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splatterjunk 's review for:
Crossroads of Twilight
by Robert Jordan
Set over the course of a few days following the events of Winter's Heart, Crossroads of Twilight attempts to round up all the disparate storylines and to prepare the reader for the homestretch into Tarmon Gaidon. Mainly focusing on Perrin, Egwene, and Elayne, with minor characters sprinkled here and there, the plot revolves around the world's reaction to Rand and Nyneave's actions at Shadar Logoth at the end of Winter's Heart, and the fallout of that event.
Crossroads of Twilight feels like holding your breath; every single character mentioned is teetering on the edge of action, but seems to need just one more chapter to decide on what to do, and exhibit A here is Perrin; with Faile *still* captured by the Shaido, and Masima causing trouble elsewhere, Perrin does the obvious thing and aggressively... buys grain and eats stew. The same goes for Elayne; despite all the trouble and chaos facing Andor, she patiently walks around the Palace, hoping for a solution to present itself. And Aviendha is there too.
Complaints and lamentations aside, the character moments are the best part of the book this time around. When Jordan decides to write characters actually interacting and making decisions, he is a master; Rand and Mat shine in this aspect, and surprisingly, the Aes Sadai as well. Saying that White Tower politics has gotten stale and repetitive wouldn't be far off the mark, but in my estimation, they constitute the most interesting parts of the book, especially when Elaida is present.
Understanding Jordan's goal with this entry is a big part of learning to love it; with the amount of huge and crazy and awesome dialed down a few notches, it gives the smaller moments some breathing room, and just to keep readers on their toes, he sticks in a cligghanger ending right at the checkered flag to keep you guessing. Definitely a solid entry, and while it is the weakest so far in the series, it serves an important purpose. 4/5
Side note: keep a wiki of the characters handy when reading because all 27,000 Aes Sedai names start to run together after a few hundred pages.
Crossroads of Twilight feels like holding your breath; every single character mentioned is teetering on the edge of action, but seems to need just one more chapter to decide on what to do, and exhibit A here is Perrin; with Faile *still* captured by the Shaido, and Masima causing trouble elsewhere, Perrin does the obvious thing and aggressively... buys grain and eats stew. The same goes for Elayne; despite all the trouble and chaos facing Andor, she patiently walks around the Palace, hoping for a solution to present itself. And Aviendha is there too.
Complaints and lamentations aside, the character moments are the best part of the book this time around. When Jordan decides to write characters actually interacting and making decisions, he is a master; Rand and Mat shine in this aspect, and surprisingly, the Aes Sadai as well. Saying that White Tower politics has gotten stale and repetitive wouldn't be far off the mark, but in my estimation, they constitute the most interesting parts of the book, especially when Elaida is present.
Understanding Jordan's goal with this entry is a big part of learning to love it; with the amount of huge and crazy and awesome dialed down a few notches, it gives the smaller moments some breathing room, and just to keep readers on their toes, he sticks in a cligghanger ending right at the checkered flag to keep you guessing. Definitely a solid entry, and while it is the weakest so far in the series, it serves an important purpose. 4/5
Side note: keep a wiki of the characters handy when reading because all 27,000 Aes Sedai names start to run together after a few hundred pages.