Crossroads of Twilight

A book that should not exist. Last 3-4 books are all boring filler material that could have been condensed into 1. More books = more 💰💸🤑

The official slog is over and keen to see how this 🐶💩 improves from here 🫡

⭐️⭐️Final Rating: 2.0⭐️⭐️

This was my least favorite but it provided some answers to questions I've had.

2.00/5.00 The creator had made the world and then left humankind to make of it what they would, a heaven or the Pit of Doom by their choosing. The Creator had made many worlds, watched each flower to die, and gone on to make endless worlds beyond. A gardener did not weep for each blossom that fell.

Crossroads of Twilight, sigh. How to review a book that is shameful low point in this epic series? It is exactly as bad as advertised. This book was the first time ever in the wheel of time, where I stopped paying attention to the audiobook and didn't bother to rewind, especially during the Elayne POV. There are still some significant events that take place in this book, but all these events are wrapped in innumerable named characters curtsying to each other, which makes it impossible to take these events seriously. I don't understand how an editor can read this book and approve of how it is written. I ground through the book anyway.

The worst part of this book is the Elayne-Aviendha-Andor where nothing happens and we get to hear about all the politics where nothing happens. Perrin storyline is abysmal as usual, but the story ended in an interesting twist. Mat's storyline comprises of some immeasurably small progress. Egwene's plot seemed the most productive, but is still riddled with all the issues I have stated earlier.

The beautiful visual writing of wheel of time is bogged down by an insane amount of named characters, with meaningless inter-personal interactions such as facial reactions, and body language and dress details.

The wheel barely turns.

I know this book in the WoT series is infamous. And although the previous ones were also part of the so called ‘slog' I still thought they were decent books. But this one...I don't know. There were some interesting tit bits here and there, some interesting background info. Some world building. For this, I can give 2 stars. But it could have been done in 150 pages, tops.

Here is the thing, when you are so invested in a series and you are at book 10, with 4 to go, you do not DNF a book. So I battled through in just over a week, to get it over with.

Good thing is, from here on, it only can get better!

3.5 stars.

3/10

Needlessly long. Almost nothing happens. There are writers who can make five pages of picking out dresses interesting. Robert Jordan, it seems, was not one of them.

Crossroads of Twilight. Book 10 of the Wheel of time by Robert Jordan.

This is among the slower of the Wheel of Time books, part of what is commonly called the slump in the middle.

Honestly not much happened in this one for its 800sh pages.
Elayne is in Andor trying to navigate the politics and trying to secure her crown while being pregnant with Rands child
Perrin is trying to figure out how to rescue Faile from the shaid Aiel
Matt as fled Ebou Dar while kidnapping daughter of the nine moon heir to the Seanchan throne.
Egwene and the rebel Aes Sedai laying siege to Tar Valon

Not a whole lot of movement or story progression in this book but despite that still enjoyable read although Rand is virtually non existent in this book.

Several references to Rands cleansing of saidin but no one knows what is really happenning only that shadar logoth is gone.

Not much more to say right now, may add to this review later

I mean wow! I thought I was doing great getting through these books. I was loving every little bit of descriptive writing, world building, multiple character perspectives, etc. I've enjoyed some books more than others, by a tiny margin. Yet nothing could prepare me for Crossroads of Twilight. It felt like the last nine books were all little streams feeding into this vast river that grabbed me in book ten and dragged me on in a glorious whirlwind of storytelling. I read this book in eleven days!!! That is my absolute shortest read time for any of the books in this series, I usually average a couple of months... I cannot WAIT to get started on Knife of Dreams. cracks open next book

This was definitely the slowest WoT book so far. There was a lot of storytelling, but almost zero plot development. I was hoping for a real cliffhanger at the end, but not even that was delivered. I'm committed to reading through the series, but, man, this book was rough.

Up till now I enjoyed the slow pacing and the characters. But this book is the worst of all. Literally nothing noteworthy happened that could not have happened in 3 chapters. It is silly slow and possibly not even necessary to read for the rest of the series.

Around the 700 mark I was getting the feeling that nothing more was going to happen. And nothing did. I'm taking a break for a while from this series. See if I can muster up the courage. Everybody has been telling me the last 3 books are so worth the trouble.

Another fairly exciting installment, but yet another that doesn't feel like a complete novel.

As with all the Wheel of Time written by Robert Jordan the story is good with only fair writing. Reading this series is like watching a B movie, fun but not great.

still slow...

