Crossroads of Twilight - my take... (spoilers)

[Fenes 2]

All I can say is that I really like some Characters (Mat, Min), care about others (Rand, Perrin, Faile) and could not care less about about many (Just about all Aes Sedai, up to Egwene, no exceptions, may the Seachan capture them all).

I hate how story arcs are spread out so long, Mat's marital troubles for once, Perrin's troubles for another, not to mention the whole main story about Rand.

Good point about travelling and armies concerning Perrin - another thing I hate is how darn dumb 99% of all the characters are. Not a single grain of common sense among the lot of them, even among supposedly wise women that live for centuries. If the Dark one had just a mediocre capable strategist and/or politician the world would be doomed, so self-centered are those fools.

Hmm... I just had a thought: What about unleashing a typical high-level D&D party on the world of the WoT? You know, a couple level 20+ D&D HEROES whipping the powerhungry dolts currently in charge in line until they stop dooming themselves out of sheer stupidity and greed.

 

[Rackhir]

You know, I gave up reading the books ages ago, because of the same things you pointed out. What strikes me as funny is why people who complain keep reading them nontheless. This is not directed at you presonally; just a general remark

There is a certain perverse fascination to the series and how it has decayed over time. You keep wondering if the next book can possibly get any worse.

After "Winter's Heart" I swore never to waste any more money on the series and I was almost positive that it couldn't get any worse. One major plot point resolved (clensing Saidin) that took one or two chapters and two long forshadowed minor plot threads (Rand's Harem and Mat's future wife introduced) in 600 odd pages of a novel is simply not acceptible.

So when Crossroads of Twilight came out I just read it at the book store while sipping a drink over a couple of visits and like Garyh said, absolutely nothing of any significance happens in the entire book. Nor is there any sign that the series may be coming to an end any time in the forseable future ( I figure a minimum of 4-5 books more, probably taking AT LEAST another decade). So I'm simply curious as to how much more lethargic the pace can get. To make it worse I suspect that he'll simply have the next book be about Elayne, Aviendha and Min knitting Rand a sweater.

PS This is somewhat off topic, but if you sit through the credits for "Shanghai Noon" the Jackie Chan/Owen Wilson film, the Accounting Agency for the film is named "C'nedra Al'thor", combining the first name of a character from the Belgariad and Rand's last name. I have to wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that Hollywood's accounting practices verge on fantasies themselves?

 

[jdavis]

So I'm simply curious as to how much more lethargic the pace can get. To make it worse I suspect that he'll simply have the next book be about Elayne, Aviendha and Min knitting Rand a sweater.

Actually he is doing books about what happened before Eye of the World. For some reason he thought that he needed to do a full novel sized version of the short story in the Legends book. I don't know what exactly he has in mind but shouldn't you finish a series before you start doing pre-quels to it? So yes not only will the story not progress it will actually go backwards.

Originally posted by Eternalknight
You know, I gave up reading the books ages ago, because of the same things you pointed out. What strikes me as funny is why people who complain keep reading them nontheless. This is not directed at you presonally; just a general remark

I personally have so much time rapped up in the characters that it is hard to let go, this used to be the best series out there ever (for me) and I really wanted to see what happened next, it wasn't till this last book that I gave up hope, I defended the series up until Crossroads of Time, obviously I was wrong and everybody else was right, but I held out hope. The sad thing is, I'll probably keep reading these books till the end, of course I will never buy a full price Hard cover again, it's off to the public library for me. Hopefully he actually is keeping up with how bad a reception the latest book is getting, I doubt the next one will sell near as good as so many people got burnt buying this one. Just check out the reviews at Amazon.com on it.

 

[Storminator]

OMG. Those reviews on Amazon are amazingly funny! Alternate titles:

Crossroads of PMS
15 pounds and a Hardcover

The brutality of the reviews is simply stunning.

PS

 

[jdavis]

I posted a review myself (it's in the 400 somethings), I found reading all the (almost 1000) reviews was more interesting than actually reading the book. It has a 1 and a half star rating out of 5. I really hope Jordan notices just how much outright hatred and disappointment there is out there about this book. Maybe he will realize that everybody is sick of the padding out of the story.

 

[garyh]

On a related note to the frustration in this thread, check the Jordan newsgroup here:

http://groups.google.com/groups?&selm=9603ng$m7a$1@bertrand.ccs.carleton.ca&rnum=1

...for some side-splitting WoT humor. Trust me, you'll like it.

 

[Fenes 2]

On a related note to the frustration in this thread, check the Jordan newsgroup here:

http://groups.google.com/groups?&selm=9603ng$m7a$1@bertrand.ccs.carleton.ca&rnum=1

...for some side-splitting WoT humor. Trust me, you'll like it.

That is exactly how I wish the series would finish!

 

[jdavis]

Funny but it took too long. I'd just have somebody accidently sit on a seal and the dark one break free and destroy the world with a huge double fisted balefire attack, thus burning everybody's thread out of the wheel as if they never existed. The last page of the book should have a $300 check stapled to it and a apology letter for letting this story turn into a puffed up crapfest. Or he could just write better books.

 

[Storminator]

I posted a review myself (it's in the 400 somethings), I found reading all the (almost 1000) reviews was more interesting than actually reading the book. It has a 1 and a half star rating out of 5. I really hope Jordan notices just how much outright hatred and disappointment there is out there about this book. Maybe he will realize that everybody is sick of the padding out of the story.

Not only does it have one and a half stars, but the good reviews are awful. Paraphrasing here:

"You bought it and you read it so you know you love Robert Jordan!" Five stars.

"I'm giving this four stars because I just love Robert Jordan and this series." Four stars.

If those are the reviews that bring it up to 1.5 stars, it's gotta be truly bad.

PS

 

[jdavis]

I found several accidental 5 star reviews (believe me there were only a couple of dozen 5 stars to start with). When somebody says they hated it and it was the worst book they ever read but they gave it 5 stars you got to wonder. Many of the five star reviews were insulting, saying things like "If you didn't like this book then you just don't get Jordan's writting style" or "If you take it like a big chapter from a real long book it's not so bad, you all just don't get it". If 99% of his die hard fans don't get his book then who is to blame? If 99% of his die hard fans stop buying his books then who is to blame? Oh I got the book, I saw what he was trying to do, but it was so blatently obvious that he really didn't have anything to write and that he was just trying to put a book out by a deadline it was just silly. After 13 years and 10 books do the characters really need to be fleshed out any more? Do we need nearly 800 pages of set up for yet another book? Why is the font size so huge in this book? (I'd love to know how many pages long it would be if they used the same font size they used in Fires of Heaven). When the majority of your die hard true fan base think you have lost your fool mind and are putting out crap then you have a problem. When the Amazon reviews of your book are more interesting than the book itself, then you have a problem. When your wife is your editor and you have lost touch with what your fan's want, then you have a problem. Mr Jordan you have a big time problem, you poor goofy man.