Crossroads of Twilight - Worst Book - Find Any Good Parts?

[MasterofBlades]

Without doubt, this is by far the worst book in the series, my opinion. It also has been giving abysmal reviews by many reviewers, for various reasons. But can anybody find anything "good" in this book?

 

The Bad: Every Elayne chapter was atrocious and boring. Endless and pointless description which gave me migraines. Too much blabbing when it comes to internal thoughts and dialogue. Too much pointless description. Perrin's chapters went nowhere. Rand had virtually no screen time. The list goes on and on.

 

The Good:

 

I can actually find some good parts to this book, though they are few and far between.

 

1.) The best chapter, in my opinion, is Chapter 21: A Mark. The scene is when Alviarin witness Shadar Haran punish Mesaana. This is one of Shadar haran's best scenes, and one of the most suspenseful scenes in the entire series. Unlike all the other novels, I think this scene aboslutely confirms that Shadar Haran is the Dark One, made flesh. It's funny, because this scene actually stands out as the DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH of the entire novel... :o 8) :) Just about everything else about this book is horrible.

 

2.) In Rand's few pagesof screen time, I like Logain's presence. He is starting to become a noticably good character. His brief dialogue with Rand was good. Loial also puts in some decent, though brief page time.

 

3.) Actually, Perrin's final chapter was OK, despite not being significant plot movement. His conversation with Elyas Machera was fine. Also, the Darkhounds, even though we don't see them on screen, were still interesting. They are described in sme detail, at least.

 

4.) Chapter 17: Secrets. Ok, this chapter dragged, and was yawn inducing. But through all this repetitive rambling prose, we actually learn something which could important to the plot. Egwene learns how cuendillar can be manufactured. Tis chapter is folowed through in the last chpater, Chapter 30: What the Oath Rod Can Do. Egwene tries to turn the chain in the harbor to cuendillar. This should be important set-up for the rest of the series.

 

Comments?

[Kadere]

I enjoyed:

 

1) Perrin's relizations that everyone around him is insane.

 

2) Perrin cutting off the hand of the Shiado

 

3) Everyone's reaction to the Darkhound prints.

 

4) Mat's first conversation with Tuon where they make a deal for her not to escape.

 

5) Thom telling Mat about Tylin's death.

 

6) Karede's memories of Tuon.

 

7) Daved Hanlon's whole part. (I love that guy).

 

8) all the rumors of Rodel Ituralde

 

9) Anyia's death.

 

10) Sheriam's lateness to the Hall meeting (I really want to know who is torturing her).

 

11) The Salidar Aes Sedai finding out what happened at SL.

 

12) All of Chapter 21: A Mark is sweet!

 

13) Lan beating Jahar over and over and over again.

 

14) All of Chapter 24: A Strengthing Storm

 

15) All of Chapter 26: In So Harbor

 

16) Mat's "battle plan" to win Tuon's hand

 

17) Noal's passage of the Prophecy of the Dragon involving Mat and Tuon.

 

18) Mat having Renna killed and deciding that he will never let another woman die (TOTAL foreshadowing).

 

19) Tuon's order for Mat to not mourn a traitor.

 

20) Mat laughing that Tuon's wearing the cluster of roses.

 

21) Egwene's kidnapping (because it leads to some of the best chapters in KoD)

 

22) The short, but cool, epilogue

 

23) all of the rats, weevils, insects, and signs of decay.

 

24) the dead walking

 

25) Finally reading Gawyn's PoV again.

 

There's probably some more, but I think 25 is good enough. :D

[Aemon raHal]

Reading the series the first time... I was so frustrated with the slowness of books 8 and 9 (apart from the cleansing of course) that book 10 just killed me.

 

It was just soooooooooo dragged out. Yeah, some good stuff happened, but its like a golden nugget in a massive crate surrounded by layer upon layer styrofoam.

 

I'm on my first re-read now, and just got to the first Perrin chapter in book 8. I just can't go on... It didn't happen the first time (until I reached CoT), but now that I know whats ahead of me....

 

AGH!!!

[Guest Egwene]

I loved book 10 as much as any of the others. I very much felt that it was a real 5 minutes before twelve type book. The one were every participant gets moved just that last turn, twist into position for the fireworks to come.

 

It would have been easy for RJ to gloss over lots of stuff, go for the quick money and write it in half the time. He didn't. In my view that sets him apart from many other authors of long series who do not put in the same consistent effort but take shortcuts.

[krystalline]

I like Crossroads, but then I like Elayne. And Avi. And Birgitte. Perrin.

 

I dont mind reading about all the politics, its what makes it more of a "real" world.

 

Actually, Rand is starting to bore me, even though he's one of the main characters so I dont mind him not being in it as much. Too much of the "must be stone" stuff. I understand it, I'm just annoyed by it. :evil:

[Child Olaf]

I think this sums it up...

 

If Book 1 had been written the way Book 10 was, there wouldn't have been a Book 2.

[Aemon raHal]

And thats a fact!

[MasterofBlades]

Kadere:

 

Wow. What a list. Some of your 25 reasons, I now recall, now that you've mentioned them.

As RJ said about this book, it was very much more "quieter" novel. I still think it was 85% coal, and 15% diamond, but that 15% was pretty damn good.

[Guest Majsju]

I think it depends on how you read it. If you read it as a novel standing on it's own, it is weaker than most other WOT-books, except POD.

