Rating: Summary: More setup for what is sure to be an excellent conclusion Review: Much like the previous two books in the series Crossroads of Twilight is mostly a set up for things to come. As I've read the reviews by other posters it seems that there's one common thread, people are sick of the set up with this series and ready for things to happen. I went into COT sharing that sentiment and fearing that I'd just spent two years waiting for another set up novel. Well my fears proved true. Nothing much happens to advance the plot, most of the story revolves around reaction to what happened at the end of Winter's Heart, things continue to build, and I absolutly loved the book. Now don't get me wrong, I'm just as ready as everyone else for something to happen but I think a clever reader can read between the lines on this one and see that things will start happening very very soon. There's so much getting ready to happen for the climax of the series. Things are beginning to be brought back together and I believe we're finally seeing the beginning of the end of WOT, something that's bittersweet to me. COT doesn't have the quick pace of the early novels, the suprising plot twists of the middle novels, or the grand developments that happened in WH. But what it does have is incredible potential for book 11. Even if book 11 turns out to be yet more set up I believe that by book 12 things will for sure be happening and I'd say this series has no more then 3 or 4 more books (Jordan's said he thinks only 2 more but quite frankly I'm not sure anyone believes that:) My reccomendaiton to those who don't think they can stomach another set up novel is to stick with it and realize they are in the hands of a master story writer who is going to give us a magnificent conclusion in just a few books. Have patientce and you'll be glad you did.
Rating: Summary: Is this gent paid by the word? Review: This is my second review of the audio version of the book. In my first review, I described Mr. Jordan as being an inefficient writer. However, I had only finished a few CDs and was hoping for improvement. Having completed the book, I am now in a position to give an opinion more substantiated by empirical observation - the man is obviously paid by the word. Going through this book was one of the most excruciating experiences that I have ever gone through. I borrowed the audio version in order to have something to listen to while I drove long distances on business. However, I began listening to static-filled radio stations instead of the book. In fact, you almost have to listen to the book on audio to truly appreciate its verbosity. When you read a book, you can skim through the dross. When you're listening to the tape, you're stuck. The book simply had too many descriptions of flustered Aes Sedai, who were not normally flustered, smooth their skirts, one of whom preferred wearing high-necked gowns embroidered with patterns of tea leaves embossed in gold touched with silver, except where the lace began, which, coming from Tear, was the finest lace ever to be found, except, of course, for lace could only be found in Caemlyn, but even lace from Caemlyn paled in comparison to the lace made in . . . Some of Mr. Jordan's readers have described this as rich storytelling. I respectfully disagree. On one occasion, Mr. Jordan provided a ten-minute description of nothing more than what a group of women were wearing. Literally ten minutes, and literally nothing more than a description of clothing. If this does not cross the line from rich storytelling to schlock writing, I do not know what does. Having read or listened to all of the books in the WOT series to date, I thought that I was too far in to quit now. That assessment was in error. I quit.
Rating: Summary: Oh, Dear God No! Review: I'll never forget the time a buddy of mine insisted I read the "Eye Of the World". This story was great. I couldn't get enough of it. I Bought the first five books in hardback, mainly because I wanted these to last and possibly, share this wonderful story with others. While I'm glad I own several of these books, I just can't help but to come to the conclusion of severe disappointment over the last two novels. I've made mistakes in my life, I guess Jordan does too. It's too bad that I've made two mistakes in buying his last pair of pages, horrible things, with covers. COT has to be the most recklessly useless part of this wonderful story that drearly turns into absolute cesspool material. He could have taken it into fantasy porn and it would have been better. I honestly do not believe that this novel would have been published under any other author's name. Hopefully, Mr. Jordan will relinquish his obsession with the formalaties with tea and wrinkle-free skirts. Instead, I hope he concentrates on the conflicts which orignally gained him notability in this genre. This is a poster-child of a good story gone bad. Don't waste your money on this "book". Hopefully, Jordan and TOR® will stop milking this cow and try to return to something less disapointing.
Rating: Summary: Wanted so desperately to love it Review: I don't want to rehash everything everyone else has already written. I have a couple of new things to say, but I just need to vent first. I wanted to love this book. I wanted to want this book to not suck. But it did. The most insulting thing about this entire series boils down to one fact and its implications: Jordan's characters make absolutely no sense in the long run. First of all, if our world had people like these in power, these idiots would have run us all into the ground from lack of communication and intelligent action. Jordan is so caught up in writing political drama/fattening his wallet by stretching out with endless, pointless dialogue that he writes his characters into doing things that would make no sense to any rational creature. Why would Egwene and Rand not communicate better? Why would any number of other characters in this book not comunicate better? The Black Tower and White Tower, the "Shadow" and the "Light"... how the heck can rational people possibly be so utterly clueless and idiotic as to know so little about their enemies/allies? How could an institution like the White Tower exist with the "Black Ajah" within it, and nothing having been done for three thousand years until some 18 year girl takes over and stuff just miraculously starts to happen? We would all be doomed if these kind of idiots had hold of our political and social institutions. They make idiotic decisions on half-information when they could simply step into a black hole, travel to ***anywhere in the world***, and simply ask someone what happened, in cases too numerous to cite. Furthermore, Jordan stabs his own characters in the back by writing them into making idiotic decisions, not making the right decisions, and just doing stupid, idiotic things. The travesty is that instead of staying true to the nature of any of the characters, and thus providing a truly masterful painting of a world, he uses his characters in ways that contradict their respective natures as he has written them. Not only does this point to the stupidity and lack of writing skill on Jordan's behalf, the reader (and the characters themselves, it they were real) would lose all respect for these people. This is the worst case I have ever read of an author ***betraying his own characters***. For these two reasons, any reader who does not feel utterly scandalized and patronized should just go soak his/her head in some icewater. I was angry that Robert Jordan patronized me, and almost even angrier that he insults his own characters by writing them into irrational and otherwise just plain stupid actions in order to further a plot that, as many of the previous reviewers have already written, is driving even his most avid readers (read: self, formally) into fits of frothy-mouthed insanity. If you're not angry, if you don't want to punch RJ in the face and demand your 20-30$ back for the last 3 entirely wasteful books, then you should never trust your taste in literature ever again. Go read some Don DeLillo, or Truman Capote, or even Maxim magazine. You will learn more about human nature and writing than you could ever possibly hope to learn by reading this series to its conclusion in what looks to be 30 years and 18 books.
