Rating: 
Summary: More setup for what is sure to be an excellent conclusion
Review: Much like the previous two books in the series Crossroads of Twilight is mostly a set up for things to come. As I've read the reviews by other posters it seems that there's one common thread, people are sick of the set up with this series and ready for things to happen. I went into COT sharing that sentiment and fearing that I'd just spent two years waiting for another set up novel. Well my fears proved true. Nothing much happens to advance the plot, most of the story revolves around reaction to what happened at the end of Winter's Heart, things continue to build, and I absolutly loved the book. Now don't get me wrong, I'm just as ready as everyone else for something to happen but I think a clever reader can read between the lines on this one and see that things will start happening very very soon. There's so much getting ready to happen for the climax of the series. Things are beginning to be brought back together and I believe we're finally seeing the beginning of the end of WOT, something that's bittersweet to me. COT doesn't have the quick pace of the early novels, the suprising plot twists of the middle novels, or the grand developments that happened in WH. But what it does have is incredible potential for book 11. Even if book 11 turns out to be yet more set up I believe that by book 12 things will for sure be happening and I'd say this series has no more then 3 or 4 more books (Jordan's said he thinks only 2 more but quite frankly I'm not sure anyone believes that:) My reccomendaiton to those who don't think they can stomach another set up novel is to stick with it and realize they are in the hands of a master story writer who is going to give us a magnificent conclusion in just a few books. Have patientce and you'll be glad you did.
Rating: 
Summary: Long Day's Journey Into Nothing Much
Review: How can Robert Jordan write 700+ pages and have each of his characters in virtually the same position they were in at the beginning?With all the other Wheel of Time books, I got to a point where I couldn't put it down. With this one, I got to a point where I couldn't wait to get it over so I could read the next Aubrey/Maturin novel on my shelf. The novel goes on and on and on amid endless discussions and reflections by all the characters about what a tight spot they're in--which they are--and at the end, they're in the same tight spots. NOTHING of significance has occurred! A reader could skip this book entirely (and what a time-saver that would be), go from "Winter's Heart" to whatever the sequel to "Crossroads" will be, and not miss a thing. All the little details of Jordan's rich world began to look like meaningless filler; I became very conscious of how frequently the Aes Sedai twitch/smooth/adjust their shawls, and of how the Ilianer accent do be coming out when an Ilianer character do be stressed. The fact that nothing actually happens in this volume, combined with the fact that the next Wheel of Time book is a prequel to "Eye of the World", makes me wonder if Jordan has just run dry.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Robert Jordan, please read:
Review: Mr. Jordan: The entire book could have been written in 20-25 pages. Stop it with the drama and cut to the chase. We (and there are a lot of us) are fed up with reading page after page of meaningless dialog and self thought. This is just another 700 pages of actionless nonsense. We have read each of the other nine books, and we after going this far, we will probably read another. So please, please, please end the torture have the charachters do something - anything. Myself and other readers look forward to your next book - - - but fool us again, and we will wait to buy #12 from the remainder bin.
Rating:
Summary: Wanted so desperately to love it
Review: I don't want to rehash everything everyone else has already written. I have a couple of new things to say, but I just need to vent first. I wanted to love this book. I wanted to want this book to not suck. But it did. The most insulting thing about this entire series boils down to one fact and its implications: Jordan's characters make absolutely no sense in the long run. First of all, if our world had people like these in power, these idiots would have run us all into the ground from lack of communication and intelligent action. Jordan is so caught up in writing political drama/fattening his wallet by stretching out with endless, pointless dialogue that he writes his characters into doing things that would make no sense to any rational creature. Why would Egwene and Rand not communicate better? Why would any number of other characters in this book not comunicate better? The Black Tower and White Tower, the "Shadow" and the "Light"... how the heck can rational people possibly be so utterly clueless and idiotic as to know so little about their enemies/allies? How could an institution like the White Tower exist with the "Black Ajah" within it, and nothing having been done for three thousand years until some 18 year girl takes over and stuff just miraculously starts to happen? We would all be doomed if these kind of idiots had hold of our political and social institutions. They make idiotic decisions on half-information when they could simply step into a black hole, travel to ***anywhere in the world***, and simply ask someone what happened, in cases too numerous to cite. Furthermore, Jordan stabs his own characters in the back by writing them into making idiotic decisions, not making the right decisions, and just doing stupid, idiotic things. The travesty is that instead of staying true to the nature of any of the characters, and thus providing a truly masterful painting of a world, he uses his characters in ways that contradict their respective natures as he has written them. Not only does this point to the stupidity and lack of writing skill on Jordan's behalf, the reader (and the characters themselves, it they were real) would lose all respect for these people. This is the worst case I have ever read of an author ***betraying his own characters***. For these two reasons, any reader who does not feel utterly scandalized and patronized should just go soak his/her head in some icewater. I was angry that Robert Jordan patronized me, and almost even angrier that he insults his own characters by writing them into irrational and otherwise just plain stupid actions in order to further a plot that, as many of the previous reviewers have already written, is driving even his most avid readers (read: self, formally) into fits of frothy-mouthed insanity. If you're not angry, if you don't want to punch RJ in the face and demand your 20-30$ back for the last 3 entirely wasteful books, then you should never trust your taste in literature ever again. Go read some Don DeLillo, or Truman Capote, or even Maxim magazine. You will learn more about human nature and writing than you could ever possibly hope to learn by reading this series to its conclusion in what looks to be 30 years and 18 books.
