Actually, it's the Perrin storyline in this book I love the most, that and the perfectly mirroring structure of the storylines. It's one of the most controlled WOT books. In some way, it's the only one Jordan could perfectly control (though it's still more or less the case with LOC and TFOH too, after that the storylines split so much the storytelling took precedence and Jordan could no longer work on his novels' structure as much - he had to compromise on that aspect). It's also in this book the deepening of the world building, on which Jordan was working while completing the first three books, really occurs. The world opens up, all of a sudden, and Jordan finally let go of the post-Tolkien style of Fantasy, to do what he really wanted, a kind of historical novel set in a secondary world. The slower, more detailed, more interestedin the mundane style of storytelling suits him better, IMO. I don't think Jordan was doing so great with the more episodic, faster paced, less detailed, more traditional style of Fantasy of the first books (I would never have continued reading the series if that didn't stop after book 3).

The Rhuidean scenes are good, but I can't help but find curious that it's became a huge fan favourite mostly after Jordan himself said it was one of his. Few named it among their favourites before that. They liked the facts about the AOL and all, but the scenes themselves, not so much.

It's fun, but I don't find it as outstanding as others like you do. It was in fact extremely confusing the first time around.

What I like most about it is how it changed the perspective on the series's world all of a sudden. The AOL is from that point on concretely no longer a legend.

As for TFOH, I didn't like all that much the Tanchico storyline (it's not so much the girls as Liandrin's group I don't find of great interest as villains), and I just can't bear Valan Lucca. If I make abstraction of that, it would rank with the better ones.