Have you ever struggled to light a campfire? Perhaps the wood was a little green or the forest was wet from a recent rain? That’s what Crossroads of Twilight felt like to read. Widely acknowledged as the weakest book in the series, Robert Jordan spends seven hundred pages to cover a span of only a few days.

And nothing happens.

To make matters worse, the main character of the book only appears in a few meager pages. Outside that brief appearance, Rand recovers from the fantastic ending of Winter’s Heart while we get to see what’s happening in the lives of all the secondary characters.

Okay, I’ve complained enough. Despite the slow pace, I did enjoy listening to this book again. Perhaps it’s because when you listen to an audiobook you’re unable to skim ahead. (I don’t think I read it very thoroughly back in 2003.) I would agree with the consensus that this is the weakest entry in the series, but time spent with characters you’re invested in is still time worth spending.

Next stop: the New Spring prequel. After that, it’s on to the final book written by Jordan before his death, Knife of Dreams.

Jordan, Robert. Crossroads of Twilight. TOR, 2003. The Wheel of Time 10.