In The Great Hunt, our band of heroes separate, meet up again, then separate, then meet up while finding the Horn of Valere, then losing it, then finding it again. 
 I mentioned in my review of Eye of the World that the book showed a rather strong Tolkien influence. If any of that remained in Great Hunt, I didn't notice it. Perhaps Jordan intentionally started with a Tolkien base, or perhaps it took him a book to gain the confidence he needed to go in his own direction. Either way, I'm glad the issue corrected itself so early on in the series. 
 Another big difference from the first book is that the characters are no longer on the run. There's still danger, of course, but they've mostly turned around to face it now (some of the characters even spending part of the book as the pursuers). Changing so fundamentally the type of story helps, I think, it differentiating the second book from the first, and helps make it clear that it won't all be more of the same through fourteen books. 
 I've mentioned in my reviews of both Eye of the World and New Spring that I really appreciate the number of female characters and their relationships with each other. They have their own goals and they have their own friendships that have nothing to do with Rand. And while it's a little over done for multiple female characters to fawn over the male lead (because he just has that special fictional je ne sais quoi), they resolve their competition by prioritizing and reinforcing their friendship rather than drawing out the same tired old love triangle/competition. 
 I've seen some complaints that all the women are carbon copies of each other - all brow-beating and nagging, all stubborn and able to admit fault. I can see where the complaint comes from, and I do agree that it would have been nice to see a little more variety (like how George R.R. Martin included everything from Sansa the tower maid waiting for a savior, Brienne the woman who styles herself a Britomart, and Catelyn the medieval wife who is both femme and a capable leader, not to mention all the other variations of those three archetypes). That said, I don't think that the criticism is entirely fair, as there is certainly a fair bit of individuality. Egwene, in particular, stood out for me in this book as far as her character development went. 
 That's not to say that there isn't some cardboarding going on. Siuan's fish-themed linguistic choices could have used some toning down, for example. It could just be my faulty memory talking, but I feel like she was far spoke far more plausibly in New Spring. There are other examples of over-reliance on certain phrases (men constantly finger their weapons, Nynaeve has some sort of plait-tugging fetish, etc). 
 Still, I really enjoyed this book, as well as the series so far.