There needs to be a better blush emoticon, because that's what I'm doing right now at some of the high praise just offered.
o This one looks like its jaundiced.
Thank you everyone, and thank you Vesimir for the honor! Gabriel's been a character that's had some twists and turns for me as well as the reader... gifted but supremely arrogant, sees himself as the end-all-be-all-come-hell-or-high-water. Balancing him with other characters (such as his brother the religious nutter) has been a task, one I've enjoyed and I hope my readers have enjoyed as well.
Oh, and on the subject of reading long AARs, my best advice is just take it a post at a time. There's no race, and like Enewald said, you've got the luxury of reading the next section at your leisure, instead of sitting around waiting while the author has writer's block, or gets distracted by a game, or life, or another AAR, or pretty shiny things... *looks at readers sheepishly* I don't know about other authors but I love for people to comment about where they are in the story, even if its all the way near the beginning--new perspectives on old characters are always welcome. My boyfriend is just starting to tackle the beast as well, if he comes up with any strategies I'll definitely share them!
I'm going to spend the next week reading and looking around, and we'll have a new CharacterWritAAR sometime then! Thank you all once again!