Is CoT going to be as bad as I'm told?

[casusev]

Hey all. This is my first post! I hope this is the right place to post this.

 

So I'm on my first read though of the WoT, and I just finished Winter's Heart last week (Omg! What an awesome ending!). My friends who convinced me to start this series consistently tell me that Crossroads of Twilight is a terrible book. I hear Rand is barely in it so I'm preparing for that.

 

What do you think? No spoilers please! :)

[David Selig]

Yes, it's terrible.

 

But it's not that different from WH, except that it lacks a good ending, at least IMO. So if liked most of WH, you may like CoT too.

[AnthonyJamesEnglish]

CoT is much slower then others in the series, it's kind of like the middle of a trilogy between WH and KoD? get past CoT and it's all good stuff from then on though :D

[Darth Krewl]

Hey all. This is my first post! I hope this is the right place to post this.

 

So I'm on my first read though of the WoT, and I just finished Winter's Heart last week (Omg! What an awesome ending!). My friends who convinced me to start this series consistently tell me that Crossroads of Twilight is a terrible book. I hear Rand is barely in it so I'm preparing for that.

 

What do you think? No spoilers please! :)

 

I started reading TWoT only a couple of years ago and just finished TGS right in time for the release of TOM. So, I was faced with the same problem as you. And, what I did was start CoT, didn't like it, so I read an online recap. Then, I just jumped right ahead to KoD. Don't feel like I missed out on anything important and, 2 books later, I've had no problems enjoying ToM.

 

So, that'd be my suggestion to you. Start the book and, if you don't like it, skim or find an online recap, so you can move on to the rest of the series. It's worth it, believe me.

[casusev]

Yes, it's terrible.

 

But it's not that different from WH, except that it lacks a good ending, at least IMO. So if liked most of WH, you may like CoT too.

 

I thought the beginning of WH was pretty slow. The Perrin/Faile chapters were alright, if not terribly exciting. I found Elayne's chapters to be really boring. Once Rand and Min show up (chapter 11 or so?), I enjoyed the rest of the book quite a bit.

[casusev]

CoT is much slower then others in the series, it's kind of like the middle of a trilogy between WH and KoD? get past CoT and it's all good stuff from then on though :D

 

Interesting. To me WH felt like the 'end' of a trilogy (ACoS, TPoD, WH). Though the books really have started to 'merge' together.

 

Yes I imagine the desire to read the newer books will force me to push through Crossroads if nothing else. I've heard nothing but good things about KoD, TGS, and ToM.

[casusev]

Hey all. This is my first post! I hope this is the right place to post this.

 

So I'm on my first read though of the WoT, and I just finished Winter's Heart last week (Omg! What an awesome ending!). My friends who convinced me to start this series consistently tell me that Crossroads of Twilight is a terrible book. I hear Rand is barely in it so I'm preparing for that.

 

What do you think? No spoilers please! :)

 

I started reading TWoT only a couple of years ago and just finished TGS right in time for the release of TOM. So, I was faced with the same problem as you. And, what I did was start CoT, didn't like it, so I read an online recap. Then, I just jumped right ahead to KoD. Don't feel like I missed out on anything important and, 2 books later, I've had no problems enjoying ToM.

 

So, that'd be my suggestion to you. Start the book and, if you don't like it, skim or find an online recap, so you can move on to the rest of the series. It's worth it, believe me.

 

My friend recommended the same thing actually. Idk, that almost feels like cheating! But I suppose if I can't finish it, that would be a good alternative.

 

 

I'm just hoping for at least some Mat chapters. I usually find Rand's chapters to be the most engaging, but Mat's the most enjoyable. Perrin has felt stale to me for quite a while. Seems his character arc ended in book 4 (i think?) when he saved Two Rivers.

[Taura-Tierno]

The first time I read CoT, I skimmed several parts of it, and didn't remember anything except the ending when I started reading KoD. Which didn't really matter. The few instances where I didn't recognize a name or an event, I just looked it up on one of the several WoT sites out there ^^

 

CoT does have it's interesting parts, but for the most, yeah, it's really boring.

[Darth Krewl]

 

My friend recommended the same thing actually. Idk, that almost feels like cheating! But I suppose if I can't finish it, that would be a good alternative.

 

 

I'm just hoping for at least some Mat chapters. I usually find Rand's chapters to be the most engaging, but Mat's the most enjoyable. Perrin has felt stale to me for quite a while. Seems his character arc ended in book 4 (i think?) when he saved Two Rivers.

 

Cheating? Well, if it were a trilogy, I'd feel the same way. But in a long series such as this, I don't think missing out on a few hundred pages would be all that bad. Then again, I must insist that you start the book and see how you like it. Because, aside from cheating, you never know what other people might like, right?

 

I'm also interested in Rand's arc, mostly. And I also like Mat's chapters (except when he's with Tuon hahaha). As for Perrin...well, don't wanna spoil anything for you, but his thread will get much better. You'll see ;)

[casusev]

The first time I read CoT, I skimmed several parts of it, and didn't remember anything except the ending when I started reading KoD. Which didn't really matter. The few instances where I didn't recognize a name or an event, I just looked it up on one of the several WoT sites out there ^^

 

CoT does have it's interesting parts, but for the most, yeah, it's really boring.

