Rand's growing authority is uncomfortable in useful ways. He needs to make decisions on a scale far beyond his experience, yet the people advising him bring their own agendas. I like the book most when it lets that uncertainty remain abrasive. Leadership does not become admirable just because a character happens to be central to the story.
Nynaeve's thread can be exasperating, but her pride has a clear emotional source. She is used to being needed and competent; vulnerability feels like the loss of both. Her exchanges with Elayne expose that insecurity, sometimes with humor and sometimes by repeating a disagreement longer than necessary. Moiraine's changing relationship with Rand, meanwhile, gives restraint more force than another contest of wills would have.
The pacing is uneven, especially when an urgent storyline gives way to another stretch of travel. Yet the major confrontations grow out of relationships that have been under pressure for several books. The best moments are not simply bigger uses of magic. They are decisions made by people who know each other well enough to hurt or help in precise ways.
— Cory Lane