Overall, I was happy with the story and most importantly, the ending. Showing the "hollowness" of the world without the existence of the DO was a nice touch.....a bit surprising, but plausible. So, some likes and dislikes:
Likes
-overall ending
-Rand's character and arc
-Demandred's story.....i.e., killing a bunch of people in sword fights, only to lose to the master/Lan
-Mat/Tuon interactions
-the scope of the battles and pacing of the book
Dislikes
-needed a longer epilogue, yes I know RJ had the last scene in his mind for decades, but such a long/epic story deserved some more wrapping up/future scenes than just Rand riding off into the night (perhaps we will get this with additional books, never know)
-Perrin, sorry, but his stuff with Slayer was pretty pointless (regarding how it impacted the LB)
-use of several characters (Moiraine and Lanfear in particular, they could have done more, but perhaps this is a criticism on the entire series)
-Moridin was pretty useless in the end
So, question to everyone.....we are now 2 months out since most have read the book. Have your initial reactions changed or evolved?