Rating: 
Summary: Not As Good as Original, But Still Pretty Fine
Review: The Shadow Rising was not as earth-shattering as its predecessors, but it still comes filled with great fantasy. The descriptions are wonderful and the final battle(s) at the end create a great cliffhanger.
Rating: 
Summary: Jordan's best so far, and one of the best ever written
Review: Before I picked up this book, I loved Robert Jordan's stuff. It was one of the best fantasy series' i'd ever read and looked like it was just gonna get better. After reading this book, I became an absolute utterly obsessed fanatic. This thing DEFINES the word "epic". This is mindshatteringly HUGE, and I don't mean just lengthwise. This thing soars over an entire world while twisted plots and schemes rush in and out of each other, as everyone influences everyone else. The small things matter just as much as the big things, and Jordan's no slacker when it comes to details. This thing is extremely lush with intricate detail and is so well done that it is still extremely exciting.This book in particular draws ideas from everywhere into a synthesis of experience and pain and hope and light and dark. One large thread in the storyline gives a feel of "Laurence of Arabia meets Tolkien" in the lush writing that makes RJ's fans love him so much. All the while there's betrayal left and right, and while THAT's happening, off somewhere else events are taking place that lead to a much more stark, real feel without taking away a bit of the quality the hugeness lent. Every character is represented in top form and more character development happens in this book among the main characters than the next 3 combined! Please, if you like fantasy and like it bigger(like earlier Jordan or perhaps Michael Moorcock's "Elric" stuff) rather than smaller in scope(Lord of the Rings and Shannara gave me that feel, seemed a bit more petty), then get this now and read for the very first time the the best epic fantasy book written so far.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever written.
Review: Robert Jordan never ceases to amaze me with his books. This book is so detailed that you really become a part of it.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!!!
Review: This series rocks!!! To all those Jordan-bashers, let me tell you that this series has been a non-stop roller coaster ride from the beginning and I hope it never ends! If you people had any imagination, you would be just as enthralled as I am. Robert Jordan makes his characters real by giving them flaws and thoughts and emotion. Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, Elayne, and Nynaeve are all experiencing a rite-of-passage in their lives. A rite-of-passage is an event or ceremony which significantly changes a person's life, such as marraige or puberty. Robert Jordan has masterfully incorporated their rites-of-passage with the plot and and excellent battles and magical abilities. From book one, I was captivated. However, in order to really understand the book, you must start with the first one and open your mind, because you will be amazed!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Overkill at best.
Review: I was enthralled by the beginnings of the Wheel of Time. I thought, "Wow, this book has magic ( the True Power) in a completely new form no one had ever conceived before, and new races ( Ogier and Trollocs ) straight from the author's imagination. But 2500 some pages later, with little more to add than sensless rhetoric about the same doubts and misconceptions that troubled the characters from page one of the Eye of The World, it's getting old. End it while you can, Robert J. This series will be your funeral.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm bored of Jordan.
Review: Books one and two of the wheel of time series were awsome. Book three "Dragon Reborn" definitly kept me going, although I was begining to have reservations about keeping interested in a storyline that lasts for 8 books (or more). With "Shadow Rising" I have finally had enough. I only read the first 200 pages of this 700 page book. It was boring reading! I looked ahead in the book to see if it got any better, and all I could see was more plot twists and turns that could keep this series going on for 100 books. I've had enough! I like epic's, but I also like a story to have an end in sight. I'm tired of hearing about the Amirylan Seat. I'm tired of hearing about people's hate for Aies Sedia. I'm tired of hearing about all the threads of the pattern and what it can do to people. I'm tired of the whole series and where it's plot is going (if it goes anywhere). Robert Jordan is a very competent writer. I have enjoyed the places he has taken me. But it is time to move on. I need storylines that have a resolution to them in at least 4 to 5 books, not 8, or however many books Jordan will need to finish this series. Goodbye "Wheel of Time", with no end in sight it is time to move on.
Rating:
Summary: Brings back faith after the Dragon reborn!
Review: The Dragon reborn, scarred my faith in the series, I thought that it would go downhill from there. What can I say? I was wrong, The Shadow rising is the ultimate comeback ever. With things now rising for boiling point!
Rating:
Summary: Too many pages, too little progression
Review: Does Jordan think he's writing weekly comic strips? I just finished the fourth book (which I was told by many was the best) to reach the conclusion that I only have so much time on my hands, and reading 700-1000 page books whose endings are generally no surpsise don't cut it anymore. There's a monetary and chronological cost to reading WoT, and although I enjoy most chapters (the finale in Two Rivers is Jordan's best yet), it's just not worth the effort. Jordan should also split up books when characters go different routes - I have no interest whatsoever in hearing Nynaeve tug her braids any more - she is the single most annoying character I've ever come across. Should there be a WoT book on Perrin alone, I will buy it.
Rating:
Summary: A viciously entertaining cycle
Review: This book has its ups and downs, as many of the other critics have said, but Jordan does do somethings right. He has kept the characters intertwined and seperate by secrets and assumptions. He does this in the other books in the series as well. People who critisize his jumps in reading don't understand how this just keeps you wanting to read more. And yes, I have, as well, skipped chapters to find out what happens to Perrin and the Two River Folk, only to miss out on the big picture. Jordan also does give enough chapters to most of his sections that you almost have had it up to here with those characters, to coin a phrase. I have read all of the series up to the sixth book, and I must say I feel really dumb upon losing it at school, a few months ago. I can't seem to read other books with out relating all of the characters to Jordan's. She is such a Lan of a girl. He gambles with life like Matrim. All I can say for Jordan is that he does something right with h! is constant cycles of creating knowledge, letting the characters absorb it, then forming their own oppinions about it, and keeping it to themselves until they explode it all out in a frenzy of emotions which jolts the readers to no end, and no end in sight.
Rating:
Summary: I thought this was an amazing book.
Review: I thought this was surprisingly good. I thought it was much better than the first three. I recommend this book to all who love fantasy.
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