I hated the introduction regarding the Tower. It immediately struck me that the writing style was different. I was at a point where I actually wanted to stop reading because it seemed disjointed and totally out of touch with RJ's world, and his attitude to his characters. Suddenly it shifted to Rand, and it became much better - and I enjoyed the rest of the chapter.

I'm going to struggle with Rand. He's been weird for a few books, but now he's bordering on psychotic. I think we're going to be looking at a completely destroyed and hopeless hero by the end of the series. Brandon only addressed his mind, which is clearly in tatters - Lews Therin is worse than ever, and now Rand is merging with the psychosis. His eyes are abnormal, and his hand is gone. I'm also quite sure that he'll become sick when he starts to channel saidin. Most of all, he hasn't rid himself of everything I dislike about him. He's still ranting about 'steel' and 'iron', which proves that Cadsuane and Sorilea aren't really getting anywhere with him. He's also still stuck to his aversion to harming women. Seriously, how can there be no character development around this point? After Lanfear, he still cannot bring himself to harm a woman. In TPoD he said he'd make Semirhage weep if she was before him, and I finally thought he was over his problem - and here he is refusing to harm Semirhage. Worst of all, it's not because he has a moral aversion to torture. He'd torture Demandred or Moridin. It's just because she's a woman. It's a very frustrating thing.

Some other small points...

1. Sisters have clearly bonded the Ash'aman.

2. I think Semirhage is going to escape and kill people. There is something too convenient about her statement that she's going to kill everyone, and the fact that she's totally unharmed. She's also escaped before during the War of Power. Too many clues.

3. The scabbard is weird. I thought it might be an angreal or ter'angreal, which is why only Rand could see it's value, but I also like DomA's idea that it belonged to a previous False Dragon.

4. I think we're looking at the imminent demise of Graendal in this book.

5. Rand thought about Asmodean again. Hmm...

6. Rand sees Egwene as an Aes Sedai, and is very paranoid of her. Nynaeve is not happy with his opinion, but I think he's going to start accusing everyone at different stages - even Min. Paranoia might become a central, dangerous theme in the series.

7. Cadsuane and Nynaeve are still having their petty banter. I found it interesting that Cadsuane called Nynaeve 'child'. She's thus continuing to refuse to acknowledge Nynaeve as AS.

8. Rand is thinking about the Bore and the sealing. I think he's going to have to think about his tactic to reseal it, and we might get some scientific time - such as his plan to cleanse the taint. The simple solution is probably to include women this time. We'll see I guess.

Brandon did a good job. As I said I hated his introduction and will most likely hate his further descriptive paragraphs. I'm a fan of RJ and his style, and if it's not the same I'm going to struggle with it. Still, I think his character interaction was excellent and he's got his thumb right on their various personalities. That's more important, and I'm looking forward to the rest of it.