The fires of heaven purge the earth...and one seriously scary woman tries to murder everyone over some guy.

Rand's life has basically become the "This is Fine" meme. The Dark One's henchmen are plotting his destruction. Someone's doing war crimes in his name. A group of overprotective women won't stop bringing him soup.

We're discussing Rand's hostile takeover/liberation of two major cities, Mat's rise to accidental general despite his protests, and Nynaeve and Elayne's need for an immediate time out.

We complain about the circus. We fall in love with Mat. We rave about one of the best endings in fantasy, ever. And you can come along.

Full spoilers through The Fires of Heaven, nothing past it.

The Shadow Rising is the fourth book in The Wheel of Time, and we're here to report that it's also the best one so far. Lee has opinions about this. Strong ones. Loudly.

In this episode, Rand al'Thor runs out of excuses and into the Aiel Waste. Perrin goes home, which ends up being significantly more complicated than going home usually is. Mat gets hanged from a tree, receives the memories of a bunch of dead soldiers, and comes out the other side speaking a new language. Nynaeve and Elayne go to Tanchico, fight a Forsaken, and somehow survive. Also, a coup happens at the White Tower and we're not thrilled.

We also get into Rhuidean and why it might be the best piece of world-building Robert Jordan ever put on paper. Plus: why all the women in this series are angry in exactly the same way, and whether that's a feature or a bug.

Full spoilers for The Shadow Rising. No spoilers beyond it.

And it was written that no hand but his should wield the sword held in the stone... and Lee should discover that the titular Dragon Reborn is present for like four scenes of his own book.

In Episode Three of The Sibling Sidequest, we dig into The Dragon Reborn, Book Three of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Rand was super mature about his destiny and immediately fled into the wilderness alone, which means Mat, Perrin, Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne have to carry the entire novel. Turns out they can do it. Also turns out Mat is finally good now and we're all relieved.

We talk about Mat's full glow-up, why the Aes Sedai's "trust me, I'm mysterious" policy has never worked once in three books, and the Egwene/Nynaeve/Elayne plotline, which starts as a genuinely competent covert investigation and then requires them to get rescued. Again. We're sensing a pattern.

Also: the Stone of Tear has fallen, Callandor has been claimed, Bel'al goes down in about three seconds (Lance has a theory), and the thing Rand just killed may or may not have been the Dark One.

This is the last book Lee has previously read, and the first one in the series she really liked. Lance was smug about it. The Shadow Rising cannot come soon enough.

This is a spoiler-heavy discussion of The Dragon Reborn, but we only spoil up to Book Three. If you're looking for a Wheel of Time podcast with strong opinions, you're in the right place.