Ugh! I love this overall series but from about book 7 through this one the story is slow, at least till about the last 50-100 pages or so. I have it on good authority though that book 11 steps up and the story really reaches that conclusion level starting at 11-12 and moving forward to finally book 14. Otherwise, Crossroads of Twilight was just too slow and full of a crap ton of details or specifics or filler stories that have nothing to do with the main story, nothing.

Okay, vervolg van vervolg van vervolg (van vervolg, etc.). Deel tién. En nog maar eens honderden bladzijden van, euh, niet erg veel actie, deze keer de pro-versie: echt helemaal niets. Ik denk dat het ondertussen bijna drieduizend bladzijden geleden is dat het écht vooruit ging. Zei ik dat er beterschap kwam? Helaas, neen.

Een hele reeks hoofdstukken met Mat en de vrouw waar hij verliefd op moet worden terwijl hij nog altijd op de vlucht is voor de Seanchan. Een hele reeks hoofdstukken met Perrin die nog altijd een reeks mensen moet bevrijden. Egwene is nog altijd op weg naar de White Tower.

Um. Waar had ik het nog niet over gehad? 

Aha! De spanking-fetish van Robert Jordan. Om de één of andere reden worden vrouwen voortdurend lijfelijk gestraft. Over de knie, kleren uit, haarborstel of zweep erop. Goed, een mens schrijft natuurlijk wat hij wil in zijn vrije tijd, maar toch, naar mijn smaak: ofwel beperkt men het tot een vermelding om de pakweg paar honderd bladzijden (in plaats van om de tien bladzijden), ofwel doet men meteen een A.N. Roquelaure, en mag het er helemaal over en in geuren en kleuren.

Maar het equivalent van “oooh Matron! she'll be in for such a switching!” begint op den duur ernstig tegen te steken. Vooral: Jordan steekt moeite in omschrijvingen van allerlei verschillende culturen (enfin ja, hij doet zijn best), maar hoe het ook uitdraait, of het nu the Kin of Aes Sedai of Sea Peoples of wie dan ook is – allemaal hebben ze lijfstraffen voor vrouwen, liefst nog eens naakt.

Het viel andermaal niet zo op (les livres se suivent et se ressemblent), maar ik denk dat dit het nadir van de plotontwikkeling bereikte: niets, niets, niets, of toch bijna niets. Geen slechteriken, of het zouden de snuitkevers in het graan moeten zijn, geen karakterontwikkeling, en als ik op het gevoel moet afgaan, zijn er maar een dag of vier vijf voorbijgegaan op 800 ofzo bladzijde.

Zucht. Het zou nu toch wel eens mogen beginnen vooruit gaan, vind ik. 

(Als bonus: een knip en plak extract van een Amazon review, dat de vinger niet op maar in de zwerende wonde legt:)

Phone Rep: “Hello, this is **, representing Bigelow Tea and other fine beverages. How may I help you?”

Caller: “Well, see, I have this problem with my tea...“

P: “Which variety of tea are you having the problem with?”

C: “Bigelow Blueberry Blast.”

P: “Alright...what seems to be the problem?”

C: “See, there was this one batch of tea I brewed for myself one morning. I brewed it into a gleaming silver pitcher with a matching silver ropework tray and a set of three silver cups, each with its own saucer that was engraved around the perimeter with tiny flowers. I had bought the set in Saldea. Oh, the Sea-folk porcelain is wonderful, but I'm prone to breaking it. Anyway, I poured myself a cup of tea. There were piping hot scones in a silver bowl on the tray next to the tray that held the tea. The basket was covered with a white embroidered cloth slashed with blue silk, much like my dress. Oh, the neckline is a bit too low-cut for some of my acquaintances, who prefer good stout woolens to that Arad Domai silk that clings to the body in such a way as to leave very little to the imagination. So, as I was eating a scone and drinking my cup of tea, the steam from each rising and intertwining together like dueling serpents, I noticed a peculiar taste in the tea: it was cool and refreshing, with a hint of mint. Of course, I thought nothing of it. Giving my earlobe a tug and my braid a pull, I remembered the idiocy of every one of my male friends, indeed every male I have ever come into contact with, or ever will for that matter. The lot of woolheads can never compete with the superior logic and rock-solid reasoning that every female in the known universe possesses. It's no wonder we all behave the same.”

P: “Um...what was your problem with the tea?”

