Rating: Summary: Poor Review: This book is a disappointment. Almost nothing of substance happens and the reader is constantly frustrated by inane dialoge and drawn out descriptions of minor events and places. I love the Wheel of Time series, however, this book is weak. Very weak.
Rating: Summary: It's all been said... Review: No need to go into details as to why I didn't care for this book--plenty of people have voiced my thoughts. I just wanted to add my ranking to others.
Rating: Summary: Cross-Weevils of Evil Review: A first - a major fantasy book and best-seller whose major antagonist and most menacing villian is ... I mean are ... grain weevils. I kid you not. The Weevils of Evil. The Mites of Malediction. The Parasites of Perfidy. The ... oh screw it. I can't even make fun of it, I'm so ticked.Remember when you felt chills about the Forsaken, The Blight, The Black Ajah, The Darkfriends, Shadar Logoth or Padan Fain? Remember the menace of the Waygates, Trollocs and other Dark Spawn? Well none of that is here. You will feel none of that old wonder, menace or fear. Instead, you will be dreadfully angry that nothing at all happens! Nothing ever happens! If TOR books has a shread of decency, they will FORCE EDIT these books. This 680 page 'story' should have been cut to 100 pages - tops. Does Jordan have no friends that will honestly ask him any penetrating questions or try to help him (and us)? Every character is immobilized in indecision, and instead of moving the plot ahead, Jordan is actually introducing new characters. New characters - ten books into the series - unbelievable. At least I think they're new - but who can tell? I have completely stopped trying to keep track of the literally HUNDREDS of characters and names in this series. You know what I mean - some character whose name is EGSWANGAWAINAVIENDARENAMARRA (choose 5-8 characters) speaks and you find yourself thinking, "Who is this? Why did they say that? What is the meaning of that cryptic statement? Why is everyone glaring at them? Will someone PLEASE tell me what happened? Oh, why do I care?" Admit it. You know you've thought it. Dear Robert Jordan, I used to love this series. Please start writing like you used to. Signed, Disheartented Ex-Fan
Rating: Summary: Consumer Allert Review: This is my first review of a book since I darkened the halls of higher education many, many years ago. I do this not as a literary critique, but as a consumer warning. Do not buy this book. Unless you are deeply involved because of the last 9 books, do not read this book. It is a meaningless collection of adjectives without the proper use of verbs. If you must have the information to bridge book 9 to book 11, go to the library. I have just finished listening to the audio version and did not have the luxury of simply skipping over the fashion statements or meaningless sidetracks. It went on and on about nothing. More than once I screamed at my system to: "hurry up &$(%*# , get to the point!" It was agony. I have never before read a book with as many twists and plots in which not one story line comes to any type of conclusion, or even any transitions, save one exception. That one "exception" is in the form of a cliff hanger at the end of the book, greedily attempting to bait the reader for the next instalment. Had this been his first book, we would never have heard of Robert Jordan, ... and for good reason. There are flashes of his old writing style, but only when he touches on the boys' story lines. His plot lines still do not flow like they did in the earlier works, but at least I did not find myself screaming at the speakers. When he writes about the girls, it is as though the most important thing is the type of dress they are wearing, down to the description of the color and scale of the decorative embroidery. I have affection for the folks from the Two Rivers. I dearly want to see them through their journey. It is time Mr. Jordan reread his first books in an attempt to get back the source of his magic. Should he fail to recapture the source, the Dark One will have won, and all will be lost.
Rating: Summary: Voltaire said it best Review: "The best way to become boring is to say everything." Jordan needs to take Voltaire's words to heart. I have also seen it translated as, "If you want to be boring, leave nothing out." Jordan has left nothing out of this book except for plot advancement, but I am now more familiar with what clothing is in fashion in every one of Jordan's mythological kingdoms. It is greatly disturbing to see such a wonderful epic dissolve into nothingness. What a dissapointment. And now to add insult to injury, it appears Jordan is working on "Prequel" novels so the chances of him finishing this series in the next 10 years is pretty slim. Hopefully with all the incredibly bad reviews TOR will kick his butt, actually read his next book before they release it, and compel him to advance the story line. Little hope of that though.
