My opinions:
Egwene was a crowning masterpiece of awesome. Her composure and tactics while captive were excellent, and her actions during the Seanchan attack were an all too rare example of someone actually being competent and intelligent for once. The way she got around the forkroot was great, and I was very happy to see someone actually put that giant stockpile of *greal in the Tower to use. Seriously, the White Tower has a very bad habit of acquiring objects of the power and letting them collect dust. The acquiring part is fine, but they really need to stop the dust collecting part soon. I particularly liked the scene where one of the Aes Sedai hears about a hard point of resistance forming in the novices' quarters, of all places, and the dawning realization that follows. The discussion among the Ajah heads where one of them mentions, without even bothering to present evidence, that Egwene will not be anyone's puppet and will be a strong Amyrlin was also very nice.
Verin's reveal was very well done, and the way she circumvented her Oath was a perfect example of Aes Sedai word manipulation, taking wording apparently meant for emphasis and following it literally to find a loophole. It's unfortunate that the Black Ajah Hunters got so thoroughly upstaged by Verin, but oh well. Maybe they'll turn up later with something to make that arc worthwhile. I'd been hoping for someone to find, break, and interrogate Alviarin, with that being the big breakthrough leading to the purge, but Verin's research works quite well too and clears up a lot of mystery and speculation about her.
Most of Rand's arc was a bit depressing to read, but it had a great payoff at the end. I think he's finally achieved the reintegration that Semirhage mentioned when she was captured, and it will be interesting to see exactly what that means. Does he have full access to Lews Therin's knowledge now? Regardless, I think he's going to be a much better person from now on, and he'll probably have a lot easier time getting along with everyone else. I'm expecting a lot fewer ultimatums and unexplained "just do it" orders from him in the remaining two books.
Rand's plan for taking out Graendal was a huge surprise and a big shock, but perfectly logical. I was impressed.
I'm really looking forward to Seanchan arrogance getting punctured in ToM. Somewhere along the line Rand is going to "bind the Nine Moons to serve him", and I imagine it will be great fun reading Tuon's reaction to that happening instead of the corrupted Seanchan prophecy of Rand kneeling to the Crystal Throne. I expect Seanchan society will be quite shaken up by the event. It's probably too much to hope for that their stance on damane might change, but I'll keep hoping for it anyway. With a ta'veren as strong as Rand around, you never know.