Customer Reviews

Crossroads of Twilight - Complete Book

5 star:		(161)
4 star:		(132)
3 star:		(236)
2 star:		(382)
1 star:		(1,569)

 

 

Those who can appreciate great setup will really love this book. Personally, I thought the setup in books 8 and 9 were good ... but this was absolutely stupendous. Fans of total plot inertia will be in heaven.

I've grown to hate the character of Rand because whenever he makes an appearance the plot is in danger of moving incrementally forward. Thankfully, Mr. Jordan saves us from any threatening plot developments by keeping Rand almost totally absent from this book. And when he is introduced - briefly - towards the very end, Mr. Jordan quickly whisks him off to the sidelines before anything interesting can happen. Whew! I'm wiping the sweat off my brow becasue that was a close one.

Have you ever wondered how many stripes should be on the dublet of an important dignatary from Illian? How many shawl twitches are appropriate when Aes Sedai negotiate momentous agreements? What kind of stool the general of an Aes Sedai army sits on, and how stable said stool might be? Well buckle up for a wild ride, amigo, because you're going to learn all that (and more!) by the time you've tediously slogged to the conclusion of this book.

Part of what really makes Mr. Jordan's worlds so unique are the wonderful characters which populate them. I like nothing more than to scratch my head in befuddlement as yet another Aes Sedai is reintroduced into the plot whom I can no longer recall. It gives me an excuse to page to the back of the book and open up the 'Robert Jordan Appendix of Useless and Irrelevent Characters' which is always such a joy. I've created my own drinking game based on this called, [...]
For anyone who wants to play along the rules are simple:

1.) Is the character you're looking up totally irrelevent? Take a drink.
2.) Do you have reason to suspect said character will remain totally irrelevent? Take a drink.
3.) Does the character twitch her shawl? Take two drinks.
4.) Is she looking "cross-eyed" at someone? Take a drink.
5.) Do you know the exact design of the embroidery on the fringe of her shawl? Of course you do - take a drink. For your own sanity, consider taking another.

Anyhow, I don't want to pretend everything about this book is negative ... there are a few positives.

First off, Nynaeve is completely ignored. I suspect Mr. Jordan will make up for this oversite by indulging in an orgy of braid-tugging, yellow-shawled action in books 11-16, but you will be blessedly free of it in this tome.

Secondly, Jordan has stopped even pretending to provide "setup" for future books with CoT. Nothing Of Any Signifigance happens - at all - in this novel. Nothing. There's not so much as a cliffhanger. He's no longer bothering to maintain any facade. I appreciate that kind of bold honesty. He's just holding out his hand and saying, "Listen suckers ... we all know you're going to give me your money - so just hand it over. I could personally visit each of your homes and beat it out of you, but isn't this more civilized?". And, yes, I suppose it is more civilized. So I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Jordan for allowing me to voluntarily hand him my hard-earned money rather than forcing him to pummel it out of me in my own house. It is very much appreciated.

I can't wait for Volume 11.

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..."

For those readers anxiously waiting for the Dark One to lash out with the first fell stroke of the Last Battle, you'll find it here in the Crossroads of Twilight. No, the vast armies of Trollocs and their Eyeless taskmasters don't boil forth from the Blight to overrun the heart of Randland, leaving only carnage and destruction in their wake; instead, in a dazzling and completely unforeseen plot twist, Shai'tan unleashes his legions of weevils against our unsuspecting heroes, and no one's grain is safe. I'm getting chills now just thinking about the brilliance of the move. Just think: weevils in the grain require winnowing, and winnowing cuts down on the profit margins of merchants, and lower profit margins means bankruptcy. I absolutely cannot wait for book 11, where we will surely see the entire economy collapse, and then it's just a small matter to bring this incredible series to a close. The Dark One will be revealed as an evil loan shark, and he'll break free from the Central Bank of Shayol Ghul and repossess every palace, dress-shop, and circus on the continent. I just hope Cadsuane can teach Rand some creative re-financing options before the situation becomes hopeless.

Some other notable developments:

The quality of tea has really taken a nosedive since the early books in the series, and it's starting to negatively impact the morale of our heroes. After all, what's the upside of fighting off pure evil if you can't even get a decent cup of tea when you're pregnant and temperamental?

