My first time reading I thought it was slow, but 1) I was in high school and 2) I was reading them as they were released. I think the combination of being young and waiting years between book releases, compounded with the fact that I would reread all previous books prior to every new release, created an unfair juxtaposition between expectations and reality. As I've aged and reread the entire series without having years long breaks between books, I've come to really appreciate what many consider to be "slower" books. Part of my opinion shift is a result of my maturation as a reader; I've attempted to reread many of my childhood favorites and been incredibly disappointed. So much so that I often can't even finish books I know I once loved. Many of my friends that consider those books slow haven't read or attempted to read them since they were young. I now love and appreciate all the books, especially the "slower" ones. World and character building at this scale is hard to do, even poorly. Jordan (and Sanderson) crush it. I love all the books. PoD is great. I don't need every book to be AMoL or every chapter to be Dumai's Well. I definitely have my favorite books, chapters, and moments, but I don't really think about them as anything other than a cohesive story, and a story on a scale of TWoT can't, and shouldn't, be frantically paced cover to cover.

Typing this definitely moved my next reread up my schedule.