one of my favourite parts as well, and it gives me chills everytime I read it, even though I've read it so many times! Especially the parts that are right after the Breaking, with the Da'shain Aiel singing to the madman :cry2: :eek2:
 

Satara al'Caelahn

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Especially the parts that are right after the Breaking, with the Da'shain Aiel singing to the madman

To this day, I cry at that part. Every time.
 

Nadezhda al'Lanahrin

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That part definitely blew my mind and something I was not expecting.
 

Laurien Achaur

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That is the part I wanted you to read! That is one of my favourite parts as well, and it gives me chills everytime I read it, even though I've read it so many times! Especially the parts that are right after the Breaking, with the Da'shain Aiel singing to the madman :cry2: :eek2:
I'm actually in the process of reading it again, this time out loud since doing so seems to help me retain more. I think that, overall, the thing that struck me most was realizing why the Tuatha'an do what they do. They kind of don't know what the hell they're doing at this point, but they're the closest living artifact hailing back to their origin. There was a song! And now I want so badly for them to find it again.

Apart from that...yeah. The Age of Legends and post-Breaking stuff was what made me tear up the most. Realizing Someshta was the Green Man really did it. But humans and Ogier singing together and working with the Nym, the drilling of the Bore, the singing Da'shain Aiel linking arms before the mad channeler (something the show called back to when the Tuatha'an faced the Whitecloaks, I realized), seeing how the Aiel gradually lost sight of the purpose and split apart...

Oof. My head is full!
 
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This is making me want to do a reread again.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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That part alone is one of the reasons Shadow Rising is my favourite book. There are a few other points as well, but that is definitely the highlight!
 
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A bit, I suppose. :laugh:

In principle, I agree. However, the prophecies have been around for much longer than any of them, and the fact that Siuan and Moiraine believe that the only possible way Rand can fulfill those prophecies is with them steering him is what irks me. The prophecies will come to pass and Rand will do what needs to be done regardless of Aes Sedai involvement, if the Wheel truly weaves as the Wheel wills. That's how I see it, at least!
I agree with you.
 

Laurien Achaur

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I've finally done it! I've made it through The Shadow Rising! Job changes, residence changes, and school certainly didn't help, but I finally reached the end and am eager to start The Fires of Heaven.

TSR has definitely been my favorite so far. I love all the parts dealing with Rhuidean; learning the history of the Aiel and finally getting to see Rand reveal it to them, with the sept leaders declaring him to be the Car'a'carn right in Couladin's face was quite the climax. Nynaeve facing down Moghedien was pretty epic, too (and I was pretty pleased to see that it made her seriously reconsider the tack she'd decided to take with Lan).

If anyone would like to know my thoughts of specific parts of the book, feel free to ping me here, in a DM, or on Discord.

I'm not certain that I'll do any threads bigger or more involved than this one for the next books, but the same thing applies to those when it comes to asking for my thoughts on those, too.

On to the next!
 

Alisen al'Harld

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I'm glad you managed it at last! It's such a good book, and the threads of the pattern continue to weave all the way through to A Memory of Light even from before this point.
 

Dilyena Aythaem

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TSR is one of my favorites so far, too! What a climax. I'm on my first readthrough (onto book 6 next), so it is awesome to see another person's first reactions as they journey through. I look forward to your next threads!
 
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