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thistlechaserLady Numbers vs The Lawn by Madison Keller
Rating: Liked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
Back in the early days of reading Flower's Fang by the same author, I had been enjoying the book enough that I went in search of other things by her, and stumbled upon this free short story.
Free? D&D based? By an author I liked? Sold!
While it turned out that, by the end of the book I didn't like Flower's Fang so much, I still had this story downloaded, so I checked it out.
Interestingly, it followed the same pattern of Flower's Fang: I loved it in the beginning, but by the end my enjoyment quickly cooled. I still liked it overall, but by the end I was ready to be done with it.
Lady Numbers vs The Lawn did something I loved: It wove the main character's imagination seamlessly with reality. She went into a pawn shop to buy a gardening tool, and in a blink was seeing the store owner as a half-bugbear, and paying in gold instead of dollars. Step out of the store, and she was back to seeing the real world again. Not insanity, just imagination.
The plot was simple enough: The main character, Lady Numbers (her D&D character name), had to tame a very overgrown yard. Through her imagination and gaming experience, she took on the task as if going to battle against a monster named The Lawn instead of in a more mundane manner.
It was a quick little read (15 pages), and I'm totally cheating by giving it a book number for the year (but there's no way I'll come close to 50 this year, and numbering it will make my end of year post easier, so no harm in giving it one). Seeing how it's free to download, if it interests you at all, grab a copy! (Reminder: I get nothing if you use my links to Amazon, I do not have a referral system set up.)
---
Lost: I'm still chugging away at the series. I'm in the middle of season three, and while I'm really not enjoying it, by hook or by crook I WILL finish the series this time! I loved season one, but season two was pretty joyless to me, and season three is a little less enjoyable than two.
I know, I know, why keep going if I'm not really enjoying it? Because I want to know how everything will turn out and I want to know the answers, but I'd rather see the show first instead of just reading spoilers.
I think part of my issue is that I dislike so many of the main characters. Jack? I wish the smoke monster would eat him. Kate? Oh lord please get eaten by a polar bear. Blond 'Others' woman currently handcuffed to Kate? Sorry, zero interest in you, too. Desmond? Sorry, brother, I hope a hatch door falls onto you and kills you.
I kind of like Charlie still, but I remember reading he's getting killed, so that puts a damper on that. Hurley is spiffy, but we've not been seeing much of him lately. Sawyer? I think he's the only character who I like more now.
Maybe because I'm getting so much of the show so quickly (two and a half seasons in just over a week), but Locke is really, really getting on my nerves. How much bad crap can happen to one person? When his father pushed him out a window, that was about my last straw. (And how, exactly, did that even work? High rises have unbreakable windows to prevent things just like that. There are an annoying number of issues like that with the show.)
Oh well. Seasons four through six have half the number of episodes than one through three have, so I'm more than halfway done with the series. I just hope the payoff is worth it.
Rating: Liked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
Back in the early days of reading Flower's Fang by the same author, I had been enjoying the book enough that I went in search of other things by her, and stumbled upon this free short story.
Free? D&D based? By an author I liked? Sold!
While it turned out that, by the end of the book I didn't like Flower's Fang so much, I still had this story downloaded, so I checked it out.
Interestingly, it followed the same pattern of Flower's Fang: I loved it in the beginning, but by the end my enjoyment quickly cooled. I still liked it overall, but by the end I was ready to be done with it.
Lady Numbers vs The Lawn did something I loved: It wove the main character's imagination seamlessly with reality. She went into a pawn shop to buy a gardening tool, and in a blink was seeing the store owner as a half-bugbear, and paying in gold instead of dollars. Step out of the store, and she was back to seeing the real world again. Not insanity, just imagination.
The plot was simple enough: The main character, Lady Numbers (her D&D character name), had to tame a very overgrown yard. Through her imagination and gaming experience, she took on the task as if going to battle against a monster named The Lawn instead of in a more mundane manner.
It was a quick little read (15 pages), and I'm totally cheating by giving it a book number for the year (but there's no way I'll come close to 50 this year, and numbering it will make my end of year post easier, so no harm in giving it one). Seeing how it's free to download, if it interests you at all, grab a copy! (Reminder: I get nothing if you use my links to Amazon, I do not have a referral system set up.)
---
Lost: I'm still chugging away at the series. I'm in the middle of season three, and while I'm really not enjoying it, by hook or by crook I WILL finish the series this time! I loved season one, but season two was pretty joyless to me, and season three is a little less enjoyable than two.
I know, I know, why keep going if I'm not really enjoying it? Because I want to know how everything will turn out and I want to know the answers, but I'd rather see the show first instead of just reading spoilers.
I think part of my issue is that I dislike so many of the main characters. Jack? I wish the smoke monster would eat him. Kate? Oh lord please get eaten by a polar bear. Blond 'Others' woman currently handcuffed to Kate? Sorry, zero interest in you, too. Desmond? Sorry, brother, I hope a hatch door falls onto you and kills you.
I kind of like Charlie still, but I remember reading he's getting killed, so that puts a damper on that. Hurley is spiffy, but we've not been seeing much of him lately. Sawyer? I think he's the only character who I like more now.
Maybe because I'm getting so much of the show so quickly (two and a half seasons in just over a week), but Locke is really, really getting on my nerves. How much bad crap can happen to one person? When his father pushed him out a window, that was about my last straw. (And how, exactly, did that even work? High rises have unbreakable windows to prevent things just like that. There are an annoying number of issues like that with the show.)
Oh well. Seasons four through six have half the number of episodes than one through three have, so I'm more than halfway done with the series. I just hope the payoff is worth it.
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