After reading the reviews for this and the last couple books, I am very happy I gave up on the series in 2000. This probably would have been an excellent series if Jordan had kept it to 6 or 7 books. As it is, I think Jordan is just padding his wallet. The ego of the man is outrageous, to blame his readers, his CUSTOMERS, for getting bored with / not being able to follow his plot lines.Read George Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. He is handling multiple plot lines the RIGHT way.