Gah... Forgot to write a bit about Halloween... It was quite fun - got together with a few friends and partied it up a bit.
I came up with a pretty convincing Rosie the Riveter costume... I may have to post some pictures, perhaps...

Anyway, on to the review:

I'll attempt to make this as non-spoilery as possible.
(You can read my full review on LiveJournal - [link])

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So, basically The Gathering Storm has become one of my favorite WoT books.
After reading through it, it’s easy to understand why the story has been split up into three, final books, rather than one. There is just SO MUCH GOING ON!
Granted, the writing style is a bit different, and quite a bit more fast-paced, but it still manages to artfully retain the quality and aura of the WoT world.
A few of the characters were slightly… off. Not in a completely bad way, though.
I felt that too many of the villains were giving in too easily, though. I suppose I expected more of a fight, but it’s understandable. The Last Battle is approaching, and threads needed to be tied up, and a lot of the petty, unsubstantial villains and situations would really be nothing compared to what they’ll have to face in the end.
While I did like Sanderson’s spacing out of the characters throughout the chapters, I found myself wishing that certain characters had more action or exciting scenes… (*coughAviendhacough*)
All of the characters were just lovely, though, and it was like reuniting with old friends, reading about them, again.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! There's just so much that I want to write, but I'm not sure whether I should give anything away.
Needless to say, I look up to... certain characters as role models, now.

Over all, I laughed a lot, jumped up out of my chair and squeed, and was moved to tears quite a number of times. (In a good way, more often than not, though.)

My favorite part, surprisingly, was the very last line of the book.
It brought me to tears again - happy tears, of course. It could be interpreted in various ways, but it was just so fitting, and had a piercing beauty.
So simple, yet so moving.

I consider a story to be good if it prompts me to change as a person, for the better, and inspires me to stand up for myself and have courage.
And this book did just that.

Thank you Mr. Jordan and Mr. Sanderson.