Rating:
Summary: Is this gent paid by the word?
Review: This is my second review of the audio version of the book. In my first review, I described Mr. Jordan as being an inefficient writer. However, I had only finished a few CDs and was hoping for improvement. Having completed the book, I am now in a position to give an opinion more substantiated by empirical observation - the man is obviously paid by the word. Going through this book was one of the most excruciating experiences that I have ever gone through. I borrowed the audio version in order to have something to listen to while I drove long distances on business. However, I began listening to static-filled radio stations instead of the book. In fact, you almost have to listen to the book on audio to truly appreciate its verbosity. When you read a book, you can skim through the dross. When you're listening to the tape, you're stuck. The book simply had too many descriptions of flustered Aes Sedai, who were not normally flustered, smooth their skirts, one of whom preferred wearing high-necked gowns embroidered with patterns of tea leaves embossed in gold touched with silver, except where the lace began, which, coming from Tear, was the finest lace ever to be found, except, of course, for lace could only be found in Caemlyn, but even lace from Caemlyn paled in comparison to the lace made in . . . Some of Mr. Jordan's readers have described this as rich storytelling. I respectfully disagree. On one occasion, Mr. Jordan provided a ten-minute description of nothing more than what a group of women were wearing. Literally ten minutes, and literally nothing more than a description of clothing. If this does not cross the line from rich storytelling to schlock writing, I do not know what does. Having read or listened to all of the books in the WOT series to date, I thought that I was too far in to quit now. That assessment was in error. I quit.
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: Why?
Review: Must add my voice to the general feeling of disappointment around this series. Have been reading for 15 years or something like that. The last 5 have had little if any plot progress. Read George R.R. Martin instead.
Rating:
Summary: Soap Opera in a Fantasy World
Review: I have now read Volumes 1 through 10 of this series. Each volume seems to get worse. The author claims that he will finish this series in two more volumes, but the story is so fragmented by Volume 10 that I suspect "All the King's horses And all the King's men Couldn't put Humpty together again."
Rating:
Summary: Stop buying them and he'll wrap it up!
Review: For all frustrated readers of this mega-multi-manipulation of readers' money, here's my suggestion: if you just HAVE to read each one as it comes to press, check it out from the library. DON'T BUY IT! When the next book comes out and it doesn't sell, perhaps then Jordan will take his readers' pleas to heart, realize that he isn't going to make any more money on these perpetual sequels and END the thing!
Rating:
Summary: Can it get any worse than this???
Review: I am in complete agreement with all the negative reviews here. How can any author be so insensitive to his fans' comments and complaints? But then again, he is the type of person who obviously cares only about money, money, money and damn everything else, right? It looks to me like he's aiming to replace Bill Gates in Fortune 4000. I started reading the series almost ten years ago, and the first six books were incredible. I cared about the characters, I cared what happened to them (although most of the women in the series were always annoying beyond belief!), now I wish the Dark One would just wipe everyone off of the face of that world and be done with. Another thing is, what's with all that clothing descriptions? I'm a woman, and it's beyond my comprehension how anybody can be this obsessed with clothes! Who is writing this book, for crickey, Dolce and Gabana? When it comes down to Crossroads, I started by reading the prologue, then skimming lines by chapter one and then skipping pages by chapter three. I pretty much deep sixed the whole thing. It's a shame that an author forced me to do that! Finally, I am completely disgusted with the series, with the characters and with Robert Jordan. He should go and take a long jump off of a short pier. That should give him something to write about, since he's obviously been brain dead for the past few years.
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