Rating: 
Summary: two words...
Review: PUBLIC LIBRARY. I am very glad indeed that I have not purchased a single one of the WOT books. Like most, I thoroughly enjoyed 1-5, then increasingly lost patience with the pacing of 6-9. While I read 10, I noticed: 1) I had to FORCE myself to read this book 2) I ended up skimming vast amounts of it 3) The only thread that I found even remotely interesting concerned Tuon and I still skimmed through much of it 4) The thoughts, actions and mannerisms seem to be cut and pasted throughout. POP QUIZ:
1) Which group of people are usually smoothing skirts that don't need smoothing or settling shawls?
2) What happens when you reheat spiced wine?
3) What does Perrin think of his leadership abilities?
4) What is the adjective usually applied before "Two Rivers wool"?
The pacing of the story isn't the biggest problem with 10, it's the constant re-use of phrases and mannerisms to the point where not only all characters, but almost all locations, situations, etc become caricatures of themselves. Anything new seems exciting, at least for a little while ("Toy").
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Summary: The Wheel of Time broke and Jordan didn't tell his readers
Review: Instead of rehashing what the majority of readers have said of this boring, uneventful, brick of a novel, I'm going to put forth the idea that Jordan has had an almost 10 year long case of writer's block. Seriously, if any reader of this review looks at the average Amazon review of all 10 of the books in the series thus far, you'll see that the Wheel did indeed stop turning, somewhere around Book 7. Jordan's pen/typewriter/WP was on fire for 6 years and brought us some of the most engaging stories and characters in fantasy lit history. After Book 6, it took Jordan 9 years to write 4 books that didn't go anywhere. I can accept one book in a epic like this as being "set-up" as many fans of Crossroads have extolled. BUT FOUR!!? No, sorry, Jordan has lost the touch. I'd like to think he's hit a major block in his vision and not sold out to the publisher but who knows. Yes, I think all WOT fans would like to hope and pray that Jordan will turn it around and we'd get back our great epic but that doesn't seem likely. Oh and if he keeps his current rate up, we won't see Book 11 until somewhere around mid-late 2005. Jordan, its time for the Last Battle, but stage it VERY soon, or you won't have any spectators at all who are going to care.
Rating:
Summary: Just wait for the FINALE.
Review: I started reading the first 50 pages, gave up and will just wait for the final book.
Rating:
Summary: It's bad, but I blame myself...
Review: I blame myself for: - expecting new and refreshing ideas. - expecting something more than 1 paragraph of pertinent information for every 3 pages of irrelevant, mundane detail. - expecting the story to be somewhat cohesive rather than forever continuing in different, inconclusive, directions. - having more rewarding things to do with my time than to read this book (heck, even cutting the grass, or doing the laundry seems to require immediate attention after reading a few pages of Crossroads of Twilight). - getting bored of the egotistic, stereotypical, unchanging characters in this book (I can only read about pompous Aes Sedai smoothing imaginary wrinkles in their clothes about a dozen times before I'm ready to toss the book out the window). - asking "why?" (Good grief, the battles, I understand it's a fantasy, but things are just so ... unimpressively unbelievable. The villains are so incompetent, stupid and easily defeated, and the heroes are repeatedly described as being impressively wise, or the 'best' and 'greatest' at what they do... If the heroes are so good at what they do, why do all the same old problems continue? Oops there I go again, asking 'why', my fault). My advice: Don't ask 'Why?' and scan through most of the superfluous detail and you might make it through this book. Otherwise, it's a painful read. Homerinvests
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Summary: One to forget
Review: You can skip this one, nothing happins in this book. If you read the jacket, you wil have read the whole book.
Rating:
Summary: If I Could Give Negative Stars...
Review: Any movement, character development, action, and entertainment that you found in the previous 9 (well maybe the first 7) books of this series comes to a screeching halt in this book. The plot doesn't move forward, and results in the character development and action completely drying up. This book is, I hope, an introduction to the next book which will hopefully be more than a waste of paper. If books 8 and 9 disappointed you, please don't waste your money on this book. If you must read it, find it at your local library. It seems that Jordan has completely abandoned his characters, the plot, and his fans for several hundred pages of running in circles and politics. This book functions better as a doorstop.
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Summary: Well, here we go again....
Review: I wondered if I should bother writing anything about this book since it's been out for some time and this review forum is abundant with commentary...but I will just put in my two cents...when the WOT hit it's stride, around book 4 or 5, Jordan gave a number of interviews where he insisted that the series would be 7 or maybe 8 books tops...when he was questioned if the series may go longer, he thought the idea was absurd..he insisted that he had all the books laid out and knew how the final scene would be written even before he started the series...so, what the hell happened? Greed...plan and simple greed..if you pay close attention, you see that the fast pace of the first 6 volumes comes to a grinding halt in the ensuing volumes...I can envision a power lunch between Jordan, his agent, and the Tor editor at around the time Vol 5 hit the book shelves...the topic of discussion, how to pad out WOT in order to reap in more money...hey, this is the American way and no one can fault Jordan for wanting to max out his profits, but lets not think for one moment that Jordan originally planned to keep this series going on for as long as it has...the lack of decisive action and the continuing layering of sub plots and mini quests to the point they resemble an RPG video game storyline, only illustrates how Jordan is keeping up his end of the Faustian bargain he has made with TOR...Jordan is not the first to sacrifice his art for money and he will not be the last..unfortunately, we the readers have to endure this endless epic...like a drug, they know that most of us are hooked, and want to see how this endless journey concludes...Jordan began writing a story of Mahlerian proportions, but has ended up producing a second rate symphony by Raff..but, like any hackneyed composer knows, if the final movement of your mundane symphony contains enough bombast and joyous noise, the audience will burst into applause as they respond to the final chords and not to the entire work...we can only hope that Jordan will repay all of us, who helped make WOT a success in the first place, by providing us with a fantastic conclusion.. hopefully, there is some light at the end of this tunnel....
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Summary: The Jordan Conspiracy
Review: I have a theory to explain the last five Wheel of Time books: Jordan died under mysterious circumstances in 1993. The publisher, Tor, hired a double to do book tours and then put together a COMMITTEE of hacks to keep cranking out Jordan books at the previous rate. They will continue to crank out books with no real plot resolution until the public (that means you) tires of the series and stops buying them. The committee will milk the series for all its worth. The only shortcoming of this theory is that I doubt that even a committee of aspiring authors could produce a book as boring as the "Crossroads of Ennui."
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Summary: A waste of paper
Review: Another instance where an author thinks he can just milk us for every penny. This book is utterly pointless! I'm sure you can find a one or two paragraph summary of what happened in this book - I'd suggest reading that and saving your money. I seriously doubt I'll be reading the next book - if I do, I'll be checking it out from a library. There's no way I'm giving Robert Jordan any more of my money!
Rating:
Summary: Intergenerational agreement
Review: For the first time in years, I have to agree with my dad who has also reviewed this book. It's a waste of time and trees. There is no movement of the plot, no action, no worthwhile character development, and no clear purpose other than to sell another doorstop-sized book. Most people who have read it have been able come to the same conclusion. Of the 1512 reviews to date, only 66 (4%) "true believers" thought it was 5-star great, while 939 (62%) thought it stunk at one star or less. It is interesting to note that while most of the negative reviews focused on the author's and the book's shortcomings, a majority of the avid fans used their review to attack the other reviewers.
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