Rating: Summary: Great book, yet disappointing Review: The series is AWESOME, yet this latest addition, which I got a prerelease copy was disappointing. Some of my favorite characters has very little or no lines and it gives the feel of being made for the next book that will come out. Generally it is great for people wanting a little escape from this world yet the pace is way too slow for my liking (covering 4 weeks of WoT time). Great for hardcore WoT fans yet casual readers might feel it boring. Some parts are infomative (ex: Mesanna with SH, Alviarin having an interesting experience etc.), what is great about it is that it has a bit more Mat part. GO MAT!
Rating: Summary: Another Book in WoT Review: Here's the way it is. This book is a transition book. People will say it's slow, or boring, or that nothing happens. They would be right, except that think of the context. RJ has two book left. He has a whole lot to do in those two books. This book sets up the plot for books 11 and 12.
Rating: Summary: fantastic! Review: Jordan did it again. He wrote a wonderfull book. Crossroads of Twilight is fantastic!!!! We see a lot of interesting developments and there where a lot of surprises for me. Jordan Rulez!!!!
Rating: Summary: Foreshadowing, Decisions and...Yet More Foreshadowing... Review: Before I get started on the meat of the review, I have a quick warning for anyone who might be thinking of starting the series here: don't. Go back and pick up "Eye of the World" and work your way forward. By Book 10, Robert Jordan expects his readers to be familiar with the story and spends minimal time catching people up - even those that may not have read "Winter's Heart" recently.The later books of the "Wheel of Time" series seem to be devolving into a sort of Xeno's Paradox - the closer the series gets to the final battle, the closer Tarmon Gai'don seems, but we never seem to close more than half the remaining distance in any one book. In fact, with this book, we seem to close very little distance at all. The name, "Crossroads of Twilight", implies that major decisions are made in this book that will affect the course of the series. In fact, major decisions are made - by Mat, by Perrin, by Egwene, by Rand, by Elaida, by Tuon and a few others. Unfortunately, though, the book ends before we see much action that results from any of these decisions. Most of the main characters are present for this installment, breaking a pattern established in the last few books where one of the major characters is left out - or all but left out - of each book. Nynaeve may be the one exception here (she has a brief, nonspeaking scene), but Rand has minimal time in this book as well. He doesn't appear until page 540 (out of 680) and his arc is left to two chapters and the epilogue. In fact, the climactic events of "Winter's Heart" are pushed off to the side for pretty much the entire story. Instead, the focus is primarily on Perrin, Mat and Egwene. Each of them reaches one (or more) crucial decisions that seem to be on the cusp of being borne out at the beginning of the next novel. Then again, we thought that to be the case books ago. If you're a "Wheel of Time" junkie like me, I hardly need to encourage you to get this installment - just be warned that it seems almost a prologue in-and-of itself for the remainder of the series. Also, be warned that you might want to read over "Winter's Heart" again to refamiliarize yourselves with many of the minor characters - especially the Aes Sedai. More are introduced with each book and I, for one, am starting to find it very hard to keep more than eight or ten of them straight. A quick rundown on each in the glossary really wouldn't be such a bad idea. Nonetheless, this book is solid Robert Jordan and in spite of the lack of movement, I was still happy to get my (now every three-year) "Wheel of Time" fix. If you're as big a fan as I am, go pick it up. If you're a little less so, you may want to wait until the paperback comes out. It'll help minimize the time (and possibly disappointment) until Book 11 comes out.
Rating: Summary: Despair is an Author with Nothing Left to Say Review: I noticed today that I've been reading the Wheel of Time for something like ten years. And that's roughly how long this book seemed to take to read: a frozen ten years, in which precisely nothing happened. Everyone who's been reading Jordan for any length of time can tell you that he's been on a steady decline after such a stellar beginning. Somewhere around book four or five he realized that he was a one-trick pony and decided to drag it out. Hell, maybe he got used to the royalties and was too afraid of butchering the cash cow. The recently released and entirely unnecessary prologue 'New Spring'(a planned TRILOGY of prologues, no less) is more than enough evidence of this. I won't be spending any more of my money on the literary equivalent of watching paint dry. I no longer care what happens. Die, Rand, die. Way to lose the touch, Jordan. Just take a peek at the couple thousand other reviews of this heap of trash if you don't believe what I'm saying. Hint: alienating your audience is not a smooth move.
