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498 of 529 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Another Masterpiece, December 19, 2004
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.
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192 of 205 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
If a review was written like the book..., October 8, 2004
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.
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124 of 131 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Terrible Disappointment, January 8, 2003
By A Customer
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.
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