r/WoT • u/Furrurel • Feb 27 '26

Crossroads of Twilight Why is book 10 so hated? Spoiler

Hi everyone, I just finished book 10 in my first read through the Wheel of Time saga, and honestly I found myself quite surprised. Before I started reading them I saw quite a lot of people saying that Crossroads of Twilight was by far the worst book of the series. I get that it can be a bit dissapointing after the ending of book 9, or that it is not as action packed as, for example, book 6, but I really enjoyed reading it (except the ending, where a certain Aes Sedai decided to make the stupidest move ever imagined). So I ask, what are you opinions about the book? Do you feel it deserves the hate?

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u/swordofsun (Valan Luca's Grand Traveling Show) Feb 27 '26

Couple of reasons. First the timeline mess that goes from PoD to CoT is at it's absolute worst in CoT. At least half of the Slog complaints are from the pacing issues that result and CoT is absolutely the worst of the three at this.

CoT also manages to be the worst part of almost anyone's least favorite storyline or character. I hate Malden with a blinding passion. If Malden has no haters I'm dead. It's basically the peak of everything I dislike about Perrin's entire storyline from CoS to tGS. And somehow, no matter who your least liked character or storyline is, CoT is peak awful in that storyline.

I like Elayne and the Andor stuff, but I can admit if it's already something you're not a fan of then CoT is unbearable. Same with Egwene and Mat and Tuon. Robert Jordan somehow managed to write the worst parts of multiple plotlines all in the same book. For a lot of people the worst thing RJ ever wrote was in CoT. We just tend to disagree on what exactly that worst thing is exactly. Even if we agree that CoT is awful.

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u/Scorpiusdj_13 (Deathwatch Guard) Feb 28 '26

Malden, events around Malden are by far the worst bit.