Rating: Summary: The Extra Star is For Mat... Review: I'd just like to list the main characters, mentioning who they were, and who they now are. Rand Before: Used to be caring (remember how he made Bela run for Egwene?),yet strong willed, and an overall good-guy. Remember when most of the story was about him? Rand Now: Absolutely does not care what anyone says or thinks, and does whatever he wants to whoever he wants. Not even 3% of this book concerns him. Perrin Before: Big, strong, gentle. Took his time to think about things, never did anything rash. Didn't like to be in charge, but took control when he had to. Perrin Now: Rash, angry, pushes people around, cares about nothing else but Faile...NOTHING ELSE. Egwene Before: Smart (she could read people like nothing else), strong willed, seeking adventure - generally fun-loving Egwene Now: So, so, so stupid. I mean, those flaming headaches come along ONLY when her Saidin infested servant girl is around, and angry at her (sometimes AT THE EXACT MOMENT OF HER DISPLEASURE), and only her Saidin infested servant girl can make them go away, AND whenever her Saidin infested servant girl is out late, someone dies FROM SAIDIN! I just can't take her stupidness. Nynaeve Before: VERY strong willed, kind of a witch, but generally good intentioned. Quite mature. Nynaeve Now: As all the characters 'matured', in a sense (they no longer think about things that are juvenile, generally), Nynaeve has actually de-matured. She runs around like a giddy school girl now, doing anything anyone tells her to, and swooning over Lan. I mean, the only time you see her in this book is watching Lan practice sword-fighting, where she is described as practically 'bouncing up and down in her seat, rooting for Lan'. And it's only practice! And Lan is whomping the other guy, no contest! ugh... Lan Before: Quiet, composed, deadly, past shrouded in mystery and greatness. Lan Now: Forsakes everything he used to be to yell at people, making sure they don't hurt Nynaeve. Tam Al'Thor Before: One of the characters in the first book who I was so looking forward to getting to know better. His past seemed so interesting! For sure, Rand would want to talk to him and figure all this stuff out...especially when he learned to travel, and it would be nothing to take a day or so out of his schedule... Tam Al'Thor Now: I am convinced that he no longer exists. The only saving grace of this book - Mat. Mat is the only character who simply hasn't changed much...he's still good-old Mat, and completely hilarious. I think the only thing different about him is that he swears A LOT now...which is funny. The moral? I don't like the characters anymore - they're stupid, mean, angry, devilish, self-centered, and all around bad people. At least Mat is SUPPOSED to be a 'bad' person...anyway, I don't even want them to win. The Forsaken now are the underdogs, and I like them better. I must say that it would be absolutely brilliant for Jordan to turn the good guys (ever so slowly, as he has been doing) into the bad guys, and the bad guys into the good, however, because I know this will not happen - this last installment is just one more step in the complete destruction of everything Jordan started.
Rating: Summary: Great reviews, though Review: All the hilarious reviews that this pile of crap of a series has generated almost makes the series itself worth it. Every few months I find myself sifting through the Amazon.com reviews for the latter WOT books, and enjoy myself thoroughly. Kudos to you all smart people out there who certainly have more of a way with words than Mr. Jordan. I have to confess that I'm violating a principal by writing this review. I haven't read the book. In fact, I haven't read beyond Book 4, which as I gather from the reviews, was a good place to stop anyhow. I merely wanted to share my views. I don't feel bad for giving this a 1-star rating anyhow, as I'm sure if Amazon had a 0-star rating, all the ratings past book 4 would need to be significantly adjusted, and this book would have 1/2 a star instead of 1 1/2. I remember meeting Jordan in Ann Arbor for the book signing for "Winter's Heart". A friend of mine had recommended me the series (back in high school, I'm getting my doctorate now, so you can see the passage of time has been ridiculous) so I thought it would be a nice gesture to get her a signed copy. Mr. Jordan waded into the room, and people applauded. When it died down, he waved for the people to continue applauding. It was perhaps a humorous gesture then, but now I cannot help but view it with disgust at his smugness, arrogance, and self-complacency. Long story short, I met my friend. I gave her the signed copy of "Winter's Heart". She gave me a copy of George R. R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones". I've stopped reading Jordan, and have never looked back. Sometimes I think Jordan plans on a grand finale. Maybe all the characters will die in the end. It would end with a climatic burst of energy. Even if it were so, I don't think it justifies the last few books he's written. Nothing justifies it, not even if he ends with the best book ever written in any language. I can't wait for Jordan's next book, because the reviews he generates are awesome. :)
Rating: Summary: To be brief (something Jordan will never be) Review: Upon seeing Jordan's new Wheel of Time prequel on the book shelves, I literally screamed.
