After 7 years I attempted to re-read this book and, unfortunately (as you can probably guess from the thread title), it was just as bad as I remembered it. I thought my anger/resentment/bitterness would have lessened over time, and not having had to wait for nearly two and a half years (was it?) for the next book.

But it is true, very little if anything happens. I stopped re-reading it around page five hundred when I saw another title in the rebel AS camp. I am truly not sure what RJ was hoping to accomplish with this one day view point from several different POV's. (Now I accept that RJ was somewhat apologetic and wouldn't have written the book the way he did in hindsight. Now that doesn't make up for the fact that he did and it was awful.)

If you or I were to write a book about one day in our life it probably wouldn't be that interesting to anyone.

With Perrin, for example, in the preceeding books we have already established his love for Faile - and how he will do anything to get it back. And the COT segments were essentially a re-hash of thoughts and characterisation already established.

Rebel AS camp, ditto, and Elayne taking baths and plotting to establish herself as queen of Andor - ditto. Mat's fleeing Ebou Dar with Tuon and Valan Luca's circus we essentially a re-hash of Elayne and Nynaeve's time spent with him, and the relationship of Mat and Tuon had been established previously.

The one bit I did enjoy (yes there was a bit) was Rodel Ilturade, because as people said at the time COT was a set up for the remaining books - and to that end Ilturade's section has paid off in later books. However, that was little more than ten pages in the prologue.

So, in the case of COT, time is not a great healer.