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Crossroads of Twilight (The Wheel of Time, Book 10)

Crossroads of Twilight (The Wheel of Time, Book 10)

List Price: $75.00
Your Price: $47.25
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Support your local library
Review: Save your money and get this from a library. Mr Jordan has milked this tale long enough. It's a pity he does not respect the readers enough to end it. Prequel? Nah, I wanted an end to the story, not more beginings.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This is actually scaring me
Review: I stopped reading the books some time ago because I got frustrated with how long it took for the new ones to come out. Well..I just started the series again, and am currently on The Lord of Chaos. I came on here to see if book 11 came out and just thought I would see how the reviews were. I must say I was a little startled to see such low ratings until I read the reviews. I'm almost dreading continuing my reading because I already felt like the books were dragging a bit. And now it doesn't look like it will get much better?? Joy... But..being an avid reader and have already been drawn into the series and want to see where everything will go, I will continue to trudge on...Especially if I need help falling asleep at night.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Can't judge a book by its cover..and it's a shame
Review: This is the first time I've ever found the phrase 'You can't judge a book by its cover' to be literally true. I am convinced that whatever lingering action now contained in Jordan's books (and usually appearing within 10 pages of the end) is inserted simply so the artist has something to put on the cover of the book. Why? Because if the cover of each book accurately reflected what has become the endless norm of Jordan's tomes, namely a bunch of uptight Aes Sedai on a shopping trip or sitting around in a room tugging on various bodyparts like braids or earlobes (and not even one another's, which might be mildy amusing or intriguing), NO ONE WOULD BUY IT.

Scroll up a bit and take a look at the cover of 'Crossroads of Twilight'. Click on it for a larger view. At first blush, it seems to suggest something is actually happening..perhaps Matt is actually reacting to an enemy, that the party has been ambushed by Forsaken in the wild, that they must battle or struggle or at least do something not involving petticoats. But no. Never happens. Ironically enough, now I think all the cover represents is the series itself, at bay in a sea of savagely angry ex-fans. As it should be.

One could make a pretty good argument that there is fraud, or false advertising, or some form of bait-and-switch involved in the increasingly hilarious disconnect between the cover of the book and its tedious, U.N. General Assembly Transcript-like contents, or one could simply stop caring at all. Judging by the other reviews, think most folks have already decided.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Backtracking
Review: I was halfway through the book when I realized that the events transpiring hadn't even caught up with the END of the last book, chronologically! This story doesn't progress in a satisfactory fashion. I actually enjoyed reading the PLOT SUMMATIONS written by reviewers much more than I enjoyed reading the book itself. This is the last time. I'm done.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: 100 pages...
Review: I read 100 pages of book 10 before I even recognized a character... and then the 2 characters I remembered were minor players (the Ogeir and some other 'friend' of Rands). And to be honest, I can't recall whether these characters even appeared in book 9? (8? 7?) Jordan, (or this poor clone of a once worthwhile author), is lost in a world of his own devising, filling pages with repetitive meaningless bickering between equally un-sympathetic characters, reviews of events from previous books, and tragically little plot progression. I'm a fantasy nut, a collector at heart, who usually is willing to own and re-read previous books in a series when a new one comes out. The sheer volume of this series (what is it, like 8000 pages?) makes that impossible... so I'm lost, disinterested in most of the 42 plotlines that seem to be running, and completely disillusioned with this author and series. You'll be seeing my used copies for sale... if there are any buyers out there. Parents, don't buy this for your kids; fellow fantasy nuts, don't buy this for yourselves; it's become less painful to leave the series incomplete on the shelf than to continue supporting the creation of this drivel.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: JOrdan, please read this, man...
Review: Look!

I know you're in trouble. Problems with Creativity, Tor leans on you big time, and your woman is giving you a hard time, because she wants Aes Sedai on every turn.

I got the solution for you.

Concentrate on following points:

1. Let's get this myrdraal and trollocs back on track. They were pure horror to witness. Let's get some of these totally idiotic forsaken to these trollocs and myrdraal and let them lead some heavy host in the blight countries to rape, plunder, pillage and massacre everyone in sight not bearing the mark of the Dark One.

2. No more Women Politics bickering, please. Robert, you do not know how to write political fantasy. That's true, plz reconsider. Leave that to G.R.R.Martin and Robin Hobb. Concentrate on plotoriented, testosterone pumping Gemmell like writing.

3. You need to make the forsaken stronger. Some of them at least, must be as strong as Rand. Let's kill off some protagonists, too, yes?
How about the women? Your fans hate them Rob. I got some dreams about the rapings and torturing of Nyna, Elayne and Co, and it was funny, you know. I am not emotionally attached to these harridans. Okay?

4. Let's end this. The blight must be crawling with lusty Myrdraal and rude Trollocs sniffing for fresh flesh. All blight Nations must be conquered. Guess what? No more political bickering among the aristocrats and aes sedai! You get one united front, and then let's get to the final battle, for god's sake! Let's kill these damn evil forces!

5. Radically cut the length of your novels. NO more 1000 Page Monsters, Rob. No more 800 Page Fillers! You write 400 Page books, maximum! And full of mayhem and murder and disturbing battle scenes! That's the way to go!

6. Fire your editor (Yes, i know, that`s difficult! But you know, wifey is private, and editing is not. It's work, pure and simple, and for God's sake, Mr. Jordan, you're not doing some hobby here. The fans are leaving you, don't you understand? They're leaving you, because you don't work anymore. It's a hobby to you. Well, bad news, dude: Nobody pays you for having a hobby.

