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A review by h4wke
Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan
3.0
Well, it's incredibly unsurprising to me that this is my least favourite Wheel of Time book so far. That being said, it wasn't as bad as I expected.
The major flaw of this book, is the structure. There's simply no suspense when we read about reactions towards a major event—that being something that's already happened in Winter's Heart—so we're left with characters frustratingly being wrong or disconcerted about what's going on. If the big event took place after, the contents of Crossroads of Twilight would probably be more exciting.
It's a symptom of the books all blending together now. There's not much plot structure for the individual books, except for the pacing of the POVs. This is fine if you're just reading through the series one after the other, but I imagine it's tiresome if these entries are separated. It's no wonder this book was criticised heavily upon release.
Now it's not all bad. There's not much plot progression in this book, barely at all in fact. But the character writing is fantastic, and it sets up Knife of Dreams excellently. Perrin's storyline in particular I absolutely loved (I don't really get the hate for the Faile plotline), and Egwene was actually exciting to read about, which is such a major change from a few books ago.
Rand and Nynaeve are unfortunately barely in it, but at least we get a hefty portion of Mat chapters, again with not much plot progression but great character beats.
Elayne's chapters though, are the worst part of the series so far. Seriously, the antagonists to her storyline are barely set up and explored, after two massive books, so the political maneuvering comes off as incredibly shallow. I'm sure it's all incredibly detailed and makes sense—perhaps a reread would breathe life into this section—but oh man is it boring.
Regardless, the side character POVs this time were all pretty exciting, albeit mostly being set-up.
I also have to reinstate that I love the way Jordan paints his world. Even though there are far too many side characters, their reactions and different ways of looking at problems grounds Randland in a way that gives every major event such weight. The detail is lovely; I can remember the specific rooms that people talk in as if I've been there.
So, Crossroads of Twilight is the weakest part of the series so far. It is alleviated for me mostly by the fact that I can just read on to the next one, as it seems to be mostly set-up. I am quite lenient with these bigger fantasy epics, and it's completely understandable for people to hate this book. I do think that this entry is the only book in the series where the 'slog' label resonates for me, and I have to assume that the Elayne chapters are the worst part of the series. But a bad Wheel of Time book is still a good book, and I'm incredibly excited for the next entry.
The major flaw of this book, is the structure. There's simply no suspense when we read about reactions towards a major event—that being something that's already happened in Winter's Heart—so we're left with characters frustratingly being wrong or disconcerted about what's going on. If the big event took place after, the contents of Crossroads of Twilight would probably be more exciting.
It's a symptom of the books all blending together now. There's not much plot structure for the individual books, except for the pacing of the POVs. This is fine if you're just reading through the series one after the other, but I imagine it's tiresome if these entries are separated. It's no wonder this book was criticised heavily upon release.
Now it's not all bad. There's not much plot progression in this book, barely at all in fact. But the character writing is fantastic, and it sets up Knife of Dreams excellently. Perrin's storyline in particular I absolutely loved (I don't really get the hate for the Faile plotline), and Egwene was actually exciting to read about, which is such a major change from a few books ago.
Rand and Nynaeve are unfortunately barely in it, but at least we get a hefty portion of Mat chapters, again with not much plot progression but great character beats.
Elayne's chapters though, are the worst part of the series so far. Seriously, the antagonists to her storyline are barely set up and explored, after two massive books, so the political maneuvering comes off as incredibly shallow. I'm sure it's all incredibly detailed and makes sense—perhaps a reread would breathe life into this section—but oh man is it boring.
Regardless, the side character POVs this time were all pretty exciting, albeit mostly being set-up.
I also have to reinstate that I love the way Jordan paints his world. Even though there are far too many side characters, their reactions and different ways of looking at problems grounds Randland in a way that gives every major event such weight. The detail is lovely; I can remember the specific rooms that people talk in as if I've been there.
So, Crossroads of Twilight is the weakest part of the series so far. It is alleviated for me mostly by the fact that I can just read on to the next one, as it seems to be mostly set-up. I am quite lenient with these bigger fantasy epics, and it's completely understandable for people to hate this book. I do think that this entry is the only book in the series where the 'slog' label resonates for me, and I have to assume that the Elayne chapters are the worst part of the series. But a bad Wheel of Time book is still a good book, and I'm incredibly excited for the next entry.