Crossroads of Twilight - Review

Crossroads of Twilight (Book 10) was not as bad as I expected it to be since my expectations were already set pretty low after hearing that this was the worst book in the series, but it’s still pretty mediocre. It’s intended to be a setup for big events to take place in Knife of Dreams (Book 11) and I don’t mind a book full of foreshadowing and build-up as long as the next book delivers, but the 2 previous books were also slow-moving and had a lot of loose plot threads so all of that plays a factor into how I view and rank this book. This will be a non-spoiler review and it will cover 5 sections: Characters, Plot, Setting/World-Building, Pacing, and my final thoughts along with a rating.

Image: Perrin Aybara.


[Characters]:

While the books in “The Slog” (Books 7-10) have slowed down the story, they’ve done a great job with character development, and this book is the same as well. The main POV characters of this book (Elayne, Egwene, Perrin, & Mat) are heavily burdened with responsibility such as Elayne dealing with a siege on Caemlyn, Egwene dealing with the other side of a siege on Tar Valon, Perrin continuing his efforts to free Faile, and Mat trying to find safety for the people he’s rescued from the Seanchan. They have hard choices to make and they grow throughout the book such as Mat being more accepting of his fate instead of trying to run away from it, Perrin undergoing a dark but critical transformation as he’s getting more desperate to find Faile, and both Egwene and Elayne trying to solidify their power and status even more. By the end of this book, all the main characters are changed and they are a step closer to being ready to face the Last Battle against the Shadow.

Not only is the character development of the main characters great but also the characterizations of the secondary characters as well. One of my favorite excerpts describing Cadsuane is an example of the great characterization in this book: This was not the first time Samitsu had been pulled into one of the legendary Green’s designs. Cadsuane could be more devious than a Blue, schemes inside plots wrapped in stratagems and all hidden behind still others. Some were planned to fail in order to help others succeed, and only Cadsuane knew which were which, not at all a comforting thought.

Favorite Characters – Mat, Perrin, Loial, & Aviendha.

Image: The White Tower of Tar Valon.


[Plot]:

Mat is fleeing Ebou Dar with a kidnapped Tuon and the rescued Aes Sedai while also trying to hide from the Seanchan guards who are searching for Tuon. Elayne is trying to consolidate her power by meeting with her supporters while also gathering intel on the camps outside that are besieging Caemlyn. Egwene is trying to put an end to the siege of Tar Valon by attempting to negotiate with Elaida and the Aes Sedai in the White Tower. Perrin is continuing his efforts to rescue Faile by gaining intel on the Shaido camp. All 4 of these main storylines were dragged out and slow. Mat and Elayne’s storylines were a bit boring. Perrin’s storyline was decent, but I enjoyed the mysteries involving Masema secretly meeting with the Seanchan and a few of the Aes Sedai meeting with Masema. I also liked the frustration and desperation Perrin was feeling that lead to a fantastic character-building moment for him near the end of the book. Egwene’s storyline was the most interesting with the on-going tensions of the siege, the mysterious Aes Sedai killer in their camp, and the chaos during the Aes Sedai meeting where they discuss the huge resonance of the One Power near Shadar Logoth and how to move forward.

This book definitely had the worst ending in the series so far, as it was very anticlimactic. This isn’t a spoiler, but the ending spent a big amount of page time on meaningless things such as Perrin going to buy grain and Mat going silk shopping with Tuon. These events are necessary but they weren’t worthy of a final act and it could have happened at any point earlier on in the book. Usually an ending heightens the stakes and the sense of tension/suspense, but honestly these final chapters could have been plucked out from a random chapter in the beginning or middle of any book in this series and you wouldn’t even notice the weight/importance of it being the final chapter/concluding act of a book. It’s not terrible but it’s just so mediocre of a concluding act. It ends on a fantastic cliffhanger and there’s some great character moments for Perrin and Mat, but there just wasn’t much meat on these final chapters as a whole and it’s pretty uneventful.

Image: Elyas Machera.


[Setting/World-Building]:

The main settings of this book are Caemlyn, Tar Valon, and Malden (A city in northern Altara). The world-building is great as always. We learn interesting tidbits about the history of the White Tower, the Seanchan marriage ceremonies, and new terms for the Ajah leaders such as First Reasoner for the White Ajah, First Weaver for the Yellow Ajah, etc. One of my favorite bits of world-building is this passage describing Dragonmount: Dragonmount would have towered above everything else even in the Spine of the World; in the relatively flat country around Tar Valon, its white-capped crest seemed to reach the heavens, especially when a thin thread of smoke was streaming away from the jagged top as it was now. Trees gave out less than halfway up Dragonmount, and no one had ever succeeded in reaching the crest or even coming close, though it was said the slopes were littered with the bones of those who had tried. Sometimes the long evening shadow of the mountain stretched all the way to the city. People who lived in the region were accustomed to Dragonmount dominating the sky, much as they were accustomed to the White Tower looming above the city walls and visible for miles.

[Pacing]:

This beats out The Path of Daggers (Book 8) as the worst-paced book in the series so far. A part of that has to do with the condensed timeline as this book is showing what every other character was doing at the time when Rand and Nynaeve were using the Choedan Kal. I initially liked this structure and change in pace because the ending of Winter’s Heart (Book 9) was so monumental, that this book’s structure adds a lot of weight to that scene by showing the implications and different character reactions, but it also affects the pacing of this book negatively since the plot doesn’t move forward that much. Usually in other slower-paced books in this series, Rand’s storylines were always great and kept me interested but Rand was barely featured here, and this book really suffered for it. Pretty much all 4 of the main storylines in this book were slower than necessary and the ending being very anticlimactic didn’t help either.

[Final Thoughts & Rating]:

Crossroads of Twilight really encapsulates the calm before a storm. Every storyline has slowed down but the underlying tension is clearly visible and it’s setting up for something massive to come for the next book. It’s not as bad as I expected it to be but I can’t say it’s good either. I’m glad this is the end of “The Slog” because I don’t think I could have handled another really slow book with no answers and a ton of additional loose plot threads to keep track of. I’m really excited for Knife of Dreams (Book 11) and for the home-stretch of this series.

Rating: 5.5/10

My Book Rankings: https://jaytargaryen.blogspot.com/p/b...


*My Rating System*

5 Stars (9-10): Amazing
4 Stars (7-9): Really Good to Great
3 Stars (5-7): Average to Good
2 Stars (3-5): Bad to Mediocre
1 Star (1-3): Terrible 

 

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