Just Finished Reading Robert Jordan's Lord of Chaos

I have just finished reading Lord of Chaos, the sixth book (and one of the longest) in the fourteen-volume The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan (the last three of which were written by Brandon Sanderson following Jordan's death in 2007). To say that the story in the series at the time of this book is convoluted and complicated would be a gross understatement.  That being said, there are some basic plot threads, which are centered around characters originating from the first book, like Rand al'Thor, Mat Cauthon, Perrin Aybara, Egwene al'Vere, and Nynaeve al'Meara...all magically-gifted people (although Mat doesn't seem to ascribe his own subtle abilities to magic) from the remote Two Rivers region. As with the other books in the Wheel of Time series, magic is either male or female in nature and the two forms are in continual conflict, with those practicing it also in opposition to each other, according to whether they are men or women.  The Aes Sedai, the dominant female magically-endowed group in this fantasy land of Jordan's, have taken upon themselves the notion they they alone are capable of responsibly using magic and go about the world trying to enforce their opinions and judgements on everyone else...which inevitably leads them into repeated confrontations with Rand, who as the "Dragon Reborn" (reincarnation runs rampant in this series) is the chief practitioner of the male side of magic...well, that's not exactly true.  For there is a group of villains going back eons called the "Forsaken" who practice their magic in an evil manner to serve the "Dark Lord" (yes, this sounds an awful lot like Harry Potter, doesn't it).  While Rand is trying his utmost to muster his forces to combat his evil opponents, he has to contend with the troublesome and intolerably arrogant Aes Sedai, who by this book are completely broken up into opposing factions and have also been deeply infiltrated by the Dark Lord.  To throw a monkey wrench into it all, protagonists Egwene, Nynaeve, and princess Elayne, all supposedly strongly on Rand's side, are heavily involved as members of the Aes Sedai. I believe I could write on, trying to explain what's going on in this series, but it would take several pages and, anyway, I'm sure that by the time I'm substantially into the next book, things will get even more complicated. Yuck!  Let me just say this: the brewing conflict between Rand and the Aes Sedai comes to a head in Lord of Chaos and, to me, represents the defining feature of the story.

I'm going to continue slogging along in this Wheel of Time series to the very end...which, according to the book's underlying philosophy, is circular in nature and then just starts back over. Gee, that sounds so philosophically profound and all, doesn't it?  But as a reader, I want a resolution of sorts to the numerous story lines and not just a lot of hanging threads. But that ain't gonna happen for a long, long time, with eight more books to go.  A Crown of Swords, which sounds more like a George R.R. Martin book, is next in the Wheel of Time series...