The Shadow Rising

The series overall is still holding me firm in its grip, but this particular book fell just a little bit flat for me.

It just felt like by this whole volume (how else would you call 1000+ pages?) Jordan was paving the way for something great coming (hopefully) in the next book, so there's no feeling of it being completed like the previous three were. I always knew that the story would go on, but the plot arc within a book used to have some kind of resolution, the story felt finished, tentacles to the next one were satisfactorily stretched out.

In this case, none of the three climaxes gave me such a vibe, it was more like “OK, this level was passed, welcome to the next level, here's your new quest”. Maybe it's because of the simple fact that there were three “smaller” climaxes, instead of one, where all the POVs converged. Most likely it was done on purpose, but for me personally, this way does not purport to starting the next book the second I finished the current one. So, most likely, I'll get back to the WOT some time next year.