C: “Oh yes, I'm sorry. After I had consumed the tea, I placed the cup on the silver ropework tray and covered the gleaming silver basket of scones again with the white embroidered cloth slashed with bands of blue silk, much like my dress. I remembered the stout man in the streets of Tar Valon: a vendor of sausages he was. Though I know I will never see him again, I felt it necessary to familiarize myself with every aspect of his appearance and personal history. He was a short, stout man with black hair that was beginning to grey at the temples, slicked back on his head in the manner of warriors, though it was obvious he was not one. He wore brown shoes of stained leather that rustled softly against the dirt of the streets, kicking up clouds of dust that lingered in the air even after he had passed. His pants were of stiff wool, dyed green and patched in many places. He wore a leather jerkin over a soiled white peasant's shirt, the cuffs of his sleeves rolled up and out of his way. Around his neck was a silver chain with a medallion attached to it that bore the image of a bear. He spoke with a gruff voice...“

P: “The TEA, ma'am.”

C: “Well you don't have to be rude about it. I was only filling you in on the relevant details.”

P: “I don't have all day, ma'am.”

C: “You do remind me of a lad I once knew, back when I used to frequent the palace in Camelyn...“

P: “Look, we'll send you a case of Blueberry tea, alright?”

C: “Oh...alright then, I suppose that will do nicely.”

P: “Do you have any other problems?”

C: “Well, there is this one other problem I have, but it's not with your tea. The other day, I was pouring myself a goblet of spiced wine. Only the wine had grown cold after being left on the windowsill for whatever reason. So I siezed hold of saidar. It was pure rapture...like opening all of my petals to the sun, for I am a flower. It was like floating in a river that tore along with great speed: resist it and you would be consumed by it. So I accepted it and was consumed by the sweet joy. I sent a tiny thread of fire into the pitcher to warm the wine. Soon, steam rose from the pitcher of gold, sunlight rebounding on the inset gems. I removed the pitcher from the stark Cairheinien plinth of the finest marble and poured myself a glass. But the use of saidar had turned the spices bitter...“

CLICK

C: “Hello? Hello? Wool-headed sheep-herder...”

Looking at other reviews I can understand why this book is the lowest point of the series. No progress being made towards the end game and too many small plots being wrung out. Given the ending of the last book there was a huge opportunity to take the reader deeper into the taint and Saidin but we don't even see Rand till 60% of the book. Instead we meet so many Aes Sedai that total confusion reigns and you cannot but skip read knowing that you are not missing anything. One more boor remains between now and the finale and its just about time! Onwards

Executive Summary: All of the “slow” books have been better on a reread. Sadly this one might have actually been a bit worse. It's not quite 1-star bad, but I'm happy to be out the other side.

Audiobook: Michael Kramer and Kate Reading saved me from possibly never completing this book for my reread. There is no way I'd have gotten through the text again so quickly. They do a fantastic job with the rather bland material they are given here.

Full Review
This is the book I was dreading when I decided to do a reread of this series with some friends of mine reading it for the first time. I debated skipping it and just reading a summary. I probably should have. Oh well. My recollection was that I enjoyed some parts in the beginning, and some in the end, but the middle just felt pointless.

That's probably a fair assessment, although I felt like those parts were far less than even my memory. I liked the parts with Mat. A lot in fact. However even his story has VERY little happen in it. I think I just really enjoy Mat, and so I didn't care that a lot wasn't happening.

Some of Egwene's was really good too, especially at the very end of this book. However much of it just felt petty and pointless. She probably had the most plot advancement of all the characters though.

Pretty much everything else felt completely unnecessary to the story. Rand, Perrin, and Elayne's stories didn't seem to advance at all.

I'm a big fan of epic fantasy, and enjoy long meandering detail as part of the “fullness” of the story, but this takes that to a whole other level sadly.

I think this book is probably worth skipping. Even if it's your first time with the series. Just find a good summary. It can't be more than a few paragraphs tops. Save yourself the time and move on to the last four books which are all excellent.

This book was disappointing after that long wait from book 9. While I really appreciate the fact that the late Robert Jordan managed to write such an epic story spanning over 10 books, and that I love all the long descriptions of it, this book was still a letdown. The story really did not progress much at all. It was as if the author himself needed a recap, so a huge part of this book was spent consolidating what happened in the previous two books. Only a few chapters worth of material are really moving the story along. I hope the next author would help speed things along (despite the fact that there's gonna be 3 more books...).

So nicht, Mr. Jordan

Auch bei mir der Eindruck, daß Jordan schlicht nur noch Geld machen möchte. Um seine Figuren, die er lieblos und farblos beläßt, geht es ihm nicht mehr. Den Inhalt dieses Bandes könnte man problemlos auf einer DIN-A4 zusammenfassen.
Ich hatte nicht viel mehr erwartet - wohl aber erhofft. Ich werde auch den nächsten Band kaufen, aber ich kann nur jedem empfehlen, sein Geld besser zu investieren als in dieses Buch. Und das sagt ein ausgesprochener WoT-Fan...