Rating: 
Summary: waffle, waffle....
Review: after a great start Jordan has got totally bogged down and seems to have forgotten that there is a story to tell here. For the first time in all the books NOT A SINGLE thing of consequence happens. People should ... this book and wait to read the prologue of a future book which could catch the reader up in 100 pages. Robert Jordan, please get off your ... and finish up this series least you be remembered as a writer with great potential who either sold out or lost inspiration and petered into insignificance.Maybe, Im being too harsh. Perhaps all the setup will lead to a thrilling next book that will be available inside 6 months. Nah, who am I kidding the next book will be 2005/6 and I like many, many other readers I will have just moved on.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: I, like many people, have been anxiously awaiting the next installment of this series. When the release date came I drove to the nearest book store, purchased it, and started to hungrily read like a starved man put before a feast. It didn't take me long to realize that Jordan had no intention of creating a masterpiece here. This book clearly lacks the adventure and excitement of the first few books in the series. Don't believe me? Read some chapters out of this and then go back to book one. You'll be surprised at the contrast. When this series started out it was hailed as one of the best; ranking right up there with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. After reading this book I wouldn't even try to compare this series to Tolkien's masterpiece. Where do I begin to describe the problems I had with this book? How about I start with the cameo appearance of Rand. That's right. The DRAGON REBORN barely existed in this. The supposed savior of the world that will lead everyone into the last battle hardly made an appearance. Now don't get me wrong, I would love to read about how Elayne is trying to win back the throne and how Perrin is desperately trying to find his loved one; Faile. But the focus of this book is too much on them and Matt's courtship of Tuon, the Daughter of the Nine Moons, as well as Egwene's siege of Tar Valon. What was Rand doing during all of this? Apparently nothing worth writing about. Now let's talk about Perrin and his quest to recover Faile. Once I read he had found the Shaido camp I was excited. FINALLY, I thought, we'll get to see some exciting plot that was so common in the beginning of the series. He makes camp, starts to scout out his enemies position and......nothing happens. No attempts are made to rescue her. The reader is left wondering what happens with this subplot; just like the end of book nine. We'll have to wait for another year or two to find out. Oh, the suspense is going to kill me (sarcasm). I could go on about other things that I had issues with but I won't. You should get my point by now. This book lacks the luster and excitement so prevalent in the beginning of the series. Jordan realizes his books are money makers so why should he stop now? The ones that suffer are the readers. And a lot of readers are starting to get upset with him. He has failed to keep the attention of his fans. He gives new meaning to the phrase "way off base" with the tenth book in the series. The base is being looked for. Where's the base? Sorry Jordan, but you are nowhere near it. It's out of sight and I don't know if you'll be able to find it. This could have been a phenomenal series however the last couple of books have left me wondering if he EVER intends on ending it. Crossroads of Twilight is a mere shadow of this once great fantasy series. If you want another series to read while you are waiting for book eleven (and I hope it's the last one) take a look at George RR Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice.
Rating:
Summary: An exercise in exhaustion...
Review: Plodding, dull, and repetitive are only a few of the less than flattering adjectives that can be ascribed to Mr. Jordan's latest effort to create a fictional world that can stand up to Tolkien's Middle Earth, Howard's Hyborian Age, Lieber's Lankhmar, to name only a few. A thorough-going Wheel of Time fan for the first six books of the series, I have come to realization Mr. Jordan has lost his way - as a writer and a creator of worlds - with this latest installment of what was once a benchmark series of fantasy-fiction. Crossroads of Twilight opens with a 90+ page preface that has no bearing on the rest of the book (presumably this is a "sophisticated" attempt by Mr. Jordan to add depth, gravitas, and complexity to his epic). The main action of the book, ironically enough, is inaction. Simply put, nothing happens in this book. Without giving away too many details, Perrin's quest to recover his wife makes no significant advances, Mat manages to travel a grand total of 30 miles from where we left him at the end of Book IX, Elayne and Aviendha manage to sit on their hands and achieve nothing (all while Mr. Jordan repeatedly reminds us that Rand is "wooly-headed" and "infuriating"), Egwene's siege of Tar Valon rots on the vine until the last page of the final chapter, and the focal point of Mr. Jordan's entire fantasy world - Rand, the Dragon Reborn himself - occupies the space of three short, ineffective chapters. One suspects the Mr. Jordan hardly needed 700 pages to tell us that nothing happens.
