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Authors: Robert Jordan
Crossroads of Twilight
Praise for T
HE
W
HEEL OF
T
IME
®
“The battle scenes have the breathless urgency of firsthand experience, and the . . . evil laced into the forces of good, the dangers latent in any promised salvation, the sense of the unavoidable onslaught of unpredictable events bear the marks of American national experience during the last three decades.”
—
The New York Times
on The Wheel of Time
“Has all the breadth and depth that have made this fantasy author one of the acknowledged greats of this genre.”
—
Publishers Weekly
on
Crossroads of Twilight
“His writing is distinguished . . . by the richness of its fabric, with all the charm and naïveté of the Brothers Grimm and the social/moral commentary of Huxley’s
Brave New World.
With his well-fleshed-out characters, dark imagery, comic relief, vivid landscapes, and a fascinating sense of timelessness, Jordan has created a complex literature with a language and reality all its own.”
—
BookPage
“Throughout Jordan’s preeminent high-fantasy saga . . . the characters (minor as well as major), the world, and the source of powers have remained remarkably rich and consistent—no mean feat. . . . Amid all the Sturm und Drang, however, is a finely tuned comic strain that both leavens the story and adds to its development. A major fantasy epic.”
—
Booklist
“Truth is not only stranger, it’s richer than fiction, but Jordan’s fictional universe approaches the variety and complexity of the real. . . . Plot lines [are] strummed with resonating long-wave rhythms something like Beethoven’s
Eroica.
”
—Robert Knox, MPG Newspapers
“Adventure and mystery and dark things that move in the night—a combination of Robin Hood and Stephen King that is hard to resist. Furthermore, Jordan makes the reader put down the book regretting the wait for the next title in the series.”
—
Milwaukee Sentinel
“The Wheel of Time [is] rapidly becoming the definitive American fantasy saga. It is a fantasy tale seldom equaled and still less often surpassed in English.”
—
Chicago Sun-Times
“In the decades since J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was published, many fantasy writers have tried to capture the spirit of that seminal work. While many have been able to imitate the style, develop a similarly swift and complex plot, and create convincing characters, none had captured the spirit of small men and mighty, struggling against a force of overwhelming evil. Robert Jordan has.”
—
Ottawa Citizen
“Jordan has a powerful vision of good and evil—but what strikes me as most pleasurable . . . is all the fascinating people moving through a rich and interesting world.”
—Orson Scott Card
“Jordan can always be counted on to ground his dizzying intrigues in solid chunks of cultural detail, and he here rises to the occasion, with chapters as dense as Spenserian stanzas with symbols and rituals. . . . He manipulates the disorder of his narrative to credibly convey a sense of an embattled world on the verge of self-destruction, and he entertainingly juxtaposes the courtly civility of his villains with the precarious chaos they cause.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Jordan continues to utilize his towering imagination to construct plots of incredible ingenuity and develop themes hidden, sometimes quite deeply, in earlier installments. As ever, Jordan writes intelligently and lyrically—one of the most literary exponents of the genre.”
—
SFX
magazine
“Beware, there is magic in these books. They are liable to make you neglect your work and keep you up way past your bedtime. . . . This is the genuine article.”
—John Lee,
The Suffolk County News
“Jordan’s bestselling high-fantasy series carries on . . . colossal, dauntingly complex storytelling . . . the narrative employs elements of realism rare in high fantasy.”
—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“Jordan’s characters [are] fleshed out with the strengths and weaknesses of real men and women. . . . Invokes the end-of-the-world milieu of Stephen King’s
The Stand.
”
—
The Post and Courier
(Charleston, S.C.)
“Jordan writes with the stark vision of light and darkness, and sometimes childlike sense of wonder, that permeates J. R. R. Tolkien’s works. His style is undebatably his own.”
—
Pittsburgh Press
“[The Wheel of Time] will be the definitive American exploration of Tolkien’s territory for many years to come. Jordan can spin as rich a world and as event-filled a tale as the master, and the presence of women and a certain sense of the comic possibilities of a high destiny add further dimension to the work.”
—
Booklist
“Jordan’s multivolume epic continues to live up to its high ambitions. Complex plotting, an array of strong characters, lavish detail, and a panoramic scope make this series a feast for fantasy aficionados. . . . Richly detailed and vividly imagined.”
—
Library Journal
“Jordan’s writing is clear and his vision is fascinating, as are the philosophies which run his characters. And speaking of characters, a more interesting bunch I would be hard put to name.”
—
Science Fiction Review
“The most ambitious American fantasy saga, The Wheel of Time, [may] also be the finest . . . surpasses all but a few of its peers.”
—
Booklist
“The complex philosophy behind The Wheel of Time series is expounded so simply the reader often gives a start of surprise at returning to the real world. Rand’s adventures are not finished and neither is this thinking person’s fantasy series.”
—
Brunswick Sentinel
(Australia)
“Intricate allegorical fantasy [that] recalls the works of Tolkien because of its intensity and warmth.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Robert Jordan can write one hell of a story. . . . [He] keeps the suspense acute and the surprises and invention beautifully paced. Compelling. An exhilarating experience.”
—
Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine
“[The Wheel of Time is] a work of genuine and often stirring imagination.”
—
Kirkus Reviews
“For those who like to keep themselves in a fantasy world, it’s hard to beat the complex, detailed world created here.”
—
Locus
“Jordan’s talent for sustaining the difficult combination of suspense and resolution, so necessary in a multivolume series . . . is nothing short of remarkable.”
—
Library Journal
“Jordan has not merely put old wine into new bottles: He has clothed old bones with new flesh.”
—
Chicago Sun-Times
C
ROSSROADS
OF
T
WILIGHT
T
HE
W
HEEL OF
T
IME
®
by Robert Jordan
The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords
The Path of Daggers
Winter’s Heart
Crossroads of Twilight
Knife of Dreams
by Robert Jordan
and Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
ROSSROADS
OF
T
WILIGHT
ROBERT JORDAN
A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK
NEW YORK
The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied so that you can enjoy reading it on your personal devices. This e-book is for your personal use only. You may not print or post this e-book, or make this e-book publicly available in any way. You may not copy, reproduce or upload this e-book, other than to read it on one of your personal devices.
us.macmillanusa.com/piracy
.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
CROSSROADS OF TWILIGHT
Copyright © 2003 by The Bandersnatch Group, Inc.
The phrases “The Wheel of Time
®
” and “The Dragon Reborn™,” and the snake-wheel symbol, are trademarks of Robert Jordan.
All rights reserved.
Frontispiece by Greg Ruth
Maps by Ellisa Mitchell
Interior illustrations by Matthew C. Nielsen and Ellisa Mitchell
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN 978-1-4299-6074-8
First Edition: January 2003
First E-book Edition: July 2010
Manufactured in the United States of America
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Harriet
Then, now, and always
PROLOGUE: Glimmers of the Pattern
16 The Subject of Negotiations
And it shall come to pass, in the days when the Dark Hunt rides, when the right hand falters and the left hand strays, that mankind shall come to the Crossroads of Twilight and all that is, all that was, and all that will be shall balance on the point of a sword, while the winds of the Shadow grow.
—From
The Prophecies of the Dragon,
translation believed done by Jain
Charin, known as Jain Farstrider,
shortly before his disappearance