Crossroads of Twilight: Wheel of Time, Book 10

I was a bit taken aback by some of the reviews of this, book number ten, of the series. Of course, the pacing is ‘glacial’ and of course there is far too much description and, yes, some story lines seem more urgent to, at least, some readers than those pursued by the author. But what did you expect? If you’ve ploughed your way through the previous nine volumes you’ll know what you’re letting yourself into when you step into the harness of book ten.For all his faults as a writer and the contradictions of his plot, there is something magnificent about Jordan’s history and if you’ve got this far you are going to need to know what happens next. So bite the bullet and keep reading!

Choosing how many stars to give this one was a bit tricky - but I checked the amazon guide, and it says four stars is 'I like it', which I did.AND it is genuinely pretty remarkable how little happens in this book. None of the plots which were underway in the previous book move on particularly dramatically. There is probably most progress with Egwene, with quite a lot of coverage for Perrin and Matt, but generally, looking back, it's pretty amazing how little happened in such a long book. And Rand is barely in the book.AND I actually really enjoyed it. Maybe not as much as some of the others - there were a couple of bits where I skim read, which is unusual for me - but it was Jordan's usual really readable style where I wanted to turn the pages, and it helped me switch off at the end of the day and move into another world.The truth is, if you're not the patient type, I think you could skip this one - genuinely that little happens in it. If you do, all you will miss is a few hints about future plot twists, but there have been so many in Wheel of Time that by Book 9 we've probably all forgotten more than exist in Book 10, so it's ok. But for me it isn't nearly as bad as people say, and if you're loving Wheel of Time read it and enjoy more Jordan!

a great book

Crossroads of Twilight isn't a terrible book, but so far in the series I would definitely rate it as the worst and most dull one. It actually doesn't start off too badly, the first 300 or so pages are decent, but as the other reviews say, there's little plot progression (although the author does make it clear some events of this book happen alongside the events of the previous book rather than after).What lets this book down is endless, pointless descriptions of what the characters are wearing, what the room looks like, and we even get somewhat detailed descriptions of the personalities of what are clearly minor characters. Egwene's chapters are incredibly dull and frankly boring.I get what Robert Jordan was doing, and he does a brilliant job of describing the location and characters in each chapter so you can picture it all in your head. Furthermore, his habit of 'reintroducing' near on every relatively important character is actually quite helpful as 10 books, 100s of characters and 1000s of pages into the series, it is easy to get some mixed up or forget who they are.But way too often it's just too much, and some basic descriptions would get the job done. I honestly would rather have some more action and intrigue than the endless descriptions.Even the very last chapter is incredibly boring. Unlike the previous books, this one ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, but nothing exciting or explosive. The most interesting plot development is when Perrin comes across a haunted(?) village. It could have been the saving grace of this book, but instead it's left open and vague and I can only hope it gets more attention in the next book.I feel like even 3/5 is generous but this series does have me engaged enough to finish off the last 4 books and learn where the story ends.

Xmas present for grandson

This book is not as bad as I first feared from all of the reviews, it's not great though! Definitely the least enjoyable in the series.There is very little progress on any of the main (or minor) treads of the story and I find myself wondering what was the actual point of this book, and if I'd skipped straight from Winter's Heart (book 9) to Knife of Dreams (book 11) would I really have missed anything significant? I don't actually think I would have.I would say that Robert Jordon is a very good writer and if this book had been written by a lesser man it probably would have struggled to the bang average 3 stars I rated it. One thing that does irk me a bit about Jordon's style is the chapter after chapter after chapter from the same character view point, especially when it is a not particularly exciting character (Egwene, Elaine, Nyneave, you know the ones!). I much prefer a new character view point with each new chapter, so I'm really hoping Brandon Sanderson changes this with The Gathering Storm (book 12) and the final 2 books in the series.Love the entire WoT series though. I've invested a lot of time in the series I'm getting excited now I'm just about onto the last 4 books and a conclusion to this monster epic is in sight, but I'll also be a bit sad when it's done. I doubt the next series I move onto will be as grand or epic! I mean, WoT make Lord the Rings look small!