The Dark One inappropriately touches one of his minions. I'm expecting a sexual harassment lawsuit in the next volume.

Hundreds of dresses are described in such intricate detail that I was able to sew exact replicas. I'm wearing one right now, in fact. For hundreds of other patterns, you can shop at wheeloftimewardrobe.com.

We are introduced to the riveting social intricacies of the gai'shain laundering subculture.

Perrin gets bored with his own plotline and breaks out of character for a minute before returning to form.

Woolheads battle ninnies and hilarity ensues. Braid tugging is on the wane. Someone sniffs.

First let me say, there is no bigger Wheel of Time fan than me. Great story, great characters, great writing (for the most part). Having said that, I have to say, making it though the pages and pages of never ending descriptions of dresses, teas, hair styles, tea cups, the porcelain tray the tea cup is sitting on, where the tray is from, who crafted it, the dream the crafter had the night before, how the crafter's wife has the absolute WRONG idea about current events in the world, how the crafter thinks he's got a good grip on what's happening even though the reader knows he's completely off too, and endless experiments on how many different ways a writer can write how an Aes Sedai can communicate disapproval was beyond taxing.

By the time I was done reading, I was ready to drop kick the book if I read about another twitch of a shawl, rearranging of skirts, braid tug, disapproving sniff, disapproving snort, disapproving frown (and the subsequent smoothing of one's features hoping no one noticed), or yet another Aes Sedai standing looking at someone beneath them (who is basically everyone) with hands on hips and a disapproving scowl on their face. I think I'm seeing a pattern here; I think the book would have been a lot less painful to read if an Aes Sedai actually APPROVED of something for once, but I digress . . . (those of you who have read the book should be used to digression by now)

With a very minor exception, every character is in exactly the same place and predicament at the end of the book as they were at the beginning. This wouldn't be so bad if the content was interesting but it just wasn't.

Aes Sedai wear a bunch of different dresses with a myriad of patterns. Don't care.

Elayne is being made to drink weak tea. Don't care

The Shaido are still around. Don't care.

The Seanchan are still around. Don't care.

Caemlyn is still under siege. Don't care.

Perrin took 5 chapters to do nothing except buy some grain. Don't care.

Cadsuane is still the single most annoying character in the history of literature. We knew this coming into the book and I didn't need or care to be reminded again.

Don't care enough even to write about this thing I don't care about.

All of these things I just mentioned would be fine if they were just mentioned once and left alone. The sad reality is that hearing about these things takes up 95% of the book.

Back when the book first came out, I read some of the reviews posted here. After going through pages and pages of comments, only two of the reviews were positive. I finally bought the book last month thinking "those people are just exaggerating; the book can't be that bad".

They weren't and it is.

Hundreds of pages of description of teas, dresses and mannerisms. How does that advance the plot?

We do not need action to advance the story, we need real plot development. There is no excuse for this book to exist, other then to fatten Jordans bank account.

If it were only this one book, that could be overlooked. But each book since FoH has become progressively worse, less and less happening in each one.

We know Nynaeve is clueless and likes to tuh her braid when she is angry(basically 24-7), we don't need to be reminded of it every page.

We know Perrin is upset about Faile( and nothing, I mean nothing is more important, really, nothing...), but yet does nothing about it.

We know that Rand is tired and stretched thin, but does nothing. The one event eagerly waited for turned into nothing(Rand meeting Logain). We know that Rand does not trust Taim, yet he never checks up on him or the black tower, even after being attacked by Ashaman.

We know Aes Sedai like to hold themselves out as a mysterious and powerful group of women. We know, and are reminded on nearly every page, that what they really are, are cowardly, ignorant fools.

We know that Elayne is still pregnant, can't get the lion throne, even though she controls the palace and armies. She has yet to figure out, that she is not claiming the Lion throne by right, but because Rand secured it for her, and is so incompetent she still can't get it. If not for Rand, Rahvin would control Andor, so her belief that she has some right to claim it is nonsense.

The only thing that was resolved in this book, was Egwene is a fool. But of course, we knew that already. The many minor storylines about people we don't really know and don't care about at all, were not resolved, they were muddied and added on to.

