I had an issue with the fractured timeline too. Not so much from Egwene (though I probably would have preferred a chunk of her and Rand's stuff at the end of ToM to align with the timeline chronologically; maybe scenes from TGS from new perspective sprinkled throughout the beginning?) but specifically with the way Tam appeared in both Rand and Perrin's arcs. It was odd reading him at both places simultaneously. Distracting and jarring even.