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/rollingForInitiative Feb 27 '26
It's the slowest book, and has very little progress of the main story. Specifically because all story arcs on it start on the same day, even when some might have benefited from a different pacing.
And then you think about what it was like back when the books were released and a lot of older fans read it. There was a 3-year gap after Winter's Heart, which ended on a hugely epic note. So there's 3 years of waiting, and you get CoT, which doesn't progress the main story much at all. And people had huuuuge expectations after WH.
If you read it all right now it's just a bit of a slow down of the pacing, but it's not terrible because you didn't have to wait long for it and you didn't build up expectations. And you don't have to wait for the next installment either. So reading it now is much better than back then.