Rating: Summary: unbelievable waste of time Review: To WoT fans who have been there since the beginning: Remember when there would actually be a conflict that was resolved by the end of the book? Remember the action? The pitched one-on-one battles with the forsaken? Now granted, Jordan couldn't continue picking off forsaken at the rate of one per book or he wouldn't have much of a force for Rand to reckon with at the last battle, but he has slowed the series down to such a glacial crawl that, over the years, I can hardly remember important major points from the earlier books. And the series is now so lengthy that re-reading to catch up is no longer an option. Either Robert Jordan has become so ennamored of his own endless babbling that he doesn't ever intend to finish this series (or doesn't know how to), or his editor suffered a fatal heart attack and hasn't yet been replaced. There hasen't been enough plot advancement in the last 3 books together to equal one of his earlier works. For an example, there is a scene in CoT where the rebel hall is convening and Jordan spends at least 4 pages describing what everyones hair looks like and what color petticoats they are wearing and where they want to sit and why. Who cares?!!! I could summarize that whole 4-page sequence in one sentence "The sisters trickled slowely into the hall and once all were accounted for, the meeting began." Where is this guy's editor?! Sleeping? Dead? The whole book is that way. Not only does it not advance the plot, it doesn't even advance the timeline, choosing instead to tell us in excrutiating detail what everyone in the world smelled like when Rand and Co. cleansed Saidin. You don't even get a hint of whether or not he was successful until 400-something pages into the book, and then only ONE SENTENCE. I will no longer fork out any $ for new books in the series without checking them out from the library first. For old Wheel of Timers: you could probably skip this one and not only would you not miss anything important, but you would save yourself a blood pressure crisis when you realized, about 300 pages into the book, that you had been robbed not only of your money, but of the last three years waiting to find out what happens next. To new readers: Do Not start reading this series until Robert Jordan has proven he can finish writing it.
Rating: Summary: It's like reading C-SPAN... Review: When I first started the Wheel of Time series some years ago, what most attracted me was the excellent character development. It's an aspect of his writing that Jordan typically has excelled at. After a period of time, however, the overflow of cast has become tedious for me. After the last book, I was certain that Jordan had finally begun to push his plot ahead and looked for great things from this book. At the very least, I looked for some momentum...and this book has none. I can honestly say I can't remember sixty to seventy percent of the names flitting through this book, and at this point in the series I have lost the patience to go back and re-read the series to refresh my memory. The amount of time Jordan can dwell on one or another tedious issue is amazing. Few of his prior twists develop more than a half-step, and the new ones he advances are honestly not terribly intriguing. He devotes the vast majority of the book to politics...and few of this comes to anything substantial either. The sections dealing with Egwene I very nearly came to the point of flipping past, as the majority of information presented varied hardly at all from what he had already presented previously. I believe Rand Al Thor - the main focus of the stories - is spared barely three chapters of this six-hundred plus page update.I began this series excited that it might settle in next to Lord of the Rings among fantasy epics. After waiting another three or so years and sinking another thirty dollars and quite a few hours of my life into this book, I can't say I really find myself looking that forward to another. Mr. Jordan, you have my respect as a writer...however you are going to drag this story out well beyond its welcome. I still would like to know how the story ends, but I can guarantee I won't waste my money on another hard-back after this one...and with another book like this I may not waste my time with this series any longer either. You have built a vivid and exciting world up until recently. Don't let it drown in overkill.
Rating: Summary: Half a book Review: This book really does tread water. It takes about 300 pages to catch all the minor characters up to Rand. Rand himself is only actively in the book for around 5 pages. The prevoius book set up a number of cliff hangers non of which are resolved which is surprising since egwene was at the walls of tar valion at the end of WH and is still there at the end of CoT. I really enjoyed WH for the reason that now that the taint was cleansed RJ could break some new ground and the series would move quickly to the last battle. I decided to title this review "half a book" cause thats what CoT is its the 600 pages that builds up to a climax that occurs in the last 300 making a nice 900 page book. Unfortunately RJ has decided that these 300 pages will be book 11. Two things about this worry me (a) Are we gonna have to wait 3 yrs for the next one i wouldn't mind CoT if the 11th book came out next week but i cant wait cause its already been 3 yrs since something happened. (b) How do we know the next book wont be dribble too. RJ needs to save the series to do this he needs to stop writing conan books and put out book 11 in the next six months. The early books were within a year of each othe why cant RJ pull finger and do some work. This book should have taken 3mnths not 3 yrs to write. Recommendation is definitely library or paper back. The worst thing that can be said about this book is that if you didn't read it you would be just fine. No matter how much you liked or disliked it this is entirely true. Owning The WoT guide book is more important than this i'm afraid.