Jordan has long forgotten how to write a good story. He let it get away from him, and only the most diehard(and blind) fan has stayed. The only way he could possibly finish this convoluted story in 2 books is by one of two things:

Each book will be at least 2000 pages long, which will never happen. Books 6-10 could have easily been 2 fantastic novels, but that would impact his bank account.

All the storylines will be closed off too quickly for it too really make sense. Jordan claims it will go to 12 books but look what need to be resolved:

1. The seanchan must fall under Rand
2. Mat needs to regain his army and marry Tuon, and possibly take over the seanchan army
3. Rand needs to take over the blacktower and somewhat control his ashaman opponents
4. Perrin needs to free Faile and completely take care of the Shaido
5. Masema and his followers need to be taken care of.
6. Elayne needs to gain the throne
7. Egwene needs to escape and take control of the tower
8. The borderland armies needs to find and follow rand
9. The annoying Cadsuane needs to teach Rand and the Ashaman something;probably how to be annoying.
10. The rest of the nations need to follow Rand.
11. Elayne needs to figure out and stop her captian of the guards
12. The forsaken need to be handle, for real, this time.
13. Huge armies needs to be amassed and moved toward the blight
14. Whether Moraine is dead or not, she needs to show up again. My money is on her being bound to the horn now, but maybe she survived the fight against Lanfear and will find her way out. Perhaps, with the aid of Egwene.
15. Padan Fain needs to be destroyed.
16. The Tairen and Carhienan rebels need to be pacified, and Caroline and whats his face need to be married and gain the throne of a country.
17. Rand, Elayne, Min and Avendeha need to get hitched
18. People, especially Aes Sedia need accept Ashaman as not tainted anymore
19. The whitecloaks need to be somehow destroyed or brought in line with Rand. Maybe Galad will take over the whitecloaks.
20. All the darkfriends need to be handled in some way, especially Carridin.
21. Lots of other minor storylines, like the fate of Liandrin need to be resolved.
22. The darkfriends, shadowspawn, dreadlords, forsaken need to be destroyed in a final battle and the dark one destroyed or locked back up.
23. Rand needs to die.

Phew! That is a lot of storyline to wrap up and I bet I missed a few. CoT did nothing to move any of these along. So, supposedly, the next two books needs to do it.

The biggest problem with this series is the readers. How many people here admit the series is getting worse and worse, yet feel like they can't leave it because they wasted all that time getting to this point. What sense is that? At the very least, wait until the series is finished, and then read the paperback. Falling into the trap of reading it, to read it, rewards Jordan for his crappy writing and encourages more of it. STOP THE MADNESS!

1) A good writer has the ability to keep the reader's interest even when he is writing setup.
2) A good writer masters the ability to time the execution of story-lines with appropriate pacing and a sense of the dramatic.
3) A good writer does not need to spell every little thing out for the reader.
4) A good writer knows how to keep his/her story focused.
5) A good writer possesses the knowledge that a book consists of a beginning, a middle, and an end.
6) A good writer respects his/her characters as individuals and recognize their unique abilities to develope in different directions.



Let's take a look at Jordan, shall we?

1) If Jordan had managed to keep his readers interested, he wouldn't be recieving 1-star reviews. Even when you are writing setup you need to keep the reader interested. Robin Hobb, for instance, does this by simply using a language so formidable that reading her words is in itself a pleasure. Jordan's words have become very bland and tasteless over the last few books, not unlike MacDonald's food.

2) As any professional writer knows, when you are dealing with two or more parallell storylines you have to maintain some sort of balance between them and time the unfolding of events so that the reader is able to follow the different threads. You can either divide the different storylines into large "blocks" like Tolkien did in The Two Towers, or you can switch back and forth between them. If you have many different storylines, you have the wonderful advantage of being able to tell only the most interesting bits from each one - kindof like GRR Martin is doing in A Song of Ice and Fire. With so many different storylines in the loop, why would we want to read about people clippnig their toenails? Honestly, one wonders if not a good writer would have been able to derive more interesting events from all these storylines than people drinking tea, going to the tailor or styling their hair?

