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I'm not surprised, really, but I am amused (sorry!) to see someone like DomA blowing a gasket. Poor guy.

I'm easily pleased (which allows me to enjoy something like Pevara/Androl even if I don't like the PoV/glory snatching), but I can see how the last few books could be a major let down - I mean, we have a zillion theories out there, and I'm not sure that some of our people weren't more "correct" than Sanderson. If that makes sense?

I do have to admit to being annoyed. Part of me is glad that it is finished, but (using Nynaeve as the example again) I kept waiting and waiting for interesting things to happen to my characters, and it just kept ... not happening.

Where is Light when I want to talk about this?

I'm still checking in.

Let's start with the Androl/Pevara plotline. I too, enjoyed some of the interesting aspects of their 2-way Bond, etc. However, this is stuff that, interesting as it may be, would best have been included in a previous book, as it was way too late and of very little value to throw into the finale. These characters were 2 benchwarmers, (at best), and their by-play stole valuable playtime from what should have been a high-light reel for our star players. IMO, Logain, (even though he was a minor character in many aspects), should have led the way in cleaning up the BT issues. He was there in the background from the 1st book, and was always meant to assume command after the Last Battle. Instead, Sanderson made him out to be a self-centered, bent-on-revenge slacker. While we saw him and Rand have a bit of a standoff in Tear, I don't believe we saw anything that would have led us to think he was carrying around that sort of emotional baggage, and just how mentally frail he was. Sanderson portrayed him as the Logain from Salidar, (wanting vengeance against the Red Sisters), not the more mature leader Logain we saw interacting with Toveine and the Asha'man in the BT(determined to fight the LB).

Then there is the whole Moiraine sidebar, which is about as much credit as we can give. Min mentioned several times that w/o her, Rand stood zero chance of winning. WTF did she have to be there for? Her reappearance was worthless. Anyone could have said her lines, and Rand certainly could have used someone stronger in the OP to link with. Not only that, we didn't even get to see her exchange pleasantries with practically anyone. (A short reunion with Siuan or Lan? ). I really would liked to have seen her and Nynaeve have a little chat. (Afterall, it was the main thrust behind Nynaeve leaving the Two Rivers in the first place). 900 pages and Sanderson can't sqeeze in a couple paragraphs to give Nynaeve and Moiraine a little airtime?

Personally, my biggest story issue was the 200 page chapter of Trolloc attacks. Don't get me wrong, I expected a huge battle, but do a little comparison of how RJ wrote his battle scenes and how Sanderson chose to do his. Reread Dumai Wells or the battle of Cairhien, and you will note that RJ sprinkled in fighting, with pov's of the characters in them. RJ put us in the shoes of our heroes, fighting the battle through their eyes, feeling the heat, the fatigue, the loathing of what they were doing. Sanderson's telling reads more like a blow-by-blow history book reenactment watched from above. (I am one of those people that read every word of a book, and sometimes I will even reread a page to make sure I understood it. That chapter made me want to skim, skim, skim.)

My second biggest issue was the ending. I understand that RJ penned most of it, but it fell short on many fronts in my estimation. Mostly, it felt rushed, (like Mat taking care of Fain/Mashadar/Ordeith in a few hurried sentences), an afterthought loose-end that needed to be tidied up. No forward-looking glimpses at all. It was just too abrupt, especially after 13-14 books plus 200 pages of battle scenes to be satisfying.

What I think most of us found lacking with Sanderson's writing though, were character issues. RJ created life-like characters that grew and interacted. We became attached to them, related to them. Sanderson portrayed them badly, (IMO), regressed them, or never made the connection with them. We came to expect dialogue, but were instead given sound-bites.

I could only shake my head when I read one of the posts that stated the complainers were disappointed because our theories didn't come true. (I knew most of mine were "out-there" theories that had long-ago been disproven). You know as well as I, most of us visiting the MB here and at wotmania had poked-and-prodded every prophecy, foretelling, et.al., so that practically every outcome had been discussed at one time or another. Truth-be-told, I think it's a shame that some of those meandering paths weren't the direction that the story took. RJ gave us glimmers of light straying down darkened corridors of what might transpire, but in the end, the story marched down the well-lit broader avenue of predictability.

Although I am happy to have a conclusion, I am left wondering "what might have been".