Rating: Summary: The most boring of ten Review: I have been absolutely glued to the entire series until book 10. Books 1-9, I give 5 stars each, but book 10, Robert seems to have written while on vacation. His mind was out to lunch. I think this is a case of author getting too greedy. The series was originally only supposed to be 6 books. He seems to want to milk this series for all it's worth, and this time he went completely overboard. The only remotely exciting thing that happens in this book occures in about 2 sentences, within 2 pages from the end of the book. If he doesn't come up with an absolutely spectacular book 11, I will be forced to abandon the series for lack of interest. I have been reading Sci-Fi for 40 years, and this comes close to the worst read ever, for an advanced series book!
Rating: Summary: S-l-o-w advancement of plot Review: A very long book which does very little to advance the plot, making me wonder why it was written. If this was TV show, it would be to get me to sit through the next commercial. There were very interesting characters and concepts introduced in earlier novels - (I apologize for spelling errors) the Ogiers, way gates, myrdrahls, Shadar Logoth, Padan Fain, the Forsaken, angreals, etc. There is little new introduced here. I don't know whether Jordan is milking the series for more money, or can't figure out how to end it. I'll continue to read the series, but maybe I'll wait until it's all finished before picking up the next book(s).
Rating: Summary: Lazy writing Review: All ground that has already been covered. Absolutly the longest most boring book I've read outside of school work. I'm so far into the series I feel like I can't get out, but I will no longer buy hard cover and the library will have to loan me a copy as I refuse to pay for it.
Rating: Summary: Jordan if you like Review: It looks like some fans were dissapointed with this latest Jordan release, but I, a wheel of time fan since the early 90's loved it. The series, which seems to borrow a bit from Tolkien, eastern mythology, and aurthurian legend, is fascinating, well written, and dispite comparison to the above catagories, very original. the character developement is extreme and in depth and if you like the characters the only bad part is it might be half a book before you hear from them again. the first few books of the series were really riviting and after that the pace slowed to a bit of a crawl in later books. this release picks up the pace some, but not to the speed of the original. however the story, in my mind, is still being well developed, and if it does at times try the reader's patience a bit, it always delivers for me. especially with the depth of the main characters. if you dont like certain characters they could become annoying especially with their various repetative habbits, but for me these are very few characters. i think this book is as good as the first few, even though slower paced. i am saddened by the rumor that there will only be a few more books in the series before it is finished but i don't doubt Jordan will continue to do a good job. for those who can't stand the slowness or the depth of some of this series there is plenty else to read in the world, but i for one love this series and recomend it to fantasy fans who like something a little bit more interesting than the typical fantasy deal. i would say the reading level is middle ground, maybe a little higher. well written but not quite the extreme semi-formal linguistic adventure that some such as Tolkien have produced.
Rating: Summary: Here is a list of things that DON"T happen in this book. Review: Mat does not marry Tuon. Perrin does not rescue Faile or Alliandre or Morgase, Rand does not do anything. Elayne does not gain the Rose Throne. Egwene does not re-unite the White Tower. Elaida does not defeat the rebels. No darkfriends are unmasked. No black ajah are unmasked. Morraine does not come back from wherever she has been for the last 8 books. Savanne does not get what is coming to her. No Forsaken are unmasked. Mazrim Taim's plans do not become clear. Logain's plans do not become clear. The Seanchan don't gain victory/defeat on any front. The Great Lord does not break free. Gawain does not join Egwene. I could go on. What does happen in this novel? Elayne drinks lots of watery tea. Egwene has lots of headaches, Rand lies in bed with Min and wishes he were dead. Loail explains again why he is not ready to settle down. Aviendha wanders around in the buff again. Mat continues to not understand women. Aes Sedai and the Sea Folk, and the Kin continue to argue with one another about every little thing. We continue to get a fashion review of what every woman is wearing, and how much bosom she is showing (typically a great deal). That's about it. Crossroads of Twilight is not a stand-alone novel. If one has not read the first 9 books in the series, there is no hope of understanding anything that is going on in this one. This novel, however, does absolutely nothing to advance the plot of the overall series. After 10 books and 9000 pages, it would be nice if at least one or two plotlines began to be wrapped up, and we could go on to something, anything, else. My advice: If you have a few hours and a few dollars to waste, read Crossroads of Twilight. If not, skip this one, and hope the next one is better.
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