3) Why does Jordan constantly dedicate half a page of text to every little feeling? A good writer, such as Robin Hobb for instance, only needs a few words to convey the same feeling. Why? Because she uses the groundwork she laid up in the early parts of her stories. She has introduced and developed her characters so skillfully that she after a while does not need to spend many pages describing them or their emotions. The reader knows them well enough to be able to understand their feelings without lengthy explanations. Why then does Jordan need pages and pages of laborously describing every little thing? Either he does not trust his readers to know his characters well enough, or he has simply confused lengthy descriptions with emotions.

4) I think we can all agree that Jordan's story has become unfocused. The main characters are lost like extras in a soap-opera, just hanging around the set drinking coffee and waiting for someone to remember them, though unfortunately the producers seem more interested in filming new, fresh actresses doing threesomes and getting amnesia. In essence, the story of Wheel of Time is simple: there is a bad-guy and there is a good-guy who is destined to fight him. Why then are we reading about the main guy's ex girlfriend's friend's aunts drinking tea and discussing the weather? I'm not saying you can't take small trips away from the main story, but you need to return to it and keep the main story always moving forward. And to all the fans who defends this style of writing with that this deepens his world and how it's essential to the story, I can simply say: you are wrong. And I can also say that a good writer could have spent these hundreds and hundreds of pages deepening the world and adding essential parts to the story in a more fulfilling manner, for instance by keeping focus on the main characters and having them interact with the world around them instead of staying inside their heads, gibbering to themselves. My theory is that all of Jordan's mains are locked as characters. They can't interact with the world in a normal way anymore, and so he has to resort to secondary characters to do it. Except that there is a flaw in this: when a secondary character does it, it becomes redundant.

5) A book should have a beginning, a middle and an end. A beginning to set things up (or, in the case of a sequel, bring the reader up to date), a middle to execute the plot of the book and do build-up for the ending, and an end which should contain some sort of dramatic climax to the build-up from the middle and the beginning of the book. Jordan does not seem to realise this. A book needs a plot of its own. It needs to be about something. Crossroads isn't. It is simply filler without any build-up in the beginning or any end that delivers anything to the reader. In the early books Jordan managed to keep a distinct theme for his books, the travels in the early columes, the great hunt, the chase for the sword in Tear and so on. His last installment totally lacks this. It is not a book that can even remotely be dreamed to stand on its own - as a book should to some extent, even if it's part of a series. Saying that he's doing like Tolkien and writing one long book and not a series is not a valid argument, as Tolkien wrote his entire series before he got published and there was plenty of oppertunity for both himself and for the editors to edit the book as a whole and to conside the series as a whole. Jordan can not pull this off, as his books are written one at a time. He has not means of going back and changing things in the earlier volumes that would need changing in order to convey a sense of this series being one long book rather than a series.

6) Most of Jordan's female characters seem to have developed in the exact same direction, regardless of where they started. I honestly don't think I would notice if someone switched all the "Elayne"s on a page for "Nynaeve" or whomever. They all think the exact same way, use the same words, the same rhythm of speech, and they have basically the same opinions about everything. Except that Nynaeve feels that a braid is the only acceptable hairstyle and other characters have more lofty hair-morals. In any case, this is not the mark of a good writer. A good writer is a person whom after a certain length of text can write a line of dialogue without having to specify who said it or in what tone of voice - the reader can understand anyway if the author is good enough, and given only the choice of words, the reader can feel the tone of it. Robin Hobb is a master in this regard, and she can pull it off because all her characters have distinct personalities and just like real people they have different vocabularies and different rhythms of speech.

Jordan is not a good writer. His writing is well below par for writers published by serious publishing houses. If you still believe he knows what he is doing, you are either deluded, naïve or simply unable to recognize talent. A good writer would never have written this book or taken this series in this direction.

I recommend you stop reading Jordan until he has finished this series completely (which would be at the earliest 2008, but that is optimistic). There are so many better writers out there!

Read GRR Martin, Robin Hobb and CS Friedman instead!

One word comes to mind regarding this book.

Garbage.

