Question about the book "Crossroads of Twilight"

[omer681]

I'm now on chapter 15 "Gathering Darkness" and it's just boring.... minor plot threads, nothing actually happens and it's not fun to read..

 

Only me? The book goes slowwwwwww

[lsm]

Only me?

nope i think it's generally accepted that CoT wasn't all that good. i liked it anyway though, i like all the books in the series, i even like faile, perrin and elayne!

[The Fisher King]

You know, I know there are a million things already posted here over there years about COT ... But, I want to give The Official Opinion of The Fisher King:

 

In the years since its initial release and my initial horrid first impression, my affection for this work has slowly - and grudgingly - increased. ... The truth is, imo, from a technical aspect, I felt like COT was the most well-written book since FOH. The font was reduced again (After the HUGE print size of WH and COS), which means we got a longer book that the previous three, and its the ONLY one of my paperbacks that did not almost immedialtely have the binding and the cover fall off ... Also, it is a bit cool because RJ dared to experiment with it a bit structurally, and while that was not completely succesful, it was kind of cool - especially in the beginning getting to see the rapidly shifting perspectives to what what occuring concurrently at the end of WH ... Most negative reviews of this book stem from issues with the content - the plot, mainly that it is BORING ... I still agree with this ... HOWEVER, there are still a few precious gems scattered throughout it that actually make up some of my very favorite moments from the entire series to date ... SPOILERS ...SPOILERS...They Include:

 

1 Mat shooting an unarmed woman in the back.

 

2 Perrin chopping that guys hand off.

 

3 The introduction of Rodel Itulrade

 

4 The early stages of The Mat/Tuon Courtship

 

5 A Bashere POV.

 

Too few a diamonds in the the overall rough that is COT? Definitely. But, COT is not the overall complete loss many claim it to be ... JMO.

 

Fish

[Jillain Sanche]

You can't just have action all the time. You have to have transition, and then there are mysteries and unexplained things that build suspence, and so on and so forth.

 

I for one don't agree that it is boring.

[Sid]

The problem with CoT is that when it came out there were still a few years before KoD came out, and people had read about the extremely exciting Cleansing a few years before.  On rereads (and I think Brandon has even mentioned this) if you're going through the series all the way without really stopping at the end of books, it's fairly seamless from WH through CoT through KoD.  The writing doesn't get worse, it's just that much of the action packed things happened just before and just after CoT.

 

 

The Elayne and Elenia POV's and the Andor political situation chapters though... wow.  There were a slew of chapters in a row that I almost felt like skipping even during the first read through, and that's the only time that has ever happened.

 

[Crael123]

I agree with Fisher. the Perrin part of the book was amazing... when he threw away the axe? wow. one of my favorite scenes in the series. but other than that... well other than the Elayne and Egwene chunks... it was good. but Elayne and Egwene made up soooo much of that book it was terrible. i just skip those parts now. and also NO RAND. WTF!! but the Perrin part was awesome. other than that it sucks. u arent the only one

[DaughterOfNight]

Also, it is a bit cool because RJ dared to experiment with it a bit structurally, and while that was not completely succesful, it was kind of cool - especially in the beginning getting to see the rapidly shifting perspectives to what what occuring concurrently at the end of WH.

 

Once upon a time I read a bit of criticism about the way RJ wrote CoT but sometimes I wonder if RJ was kind of practicing, in a way, for writing the final pages of the LB.  (I know, he's had the ending in mind for 25 years or so and I'm pretty sure we've been told that he already has it written out, but still...)  I haven't thought too deeply about what I've just said so my thoughts may get torn to shreds but basically, the LB is going to be a bunch of different story arcs coming together but in different places at different times with different groups of characters.  Time isn't going to advance too much throughout the LB but I would assume that keeping so many characters in line with each other while maintaining suspense is challenging. 

 

As usual, I am not articulating my thoughts as clearly as I'd like but I hope you at least have a vague understanding as to what I'm trying to suggest.

[Duskfire]

nah I find CoT to be pretty bad. Even on rereads. The Elayne sections just argh. The only thing that gets me through it is RJ's writing style and the fact that I actually care about the characters. But thats alright, one bad book out of 12 is pretty decent :P Most authors would be happy with that.

[Charlz Fel]

Like most of the other posters, I agree that this book suffers from severe pacing problems.  To put it bluntly, none of the plotlines advance much at all, except for Mat's.  However, I also agree that it has some really great moments.  Aside from Perrin and the axe, my favorite moment of this book is in the Elayne sequence: specifically, when Elayne explains to Aviendha why she is going around visiting places and picking up more or less worthless troops.  She is doing this, if you recall, so that people will talk about her, hopefully become enthusiastic toward her in e.g. claiming to have seen her, and be more likely to support her once she is on the throne.  Unlike other queens, she will not be able to spend the first years of her reign gathering the people's support.

