This book was a rush. As you can expect from a WoT boomk after a 4 year hiatus. I think Sanderson did an admirable job but I did find myself thinking how good it could have been had RJ written it. The first half read truer to me than the second half.
It's mostly characterisation issues. I first noticed it with Mat, which is understandable as humour is the most difficult thing to write. Mat turned from a guy who has a twisted funny way of looking at things to a silly wisecracker. Oh well, it's a good enough substitute considering how hard it is to be a ghost writer.
Siuan was also one character that felt off. She didn't feel like a previous Amyrlin. More like a dumb child and hardly used her boat and dockmaster's daughter thought processes. Too bad, because it made most of her scenes weak. It wouldn't matter too much except it spoiled some of Egwene's scenes too.
Egwene had very good characterisation. You can tell Brandomn put alot of effort here, though most of her better scenes were at the start of the book, like the Nature of Pain. The chapter in which she organises the novices was very good. I did find myself bewildered by her overly long acceptence speech. I would compare it with Elayne's acceptence speech from the previous book, which was better. Less is More.
Rand was also well done. In fact, my favourite part was the whole Semirhage on the loose fiasco. For a moment there I actually thought he was going to kill Min.
So, to sum up, I give it a goot 8.5/10. Some stuff was off but Egwene and Rand were well done, which was most important. I just wish all the side characters didn't all sound the same. No real difference between Merise and Siuan for example.