Pure garbage. Jordan needs an editor who isnt his wife.
BADLY. Enough already with the whole Perrin whining about his wife being capture. 250 pages of it without ever actually resolving it is MORE than enough. Mat was enjoyable but come on almost a hundred pages and all he basically did was complain that he had to get married. And the Elayne business. Gods she has turned into my worst nightmare. 1. She is stupid. 2. SHe is hormonal 3. She is arrogant and snooty. Do I have to read 200 pages per book about how inept of a ruler she is and how everything is Rands fault (in her eyes) but she still oves him anyway and cant live without him...can I VOMIT now.

At least the last book redeemed itself at the end by having something interesting happen. This book doesnt even have that saving grace. The one item that looked like it MIGHT turn interesting just piddled into nothing. I mean FINALLY LOGAIN MEETS RAND...and nothing. Rand yells and Logain tells him to watch out for Taim and Rand says he knows...eh no big deal. I mean here is something that we have been waiting for and it snothing..a toss away. I guess he was too into Elaynes morning sickness to really spend any time on Rand and Logain meeting. A meandering pile of psychobable nonsense. It used to be that Jordan would give his character personality by adding in little quips like "Rand always knows how to handle women...he would know what to do" Or Nynaeve tugging on her braid.

But apparently that isnt enough anymore. Apparently after 250 pages of Perrin whining so much about Faile that I just want her to die so that we can get on with the story Jordan still doesnt think he has gotten across the message that Perrin is a whiny baby who needs someones boot on his back side telling him to grow up and be a man.

Everything in the book now is nothing more than reflection of how the characters FEEL about something or what they are THINKING about something. NOTHING HAPPENS.

I swear if I have to read one more three page description of what someone is wearing I am gonna pull my hair out. And I am assuming that next book he is really gonna go all out and the intro wind blowing will last a whole chapter maybe. How many things a wind can blow over and bounce off of before he gets on with the story is amazing. I never get enough of it. Please bounce the wind off a few more things next time Jordan its facinating really.

The only reason I even read the books anymore is because I want to know what happens in the end. This book doesnt even give me the luxury of having ANYTHING happen.

Like I said. Jordan needs an editor BADLY. His last effort is pathetic.

This is perhaps the worst book in the series so far. After a wait of over two years, we're presented with a series of unconnected snippets in which absolutely nothing happens. There is no forward movement whatsoever in the overall plot, and no issues are resolved. Most of the major characters are presented for a few brief chapters in which they essentially tread water, and we leave all of them at the end of the book pretty much where we found them at the beginning.

It's pretty clear now that Jordan has no intention of wrapping this up in the forseeable future and going on to another project. It's sad to see a talented writer decide to milk a single concept for the rest of his career, rather than finishing it off and seeking a new challenge, but I'm convinced that this is the case with Jordan. The only question is, how many people will still be reading this series 10 or 15 years from now when it finally ends with book 17 or 18? I know I won't be. As far as I'm concerned, this series is dead.

PREQUEL TO MY REVIEW

I shook my head incredulously. Light, of all the bloody ashes... I look over to the book. It lies there, as plain as it ever been, as plain as the horns on a trolloc. 700 pages. 700 bloody pages?! Blood and ashes. Of all the boneheaded, stubborn things... Well, there's nothing for it now, I decided, and with a sniff of my nose I looked up from the book, and with a hard sniff, a sniff that in Ebon Dar might make strong men faint and women gasp, I turned sternly towards the keyboard. A memory flashed in my head unbidden. I am not sure where it came from; it could be from any of the nine books that I read before in this series, memories that would have been long resting in the cold, return shelves of the library, or in the scandalous embrace of another. "Blood and ashes," I muttered through my teeth, and despite the gentle weather, I shivered and drew my coat closer to me, folding it carefully.

"I never saw run-on sentences before that extended this long," I brooded darkly. That is, if a reader can brood, and I detected a twinkie in the hard, frozen reaches of my freezer. Readers are just supposed to FAWN at Robert Jordan, and this is most decidedly out of the ordinary. "I am going to write the review," I decided, and light be blasted! But what is it that the review needed? Is it a woman? I frowned, and wringled my nose, a move that is more a force of habit than out of irritation. Women! What does Robert Jordan find so hard to understand about them? I wondered. Light! By the way he talks about them once every paragraph, this novel is more fit as the pre-puberty study of a taraboner stable boy than a fantasy novel! I shook my head, quickly banishing the thought. No, no... perhaps there is some grander conspiracy at work here... The ageless face of an Aes Sedai looked out at my memory, laughing at me, tugging suggestively on my lower intestine and her braid at the same time.

