** spoiler alert ** My summary:

Eighth book in the wheel of time series, it begins with Elayne, Birgitte, Nynaeve, Lan, and Aviendhra working with the Sea Folk and the Kin to use the Bowl of Winds. They manage to use it and then make gateways near Camelyn to escape. As they are escaping the Seanchan attack them while Elayne is unwrapping the gateway weave. She is forced to let it collapse on itself and it nearly kills her and her friends, while it does kill many Seanchan who try to pursue her. Elayne and her company continue on to Camelyn so Elayne can claim the Lion Throne. Egwene, Siuan, and Gareth Byrne proceed on their way to Tar Valon to overthrow Elaida. Egwene asserts herself over the Hall so they must follow her in the war against Tar Valon. Meanwhile, Rand is working on settling Illian now that he is the new king there. He works on consolidating forces so that he will have an army to attack the Seanchan as they move towards Illian. He surprise attacks them with a large number of his Asha'man and with the help of his general, Bashere. They are successful even though they are but a few thousand against the 50,000 or so Seanchan. They do sustain casualties, however, even by Rand himself when he is forced to use Callandor to lead the attack against the Seanchan. He defeats them but at great cost. He accidentally kills one of his Asha'man and alienates some of the others so that they make an attack on his life at the end of the book. Meanwhile, Perrin meets with Masema (the prophet) and tells him he is to meet with Rand immediately to receive orders. While Perrin is attending the meeting, Faile and the rest of the camp is attacked by Shaido and Sevanna. They are taken prisoner and Berelain is the only one who escapes to warn Perrin. Lots of smaller events occur among many of the other characters as well. Rand makes a bargain with the Sea Folk and Cadsuane agrees to advise Rand if he obeys certain rules and does not require an oath to him. Before this, Sorilea and Cadsuane take a water oath to help each other help Rand make the right decisions. Moridin, the unknown Forsaken, punishes those who fail him and lays new plans to fight against Rand. Ispan, the darkfriend caught by Elayne and the others, is killed along with the Aes Sedai in her tent. At the tower, Elaida is still taking orders from her Keeper and Darkfriend, Alviarhin while the two women she assigned to hunt out Darkfriends in the tower begin using the oath rod to test a number of people in the tower. The book ends with Egwene arriving at Tar Valon, Elayne taking the Lion Throne of Andor, Rand and Min being attacked by rebel Asha'man, and Red Ajah Aes Sedai being captured by Logain as they try to confront the Black Tower.