Overall, I think the prob with Book 11 (honestly books 7 - 11) is that I don't feel any sort of worry for the characters. None are gonna die, so I have trouble feeling emotionally connected to them. The sense of wonder has fled.
Or for the Forsaken, for that matter. In fact, as far as some aspects went, the first six books seemed to be a different series in a way. Rand's exploits seemed to be building in a logical manner (training, gaining the support of the Aiel, conquest and consolidation, which should have then led to Tarmon Gaidon), but then he gets... well, sidetracked. He doesn't just sit around for the next 5 books, but I don't feel that the progress he made, short of the cleansing, was really anything... significant. The White Tower stuff starts to come to the forefront, which while that isn't bad... nothing really seems to happen there until book 11. Perrin gets hauled off on a sidequest. Mat's portions were cool the whole time, I think. But my point is, we lose the hunt of the seals, Rand's conquest and consolidation kinda falls apart, Perrin sits in a tent moping...
There are still some interesting storylines being carried out, it's just that the main ones feel stalled and tossed aside. And with Rand, perhaps irredeemably so.
