on the writing style and structure:

- too many single, simplistic sentence structures. this book *felt* like it was cribbed from an outline that hadn't been fully developed yet. i didn't get that impression from tGS at all with the exception of "anyway" being used way too much for my enjoyment.

- i realize this book is over 850+ pages of new(ish) material, but ENOUGH WITH THE TYPOS & GRAMMAR/SPELLING MISTAKES!! was this book really that rushed that NOBODY had time to proofread it before it went to print?

- it seems obvious to me that sanderson is trying his hardest to write to a higher level than his usual audience but is struggling with the content, so i can forgive some of the more colloquial mannerisms he's given some of the characters. at least in this book, mat is not a slapstick buffoon trying to create some madcap hijinks in order to sneak into some village using a terribly convoluted plan


on character and development:

- the whole "perrin defies his destiny and tries to be a blacksmith" thing was supposed to have been somewhat resolved two books ago the way i read things. why bring it back up, and with such a strong, visceral reaction from him every time he turns around? i feel like there could have been at least three fewer chapters if perrin would have just had his epiphany at the beginning instead of in the middle of the book like he was supposed to, and the series was leading up to during the plodding middle books before RJ died.

- mat is more like himself in this book than tGS thank goodness. i think the whole "epic adventurer" motif was a little overdone on the tower of ghenjei plotline but it's at least good to see that the character of mat did not change much from the mat in KoD. now i can pretend the bumbling buffoon from tGS doesn't exist

- can someone give elayne a quickie c-section so that she can finally get herself killed on one of her little forays? i used to be indifferent towards elayne but now i'm downright pissed off that she would be written with an overarching motivation to protect crown and realm and then take it upon herself to assault the black ajah singlehandedly, without telling anyone what she's up to, knowing that she can barely channel if she doesn't concentrate hard enough.

- it's great that rand has finally gotten in touch with his human side, but it's like he's making up for lost time with the things he's trying to atone for with everyone. i dunno, maybe that was the whole point of his plotline, how he's trying to tie up his loose ends while he still has a little time left to him. it was still hard to read the same type of scene every time he showed up though


and, despite the shortcomings, i found it to at least be a good enough read that it was easily better than RJ's last three books put together. the last book (and last battle) has been set up pretty nicely, and i'm expecting all (or a good many) of the loose ends to be tied up by the end of the next installment. maybe by then they'll have found a proofreader