Interesting. Sanderson does seem to fawn over Egwene in a way Jordan never did... at the risk of starting the Egwene Wars of the WoT board all over again. Let's hope Cannoli doesn't find this thread.

I don't think the comparison really holds. For starters, the problem is just not the same - Jordan's had more to do with having thrown in too many secondary characters and plots which he then couldn't tie up again fast enough, while Martin's had more to do with some of his core cast requiring years more to get to the point where he wanted them than others, forcing him to adopt and then discard the five year gap plan. One could argue that Martin started throwing in too many secondary characters too, but if you ask me that was more a consequence of his fundamental issue than a cause.

And then of course there's the point that a lot does happen in the main storylines in Dance with Dragons, unlike in CoT (though I don't want to be too negative about CoT, which upon rereading is actually not so terrible at all, for those who like Jordan). Just not necessarily the things the fans wanted to see - and not enough to satisfy the overblown expectations after the ten-year wait.