Rating: Summary: Why? Review: Must add my voice to the general feeling of disappointment around this series. Have been reading for 15 years or something like that. The last 5 have had little if any plot progress. Read George R.R. Martin instead.
Rating: Summary: Soap Opera in a Fantasy World Review: I have now read Volumes 1 through 10 of this series. Each volume seems to get worse. The author claims that he will finish this series in two more volumes, but the story is so fragmented by Volume 10 that I suspect "All the King's horses And all the King's men Couldn't put Humpty together again."
Rating: Summary: Stop buying them and he'll wrap it up! Review: For all frustrated readers of this mega-multi-manipulation of readers' money, here's my suggestion: if you just HAVE to read each one as it comes to press, check it out from the library. DON'T BUY IT! When the next book comes out and it doesn't sell, perhaps then Jordan will take his readers' pleas to heart, realize that he isn't going to make any more money on these perpetual sequels and END the thing!
Rating: Summary: Can it get any worse than this??? Review: I am in complete agreement with all the negative reviews here. How can any author be so insensitive to his fans' comments and complaints? But then again, he is the type of person who obviously cares only about money, money, money and damn everything else, right? It looks to me like he's aiming to replace Bill Gates in Fortune 4000. I started reading the series almost ten years ago, and the first six books were incredible. I cared about the characters, I cared what happened to them (although most of the women in the series were always annoying beyond belief!), now I wish the Dark One would just wipe everyone off of the face of that world and be done with. Another thing is, what's with all that clothing descriptions? I'm a woman, and it's beyond my comprehension how anybody can be this obsessed with clothes! Who is writing this book, for crickey, Dolce and Gabana? When it comes down to Crossroads, I started by reading the prologue, then skimming lines by chapter one and then skipping pages by chapter three. I pretty much deep sixed the whole thing. It's a shame that an author forced me to do that! Finally, I am completely disgusted with the series, with the characters and with Robert Jordan. He should go and take a long jump off of a short pier. That should give him something to write about, since he's obviously been brain dead for the past few years.
Rating: Summary: Intricate Details, and Politcal Scheems. Review: I must agree with seveal reviews I have already read, that Robert Jordan may just be writing now to fill his bank account, but at the same time, the way he writes is not all action and thins blowing up. This, is a book only for thoes that can follow plot after plot after plot, and have atleast a basic understanding of political intregue and hidden meaning. Quite frankly, most of his readers, in order to understand all of his works you have to read into everything like a Cairhienan. Most of this book and the one before it has been for "Set up purposes" to arange where things will be going. Yes, you should read into what the people you've never heard of before are doing. If you can not follow where all of the information is going, like following 1000 lines to 10000 different points, than perhaps this is just a filler book for you.
Rating: Summary: i have read all the books in order Review: and crossroads of twilight is still very weak. even imagining the whole series as one great big book i can see a solid improvement if winters heart and crossroads of twilight were edited together as one book. in previous books jordan would use his elaborate details to provide hints and clues that would lead to interesting discussions and often be resolved or elaborated upon in the following book. very little of this is apparent in crossroads of twilight. many of the details do not build on previous mysteries and those that do do not reveal much. if only one significant mystery had be revealed to the reader, not even to the characters but just to the reader it would have been a refreshing moment in an otherwise tedious ramble also engaging a moving plot would have been nice. the long awaited siege on Tar Valon is discussed by the sisters camping outside of the city but by the end of the book the siege has not begun. how many "wait for the next book" delays can one plot point take? it has been three books by now. and that is just the one thread in this tangled tapestry. it was a poorly developed book. if you had to wait for two years it was very bad show to hand off this "subtle" story. people who wait for two years have expectations. expectations based on what previous books have delivered. it was not unreasonable for people to expect a bit more even a lot more than crossroads of twilight delivered. even a few solid setbacks that finish a plotline and change it to something else would have been ok. on a separate note. for those of you who defend jordan by claiming he is not trying to milk the books for all the money he can should realize that he has agreed with Tor to split the first novels (probably all of them) into two separate books to be targeted to young readers. now i do not know what planet you live on but here on earth children grow up. someday a 6 year old will be a 14 year old and then that child can read all the Wheel of time books he or she may want. the series might even have reached a conclusion by then. Splitting the books is absolutely a way of milking the series for more money. Is crossroads of twilight a way of milking money out of a fan base, probably. it certainly was not written FOR them. pretty much any book after the fourth one feels a bit like it is dragging out the series to make more money. this one just sucked at the same time.
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