Some thoughts.
It took me some time to get here, but I've finally finished the Fires of Heaven. I'm going to preface everything I say by just being blunt and saying that this book had some of the highest highs of the series as I've read it so far.
To start off, the way this book was formatted and structured was certainly a surprise to me. In the Shadow Rising we did have a kind of 'split narrative' but the way it was handled in this book felt more tightly written to me. There aren't any details brought up in the Prologue that I can't say weren't tied up by the final page, besides the story threads that Robert Jordan is obviously going to carry on to the later books in the series.
Morgase, Siuan, Min, Gareth Bryne and to some lesser extent Elaida were brilliant additions to the narrative, though three of them we'd seen the perspective of prior. It made the world of the books more lived in and is partially one of the reasons I found the book so easy to read.
Large books with many perspectives are my bread and butter. It's why I liked the Stormlight Archive and is actually partially why I've been so excited getting further and further into the series. Knowing that the amount of characters we get into the heads of will change and fluctuate absolutely does make me excited for the rest of Jordan's work.
I think among the best parts of this book was how much Rand and Nynaeve's perspectives tightened the narrative. They had an equal amount of page time to my knowledge and in regards to the One Power they're the more unique characters towards it. Sure, Egwene has the abilities of a Dreamer but I think Nynaeve's block makes her more fitted around the One Power as a slight oddity.
Both Rand and Nynaeve taught themselves to some measure and I think the best part of them sharing the narrative was that they're both sort of mirrors to the other. They're both desperately hanging on to what control they do have and they're stumbling over and over again until they can find some leverage.
Moiraine's supposed death did hit me harder than I thought it would. She was such a key element of the books it does make me wonder where the narrative is gonna go without her as an active element. I did genuinely find her death sad, though I found Lan's departure just as sad.
Lan was the only man who gave Rand a bone after he found out who he was. Their absence is already felt even a chapter apart and I hope his return will be amazing.
The finale was great. It was non stop action missed with intense inner turmoil and frankly excellently constructed prose by Jordan which really honed in on his character's flaws and insecurities. Rahvin is a lovably deplorable villain and his death was satisfying.
Part of the reason I ended up finishing this book faster than I did its predecessor was because I ended up actually damaging my copy and wanted to put it away so I didn't have to think about how embarrassing that was. Suffice it to say, I did not need that motivation because the book was great regardless.
Overall, this book might be my favourite solely for how much I loved reading it.