Not as strong as the first three- took me a lot longer to work my way through it, though Jordan continues to leave the LotR inspiration behind and has pretty much carved out his own identity. But, it wasn't perfect, at all. It's getting harder to keep track of all the characters and locations, and it felt like Mat kinda got the short shrift this time. And some of the plotting, for me, was difficult to follow. Like, after finishing, I'm still not sure what Rand's super secret plan was or why he had to keep it hidden from everyone.

Also, I wasn't wowed by three men and women in Tanchico subplot. It seemed pretty silly to me.

But, all in all, I liked it.