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Mar. 3rd, 2003 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pearwaldorfSo I finished reading The Crossroads of Twilight.
Wondered, again, why I still read the series, when it hasn't been interesting in the last five thousand pages (or, when Moiraine decided to take a dive into a ter-angreal a la Gandalf [where the fuck IS she, anyways? I miss her, even if she was a scheming bitch.] and Rand was still a sweet little farmboy).
First. Good stuff. Jordan's female characterization seems to have improved. I didn't feel the need to take my book and bash in any female's head once. He finally seems to be able to grasp that there ARE ways to differentiate between females besides making them yank their braids or go "I'm the Daughter-Heir of Andor! *flounce*". Faile was actually tolerable, now that she has things on her mind other than screwing Perrin and turning him into the perfect husband/ruling lord. I am quite pleased that Jordan managed to salvage Berelain Paendrag from becoming a scheming Jezebel (Jordan seems to have a huge Jezebel complex, actually. Unless they're Aes Sedai, in which case they retreat to the other extreme) into an actual character with depth, intelligence, and dignity. And at times, you can actually see how elegant Jordan's writing can be. Too bad you can't see it more often.
The bad stuff. Namely, the writing, stupid noodley subplots, and the lack of any real action. Who the fuck were all these people? I mean, really. I think there are Chinese epics with fewer characters and less words than this series. And Jordan needs to rein in his fucking sub-plots. Rand (who is ostensibly the focus of all this hullyboo) was in like two chapters, and all he did was flail around a bit and let Lews Therin cackle in his head. I feel sorry for the people who actually paid money for this piece of crap. I know Jordan can do better. I've read better from him. Tor needs to give him a good ass-kicking and tell him to actually earn his advance.
[edit:] Apparently Mr. Jordan is married to a senior executive at Tor. That explains SO much.
Hey, for once RJ plagarized Terry Goodkind instead of the other way around.
*snicker*
Wondered, again, why I still read the series, when it hasn't been interesting in the last five thousand pages (or, when Moiraine decided to take a dive into a ter-angreal a la Gandalf [where the fuck IS she, anyways? I miss her, even if she was a scheming bitch.] and Rand was still a sweet little farmboy).
First. Good stuff. Jordan's female characterization seems to have improved. I didn't feel the need to take my book and bash in any female's head once. He finally seems to be able to grasp that there ARE ways to differentiate between females besides making them yank their braids or go "I'm the Daughter-Heir of Andor! *flounce*". Faile was actually tolerable, now that she has things on her mind other than screwing Perrin and turning him into the perfect husband/ruling lord. I am quite pleased that Jordan managed to salvage Berelain Paendrag from becoming a scheming Jezebel (Jordan seems to have a huge Jezebel complex, actually. Unless they're Aes Sedai, in which case they retreat to the other extreme) into an actual character with depth, intelligence, and dignity. And at times, you can actually see how elegant Jordan's writing can be. Too bad you can't see it more often.
The bad stuff. Namely, the writing, stupid noodley subplots, and the lack of any real action. Who the fuck were all these people? I mean, really. I think there are Chinese epics with fewer characters and less words than this series. And Jordan needs to rein in his fucking sub-plots. Rand (who is ostensibly the focus of all this hullyboo) was in like two chapters, and all he did was flail around a bit and let Lews Therin cackle in his head. I feel sorry for the people who actually paid money for this piece of crap. I know Jordan can do better. I've read better from him. Tor needs to give him a good ass-kicking and tell him to actually earn his advance.
[edit:] Apparently Mr. Jordan is married to a senior executive at Tor. That explains SO much.
Hey, for once RJ plagarized Terry Goodkind instead of the other way around.
*snicker*
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no subject
Date: 2003-03-03 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-04 12:30 am (UTC)To be perfectly honest, I was only sort of coherent about who all those random minor characters were, and that probably didn't help improve my opinion of the book. I know there's a chapter summary page out there, but I can't remember the URL off the top of my head.
*rummages* http://wotmania.com/chaptersummaries.asp
http://hem.passagen.se/wotcomp/index.htm
Damn. I wish I'd had these before I started reading.