Die-hard, unthinking Jordan-ites will, of course, cry out the standard refrain that Mr. Jordan is only strengthening the plot, adding depth to his characters, and enlivening the detail of his fictional world. A thoughtful, critical reaction to the book, however, gives the lie to these defenses. Any amateur writer is aware that over-description is cardinal sin. How many times do we need to be told in minute detail what the "ageless features" of an Aes Sedai look like? Is it really necessary to state repeatedly that "a wise man knows not to stand in the way of an Aes Sedai, and that Aiel Wise One's can be stern and hard to please? Does Egwene's quest for a retainer to the hold the reins of her horse really need to be described in such exhausting detail? How often can we be expected to endure descriptions of - to take just one example - Perrin's love for Faile and his anger at her kidnapping before we begin to wonder when Mr. Jordan will get around to moving his plot(s) forward rather than just describing his characters' thoughts, emotions, and physical characteristics? 700 pages and not one swordfight, not a single confrontation between Aes Sedai and Seanchan, nary a word about The Dragon Reborn, and a near complete and utter absence of Trollocs and Myrdraals. Where, Mr. Jordan, are the confrontations that actually propel a plot? Needless description kills the story's flow, while Mr. Jordan's inexplicable need to introduce every last Aes Sedai and Wise One, as well as a slew of entirely new characters, weighs down the plot and drowns any attempt at a cohesive, fluid narrative. Also, at times the writing is hideous. Fragments can be used to add dramatic effect, but in order to do so they need to occur infrequently. And misspellings and other typographical errors abound.
I could enumerate many other technical and stylistic flaws, but I will not do so. I will close by saying that there is still hope for what was once a beautifully written, compelling, and exciting series. Mr. Jordan needs to break out of his descriptive rut and re-introduce action and movement to his narrative. If those of us who would like to see how the story concludes - and despite my complaints I'm willing to see this tale to its end, provided it gets back to its roots - are to be subjected to repeated 700-page offerings of description without plot movement, the least Mr. Jordan could do is release the next Wheel of Time installment in a timely fashion. Two and a half years is much too long to wait for what simply amounts to nothing. Finally, it seems to me that Mr. Jordan would greatly benefit from a strapping by the Mistress of Novices. As it now stands, it seems as if nothing less than a good lashing has any hope of encouraging him to embrace the essence of good writing: storytelling rather than exhaustive, pointless description.
Rating:
Summary: Yawn
Review: Let's see- the world is about to explode into a pit of evil and all the girls can think about is what dress they're wearing? Give me strong female characters and no more of this "stuff" that we've been getting. And move it along or hand it over to someone else.
Rating:
Summary: Boring.............................
Review: I remember there was a time when things actually happened in these books. This book spent 700 pages talking about nothing. The plot did not move forward at all. Robert Jordan spent the first 500 pages catching everyone up to the end of the last book. Give me a break already! I feel stuck in this series because I've read through 10 books over more than a decade and I feel like I should at least stick it out to the end, but I don't think it's going to be worth my time anymore. Jordan can spend entire chapters discussing what skirts people are wearing and who is being a woolhead or a ninny - but that does not equal plot. It equals random useless filler that is BORING to read. The characters haven't been developed at all, they don't learn anything new, and nothing changes. From start to end of 700 pages nothing happened. Feel free to skip this book. Nothing happened at all. Just wait for the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Here we are again
Review: Seriously. I shouldn't be writing reviews--none of us should. What someone may or may not like is not up to me...but something has to be said for the newest in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Why? Why did he write this book? Why did he do so many things? It's one thing to have a never ending series. I wouldn't mind if this series never ended but only if it kept the energy and excitement of the series early on. The newest book, Crossroads of Twilight takes place after a very huge development occurred in the last book, Winter's Heart. A development so huge I was in suspense for the next book for two years. Well here is the book. Nothing happens. Characters sit around and do nothing for hundreds of pages at a time. The most interesting part of the story and the most interesting characters are given little time but we are treated a lot of Elayne the Queen walking around doing nothing for a good three hundred pages. Please. Give us a break Robert Jordan. Give us some action. I know nothing like this has ever been attempted before--a series that is insanely long--that's great! But he burned himself out. He's struggling with what is obviously writer's block. Put your beloved story behind you Robert Jordan! You've created a great world and story that deserves a great ending you can't possibly deliver anymore--hand your project off to another writer. Someone who can do the job for you. Someone who will kill off one or two of your millions of characters who all have horrible names. Please Robert Jordan, spare us another book that is this bad!
By the way, read George RR Martin's fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire if you want some of the best writing ever in this genre.
Rating:
Summary: Worst Wheel of Time book yet
Review: Don't get me wrong I love the wheel of time series, but after waiting so long for Book 10 to come out I feel cheated by Crossroads of Twightlight. This book is ~700 pages long but I think that the main plot is farther behind now than when book 9 ended. Basically through out the whole book nothing happens, not a single thing. If Seinfeld was a show about nothing, then Crossroads of Twightlight is a book about nothing. All your favorite characters are there, but they each have ~2 chapters worth of doing nothing in the beginning and middle of the book followed by another brief chapter of doing nothing at the very end of the book. I would advise WoT fans to skip this book entirely and move straight to book 11 when it comes out in another 2-3 years *sigh*
Rating: 
Summary: Eye of the Storm
Review: I read a lot of reviews before I was able to get the book and every review said it was terrible. I still read the book and I was surprised because it really wasn't terrible. Unfortunately they story didn't progress more than a few days, but if you read carefully there were things to be seen. Also what could lead others not to like this book is that a couple of characters that aren't widely liked are in it (Eg and Elayne; I do like them). I have always seen the series as being the Last Battle and that the final battle won't really a major war and right now this book is the eye of the storm, the eerie where nothing seems to happen.
