**SPOILERS FOR THE GATHERING STORM***

In case you didn't catch the title, this post will most likely include spoilers for the latest Wheel of Time novel, The Gathering Storm.  I will put that part of the blog further down just in case you have wandering eyes and can't be trusted to skip the stuff that might ruin the book for you!

Ok, so it's been FOREVER since I last updated.  I apologize, but things haven't been all that exciting.  No excitement = no reason to blog.  However, with the release of the above mentioned book, and an adventure yesterday, well I have some stuff to say!

Let's start with the adventuring, shall we? 

Yesterday was Veterans' Day.  Since I was off work for the holiday, I spent most of the late morning and early afternoon with my Grammy, sister, and my Mom, who was in from Arkansas.  We were just puttzing around, doing a bit of light shopping.  About an hour into this, I get a text message and a phone call from Arthur, my boyfriend.

The text included a picture (which I don't have a way of uploading to this computer, but will try when I get home) of a small orange ball of fluff.  When I looked closer, it was a kitten.  Then my heart broke. When I squinted at his eyes I say that they looked way too big and way to black.

I called Arthur back and said, who is that?  He told me how he had opened the window to let some air through.  He was home for the day since there were no classes being held due to the holiday.  After he opened the window he heard a small cry.  He rushed outside to investigate and what he found almost broke him.  There was a small orange kitten wedged between our neighbor's cable box for warmth.  When he was finally able to extract it, he saw that the poor thing's eyes were so caked in guck, mud, and various other filth that the baby couldn't open them!  He was also so starved that Arthur could feel the bones portruding through it's fur.

Being the wonderful man he is, Arthur brought the kitten inside and smartly isolated it from our other two cats.  If kitten was sick, he didn't want the other two to catch it.  He then called me and I ran to a pet shop for some kitten formula.  Then I rushed home.

I took one look at the little guy and said "We're going to the vet. Now."  We took him to Banfield which is located in most PetsMarts.  The PetNurse and the doctor looked him over.  Dr. Horner examined his teeth and declared that he is only about 4-5 weeks old.  She also noticed he had fleas, which is dangerous for a kitten so young.  The good news was, that aside from his eyes and his obvious malnourshiment, he seemed to be ok.  She wasn't sure she could get all the gunk off his eyes, though.  She told us she'd try, but wouldn't force his eyes open and risk damaging them further.  She and the nurses took him away and Arthur and I went outside to pace.

About half an hour or more when by and one of the nurses came out to talk to us.  "We've got one of his eyes open!"  I nearly collapsed.  We thanked her and she went back inside.  About 10 minutes later she and another nurse came out with our foundling wrapped in a towel, drenched, and with both eyes open.  I never cry in public, but I did then.  He could see!  He was responsive and his eyes were undamaged!  They weren't done cleaning his eyes, but they had wanted us to see what color his eyes were.

A little while later they finished up with his eyes.  Poor baby was so cold and freaked out!  The doctor gave us some dewormer (since he's a baby and they get those), a liquid antibiotic, a liquid vitamin supplement, topical eye antibiotic, and some moist food specifically for starved and undernourished kittens.  We spent the evening wiping his eyes while we were at Grammy's house.  The whole family fell in love and he was never put down or let him get cold.  Love at first sight, indeed!  With the help of the family, we picked a name. I'll tell you at the end. ; )

So, we finally got him home and then the reall "fun" began: we had to bathe him and give him his medicines.  He was not at all impressed.  But, we got most the fleas off of him, forced the liquid meds down his throat, and slathered on the eye gel.  He ate a bit of food and then I tucked him into his bed: a big ole' basket (courtesy of Grammy) lined with a towel and a big, soft, warm blanket.  He promptly fell asleep. 

I was surprised, but he slept the whole night.  He started rooting around at 5:30 this morning.  He managed to crawl out of his basket and find his food dish.  So proud of him!  Before he crawled out, though, I looked down at him.  The best part?  He looked right back at me with both of his eyes open!!!  No gunk!  When it was time to do his meds, I had a damp towel ready to clear the gunk from his eyes but there wasn't any!  His poor little eyes are still swollen and teary, but they aren't gumming shut!  That gel is amazing...

What a day, huh?  Dr. Horner said that if we hadn't found him, he wouldn't have survived.  If we both hadn't had the day off, we wouldn't have found him.  Is that serendipity or what?  I feel like we were meant to find him.  We'll try to locate his owners, but I don't think we will.  I'm convinced his mama was a stray and that's why he was doing so poorly.  I want to keep him.  How can you not fall in love with something that needs your protection and love so desperately?  Impossible I say.

Here's our little guy:  We decided to call him "Mogwai" since he looks like one. 

His eyes are open! 

And here he is cleaning the liquid vitamin from his paw.  It's nasty stuff!