 

Oh man, I already have trouble recognizing names. For example I have enough trouble remembering all the 'third string' Aes Sedai, let alone which ones I should know are Black Ajah. (I should have started a character map when I started reading!)

 

 

 

 

My friend recommended the same thing actually. Idk, that almost feels like cheating! But I suppose if I can't finish it, that would be a good alternative.

 

 

I'm just hoping for at least some Mat chapters. I usually find Rand's chapters to be the most engaging, but Mat's the most enjoyable. Perrin has felt stale to me for quite a while. Seems his character arc ended in book 4 (i think?) when he saved Two Rivers.

 

Cheating? Well, if it were a trilogy, I'd feel the same way. But in a long series such as this, I don't think missing out on a few hundred pages would be all that bad. Then again, I must insist that you start the book and see how you like it. Because, aside from cheating, you never know what other people might like, right?

 

I'm also interested in Rand's arc, mostly. And I also like Mat's chapters (except when he's with Tuon hahaha). As for Perrin...well, don't wanna spoil anything for you, but his thread will get much better. You'll see ;)

 

Well it might not be cheating, but I am a completionist lol. I've read some pretty boring books in my day, so I feel pretty confident about being able to read CoT. If it goes to slow I'll look into the audio book or just read summaries.

 

Glad to hear that about Perrin.

[trashbird1240]

So I'm on my first read though of the WoT, and I just finished Winter's Heart last week (Omg! What an awesome ending!). My friends who convinced me to start this series consistently tell me that Crossroads of Twilight is a terrible book. I hear Rand is barely in it so I'm preparing for that.

 

No, it's not terrible. It is as well-written as any of the others. However, the timing of events and the way the plot is unfolded is definitely an artistic experiment. It's very different from the other books. I don't think I'll bother to read it again, but it's not terrible. You definitely shouldn't skip it.

 

I think that when people say "the later books really suck," they are talking about CoT. I think that because Winter's Heart (definitely a "later book") is awesome. Knife of Dreams certainly doesn't suck, although I didn't like it as much as Winter's Heart. However, these people are also wrong if they say CoT sucks. None of the books "suck." I learned a long time ago just to not listen to other readers, I just so often disagree with them.

[Evoke]

My initial problem with Crossroads of Twilight is that my expectations were different from what was given. On subsequent reads I've found it to be a lot better than that first read through. This has been my observation on several of the books.

[casusev]

So I'm on my first read though of the WoT, and I just finished Winter's Heart last week (Omg! What an awesome ending!). My friends who convinced me to start this series consistently tell me that Crossroads of Twilight is a terrible book. I hear Rand is barely in it so I'm preparing for that.

 

No, it's not terrible. It is as well-written as any of the others. However, the timing of events and the way the plot is unfolded is definitely an artistic experiment. It's very different from the other books. I don't think I'll bother to read it again, but it's not terrible. You definitely shouldn't skip it.

 

I think that when people say "the later books really suck," they are talking about CoT. I think that because Winter's Heart (definitely a "later book") is awesome. Knife of Dreams certainly doesn't suck, although I didn't like it as much as Winter's Heart. However, these people are also wrong if they say CoT sucks. None of the books "suck." I learned a long time ago just to not listen to other readers, I just so often disagree with them.

 

Well I sure hope I do like it! I sure don't want to hate it. Though it sounds like there is a good chance I might be bored to tears by it. I'm sure the prose will be strong as ever.

 

And yes, Winter's Heart is awesome. I haven't disliked a book yet.

 

 

My initial problem with Crossroads of Twilight is that my expectations were different from what was given. On subsequent reads I've found it to be a lot better than that first read through. This has been my observation on several of the books.

 

Thats interesting. I'm sure it will help that I can jump right into KoD after. Though I might read New Spring before KoD.

[cap10kirk]

Dude, read COT. You are apart of this big WOT fraternity. We read COT. You read COT. Besides, you might actually enjoy it. I did not find the book as bad as others. I enjoyed the parts with Mat and Toun.

[Sid]

Part of the CoT bashing comes from people that read the cleansing at the end of WH, waited 2 years for more badassery, and then CoT was largely comprised of non-action scenes. Then it ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. 2 years after that we got KoD and everything picked up again. When reading the series through without pause, it's more like a lull than the complete stop we as a community felt in the early 2000's. This is nobody's favorite WoT book, but it's worth reading and not just getting the Cliff's Notes.

[casusev]

Dude, read COT. You are apart of this big WOT fraternity. We read COT. You read COT. Besides, you might actually enjoy it. I did not find the book as bad as others. I enjoyed the parts with Mat and Toun.

 

I plan on starting it today actually. :)

 

I've always liked Mat's sections. He and Toun in WH were very enjoyable.

