Rating: 
Summary: A quagmire of beginnings that rapidly go nowhere
Review: If Ed Wood's "Plan 9 from Outer Space" is considered the worst commercial movie ever made, then Robert Jordan's Crossroads of Twilight must be the worst novel ever written. Remember all those horrible books your teachers called literature in high school? This is worse, much worse. Following (and retreading) the explosive ending to Winter's Heart, it gets off to a somewhat interesting start at the prologue, in which the threads seem to be coming together, the story then spirals off to a complete lack of progress or any kind of closure whatsoever. Every character's dilemma is no closer to getting alleviated and in many cases they (Matt and co's run from the Seanchan, for instance) actually fall behind. Every major character follows the circular track that Jordan developed for each of them 7, 8, or 9 books back, thus ensuring that they fail to go forward on their goals. This circular development repeats the same set of descriptions over and over and only deviates when describing their garments; for example, how many times does RJ have to tell us Elayne's knocked up? How many times does he have to describe the alleged boys-against-girls/girls against boys conspiracy? When will the story end?
Most distressing of all is that I skipped entire chapters and when subsequent ones returned to the passed over characters, nothing happened whatsoever in between and nothing happens thereafter! This book has no distinct beginning, middle, or most galling of all, an end; it is a quagmire of beginnings that go nowhere and it is safe to say that this non-story can be skipped and will take nothing away from its elusive sequel. I implore all of you to ignore this book, wait for the dust to settle for book 11 and then check that out from the library or get the paperback if you must read it. Likewise for this one.
Rating:
Summary: Who Else Quit - Trying Again
Review: Quick background about myself - I love fantasy/science fiction. As most readers will agree, Jordon brought a new world to all his fans - more than the usual elf/human vs orcs/goblins/giants stories with a dragon or two in the mix. That's what got me hooked to Jordon - yes, the attention to detail was great but more importantly, the story was really interesting - a true epic in the making. But I think most will agree that the last two/three books were incredibly hard to read - in fact, I am still stuck on Chapter 10 of Crossroads.....why? It keeps losing my interest. Seriously folks, how many of you read the first 7 books within 24 to 36 hours of your purchase? I did. As for the last 3, man, it's been a struggle - I admit that Winter's Heart did pick it up but Crossroads just sank it for me. Now with the prequel coming out, I know I can take my time to finish Crossroads - to summarize, Jordon went from a "buy the first day it's out" to a "wait till the paperback or used books" for me. I am so disappointed....
Rating:
Summary: What a waste!
Review: This series had SO MUCH potential starting out and somewhere 2 or 3 books ago it just started going downhill.This latest book is a total disappointment. Nothing happens. I hate to say this but it is VERY obvious that Robert Jordon has run out of a good story to tell. Usually, handing off a story to another writer to finish spoils it. But in this case, it's hard to mess up a story that's not going anywhere in the first place. What a waste. I just read a review that says the next book will be a prequel? Wow... is this writer INTENTIONALY trying to disappoint all of his fans (well most are xfans now)
Rating: 
Summary: A necssary crossroads
Review: Jordan's tenth installment is more a kind of 'here's what happened to everyone else during the excitement of the Winter's Heart'. Taking place at almost precisely the same time as Rand's epic battle to cleanse saidin of the Dark Lord's taint at Shadar Logoth, we open with Roelde Ituralde finally bringing the Taraboners et al together to strike at the Seanchan. Meanwhile, most of the saidin/saidar aware world can spot the beacon that is Rand miles away that shines throughout most of the novel. As with most times when people relise that they are out of their depths, they ignore it, though we spend a great deal of time with Elayne as she prepares for the twin births of Rand's children whilst negotiating her way through murky Andorian and Windfinder politics with Birgitte and Aviendha at her side. On the other side of the snowy world, Perrin keeps a loose rein on the insane Masema, tracks down the renegade Shaido sept and prepares to infiltrate the camp to rescue his wife, Faile. Over to the East, Mat continues on his travelling circus way with the ever enigmatic Tuon, his potential Seanchan Daughter of he Nine Moons bride. Near Tar Valon, Egwene struggles to deal with the politics of being Amyrlin seat and comes up with several new policies that has the austere Aes Sedai squabbling in a heated senatorial-esque display of petulance - nevertheless, negotiations are opened with the Black Tower. By the end of it all, Rand is still healing up after cleansing saidin, though feeling a trifle sick throughout and at the end Egwene ends up kidnapped.