"Dear God," I exclaimed to my wife, "He's _going_the_wrong_way_!!"
If you ever liked the series, but not become one of the "Jordan-can-do-no-wrong" true believers, this book will probably just about kill it for you. Pages upon pages of new characters who are little more than a couple of twitchy mannerisms. Action that isn't (some of you may remember the multitude of chapters of the situation with Perrin, Faile, and the Shaido in book 9? Well, it STILL isn't resolved in Book 10.) A "prologue" that goes on until page 96. Oh, and maybe fifty pages that actually advance the plot- in a 797 page book, NOT counting the glossary. Robert Jordan is wasting our time. If you MUST punish yourself, join me in swearing only to buy the man's books in paperback, used. And please, don't encourage him by buying the prequels, of which we are now promised THREE. Jordan, get a freaking editor and LISTEN TO HIM OR HER.
P.S. Someone who dismisses the criticism of Mr. Jordan's works as "geriatric" in one sentence and demands those critics "leave the deep arts to the adults" has no place implying that they have some greater understanding of writing, sir.
Rating: Summary: Difficult to get through Review: I have to say that Book 10 left me feeling very dissatisfied and almost angry that I now have to wait who-knows-how-long to get some closure on the multitude of unresolved story-lines. I don't have the excited anticipation of the next volume as I had after finishing all the previous volumes. It's more like "The next book better be really good to have made this one worth the reading." The feeling is disappointment- disappointment that I had suffered through hours of anticipation, thinking maybe something exciting would resolve in the next chapter. That's the only thing that kept me from putting the book down half way though. All the book seemed to do was set up each individual story line in a new direction, in painful detail, but then nothing big came of any of them in this volume. Give me a crumb and I would have been at least partially satisfied and willing to wait in excited anticipation for the next book, but I wasn't even given a crumb. I expected something exciting to come of the cleansing of sadin but it was such an anti-climax that I was almost stunned. It was treated like it was almost meaningless to the characters & story- but when so much emphasis was put on the taint and how men who can channel go insane, and Rand's physical repulsion and struggle every time he touched the soruce because of it, and how the Ways were tainted by it, etc. how could the cleansing be treated as so unimportant? I still don't understand what happened!
There are so many situations set up in this book without resolution that if the next book doesn't resolve them in an exciting way, I will probably be very angry. I find my sentiments strange in itself but I've just read every book 1 to 10 (for the second time, this time with no pause between books) for about a month now (that's 1 book read in about every 3 days.) Jordon has had me in his grips where I couldn't put a book down to get to sleep at a decent hour or take the appropriate time and effort to eat right, that I just can't believe he lost it with this book. I can't believe the author would keep his fans hanging so painfully unless he had a real whopper of a book 11. I believe that Robert Jordon has done too good a job in this series to fall flat now just when things are really building to such a critical mass. He may have needed this volume to begin changing the direction of the series and the characters so he could build the foundation for what's coming as he gets closer to the final battle. I just hate where he left off with a crisis at the end of each story-line and character, but maybe there's a reason why.
I will hold judgement until I read the next volume.
So I have to agree with the other reviewer who recommended that people should maybe wait to read book 10 until book 11 comes out and then read them one after another. To me, volume 10 seems like 1/2 a book- all the painful set-up to the excitement sure to come... Maybe book 11 will resolve what was built in book 10. I don't know, but I'm sure hoping that is the case.
...But I still can't help feeling like he should have had volume 11 written and published right after volume 10 to make up for what he put all his devoted fans through... to make it worth the suffering! :)
Rating: Summary: Crossroads is a deciding point Review: Their is a lot of critisism, and some praise for this book, and I think both sides need to realize that this book is exactly as it it titled, a Crossroad. This is the turning point, and as described by the chessboard comparison is setting up for the books that follow, may they come soon. However, what this also means is that we see that Rand is okay, Elaine is still fighting for the throne, Eqwene is still laying seige to Tar Valon, Perrin is still looking for his wife, and Mat is still trying to escape. The only thing new is that we know Rand is okay... this book would have been better as the first half to a book that provides us with something new, and a much better sence of acomplishment. My recomendation would be to read this book when the next book shows up, assuming its reviews are far better.
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