Elaida may be acting against our heroes in the White Tower but the extremist has a point about how their actions must look to outsiders. Lanfear is motivated by her ambition and lust for power but also a desperate desire to be loved. Lord Bornhald's motivations are a desire to avenge his father, no matter how misguided his belief Perrin is responsible for his death may be. Likewise, while the villains may not be as interesting as the heroes, Robert Jordan avoids making them two-dimensional. The Wheel of Time's protagonists may be unrealistically good but they have a Clark Kent, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia-like decency which reminds us why we're supposed to root for the side of right over wrong. The only member of the group I want to sometimes punch in the face is Mat and that's only intermittently, oftentimes when he's displaying the qualities of a faithless friend or ungrateful jerkass. Instead, almost all of the Wheel of Time's characters are extremely likable. Usually, in these sorts of books, there's always one or more characters I find intensely annoying.

It is Robert Jordan's greatest talent to be able to weave together hundreds of minor plots and characters into a single coherent tapestry. Mat, despite having been healed by Aes Sedai, maintains a great distrust for channelers and avoids associating with any of his former friends who now can, Nynaeve as well as Egwene struggle with the Black Ajah, and there is increasing tension at Tar Vallon which will soon boil over into outright civil war within the Aes Sedai. Perrin has begun a relationship with the beautiful noblewoman Faile, their personalities contrasting as well as cultural background. The book opens with Rand struggling with his new-found position as the King of Tear as well as his friends' struggle to deal with these new changes to his personality. The Shadow Rising is the fourth novel in the Wheel of Time series, following the events of the climatic third book which has seemingly killed the Dark One's strongest Forsaken as well as resulted in the crowning of Rand al'Thor the Dragon Reborn for all of the world to see.

Wheel of time the shadow rising