Get back on writing fast! Oh yes:

7. No prequels!!

your's truly,

a former Fan

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Glad to see I'm not alone
Review: I know, yet more negative feedback for CoT. But damnit, this book EARNED each and every one of these bad reviews. Skimming the vast numbers of poor reviews on the site, I'm struck that the majority of reviewer's background is similar to mine: initially we were all HUGE Jordan fans. We all counted the days till the shipping of the next book. We flocked to websites, newsgroups, message boards eager to discuss the happenings of Randland. But now anticipation and zeal has been replaced by frustration and increasingly, indifference.

Lets look at CoT itself. 3 major things about it I disliked.
1) Yet another tedious never-ending 100+ page prologue, consisting of irrelevant characters who matter NOT ONE BIT to either the story arc of CoT (if indeed CoT has a story arc) or the larger story arc of the series. Text that neither advances the story or developes MAIN RELEVANT characters is worthless, and represents a significant challenge to the reader to get through.

2) Irrelevant characters in irrelevant plot pieces is bad, but not as bad as relevant characters in irrelevant plot pieces. Perrin's entire story line with the 'city of the dead' came out of nowhere. A previous reviewer bemoaned this ridiculous storyline and how "tacked on" it felt, and I totally am in agreement. What did this accomplish? How is Perrin's character further developed here? Even worse is Egwene. The previous novel (just as bad as this one) set the stage for a battle royale for control of the White Tower. And what do we have instead? Countless and pointless Aes Sedai debates. Has everyone forgotten that the apocalyptic mother of all battles is just around the corner? This fact seems to have slipped everyone's mind, including the author's.

3)If you've read the litany of the previous reviewers this will be getting old by now, but in CoT NOTHING HAPPENS! After completing the novel, I knew precious little more than I did before reading it. Even the most important event in the story (which occurs in the last few pages) takes place OFF STAGE! We don't even see it!!! But we get copious information about the divided riding skirts of each and every Aes Sedai. (The complete wardrobe of EVERY inhabitant of Randland is noted in excruciating detail.) This book is a treasure trove for Renaissance Fair costume designers. Unfortunately such detail makes for bad fiction.

I used to love this series. but after completing CoT, my affection for this series is all but gone. I'll read to the bitter end, as I've invested too much time and energy with these characters to let them go so easily, but as the quality of each book vastly diminishes, I'm all but certain that a bitter end is all that's awaiting.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: WOT World Holds Up Story Stuck in Molasses
Review: I've got to reveal spoilers here, but I'm doing it so you know what you get when you purchase Crossroads of Twightlight. When we last left Rand in WOT: Book 9 he had cleansed the male half of the Power from taint. Except for the last 100 pages or so (in Jordan prose that really is insignificant) Crossroads deals with the events happening to everyone else but Rand leading up to and mid-cleansing of the Power. So the cliffhanger dangled in front of us is not resolved and the whole book feels like being stuck in a hold-pattern.

I have come back to Jordan's work because he has crafted a well-conceived fantasy world. Multiple factions, fairly intricate magic system, and solid characters (though they are watered down in this installment).

Here's what I miss in Crossroads the most:
The Forsaken. Where the hell are these uber-baddies?
Mat Cauthon. Spends nearly all of his limited time in Crossroads packing up camp and moving a couple of day's ride.
Dreamwalking used to be something Jordan explored, was a fascinating texture to the machinations going on. It's now relegated to a long-distance chat line.
And many other gripping aspects of WOT that are marginalized so that we can really know how Perrin smells uncertainty on XYZ. (and miss the opportunity for a real encounter with Dark Hounds!)

Finally, I'm beginning to fall in line with the many of the reviewers and think Mr Jordan has taken the "Wheel of Time" title of his series too seriously. What drew us in, first and foremost, was Rand's ascendence as the Dragon Reborn and how he is handling that. The sad part is that Rand is no longer a compelling character for me, and the plot niche that has me most interested is how Tuon fits into the picture. Sad, but true for me.

One last parting shot: If Mr Jordan intends to wrap up the series in 2 books it better not be some sloppy/quick ending. I'd rather have him take (gasp) five more volumes and return to the quality he had. I think he owes that to his fans. If he has forgotten his way I suggest he picks up Janny Wurts' Alliance of Light books, or better yet, read Robin Hobb. She can create rich worlds with full characters and do it satisfyingly to the reader.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: bloody ashes end the torment
Review: if i could i would have rated this book zero (that is, 0) stars. why? well, if you read the first book of the wheel of time (the eye of the world), then read the last installment, you will see what i mean.

nothing is going on.
nothing happens.
robert jordan has either run out of ideas

or he is planning to brainwash wot readers into waiting and waiting

or he is purposely trying to torment people

or he is subconsciously trying to torment people

or he has lost sense of his original, unique style...

...anyway, whatever is happening with this man, the wheel of time, like one person mentioned, turns way too slowly.

i also want to add my opinion that i have lost all respect for female characters.

elayne reeks. when will she die?

faile is worse. no, actually, perrin is.

just one question: in the jacket summary of the eighth book, the path of daggers, it says that "perrin will sell his soul to save faile" or something like that...WHEN HAS THAT EVER HAPPENED?

anyway, things are too inconsistent and repetative.
the glossary is dull, and why put one when obviously people would not (heaven forbid) read this book first.

bottom line: burn this book. (how many trees did he waste publishing this??)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: It's amazing, really...
Review: ... how little can happen in so many pages. It took me a whole evening to read about two foreign women going shopping for red, green and blue fabric, for pete's sake. I have too much invested (as in years of my life) in this series to give up on it now, but I'm getting the next installment from the library (gasp!!) I'm giving this book two stars, though, because for some reason I just kept on reading - and it successfully got me to sleep every night.


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