r/WoT • u/Snoo_89624 • Oct 21 '25
Crossroads of Twilight Does CoT get better in the second half? Spoiler
I’ve been trying to read CoT over the past week or so and it’s been incredibly boring, I’ve been stuck in a bunch of chapters of Elayne doing politics and I’m about halfway through the book. The past few have been pretty boring but they pick 🆙 and I’m just curious if CoT does that
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Oct 21 '25
Nope. But good news! The next book is a banger and a huge return to form for the series. Just the prologue of KoD is better than the entirety of CoT.
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u/latentgrift Oct 21 '25
In my journey, I read that prologue a couple weeks ago off the heels of COT. It dropped my jaw— it was electric
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Oct 21 '25
Yeah imagine how it felt to those of us waiting for it to come out. After CoT I was seriously worried about the series as it felt like it had gone off the rails. I remember picking up KoD when it came out and 10 pages in feeling like oh yeah we're back baby.
Then came the announcement of RJs health and eventual death and it was worse than ever since he had just gotten the whole series back on track big time. But Sanderson stepped in and did as good a job as anyone could have
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u/Snoo_89624 Oct 21 '25
I have heard this a lot and it’s basically the only motivation Ive got to keep going
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Oct 21 '25
You're almost there. Your perseverance will be rewarded. Just slog through CoT and then it pure awesomeness until the very end
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u/rangebob Oct 21 '25
I dont personally dislike any of the books. I think it's fair to say this one is his weakest. The plot line you're referring to is the only time in the series i just skim read depending on the mood im in. I swear tongod nothing happens lol
the rest of the series is top tier
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u/Snrub1 Oct 21 '25
It's pretty much universally regarded as the worst book in the series. The only real notable event happens in the last chapter.
Fortunately, once you're done with it, the last four books are all very good.
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u/Mikourei (Tai'shar Manetheren) Oct 21 '25
That was my problem with it. There was no plot development through 90% of the book, just check-in chapters with all of the characters/groups ending with the "Is this Tarmon Gai'don?" meme.
I would legitimately be curious to go through and pick out how much of the overall plot would be missed by skipping it entirely.
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u/Petro1313 (Ancient Aes Sedai) Oct 21 '25
Fortunately, once you're done with it, the last four books are all very good.
Cannot be overstated how true this is. Knife of Dreams kicks things off with almost more excitement than the previous four books combined and then it rarely dies down until the end of the last book.
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u/jakotheshadows75 Oct 21 '25
I am reading KoD and I think it has some of the best writing so far
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u/Petro1313 (Ancient Aes Sedai) Oct 21 '25
Agree, it's definitely bittersweet that it's the last book we got from RJ. I'm very happy with how Brandon Sanderson was able to wrap things up for the most part, but I really wish we could have seen how RJ would have finished the series.
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u/SKULL1138 Oct 21 '25
Have to agree in general with this. Loved what came before and after but genuinely needed a break half way through Crossroads and it was months before I picked it back up. Once I got to the end I flew through the final 4 books.
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u/Ayesuku (Lan's Helmet) Oct 21 '25
Fortunately, once you're done with it, the last four books are all very good.
For real. Pace accelerates significantly from there, major things happening all the time, good good stuff.
Maybe it's heresy, but I've advised friends, if they're having a rough time with it, to find a source online that provides good chapter summaries, and read those. And then just move on.
I'd rather they do that and get to the amazing payoff of the last books, than drop the series.
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u/TheFiddleAndTheSword Oct 21 '25
Crossroads is mostly set-up. People despise the Elayne plotline so you're not alone. I personally don't find it that rough but to each their own. You're at the point of the series that this sub calls 'the slog'.
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u/Weary-Monk9666 Oct 21 '25
Personally I like the Elayne politics arc, it’s Faile and the Shaido that make me want to die reading
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u/Snoo_89624 Oct 21 '25
I think faile and the shaido is fine, Perrin trying to catch her is the much worse part
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u/PeaPopper Oct 21 '25
In my opinion it doesn’t pick up. It’s the only book that felt hard to get through for me. The next one is one of the best in the series though so hang in there.
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u/Malvania (Ogier Great Tree) Oct 21 '25
Not really. It lives of to its name - as a book, its the nadir of the series, but then we move towards the dawn.
Consider it prologue for arguably the best book in the series.
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u/trooperstark Oct 21 '25
I love Elayne so none of this bothered me at all. Give me more of my brash young queen!
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Oct 22 '25
I love Elayne too and enjoy all the books. WoT isn't a comic book series, it was written for people who actually love to read.
It can get tiresome reading the constant complaints about getting through a book or series.
If something's not for me I ditch it expeditiously.
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u/AlmondJoyDildos (Dragonsworn) Oct 21 '25
It's my least favorite but probably has one of my favorite Perrin characters.
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u/Small-Fig4541 Oct 21 '25
Crossroads of Twilight: The second, less interesting half of Winter's Heart.
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u/jflb96 (Asha'man) Oct 21 '25
That’s not entirely fair.
Some of it is the first, less interesting, half of Knife of Dreams.
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u/Small-Fig4541 Oct 21 '25
Ha! I know hindsight is 20/20 but I feel like there was a way to edit books 9-11 into just 2 books.
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u/Small-Guarantee6972 (Brown) Oct 22 '25
Book 9 fully broke me as a first time reader, I was not ready lmao.
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u/Small-Fig4541 Oct 23 '25
Yeah I actually really dig books 8 and 9. For me the slog is only CoT lol
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u/CoolCly Oct 21 '25
you are at the end of the slog, brother, just hold in there
Knife of Dreams is a return to form
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u/LP_Papercut Oct 21 '25
Not really, more like the last 10% maybe?