 

The subtlety, foresight, and discipline she shows there... to me, it's a "wow" moment.

 

And then in the next chapter, we get to read Elenia thinking about how brainless Elayne is, and the effect is to demonstrate Elenia's own limitations.

[Durinax]

this is the book wherre I cant understand why people dislike elayne (although I understand if a person doesnt like seeing how things operate and forsight and such).

 

I loved elaynes throne campaign. it showed how grown up she was, and how smart she was thinking on multiple dimensions attacking her problems on different levels. She works for the minds, hearts of the people while exercisign military might. it is beautifully orchastrated

[gambril]

I never would have thought that WoT fans would hate Elayne so much until I came upon WoT forums and saw all the angst towards her.  Yes, she did treat Mat like crap when he rescued her in the Stone and was very snobbish towards him until the end of ACOS.  Unlike other rulers and especially unlike Nynaeve and Egwene, Elayne is perhaps one of the few Aes Sedai that can change her view of things and adapt.  Her chapters once she returns to Andor are as boring as Perrin's chapters are but Elayne is special because for a noble, she actually cares what other people think about her.  No other character in WoT shows this trait.  So kudos to Elayne in my opinion.  Cot is good in some ways, but in others as has been mentioned, is the slowest of all the books and resolves nothing; which is what makes is disapointing.  Not to mention the fact that everyone outside Mat and Perrin just assumes it's the Forsaken and are all left quivering in their boots.  It would have been nice for Cadsuane to Travel to the rebels and tell them what really happened instead of sending Narishima who somewhat tells them what happened (while all the while Merise admonishes Narishima and doesn't want him to tell them anything lol).  Cadsuane could have put the smackdown on them, yet alas nobody freaking communicates so oh well.  So many moments for valuable information to be passed yet nobody does ever up to this point is so dumb.

[The Fisher King]

Daughter of the Night: I totally am getting you.

 

Gambril: I do not hate Elayne by any means.

 

 

Fish

[Elend]

The problem with Crossroads of Twilight is that it feels more like part 2 of Winter's Heart. Taken together they're good but separated I don't like them so much.

 

It was still pretty readable and if I'm to be completely honest, my first read-through of CoT I didn't even notice the issues. But my first read-through was back when Knife of Dreams had just been released.

[Duskfire]

this is the book wherre I cant understand why people dislike elayne (although I understand if a person doesnt like seeing how things operate and forsight and such).

 

I loved elaynes throne campaign. it showed how grown up she was, and how smart she was thinking on multiple dimensions attacking her problems on different levels. She works for the minds, hearts of the people while exercisign military might. it is beautifully orchastrated

 

Yeha she handled that fine. Its probably me being petty, but I'll probably never forgive her for how she treated Mat. Thats the main problem really; out of the main characters she thinks the worst of him, yet she probably has the least reason to.

[Terrel88]

I agree that it is a fairly slow book. I enjoyed the bits when the other channelers feel the Power from the Choedan Kal and they're all freaked out....It must be the Forsaken oh noes! Rodel Ituralde is a great character imo; he kindly sets up a meeting with Rand with the old "he had planned for everything short of the Dragon Reborn appearing before him"  ;D

[Durinax]

this is the book wherre I cant understand why people dislike elayne (although I understand if a person doesnt like seeing how things operate and forsight and such).

 

I loved elaynes throne campaign. it showed how grown up she was, and how smart she was thinking on multiple dimensions attacking her problems on different levels. She works for the minds, hearts of the people while exercisign military might. it is beautifully orchastrated

 

Yeha she handled that fine. Its probably me being petty, but I'll probably never forgive her for how she treated Mat. Thats the main problem really; out of the main characters she thinks the worst of him, yet she probably has the least reason to.

well with elayne all she knows of mat is the bad stuff egwene and nyn where saying about him, about how he drinks and gambles too much does whatever he can to avoid work and is disrespectful. She got swept up in those opinions and sicne she never heard anythign good about mat she had a negative opinion of him. IMO she redeemed herself when mat offered his pendant or whatever and she said 'I cannot take it, not unless you have one for nyn and avi too' and she partially apologized and started treating him right. I think that he was far worse treated by both nyn and egwene and they should know better, especially after being saved and mats help with the letter