The Fires of Heaven

Depending on your level of tolerance, you might have given up at book 4 instead of moving into book 5. Book 6 and 7 are usually the ones that people say are their final stop. Why? This book is where Robert Jordan starts gearing up for what is possibly self-indulgence. The pace slows to a crawl, particularly when dealing with Elayne's arc of the story, and much is told from the perspectives of the females - so much so that whole chapters are devoted to extreme details of trivial happenings. Nynaeve in particular is starting to feel very one-dimensional and shallow - too much repetitive details are not good. There are good parts still though, as with book 4, a lot of very detailed and well thought out lore on the immense setting. Also, Rand's finally getting serious character development and growth in terms of his power. There's also a very definite and good ending at Caemlyn.