This book was definitely an improvement over A Crown of Swords, but that's not saying much. There were more consequential and important chapters here which was nice, but also lots of meaningless thumb twiddling again. There were some character moments and chapters I noticeably enjoyed, but again, this book was really difficult to get through at points. However, this has one of my favorite endings for a Wheel of Time book so far. Still going to continue this long and arduous journey through these next few books.