A year of READS

Happy 2016!

As part of my new year's resolutions, I am going to attempt to complete a reading challenge given to me by my dear friend David Goodheart.

The challenge is to read 25 books, one per square:

I just completed my first square (technically, I started the book in 2015, but I read more than half of it in 2016 so I'm counting it.

I just finished a fantasy novel, Robert Jordan's The Shadow Rising.  This was the fourth book in his series The Wheel of Time.  It was by far my favorite in the series.  Full of action and characters I recognized and cared about, it held my interest throughout, which had not been true of the first three novels in the series (which all had great endings, but I felt were a bit sluggish in the middle).

One of the themes I thought Jordan did an excellent job with in The Shadow Rising was the notion of being an outsider.  Reflecting back on his first three books, this has been a theme throughout, but I felt it was particularly powerful in this outing.  Each of the main three male characters, Rand, Mat, and Perrin, found themselves outsiders in what could have been familiar settings.  Perrin in particular dealt with taking on a new role back in his hometown of Two Rivers.  No longer just a blacksmith's apprentice, Perrin (now called Perrin Goldeneyes) found himself looked upon instead as a military leader by the people with whom he grew up, and a suspected Darkfriend by the militant Whitecloaks who spread their own kind of terror in the name of hunting down their enemies.  Rand, who learned he was adopted in book 1 of the series, and who has now met the people from whom he is descended, is now expected to travel to the Aiel waste to visit Rhuidean, to fulfill another prophesy on his way as the Dragon reborn.  Rand is an outsider (wetlander) to the his own people, the Aiel, and feared by all because of his ability to channel the One Power.  Rand struggles to follow the path he believes he must, while the people closest to him watch for the inevitable signs that his connection to the One Power has finally driven him mad.  Mat follows along, constantly reminded that his destiny is tied to Rand, but unsure what role he is to play and whether or not he is willing to play it.  Two of the "supergirls," Elayne and Nynaeve travel to Tanchico in search of the remaining members of the Black Ajah, via a ship of the Sea Folk and find that they don't know as much about the One Power as they thought.  In Tanchico they try to blend with the local culture to find the Black Ajah, and along the way they find out that they don't know as much about a perceived enemy as they believed.  Both girls also struggle to find out where they fit within the relationships that they both desire, but both wonder if they are outsiders there as well.    

An excellent novel, and I am looking forward to part 5.  Perhaps in 2017!