You know, I've been randomly pondering the relationships in Wheel of Time and sorta come to the conclusion that I might have been judging them a bit unfairly.  I mean, it has been mentioned that characters end up together for no discernible reason but I'm not sure that's entirely true.  The reality seems to be that the characters often end up together based on much more generic and boring criteria- things along the lines of "we met, we hung out a bunch, we find each other moderately attractive, so now we are together".  There is often very little by way of pomp or lengthy convoluted romance plots, just people marrying those others they spend time around and decide they like.  Frankly, to me that sounds a lot like what people do in real life.  I would say a lot of the people I know who have had lasting relationships have no real dramatic romantic background behind having gotten together- it's always boring things like "we were in the same dorm in college and met at a social event" or "we were in a study group for X class and started going out eventually".  So, ultimately I wouldn't call the relationships random or inexplicable, just very very veeeeery generic.

Contrasting this to previous comments, we see that the relationships that are seen more favorably involve things like Aviendha's snow/body warmth scene or even LanfearxRand- one of which is basically the frosty peak of trope mountain and the other is a straight up toxic and abusive relationship.  Yet I will openly admit that both of those make for better storytelling and more drama, so I can understand the appeal.

Ultimately, it seems the biggest persistent criticisms aimed at the book other than the usual 'I'm kinda tired of X trope' that crops up for every book are these three: the persistent imposter syndrome present in the main three male characters, the constant bickering and animosity between characters for no discernible reason beyond 'I just don't get along with them' and the lack of romance plot arcs alongside relationships forming without any deeper connection beyond 'They were there, we get along and I am so very thirsty".  Frankly, it seems the main problem with Robert Jordan could be argued that he has a tendency to write people rather than storybook characters, and as such they are full of a lot of those traits usually present in real life but which make for less compelling storytelling.

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Figure I also should bring up a book series as well.  I think I've mentioned it in passing, but now I figure I'll go over it in greater detail.

[b]Mistborn Trilogy[/b]- Brandon Sanderson
So, Brandon Sanderson tends to be one of those authors who I feel is better loved by nerds who are a fan of rules and systems, since it seems a common thing in his books is creating entire new and neat systems of magic.  The magic system in this world revolves around three main metallic disciplines: Allomancy, Feruchemy and Hemalurgy.  Allomancy is probably the most common and most thoroughly portrayed in this series and is basically using different kinds of metals to do an assortment of wild magical effects, from leaping walls to launching projectiles to improving reflexes and heightening senses- all based on which metal you utilize.  Beyond that, I dunno that I'd wanna go into Feruchemy and Hemalurgy too deeply, since I seem to recall details their existence being more important to the actual plot than Allomancy, though Allomancy is the most commonly seen power throughout the books.

The basic plot takes place in a shitsack world in a kingdom known as the "Final Empire".  It is ruled by a being known as the Lord Ruler, who is supposedly an immortal, invulnerable savior of everything forever- who defeated some big bad entity in ye olde days and reshaped the world to his liking.  Present day, he is a tyrannical dictator who holds strict control over his empire through use of the Steel Ministry- the religion that is built around him.  There are two primary classes of citizens: nobility and Skaa (basically just slaves).  The main story starts focused on a group of Skaa who are working to basically carry out a sort of combination heist/rebellion against the Lord Ruler.  What is significant about this group is that multiple of them are Mistborn- that is, someone who can control all allomantic powers.  Unusual in that normally only nobles are allomancrs, much less Mistborn and the Steel Ministry hunts down Skaa who have any allomantic powers at all.  Beyond the first book, things do escalate beyond the scale of a small criminal gang doing shenanigans to more world-shifting events, culminating in a full cloud-cuckoo land climactic ending.  I honestly think the first book might be my favorite in the series for keeping things a bit more low-key and gritty, though I do still love the series as a whole.