If you don't know what a mogwai is, check this out:

Gizmo is a mogwai.  If he eats after midnight, he becomes a gremiln.  We named the kitten Mogwai because of his big, hairy, floppy ears.  Too cute!!

Such happiness!

AVAST!  THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Ok, now for my book review.  The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.  Those of you who are fans, or have read earlier blog entries, know that Robert Jordan died in September of 2007 after a battle with rare disease.  He was so dedicated to his fans, however, that he spent his last days organizing his notes and outlines for the conclusion of the Wheel of Time series.  After his death, his wife and editor, Harriet McDougal, asked Brandon Sanderson, a young sci-fi writer, to complete the final book.  After much review, the two of them realized that the story couldn't be told in less than 750,000 words, which would be about 2,400 pages.  The binding machinary doesn't exist that could make a book that big, so they decided to break the story into three books.  Good call.

The first book is The Gathering Storm.  Holy crap, was this book amazing!!  While Sanderson definitely kept to his own writing style, which is different from RJ's, he kept to the spirit of the books.  What particularly impressed me was how he wrote the characters.  Namely, Egwene Al'Vere.

Here's an artist's rendition:

I NEVER liked this character.  She snotty, arrogant, and bossy.  She can't follow orders because she's such a know-it-all that she thinks she's above her superiors.  And Sanderson wrote her in a way that I not only like her now, but actually respect her! 

In previous books, Egwene had been raised to Amyriln by the rebel Aes Sedai.  She turned out not to be the puppet they had intended, but a strong, willfull woman.  She led the rebels to the White Tower to lay siege to Elaida's tyrannical rule.  She was captured by the Tower and punished with beatings and a demotion to Novice.  She was strapped daily and she bore it all with dignity and earned the respect of not only the novices and Accepted, but from full Aes Sedai as well.  She refused to be rescued, choosing instead to use her imprisonment as a chance to gather information, destabilize Elaida, and try to bring the Aes Sedai to her side.

Things got pretty bad for her in GS, but she became awesome for it.  She grew so much as a character that she hardly resembles to the character from previous books.  She stood up to Elaida and made the woman look lik a maniac, which earned her a severe beating and a stint being locked away in a tiny, cramped cell.  And she bore it all.  When the Seanchan attacked the Tower, she lead a group of novices, Accepted, and even a few full sisters, against them, saving hundreds of lives. 

After the attack, the Tower Hall elected to have her raised as their Amyriln (Elaida had been captured by the Seanchan) and the rift was healed.  Now she's kicking the butt of the Black Ajah, repairing the physical damage from the attacks and repairing the emotional and political damage from the split. 

In summary, Egwene kicked butt!  I loved her and for the first time ever couldn't wait to read her chapters.  I was actually disappointed when they ended.  Great character developement!

So much cool, and scary, stuff happened in this book.   I was left with a feeling of "wow...just...wow" when I finished it.  I want to personally beat the snot out of Rand Al'Thor, Dragon Reborn and master of being and idiot.  Cadsuane Sedai said it best: "Being hard is not the same as being strong."  The guy nearly killed his own father!  That was right before he Travelend to Ebou Dar and was going to use the male-attuned Cholden Khar to take wipe out all of the Seanchan with balefire, which is a HUGE no-no.  Gaaah!!  At least he managed to shake some sense into himself. 

As always, I loved Mat.  He's such a scoundrel!  Perrin actually sunk on my list, even though he used to be my favorite.  I'm just sick of his "Oh woe is me, I dont' WANNA be a leader or a lord, but it's been thrust upon me against my will!  Wah, wah, wah."  Seriously, accept that you're not only an awesome and competant leader, accept that you're a Wolfbrother, and move along!  Geeze.

Verin Sedai.  OH.  EM.  GEE!!  For years the great debate has been is Verin Black Ajah or just extra sneaky?  Has she somehow been released from the Three Oaths, or did she never take them?  WTF is up with here?  Stuff that is totally jaw-drop worthy!  Turns out, everybody was right about everything!!

Verin held the Oathrod before Egwene's grandmother was born and had been a member of the Brown Ajah, the Ajah dedicated to knowledge and research.  70 years ago, she became Black, which released her of her Tower Oaths and bound her to the Shadow.  Why did she do this?  RESEARCH!!!  She was a Brown to her core.  The best part: she did it because she figured the Shadow had tons of spies in the Good Guy camps, the Good Guys needed a spy in the Shadow camp.  She gave up her life to entrust a book (and it's cipher) detailing the Black Ajah, it's members, laws, ceremonies, and general knowledge to Egwene. 

Verin = GREATEST WIN EVAR!!

Well, I've managed to write a Jordan-worthy novel style post, so I should probably give it a rest.  I'm going to be rereading, for the umpteenth time, the Black Jewels Triology by Anne Bishop.  It's violent, but really good.  Eventually I'll finish reading Let the Right One In, but I'm just not in the mood for it.  I'll review it when I'm done.

Till next time, have a good one!