I think my crisis is adverted, should complete COT by week's end and look forward to starting KOD.

The real question, will I re-read the series, particularly when it's been completed and I know the end. I am certainly going to reread the first six books. Frankly, the series has gone severely downhill since the epic Battle of Dumai's Wells and the conclusion of Lord of Chaos.

The books since have been a chore to complete. Yes, there are a few interesting moments here and there but frankly Perrin has been woefully under represented and the whole focus on who loves who and the odd love quadrangle between Rand and Min/Elaine/Avhienda just nauseates me. We go six books with really minimal romance for the most part and suddenly everybody is getting it on all the time while the world burns around them. The real saving grace of the last few books for me has been Matt. I can kind of see how Egwene's inaction is setting up event to happen later, just wondering when the Seanchan - who are the only group that seems to be actually doing something other than talking these days, are going to show up and ruin everyone's day.

I just finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. My expectations were a tad bit too high but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I have friends who claim Rothfuss is the next Terry Brooks. I don't know that I would go that far just yet.

Am currently trying to force read my way through the later middle chapters of Crossroads of Twilight - I'm determined to have completed all 13 books before AMOL is released next year and I'm re-reading A Game of Thrones, prepping myself for the upcoming HBO series that has got me seriously STOKED!

I've got three years invested in reading the WOT series and this is the closest I've come to giving up. I can't help but notice that the pacing of the series slowed tremendously over the last few books but now, halfway through COT, I am so sick of reading page after page after page of women conspiring and manipulating and talking and sniffing and snorting and smoothing dresses when they're not planting "fists on hips" (I swear if I read that phrase one more time I'm going to throw, THROW this book out of my window) and doing pretty much absolutely nothing that I'm close to giving up on this book and this series.

I'm not sexist. I have always found the female characters fascinating and one of the reasons I enjoyed this series. But now, I find myself asking, is there a reason for investing 20 or more pages describing Elaine's effort to get houses on her side by chatting and talking and complaining about her tea? Is there really a purpose in describing the details of a day in the life of Egwene Aes Sedai? Faile is still captive! Rand was trying to cleanse the male half of the source! Matt was escaping the Seanchan...and we get pages and pages and pages and pages of tea drinking, bath taking, sniffing women...oh, you get the idea.

Tell me it gets better.

Tell me it's all worth it!