Admittedly, after volume nine this one doesn't particularly go anywhere, but it does set up quite a few new points for the next ones. A world without a tainted saidin should prove very interesting. What makes Jordan such a delight for me is the length of this series. Many times throughout my reading life I have ended an excellent series wishing for more, wanting it not to end. Sometimes the author recognizes this and we get the next generation which tends to fall somewhat short, Eddings being a good example of this. Whilst Jordan may have a dozen different reasons for not ending the series, what it has done (and I cannot fault the series for it is the pioneer), for one reader at least, by keeping the tale rolling (albeit at a snails pace) is keep the magic of the Wheel of Time alive.
Rating:
Summary: Same size, less substance.
Review: Here's a quick acid test for every long time fan of the series: Open Lord of Chaos. Note the small print, spacing and margins. I counted 48 lines of text per page. Now open the last book you bought (COT or WH.) Note the large print, spacing and margins? I counted 37 lines of text in COT, and I think WH is worse. Additionally, I would have to agree with those of us who say that Jordan is putting more and more meaningless detail in his book for fluff. This is just more proof that the once detailed and articulate Jordan is either riding this pony for all it's worth, or has gone completely insane. Regarless of which is true, it is a sad end to a once fantastic series.
Rating:
Summary: Money-making machine versus bookseries
Review: Heh.
You know, i only managed to read 20 Pages of COT, then i hurriedly closed down the book, and run off to the bookstore where i just could exchange it for WINDHAVEN from G.R.R Martin and Lisa Tuttle.
Sorry, but the Prelude itself was horrible enough. As i read the very entertaining reviews here, i felt reminded of my own desastrous following of the X-MEN Series long ago, when i was a vivid fan of superhero Comics. There, the Same happened: You have a good series, that started with two brilliant writers (Claremont and Byrne), then they left, other Writers took over, and the Series degenerated into horrible Soap Opera. Granted, in Wheel Jordan still writers his Series, but isn't it almost more tragic? I mean, when other writers ruin a series you could always say: The didn't get it, or the company was at fault, etcetera, etcetera. But what do you say, when the original, once so brilliant Creator is the Source of the Problem? Where does it leave you? Wheel is not a book series anymore. Perhaps it was, a long time ago, when Myrdraal still walked Randland and created that delicious mood of horror, now irrecovably lost.
Wheel is now just a Money Making Machine. Like X-Men or Spawn or countless TV Series like X-Files...the merchandising is more important than the book sellings. Dolls, Computergames, Movie rights, Spinoffs (soon to be carried out by work for hire writers, believe me) are getting TOR Books more MOney than the supposed eleven million copies circulating in North America alone (i don't honestly believe this figure. I would suppose that is the actual number of the Print, but nobody can tell me eleven human beeings bought this crap). So, youre complaints will change nothing. TOR will laugh in your face. It's utterly worthless, because the franchise Wheel of Time is already dozens of millions worth and will be exploited to the bottom. JOrdan will write Sequels, and trust me, you won't believe what's coming. These books will be so horrible, so boring, so lacking in every sense, that you will hug your soiled copy of COT and believe it to be a masterpiece of the middle portion of the WOT Series. It CAN and WILL always be worse. The only sane reaction is to bail out, and leave it. Forget the series and try out new writers. You will be far happier.
PS: For example Robin Hobb und George R.R. Martin. Honestly, they're the most gifted fantasy writers to date. Alongside David Gemmell of course. And hey, all three can actually conclude something. You won't ever get that from TOR and Jordan. Not in a thousand years.
