Despite being called The Dragon Reborn, Rand gets very little narrative time. It's an interesting choice, since he seemed to be made out as the main character in Eye of the World, and the principle character in Great Hunt. Now it seems clear that what we've been hearing all along - that Rand may be the Dragon Reborn, but he is not the only Ta'veren - is true. By leaving Rand almost entirely out of this book, Jordan seem to be sending a strong message that there are many main characters in this series, of which Rand is merely one (and not even, in my mind, the most interesting one). 
 It's a good thing we don't see Rand much, because what we do see of him is disturbing. He talks to himself, he attacks his friends in dreams, he even kills a group of people (who may or may not have been there to attack him) and arranges their corpses so that they are all kneeling before him. Yeah. It's hard to imagine that he will keep any shred of sanity through the 11 books we have left. 
 Of the remaining main characters, Mat really comes to the forefront in this book. I think I was still too focused on finding my footing in Eye of the World to really notice him much, so the only impression he'd made on my prior to this book was the douche-canoe he was under the influence of Shadar Logoth. I didn't like him at all, and that was intentional - the dagger had made him paranoid, temperamental, angry. 
 Having Mat free from the dagger's influence here added an interesting element to the story. All the characters have changed over the course of their journeys, but Mat's change was actually a return to a pre-series original self (or something like it, anyway). 
 As it was, Mat's light-heartedness and insincere self-interest provided some much needed relief from what might have otherwise been a very angsty book. 
 Not to give too much away, but Egwene's been working on her Dreaming through the book, and this becomes important in the final showdown. It seems important that her role in the events at the Stone of Tear all take place while she is sleeping. By outward appearance, she is the classic passive woman, the damsel in distress, the Sleeping Beauty. She is held captive and she is literally asleep through most of the big battle. Yet at the same time, Egwene is fighting - only her battle takes place in Tel'aran'rhiod, the World of Dreams. The contrast between her outward appearance and her actual role felt very subversive, as though Jordan were deliberately poking at expected female roles. 
 In both Dragon Reborn and Great Hunt, the characters are separated, scatter all over the place, and then somehow all make it back to the same place for the big showdown. This is clearly intended to be a narrative reflection of the "weaving" motif. Unfortunately, the video game-like pattern of having a boss fight at the end of each book is starting to feel a little silly. Rand hangs out, does stuff, advances the plot, then comes back to "kill" Ba'alzamon again (only, of course, to have to kill him again at the end of the next book). At the very least, I would like for Rand to stop celebrating his victory every time. The first time is plausible, the second is silly but whatevs, but the third time is just absurd and makes Rand out to be every bit as wool-headed as Nynaeve claims him to be.