I felt like I was beating my head against a wall. I love the series and think Robert Jordan is brilliant, but this book didn't go anywhere. How much politics and court intrigue are we expected to read? This is supposed to be a fantasy novel, not an anthropolical study. It is one thing to give back story while elegantly painting a picture of an alien world, it is entirely another thing to give us a blow by blow examination of the governmental structures and their intricacies.Where is the action and fantasy in this fantasy and action novel? I get enough political analysis watching the news, I don't want it in a Wheel of Time novel.I'll read the remaining novels because I've already invested so much time and effort, but I'm prepared to complain a lot.