I think the book was brought down a bit by the continuity errors, and I'm sure the strange structure threw a lot of readers. My personal opinion is that the structure was fine, and that those who complained should try reading Catch 22 and then see if they think TGS/ToM is disjointed.

Oh, and Graendal was lacklustre, but I'm starting to wonder if that was intentional. Each time we see a FS have a potential (evil) moment of awesome, we are quickly reminded that they are human. Funnily enough, we get the same reminder pretty often with Lightsiders. It might kill the excitement for some, but to me it makes the series a bit more believable, if anything. There's a certain tragicomic element to the idea of Graendal surviving the near-certain death of Natrin's Barrow, only to be Mind-Trapped by Moridin. Out of the frying pan, into the fire, as they say.