For one thing, I am not especially interested in Aes Sedai, the White Tower or the One Power - and the Test for the Shawl was, if possible, even dumber than the Test for Acceptance. For another, old stone-face isn't really what I'd consider a point-of-view character. I like him well enough, but I don't feel he benefited from having this much focus on him. The Aiel War was hardly mentioned, the interesting passages in the middle had already been told in The Great Hunt, and the ending was just lame.

Really, I don't recall anything I especially enjoyed in this book, which is something I can't say for any of the other books in the series.