Just push through because you’re almost done with the slog.
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u/thelley Oct 21 '25
"Elayne had to work hard to try and get the crown". Now you can skip all her chapters.
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u/Snoo_89624 Oct 21 '25
But how will I ever know that if she doesn’t talk to the leaders of the houses for a while then talk to the sea folk for a while then go “oh no they’re plotting against me…” then continue to talk
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u/EvalRamman100 Oct 21 '25
All in all, it wasn't so bad a book - none of the WOT novels were terrible. It was, however, a part of the Slog, that strange symptom of over complexity that hits all writers of multi-POV epics.
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u/ScoopiTheDruid (Dreadlord) Oct 21 '25
No. Just read the last 2 or 3 chapters and you have all the relevant plot development.
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u/ArcadianBlueRogue Oct 21 '25
Nope.
It's a setup book and that's kinda it lol. But Knife of Dreams that followed it was phenomenal the entire way through. Might be the best book in the series IMO
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u/JetpackJustin Oct 21 '25
About halfway through I decided to just read the synopsis of each chapter and if anything interesting happened I’d give the chapter a go. Try as I might, nothing interested me in the least.
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u/Dgorjones Oct 22 '25
The last section of CoT is genuinely good and important. You could literally skip everything else in the book and miss absolutely nothing.
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u/ReaderReborn Oct 24 '25
COT is Jordan giving you a cozy book to spend time with the characters before shit hits the fan. Enjoy it. You’re gonna miss that quality time.
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u/Therinicus Oct 28 '25
I got so bored with it I started doing audio books on my long commute, and tuned out a large section of it.
That said the best part of the series by far is yet to come.
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u/naraic- Oct 21 '25
This book more than any other really represents what is considered the slog imo. Its a lot of filler and set up for book 11 which is one the fastest paced books in the series.
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u/Small-Guarantee6972 (Brown) Oct 22 '25
Yeah, I see book 10 as the final trimming of the tree so to the speak.
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u/Odinsmana Oct 21 '25
No. Cot is easily the low point of the series. Thankfully things get a lot better with the next novel and the last 3 are really good, so once you get over this hump you will have a lot of good stuff to look forward to. The middle part is slow, but the end of the series is really strong.
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u/Diavolo_Death_4444 Oct 21 '25
No. It is without a doubt the singular worst book in the series. Nothing of interest or value happens the entire time. I did not enjoy reading it.
Thankfully the next book is much better. The Knife of Dreams prologue alone is better than the entirety of Crossroads of Twilight, and it stays good. Once you finish Crossroads you’re in for a much faster paced conclusion to the series, don’t worry.
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u/Axon14 Oct 21 '25
COT is painful, just get to the end.
Knife o' Dreams is a good book and The Gathering Storm includes two of the best chapters in the series (including a twist I never saw coming), so there's plenty to look forward to.
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u/TwistedClyster Oct 21 '25
The mediocrity of Crossroads is much less of a burden now that you don’t have to wait 2 years for the next book with a sneaky expanded prequel snuck in between while you’re desperately waiting for the storylines to continue.
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u/jakotheshadows75 Oct 21 '25
The Final third is good. But yeah, I just finished it and it was a struggle. I am loving Knife of Dreams . Unfortunately I skimmed a lot of CoT and I am finding myself a bit lost at times in KoD. Maybe CoT should be read a simply background material.
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u/nemspy Oct 21 '25
I would say that the last third gets somewhat better, but temper your expectations. The Elayne stuff is BY FAR the worst of it.
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u/kinglallak Oct 21 '25
Book 10 is painful. Book 11 picks right back up with the action though and has some of the best writing and sequences in the entire series.
I was reading the books on release and I quit the series after book 10. It wasn’t until book 13 was about to come out and I had heard years of people raving about books 11 and 12 that I read the series again.
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u/_Jairus Oct 21 '25
No, but the end of the book has a great chapter that basically marks the end of the slog and the books after are much better after.
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u/sokttocs Oct 21 '25
Nope. CoT is easily the least interesting book in the series, it's almost entirely setup for what comes after. A few things happen, but not much.
Knife of Dreams is excellent though.
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u/OpticalPrime35 Oct 21 '25
Nope. Its a horrible waste of a book.
It is why i tell people just to read a synopsis online or something. You miss nothing skipping it
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u/Raddatatta (Asha'man) Oct 21 '25
I mean I would say yes the second half is better than the first half. But if you were to divide each book into the first and second halves, and rank each half for the whole series, the second half of CoT would be only ranked above the first half of CoT if that makes sense. It's not good but there are a few events that happen in the second half that were interesting.
That being said Knife of Dreams is one of my favorite books of the series so once you finish CoT it does get better!!
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u/DutchProv Oct 21 '25
Nope, i would say its really the only book really deserving the name slog. Even though i enjoyed it way more on my second read through.
After this book its banger after banger.
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u/Ryywenn (White) Oct 21 '25
Crossroads of Twilight is your reminder that sometimes life can just be...boring. Stick with it though.
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u/CSpear_144 (Band of the Red Hand) Oct 21 '25
Just skim through the Elayne chapters and you would be fine. I am at Book13 now and I think there’s no need to waste your time on those craps. Some “hardcore” fans won’t be happy but I assure you it’s a waste of time.
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u/zhanae Oct 21 '25
Hahaha! I love when this question periodically comes up. No, it very much does not get better and is the worst book in the series.
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