 

Part of the CoT bashing comes from people that read the cleansing at the end of WH, waited 2 years for more badassery, and then CoT was largely comprised of non-action scenes. Then it ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. 2 years after that we got KoD and everything picked up again. When reading the series through without pause, it's more like a lull than the complete stop we as a community felt in the early 2000's. This is nobody's favorite WoT book, but it's worth reading and not just getting the Cliff's Notes.

 

My guess is the waiting played a pretty large factor in many people's opinions. I personally don't think I could wait that long between books. I don't think I could stand the 4(?) year wait after Mat's cliffhanger in Crown of Sword.

 

My friends actually tried to get me into WoT once in 2007 or so. But when I saw that RJ had passed away I declined. My OCD couldn't handle an epic like this without an ending. When I learned BS was going to finish it, I started reading then.

 

Props to all of you that have been reading WoT since the beginning!

[TalonSpiritCat]

Part of the CoT bashing comes from people that read the cleansing at the end of WH, waited 2 years for more badassery, and then CoT was largely comprised of non-action scenes. Then it ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. 2 years after that we got KoD and everything picked up again. When reading the series through without pause, it's more like a lull than the complete stop we as a community felt in the early 2000's. This is nobody's favorite WoT book, but it's worth reading and not just getting the Cliff's Notes.

 

 

What he said.

 

 

To read the series as it came out, I found CoT to be hopelessly slow. I got to the end and was "But nothing happened! I read that many pages and nothing happened!" So yeah, there's no Epic Thing to close that book -- but it does advance the story towards a better payoff.

 

But in the annual rereads, going straight from book to book, the slowness/less action plot isn't as bad as I recall it being the first time.

[nophone]

Imagine reading WH with this great ending, then waiting years for CoT to come out, and when it does... it barely deals with rand or the source... and then you wait another couple years to finally see what happens, and then insstead a prequeal is released to the series... also not dealing with the major cliff hanger, then another couple years and you finally start getting a feel for what happened. that was probably the worst part.

[graendalzooescapee]

I had a really hard time getting through CoT when it first came out, and was kind of dreading it on my last re-read. But the thing is, it really isn't bad as long as you don't try to see it as an independent novel. WOT gave up the pretense of being anything but the world's most monstrously long single narrative ages ago. As long as you're reading CoT in the context of the whole series and going straight to the next book after the cliffhanger, it's enjoyable.

[Luckystrike]

CoT is as many says; very slow and nothing happens. I would say there is no action happening, but a lot of interesting things does happen in the book.

 

When I think about it, CoT is like a drama-series. More about characters and how they are developing, where the dialog is the some kind of action. WoT is pretty much an action series, and that's why I think most people didn't like CoT because WoT suddenly turned to be more drama, without any real action.

 

I liked CoT, pretty much because I love Mat and his plot. There is much developing in that area; the relations between the character, and a big one which you pretty much can guess (but if you don't, I won't spoil it). To me, the Ebou Dar-section in Mat's PoV is one of my favourite because of the blues-feeling to it, and it somehow goes on in this book.

 

The Perrin/Faile-section is for the first time a little more interesting, especially the Faile PoV.

 

As I said, this is the "drama-book" of all the other in the series, so if you don't have a problem with some slow character-drama, then you will like this book.

 

PS. Either way, KoD starts with a bang with, probably, my favourite scene in WoT. The bang is more effective if you have read CoT. ;)

[Shard]

Imagine reading WH with this great ending, then waiting years for CoT to come out, and when it does... it barely deals with rand or the source... and then you wait another couple years to finally see what happens, and then insstead a prequeal is released to the series... also not dealing with the major cliff hanger, then another couple years and you finally start getting a feel for what happened. that was probably the worst part.

 

It's like that song, "The waiting is the Hardest part!".

 

I felt that CoT was more a Character development peice then a Moving the Story along. It really frustrated the fans because this not what they had been waiting for.

[casusev]

WHAT! Tylin is dead?!?!

 

...

 

 

Well the book is good so far!

[mmurray821]

I found it to be a very good and engaging book while I thought the Winter's Heart was pretty slow. It definitely builds up some more plot points and I would recommend reading it. It really makes the rest of the books even more flavorful.

[didymos]

WHAT! Tylin is dead?!?!

 

...

 

 

Well the book is good so far!

 

LOL.

[casusev]

WHAT! Tylin is dead?!?!

 

...

 

 

Well the book is good so far!

 

LOL.

 

I'm happy to entertain. lol

 

I was shocked. And sad. Still sad. Mat and Tylin were so cute/funny together! Paused for now. Busy tonight so I probably wont read any more till tomorrow. I'm about to start the first Perrin chapter.

 

Oh other thoughts:

The prologue was freaking long... and random.

I get all my random Aes Sedai confused, having to stop and look them up frequently.

Gawyn! Its been what? 4 books? Wait isn't one of those Aes Sedai evil? (See previous point)

Loial's back!!!!

I've said what i needed to say about Mat's chapters. I hope there are more Mat chapters remaining in this book...

Uh I feel like I should understand Seanchan culture more than I do at this point...