Just finished reading TGS. Enjoyed it, quite a bit more than I was expecting actually. I think I prefer Sanderson's writing style to Jordan's, but I'd want to reread some of the later books to be sure. It was definitely one of the most consistently engaging books I've read since somewhere around LoC. So much stuff happened! Onto more particular thoughts...

- Rand's storyline was incredibly depressing. Sure, it was supposed to be miserable for that ending but darnit, it still was terribly not fun to read. The Rand-Tam reunion was super, but I do hope we get to see them properly reuniting when Rand next appears. As well as reconciliation with his other nearest and dearest. Especially Nynaeve. I thought the Rand-Nynaeve relationship was really well handled.

- And I really liked that the ending was all about internal conflict, rather than another fight with a Forsaken. That bit was great, although I still think it would have been better for Moiraine's return to be the spark that brings Rand back to laughter and tears.

- Oh, and no way is Graendal dead.

- Egwene's plot line was solid on the whole. The highlight of it being the dinner with Elaida and the Sitters. That bit was badass. It kinda unravelled a bit towards the end, and I think she started getting a bit ooc as the Tower united.

- Gawyn! It's about time we had lots and lots of Gawyn. More!

- Siuan and Gareth hooking up was also of the awesome, except the outcome of Min's viewing was somewhat awkwardly written.

- I cried at Verin's death. Stunning. She truly kicked ass.

- Mat... Written differently but not necessarily badly. The only misstep to me was the repeated anxiety about Tuon. The rest of it was fine, especially the banter with Talmanes. I'll happily ignore Talmanes's complete character shift when it produces so many giggles.

- Hinterstrap. Kind of a waste of pages. Yawn.

- I wanna see Perrin and those Whitecloaks. Especially a long needed resolvement to the Bornhald-Byar subplot.

- Best book in ages. No Elayne. Coninkydinky? I thinks not.

- Although I did wanna see something between Taim and Logain. Hurry up with that plot line, dammit!

- My main criticism with the book is the chronology. The difference in time between Rand's plot and Mat's plot just felt awkward. Yeah, it's not the first time WoT's jumped around the timeline (CoT comes to mind), but it's the first time it was quite so conspicuously obvious. Especially when they kept jumping back and forth between the two.

And that's it folks. Peace out. I'll see y'all in 2012!