Rating: 
Summary: 697 page prolouge
Review: I suppose this is a little redundant, as about 700 reviews have already said what I'm about to say, but still; Nothing significant happens in this book. And I'm not talking about action, battle-fury-Salvatore-style-sequences, I mean nothing. The plot is simply ignored (or more specifically, it is pondered by each minor and major character). There is absolutly no resolution. Not only does no significant event happen, but, with the exception of Matt/Tuon, there is no character development. We don't learn anything new about any of the characters, except what they wear. The first 400 pages of this book should have been the second half of book nine, as all of this takes place chronologically BEFORE book nine.
Not only that, but, considering the end of book nine, you'd excpect a huge reaction from the world, or the dark one, or the black tower, or the white tower, or anybody within a million mile radius of the event. Well, there is none. That's right, the climax of book nine (trying to avoid a spoiler) has NO affect on anyone in book 10. I don't mind the sub-plots, or the countless characters. In fact, I think they could add a lot to the story. But the fact is, they have to DO something. You don't spend 20 pages of prologe (for that matter, I have issues with a book that "needs" 97 pages of prologe) introducing Tuon's deathwatch guard and then drop him from the book. This is a common theme- the problem with most of the minor characters, especially in the prologe, is they are introduced and subsequently dropped from the novel. There is no reason to introduce a new character if he's not doing anything for the next 600 pages; if that's the case, then she/he can wait till the next book. I did give this two stars instead of one, because the writing itself is still good. Jordan, to his credit, (in my opinion, at least) keeps up an entertaining and funny writing style, and even manages to change the tone of writing to suit the persective of the character from which the story is being told (which is impressive, considering). He also has some rather well done forshadowing of events to happen soon. However, no amount of quality writing can save a book that has no plot. Put simply, by the end of book 10, no event of appreciable note occurs. No character development (with the exception of Matt/Tuon) occurs. While the writing itself is enjoyable, it does nothing to further our visit in the world of the wheel of time.
Rating:
Summary: Makes me want to re-read the entire series
Review: While it is true that "nothing much" seems to happen on the surface of Book 10, there's a whole lot more going on underneath: a sense of tension, building up to a breaking point. I have to admit I was a bit frustrated with the first half of the book, which takes place over a day--the same day that ends "Winter's Heart" with Rand fighting the Forsaken. Upon retrospect, however, I had to admit I couldn't think of anything else that Jordan could have done. All in all, his handling of it was very believable and realistic (taking into consideration the healthy amount of suspension of disbelief necessary to read the series in the first place). Because this is one story, as opposed to stand-alone novels that all take place in the same universe, it's best read back-to-back, as if you were reading one huge book. My recommendation is this: if you've read the previous books but it's been a while, reread the entire series before starting here. Having read Books 1-7 in succession six months before Book 8 came out, I hated Book 8, because I felt like its pace was lacking. Therefore, I waited a year to read Book 9 (after it came out, that is). Before doing so, I decided to reread the first 8 books. To my surprise and delight, Book 8 read completely differently the second time around, without there being such a huge lag time between installments. My reason for making it four stars:
1) Size. While still a heft novel, the font size is a bit larger than earlier books (compare to "A Crown of Swords"), which means the book isn't really as thick as it looks.
2) Lag time. The first seven books came out in six years (with two in 1993). Since Book 7 was published in 1996, it's taken six years to get three books. Granted, I don't want Jordan to slap together a piece of [junk] just to get it out there, but it is frustrating to wait so long.
3) Glossary. There were several characters in this book that I had a hard time remembering from previous books, and I found the glossary to be woefully incomplete here. For the most part, a refrence was made at some point that refreshed my memory, but it was usually closer to the end of the sequence than the beginning, causing some frustration. (This is yet another reason to read the books back-to-back.)
4) Price. Again, I don't really blame Jordan for this, but the last two books have been priced at $29.95, close to $5 more than most other hard backs. For this price, it would seem that TOR could provide better binding. I had to sift through a stack of about 10 books to find a spine that wasn't already coming apart or pages that weren't properly glued.
5) Cover Art. I'm sick of the covers. Everyone looks like a little kid, giving the series a "children's fantasy" aspect, which it most definitely is not. Please, TOR, find someone else to do the artwork! Jordan has created an immense world here, and based on some video interviews I've seen, he seems as anxious to get to the end as most of his readers. But he does have the pesky business of cleaning up many, many plot threads before he can do so. I have a feeling that Book 11 will see the plotting pick up speed like a snowball rolling downhill.
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