I loved this series when I was younger. I am still fond of it, but I have read so much more that is better now.

It slows to a tedious chore, particularly around the Knitting Circle leaving Ebou Dar with the Aes Sedai. All that is pretty obvious grinding to quota from the author.

If you want some next level fantasy, check out The Malazan Book of the Fallen, by Steven Erikson. Few stories have so emotionally buffeted me. It is brutal, macabre, tragic; but also redemptive, funny, clever - dazzlingly imaginative.