The Wheel of Time: Crossroads of Twilight

The tenth book of The Wheel of Time didn't receive too praising reviews; Crossroads of Twilight goes through already occured events through different viewpoint characters. And it wasn't all that exciting. Or that's what I accidentally read beforehand on Wikipedia.

I guess I misunderstood that slightly since there certainly was no part where an event was retold by a different character who was there. However, the book does step a bit back in time to tell how people reacted to the cleansing of saidin. Of course, no one knows what was the actual purpose for the massive channeling, though Mat and Perrin could sense it was Rand doing something.

CoT goes smoothly through the various viewpoint character across the world, before returning to some of them. However, the Asha'man are skipped, and their reactions to the cleansing would have been the most interesting to see. Rand doesn't seem to have been affected much -- he still hears Lews Therin Telamon inside his head and embracing the True Source still makes he want to puke all over the place. Saidin feels free of the taint, though.

There's a very noticeable lack of anything big happening in the book. Though I guess that's not all that rare for TWoT. But in this particular one there's nothing but talk and little progress and no action whatsoever. The now standard hundred page prologue seemed more progressive than the rest of the book. However, that took only little from the joy I get reading the books of the series.

Mat finally escapes the Seanchan held Ebou Dar with his mixed bunch of companions. They don't really manage to get anywhere yet, though. The second ta'veren, Perrin, and his small army catch up with the Shaido clan who captured Faile, but the Aiel army has grown in size far beyond what Perrin would be able to defeat even with the aid of the Prophet of the Dragon and his followers. And so they just set their camp to wait for a solution to appear.

Elayne struggles for the support of the noble Houses in Caemlyn. Evidently getting crowned as the Queen of Andor isn't that simple. But that was already known in the previous installation and nothing new really happens here.

The rebelling Aes Sedai with Egwene as the Amyrlin Seat have finally reached the White Tower but are uncertain how to proceed. Even if the city sits in the middle of a large river, attacking it shouldn't be too difficult since they now have the knowledge of Travelling. And being able to gate your troops right in the midst of the enemy should give them quite an edge. Egwene, however, wants to avoid any bloodshed and while pondering how to take the Tower, she goes wandering on her own for whatever secret plan... and gets captured.

I can only clap for such a monumental failure. The male-in-female-form Forsaken hidden right under her nose might be to blame, though no Aes Sedai seems completely trustworthy. They always have their own agendas, and even if they're not Shadowfriends, they're not necessarily on the same side.

The book ends in Egwene's capture, leaving the reader anxiously waiting for the next part. Well, almost ends -- there is a short chapter following in which Rand is about to enter negotiations with the Seanchan. Perrin is also about ally with them to attack the Aiel.

Crossroads of Twilight is pretty much an interlude, and I expect more to happen in the next book, Knife of Dreams. Perrin will clash with the Shaido, at least that much is certain. I'd presume an attack of some sort will finally happen against the White Tower as well, maybe even by the Seanchan as Egwene Foretold in a dream. After that, well, I guess the Last Battle is getting nigh. A whole lot of uniting needs to be done before the Last Battle, though.