 

But I don't read that way, I try to read as if WOT is one ginormous novel, and when you do that, COT is far more relevant. And the way it's written is also easier to understand, it's a typical dramaturgic tool: go easy on the bigger actions before all hell breaks loose at the end.

 

As a story, WOT is the journey from the quiet Twop Rivers to the apocalyptic Tarmon Ghaidon. That journey would not have been possible to be completed without COT, because it places all main characters exactly where they must be before the pace can start to increase again.

[rochaid]

this book was amazingly slow...all it does is let you down with the abysmal end chapter..this book has lead me to hate egwain to a point where i had hope she died at the end!mat got cooler but thats abou it.and why does every1 hate PoD??i thought it was really good,only slightly worse than CoS

[MasterofBlades]

I actually liked A Crown of Swords. About the first 200 pages continue the climax at the end of Lord of Chaos, with the Shaido at Dumai's Wells. There were some really good Mat chapters, especially with the gholam, and Mat's discovering of Shiaine at the horse racing stadium (the female darkfriend he and Rand met on their way to Caemlyn). Also, the scene when Rand, Cadsuane and company deal with the Daven Hanlon and the White Lions...and when they fight those creatures (creating from bubbles of evil)in the mist. Nyneave's close call in Ebou Dar, when Moghedien blows her boat up. Rand's climactic scene when he conquers Illian, and his showdown with Sammael in Shadar Logoth. This is the book when rand's ashaman start becoming a real force, too.

[Kadere]

I have to agree with Majsju. This book works much better now that we have KoD to back it up. I really see CoT as the calm before the storm.

[Inara]

they are like parts one and two of one big book. though, i love egwene so the cliffhanger was torture.

[Guest Fire Lord]

The chapter where those Sitters propose to bond the Asha'man was one of the best to me, I was just re-reading it last night.

Aes Sedai, those fabled women, calm and collected, then squabbling like girls, insulting each others and nearly coming to blows in the Hall itself! I nearly laughed myself to death.

[Maverick]

i'l admit i was nervous to read book 10 as i was for all the books after six because i was told repeatedly you won't like them they get worse and the series never recovers from those 4 bad books.

 

however i listened to most of the guys on here read em and loved em.

 

can't wait for book 12 as i read books 1-11 in around 4 months which aint really bad goin really cannot wait for book 12

[Guest Egwene]

Don't forget, Maverick... it's even better second time round. So get going again

[Briantium]

CoT was definitely the low point of the series. Not that it was "bad"...just that I think it could have been distilled into three or four chapters and not lose any substance. If it didn't take two or three years between books, and maybe one year apart like the earlier ones, then it wouldn't be so bad. Though it's ironic that all of those early books, right up to LoC, had a complete resolution to all the major plot points in that book when they ended; can you imagine Rand being kidnapped and held by Elaida's Aes Sedai for the span of four books, the way Faile was held by the Shaido???

[Ehecatl]

My biggest complaint about CoT was just that, the whole Faile thing. I like Perrin and Faile as much as most anyone else in the series, but chapter after chapter of 'Oh I have to save her if the world burns for it' gets tiring after a bit. With KoD to back it up, where he finally DOES save here, it makes the whole thing a little easier to bear, but it's still a bit long at times.

[Briantium]

The thing I think that makes the later books so frustrating is RJ's propensity to leave off those later books with cliffhangers, something he never did until CoS (Matt being buried under the rubble while the Seanchan conquered Ebou Dar)...up to that point every major plot thread introduced in each book was resolved by the end of that book (recovering the Horn, Rand securing Callandor, Perrin fighting off the Trollocs in the Two Rivers, Rand defeating Rahvin, Rand's kidnapping). The only plot device (aside from the build up to Tarmon Gaidon) that stretched over multiple books in the early half of the series was Matt and the dagger. But even that wasn't something left off in a cliffhanger.

 

Whether it's Faile or Egwene getting captured, Egwene leading the Salidar Aes Sedai to besiege Tar Valon to close off PoD and the seige not even being visited until TWO books later only to see them entering NEGOTIATIONS...it's just been very difficult to deal with how things have been dragged out for the most part! And even though several threads were resolved in KoD, a lot of them were done so suddenly they were almost anti-climactic, without a sense of satisfaction (I mean, how cool would it have been to include Elayne's coronation in the epilogue...we at least deserved that much!).

[Farwatcher]

I hated the tenth book (except for Shaidar's chapter). I think it's all because of Rand having no screen time. Mat's jokes and Perrin's thinking are okay, but Rand is still the main character.

[Zardi]

I wish Rand had had more screen time too, but what he did have rocked :D

[Jarred Darque]

I have not read book 11 yet, almost done with 10. What I think 10 is, isthat build-uip before the storm breaks. Things are going slowly, but everyting is coming under pressure. I expect that in book 11, or if it didnt, in book 12, that everything is just gonna snap, the pace of the writing is going to get very very fast when the pressure builds up too much. I like it. We have had a few fast paced books before, and on this one, I can slow down a bit more and take it all in in a more relaxed way, even knowing that things are not going to alst, and having some idea of what is to come.

[SinisterDeath]

I have to agree with Majsju. This book works much better now that we have KoD to back it up. I really see CoT as the calm before the storm.

 

And thats what I've been saying for the last 2-3 years! :P

[flexxx]

The So Habor bit has been the only rejuvenating thing so far in my reading of CoT.