That did it, I decided, I'm really going write a review this time. The memory at the edge of my consciousness tugged again at her braid, hard, and bit her lip as hard as she can. Light, would that woman ever shut up? Women. I can never understand them. I've decided to read the words more carefully, however, the names just started to give me a headache. Bevedine or Beradine? or maybe it is Bevin and Moadine and veradine and bevelleihillbillienineOtwoOneOdine. I can never remember their faces. Only the songs, like some rude limerick, ring mockingly at my ears... "There once was a man with a name like Jordan, sold his book and want to be like Tolkien, so he went out one day and started to write, and next thing you know he screwed the children of light... whitecloaks that is, Altarian sea... "

I sighed, put down my keyboard, and rubbed my eyes. Light! I must be getting on with the review.

CHAPTER ONE: TIME TO BE GONE

The Wheel of Time turns, and Books come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Book that gave it birth comes again. In one Book, called the Tenth Book by some, a Book yet to be written, a Book already burned, a yawn rose in the Crossroads of Twilight. The Yawn is not the beginning, there are neither beginning nor endings in the Wheel of Time (not if Jordan is still paid by the word.) But it is a beginning.

BEGIN REAL REVIEW

OK look here guys, I admit, the first few books had been fun. And you know why? I got one word for you. DragonBall. It is pretty cool when Goku went out and kicked some ass each episode huh? Yeah, one forsaken each book. Super Rand attack. But let's face it. There's only so much that he can DO, before we realized that the Wheel of Time is about as complicated as Pokemon when they are still out there collecting Gym Badges. "I defeat the Aiel Guardian! I receive power-up -- Heron Mark V. 2!"

Yeah. The guy is running out of ideas.

So what does he do? Can he save some shred of dignity and credibility by ending the series gracefully, in an ultimate episode of Wheel of Time Extreme! (tm) and a final showdown between Super Rand W and the Dark One?

No.

He tries to make it into a series of intrigue, of mystery, of boring dialogue.

Which is pretty sad folks. I mean, that kind of depth takes PLANNING. It takes EFFORT. Also, it takes the wisdom of seeing a dead horse, and refrain from beating it.

If you want an in-depth novel, I would suggest Gene Wolfe. Now that is complexity without obfusication, and true depth folks. This book is like watching the Thought of the Day from the Jerry Springer Show.

I started reading this series at the beginning of high school, now I am about to finish college, and I think I will have completed grad school, a postdoc, and gotten tenure by the time this series is finished. After finishing the first 6 books, I was mesmerized. They were outstanding; fantastic characters, cool story, etc. I started getting disappointed with book 8, and it has only gotten worse. Even after book 8, I defended the series to all of my disappointed friends who had thoughts of abandoning WOT, explaining away their criticisms saying that the recent unremarkable additions to the series were merely foreshadowing awesome events to come. But after reading book 10, I am going to have to side with them, my patience has worn thin. I don't think I will be able to abandon the series entirely, but I keep getting excited for the new releases only find myself frustrated and annoyed after finishing them.

As stated by many others, the plot goes absolutely nowhere in book 10. Nowhere! I still don't know how that is possible considering the size of the book, but it's true. As I pushed on through the book, I began to get worried because it didn't seem like anything big was going to happen, and that feeling climaxed to disappointment as I reached the end. Unfortunately, you can summarize this entire book in about five lines. Also, as previously stated by other reviewers, Rand, the main character mind you, barely plays a role and the other characters progress at a turtle's pace. I am talking about the slowest turtle that has ever been or will be on the face of the earth.

Robert Jordan needs to realize that he doesn't need to explain every little detail if he has already explained it before, multiple times. If you're reading book 10, chances are you have heard of Aiel, know what an Ajah is, and are familiar with the Seanchan. I like details, but I don't need them repeated to me just to fill up space. Considering that the cover price of this book was more than any of the others, I suggest the next one be free to all who purchased this one. I don't know how many more chances I can give Mr. Jordan to redeem himself.