(the jumping around from one character to another. I figured that we would see the constant switching back-and-forth in the final book, when everyone is at the same point in time.) Of the people I've talked to, all said pretty much the same thing; that it stopped the book from flowing smoothly. OTOH, everyone seemed to like that it was fast-paced and moved the story forward. (Something seriously lacking in the past few editions, IMO.)

For myself, I liked the book. If I had to critique, I would say what I missed most was RJ's subtlety. The way he always left you wondering if you just read what you thought you had. Nothing ever felt like it was concrete, written-in-stone, straight-forward with RJ. The man was truly the master of twisting words like an Aes Sedai.