The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Rhannon Hills. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

You have to bring a lot of patience to the reading table for Book Ten of the Wheel of Time, because the Wheel continues to turn at a slow pace. Crossroads covers only a few days (the first half of them overlapping with the previous part) and none of the main plot threads advances very much. And while the other books always had a big climactic event for their ending (usually a battle), that at the same time brought a satisfying closure to the instalment and significantly advance the story as a whole, there is nothing like that in this one. Moreover, I was quite disappointed that the consequences of the main event in Book Nine (Rand cleansing the male half of the One Power from the Dark One's taint), which should have made a dramatic impact on the story, are not mentioned at all.

At this point, I am a little doubtful that with only two books remaining Jordan can pull everything together in time for the Last Battle without hurrying through the story in a way that would be even more unfortunate than the current dragging of feet.