This was great. Let's start with a Forsaken count as it stands at the end of the book. 
 (view spoiler)[Aginor (Osan'gar [Dashiva]) 
 Balthamel (Aran'gar [Halima]) 
 Ishamael [Ba'alzamon] (Moridin) 
 Be'lal [Samon] 
 Rahvin [Gaebril] 
 Lanfear [Selene, Else, Keille] (Cyndane) 
 Asmodean [Jasin Natael] 
 Sammael [Brend] 
 Semirhage [Anath] 
 Mesaana [Danelle] 
 Graendal 
 Moghedien 
 Demandred 
 Four left. At least I assume it's four. Graendal's death by Shaidar Haran is heavily implied. If she isn't dead, she probably wishes she were. Moghedien and Cyndane are still as low key as they have been for the last few books, Moridin is putting in an occasional appearance stirring up shit, and Demandred as far as I know is still just sitting around pulling his pud just like he has been for the entire series. I'm assured he finally comes in (and with a vengeance) in the last book. I'm excited. He's the one I want to see the most (mostly because he has the coolest name). (hide spoiler)] 
 We get a lot of Perrin in this story, and though his plot is my least favorite of the three biggies, I was really pleased with it. He finally gets down to business with Slayer, and it's pretty awesome. 
 Egwene is still a bitch, and getting ready to fuck everything up. Well, she's going to give it her best shot though she doesn't know what an idiot she is. I think she's unintentionally playing into Rand's hands. The two chapters about her battle in the tower which goes in tandem with Perrin's battle in Tar Valon were the most exciting I've read in a while. 
 Mat (view spoiler)[rescues Moiraine! I'm so glad she's back. I'm hoping for big things with her in the next book. (hide spoiler)] 
 Aviendha has a very minor role, but sees the future of the Aiel, and fuck that shit! I hope she's able to do something about that. 
 We see some major battles with trollocs throughout, and a super battle firing up at the end. And shit's about to get real with Lan and his assault on the Blight. 
 Issues with the Whitecloaks are resolved, but the Black Tower is mentioned only briefly, and we still don't know what Taim is up to. I take solace in the fact that all of this is supposed to be wrapped up in the next, and final, volume. 
 As for the writing style and other literary things, I still think Jordan is the better writer, but appreciate Sanderson's pacing. I think he improved with this one, though there was one area where he screwed the pooch pretty rough. Not everything in these books happens chronologically, but Jordan managed it in such a way that you didn't notice it unless you were looking for it. (I understand it was an Easter egg kind of thing for super fanboys). But Sanderson has one character leave one plot line to appear in another at the end of the last book. That's all fine and good, but he was back in his original plot line through a lot of this book as well as still mentioned in his future plot line. It was very confusing, and I assumed it was one of the Forsaken causing trouble in one of the plot lines. Instead it was bad editing. I also noticed it with a few other incidents, but the character in two places at once was the biggest gaffe. Thankfully all the plot lines true up in time by the last quarter of the book, so hopefully this won't be an issue for the rest of the series. 
 There were also a few editing mistakes (typos, etc), more than I usually find in a number one best seller. I guess they were rushing to get this into production? I don't see how since it was supposed to come out a couple years before it did, but I really don't know how the process works. 
 So, well done again Mr. Sanderson. Thanks for putting all this together for us, and keep up the good work. Now on to the final volume! A friend said it's about 400 pages too many, but that's nothing unusual in this series. I have a feeling if Jordan wrote these last three books in his usual style, it would've been six books instead. I truly do appreciate Sanderson's pacing even if the world isn't quite as rich, but instead of rehashing all that here, just see my The Gathering Storm review for my thoughts on that.