Rating:
Summary: Another huge disappointment, give this series up
Review: When I picked this up, I actually had some hope it would end the series. But this series is ending with a whimper, not a bang. This once great series has become a tedious, boring mess. I promised, given all the time I invested here, to give it one more book. This was it. I'm off the train. You CAN say that this book is a little better than tedious, rambling three or so that preceded it, although that is certainly faint praise. I can't remember any more exactly where the series went off track. It seems so long ago. But at a certain point, what was the finest Sfantasy series ever written (exceeding Goodkind's Sword of Truth, making even Stephen Donaldson and Tolkein look to their laurels) has come crashing down into nothingness. It is now simply horrible. It commits the worst of all offenses: it is utterly boring. As it became clear no ending would occur here, I found it harder and harder to finish this. At least this time the subplots are major ones, which helps. But as before, they ramble and there is far too much irrelevant and boring discourse. In addition, this has two major flaws. One, as has been the case, and as a major reason why the series has been crippled, Rand fades into irrelevance in this book yet again. In the last few books, he hardly appears, which seems frankly amazing, a monumental misjudgment. He does not even appear here until it is 75% done; and then only briefly. That means by definition that all the plots are subplots. It's what derails the linear plotting in the books. The most charismatic character never appears. On the other hand, the women, who are surely the most annoying group in the history of fiction, get more and more time. (Could the series end by having all Aes Sedai killed?) So, biggest problem: Eliminating your main character--and therefore your main plot--is a critical error that this series has not survived. It is what has turned the last few books into boring, tedious works that have no little discernible plot and dwell too much on lesser characters, and details. The second critical error is that it seems fairly obvious what happens next. Want to know what the next book will do? Rand will conclude the alliance with the Seanchan. The price of sealing it will be Matt's marriage to Tuon, and Matt will be royalty of the Seanchan. Together, the Seanchan and Rand will take out the Shaido. The White Tower and Black will align and mutually bond each other, after a battle in which Taim is defeated. Thus united, the forces will eventually head to the final battle. I may not have it all right---but there are some awfully big clues here that aren't so subtle. And there's not a whole lot of suspense. The final problem with this book and the derailing of the series is that Jordan seems incapable of ever using the device of the scene cut-away. He has to spend page after tedious page going through every tedious explanation of how THIS happens or THAT occurs, or THIS is explained. This is frankly literary incompetence, nothing less. By a competent author, this series could have been concluded in 6 books--and would be vastly better for it. It now stands as a total disaster, one of the great disappointments in fiction. If you haven't started it...don't. It will break your heart. If you have---give up now. No point lining Jordan's pockets while he milks this series that is going nowhere. BTW, according to the end flap, Jordan's next book will be a Wheel PREQUEL--meaning there will be a long wait for the next book that plays back into the series plotlines or actually finishes things up (if EVER).
Rating:
Summary: Jordan writes for himself
Review: why? Because every and anoybody who was interested died of boredom long ago...! It's like dah! You know we used to get Jordan's books in the big paperback size in cardboard leaders in department stores (can even remember one book...the fourth was available in hardback in department stores...not just bookstores- long ago!)...now...you're lucky to see whatever small paperback is out tucked on a shelf someplace. This is good as it means we're killing off Jordan's cashcow (wheel of time...the wheel keeps turning: that's because Jordan doesn't know how to put on the brake with his out of control nonsence!)...maybe a couple more flops and some big time money lost will convince Tor to give Jordan a foot in the pants and get him motivated (or at least get rid of him and replace him with somebody that can write! Seriously...this wheel of time thing is just getting worse (god help us what the NEXT installment - after the prequel- will bring! In engineering they have a term for the slow deformation of a material over long time periods (like lead roofs in churches getting thicker at the bottom). It's called creep. Jordan has perfected this in a writing (almost said literary) sense. So slow... AH the humanity!
Rating:
Summary: Sad? Sad is $8 x 1,880 = $15,040. Jordan, You didn't earn it
Review: Robert Jordan is like a successful movie director that has forgotten how to edit himself. My favorite: "...if that were possible." I started counting how many times Jordan has written that phrase and then realized it was the only reason I was continuing to read. Everyone should stop reading this tedious series until Jordan stops writing (hopefully) or finishes it (not likely).
Rating:
Summary: To 'Only for the enlightened'
Review: I am dissappointed in the reviews which critizes those of us who dislike this book. I read a review titled 'Only for the enlightened' which refers to everyone who dislikes the book as 'simpletons'. To that reader, I would like to make a point. If you chose to actually read the negative reviews, its not all about readers whining about the lack of 'hack and slash' action. The readers are complaining about lack of closure, every expanding storyline, redundant details, useless details, lack of face time for the main characters, unbelievable storylines, storyline progression, character development,.....etc. Many of the reviews are different from each other and far from simple. Just because someone disagrees with your opinion does not make them simpletons....that makes you arrogant.
|
