Even in Jordan's hands and without the books being divided this way, there would have been a lot of Perrin to go through in AMOL. Now, it will just be more focussed... which means more Perrin all at once, but also that, at last, it won't seem as slow to develop, and it won't be scattered and drag anything down. Perrin suffered massively in recent books from the fact the other storylines had so much more to tell about, and as a result Perrin's simpler one got stretched and stretched, as Jordan needed him to still be near the Jehannah road at a specific time. Perrin's chapters really aren't so bad (and suprisingly, the whole storyline from the departure to Faile's rescue is quite short, much shorter than it appears), if you read them all in a row, and if you mentally remove the "repetitions" (the cast with him is huge, and with each book Jordan was forced to put one or two slow chapters of exposition to reintroduce them all, as well as all the issues still ongoing (a lot too)... which he did with everyone else too, but alas with Perrin there was afterward too few chapters left in the book to pay off for the drag of the reintroduction..)


Instead if convincing yourself this will be boring, you can tell yourself TGS resolved at a fast exciting pace pretty much all the subplots and themes concerning Egwene and Rand, clearing their table for TG itself or close - and a great deal of the development concerned their personality/character issues, which suggests a lot Perrin and Mat will be given a very similar treatment. You might find Perrin's stuff boring, but at least tell yourself this will be the book in which this stuff will mostly get resolved at last, Faile, Berelain, the wolves, the matter of his leadership etc. - probably not a ton of that will remain unresolved or won't have progressed massively before TG proper starts, and that will happen by the end of this book. The odds are high we'll get a far more formidable Perrin at the end of TOM, like we got far more formidable Rand and Egwene toward the end of TGS (just at the very end for Rand who was first in a downward spiral, while Egwene grew more gradually through the whole book, as Perrin might too in TOM).

Then there's the fact Perrin's storyline is "open" again. Whatever happens, it won't be Faile being a Shaido captive and Perrin obsessed with her rescue.

My personal feeling is that in this book the wolves will at last gather for the Last Hunt around Perrin, and that's something to look forward to, as afterward Perrin will have to have gotten over his qualms and accept who and what he is.

As for his issues over Faile, there was a chapter in TGS that was fairly promising, suggesting it was either over or about to reach its conclusion (as Brandon said, Perrin is pretty much ready for some major character development).

Perrin's storyline is actually fairly promising, IMO. First, the big drag on his story that was Masema is dealt with, and the second drag, the Shaido, is dealt with. Then, there's the fact Perrin's "best books" were IMO TSR and LOC, and quite a few of the same ingredient are reunited now. He is with Faile again (which is much better than apart, all things considered), and Faile is likely to be in kick-ass mode again; his involvement with the WK is returning, and the presence of Asunawa adds a new layer of impredictability to all of it; the blurb all but confirms Slayer will get involved again, and there's Cyndane or Moghedien too, and Tam is with him as well, which will be fun. Finally, even Verin might make a visit.

As bonuses, Berelain is most likely soon to fall in love, which should divert her from Perrin and Faile at last, and the annoying Maighin disguise thing is about over as well (though with Asunawa with Galad, we might get a new "Faile, the WC mustn't see me, or Lini" subplot that stretches things before a reunion).

And then there will be a lot of Mat in the book, and Mat and Elayne together have always been funnier than apart (IMO).

And then, there's the fact Brandon doesn't have only Mat and Perrin as he had Rand/Egwene, but in TOM he has also to bring up to speed all the minor story lines, and quite a few of those must interest you...

As for Moiraine, I dread her return as well. I never liked her much, and I don't like so much the idea of her return to begin with. However, I tend to trust that Jordan won't have planned the obvious for her role, and that she's done being the bully and puppet master. She can't be that at this point, it would interfere way, way too much with the progression of the main characters who've "outgrown" being lead on a leash while she was away. Nynaeve isn't far from taking the place that used to be Moiraine's, then Cadsuane's at Rand's side, and I can't see Jordan building that up only as a seat warmer for Moiraine's return. More obviously, imo, is the fact Nynaeve can't be of help to someone else since she must stay with Rand... Personally, I tend to think, at least to hope, that Moiraine won't stay with the ta'veren for very long, nor spend the LB with them, and what Jordan planned was to reunite her with Lan in the north as soon as possible (she owes him to join his battle now that it came to that, for his loyalty to her cause for all these years if nothing else), and that is why Jordan gave Lan a story line of his own that ran parallel to Moiraine's rescue... a story line without any AS helper at his side. Moiraine at Lan's side, no longer his Aes Sedai and never to be again, just a fellow warrior against the Shadow, could be very interesting, and would be a storyline pretty much free of young people she can pull the strings of, or bully. Moiraine joining up in time to help Lan, perhaps bringing a contigent of AS with her (with Asha'man too, why not?) would also "reverse" the themes of the fall of Malkier.

There's also the hope Moiraine's rescue will come fairly late in the book, and there won't be much of her at all, and if we're lucky, perhaps not tons of her in the next book either. She can't be too present anymore, or she runs the risk of overshadowing everyone. It will be momenteous to see her fight in the LB, after devoting her whole life to TG related matters, but it would be anticlimactic to have her do this beside Rand, or taking too much importance. The days they all relied on Moiraine while trying to get her out of the way are over. She may not be as annoying as she used to be. She may well be warmer, more open, and involved in something in which she is more competent than trying to guide teenagers... kicking ass at Lan's side, for instance (we also need, I think, an iconic warder-AS pair of some kind in the LB - a heroic pair that really stands out and create new legends (which Thom might be with Moiraine to witness, as it happens.. Thom's another whose future role after the rescue is up in the air, and Thom too can kick ass.. as Moiraine's new real warder, quite possibly), and there's not many candidates beside Lan and Moiraine for anything like this, even though I don't think they'll bond again or anything (they don't have to, to work as a pair, anyway - they're already associated in our minds). This can't be Birgitte and pregnant Elayne, and I really doubt this will be Egwene and Gawyn (who would have the whole Tower behind them anyway). Cadsuane has no warder, Verin is dead and with Logain and co., we're already a bit too far from the main cast - and Logain seems set for other things anyway.)

This book also seems set to have a lot more involvement from the Shadow then recent books (even TGS), which is also promising.

Personally, I love Perrin, and though I'm very very happy the Shaido and Masema plots are over, I'm probably more eager for this book than I was for TGS. I'm more worried about too much Galad/WK/Morgase in the mix, if anything. Moiraine I'll cope with, I'm pretty sure.

Mat... well... it will depend a lot how good Brandon is with him this time. I'm certainly a bit worried about a book with a lot of Mat, because TGS was a let down a bit with the writing of his character, his humour off and all. But well... the events themselves should still be fun, and I'm eager to see how Brandon "gets" Elayne (who is perhaps my favorite of the female players, Nynaeve aside).