Rating: Summary: If you love the "memory" of the WoT DO NOT READ this book Review: I' m writing this review in the hope to aid Jordan's fan (like myself) entrapped in the serie: Bee better than me stop reading WoT books! CoT goes nowere, it leaves you at the same point of the previous book (or nearly the same to not make difference), it's a 700 pages long waste of time, in my opinion Jordan has lost count of haw many plots has opened and goes on in opening new, without closing any. It's a pity to so review a book of Jordan, but it is only and simply the truth
Rating: Summary: robert jordan was replaced by a random chapter generator. Review: out of all 10 books, the last 4 in the series are markedly slower-paced than the first 6. out of the last 4 books in the series, crossroads of twilight was the most boring waste of time. i used to love this series - up until book 7, each book i considered brilliantly engaging and i devoured them many times over. books 7, 8 and 9 were, by contrast, slow and dull, and tedious to wade through. book 10 outdulled all three in its inanity - robert jordan goes on at length about trivial details (do we really need to know how elayne likes her tea 10 times?) and advances the plotline of the series by only a hair. i thought the series had hope and gamely trudged through 3 mediocre books to find it. now after the 4th, i am quitting. i am sorry, robert jordan, but i'm afraid your writing is nowhere near as enthralling as it once was. in short, i wasted my time with this book.
Rating: Summary: Crossroads of Nothing Review: Which is exactly what happened in this book, and what pretty much every reviewer has expressed. This series already had too many characters to begin with and now Robert Jordan gives us even more to worry about! And to top that off we get NO resolution to any of the plotlines already going on. This book and Winter's Heart should have been made into one book since their timeframes coincide almost exactly. RJ does seem to be setting up the series for a big finish with this book, but who knows how many more books that will take. I had hoped that we would get some answers in this book about Moiraine, the Forsaken, and what Rand's plans are, but alas, I was sorely disappointed. I will probably keep reading this series, but I hope RJ puts a LOT more effort into his next book, because this one was his worst by far. Books 1-6 each stand on their own as solid stories, but the last four books could be condensed into 2, maybe 3 books. Far too much time is spent describing inanimate objects and reiterating thoughts characters have expressed many times before. Come on, RJ, move the story along, PLEASE!!!
Rating: Summary: Two Freaking years and this is what I get? Review: Ok,ok, huge fantasy fan here. Love Goodkind, Tolkein, and Jordan, but come on Robert. All of your loyal Fans have been waiting for this book to come and and solve some issues, and nothing. Nothing at all happens. Rand barely shows up in the book, and no one ever really talks about him cleansing saidin. biggest thing to happen in the last book, and Cadsuane is the only one who even mentions it. If you're thinking about buying this one, don't, go down to the library, check it out, and read the last two chapters. please Mr Jordan, don't drag this series out to make more money. End it gracefully, and do it like you did the first six books which all of your loyal fans love.
Rating: Summary: Paging Mr. Jordan.... Where did you go? Review: Paging Mr. Jordan... please stand up to your publisher, your editor, or whoever has you over the barrel and return to the writing your ever expanding fanbase fell in love with in the first 5 books. I can't begin to describe the dissapointment I felt with this book. It seems as if Robert Jordan spent the last 2 years vacationing, while spending about a week devoted to writing this latest installment. There is a point in the middle of the book, where he actually takes up 4 PAGES to describe how a bath got too cold. The excitment, intruige and mystery that surrounded the first 5 books is vacant here. No part of the story is moved forward. The only interesting parts of the book involve Mat and Perrin, and that is only about 1/6 of the book. The rest of the book is devoted to vacuous, inane descriptions of some minor character's clothes and hairstyle, or some other silly non-important theme. The story is not moved forward an inch. At this rate, we should expect the series to conclude in 2050, with the 35th volume. At this point it is fairly obvious that the Wheel of Time has been turned into a financial juggernaut rather than an intruiging, well written fantasy. We all desire a Return of the King *snicker*... The King you were in creating the wonderful series that the Wheel of Time started out to be. Paging Mr. Jordan... Paging Mr. Jordan....
Rating: Summary: Tries the Patience, but still entertaining Review: There is no denying there is not much action in this book. More new characters are introduced, and more things are being set up for the next book. It is hard to keep everyone's names and backgrounds straight too, outside of the central characters. I couldn't read it the first time I started, but once I stopped caring a bit about what should happen I enjoyed it a bit more. This series will probably go on forever. The book gets better as it goes along.
Rating: Summary: not as good as usual, but still good Review: while this book wasn't as good as jordan's usually are, but it was still good. one of the other reviewers said that they thought the past three books were horrible, but i have to disagree. Crossroads was slower than the previous ones, but this series takes place over a long period of time and there's always slow points in long streaches of time. i greatly look forward to the next step in the Wheel Of Time.
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