For at least the last 3 of Jordan's books, I kept saying to myself, "ok, I'll just read one more and maybe things will pick up." For this book, I decided not to buy it until after I read some reviews, so that I could avoid all the frustration if it just turned out to be another long-winded book with no plot advancement. Based on the reviews so far, I have decided not to bother with this one. Maybe in 5 or 10 years, when the series is finished, I'll pick it back up, but until then, I'm finished.