Friday Firsts – Level Grind by Annie Bellet

Friday Firsts is a new meme that will run every Friday here on Tenacious Reader. It will feature the first few sentences/paragraph of my current book and my first impressions as well. It’s meant to be a quick and easy way to share a bit about what I am reading, and I would love to hear others join in sharing their current reads as well.

Life-changing moments are sneaky little bastards. Often we don’t even know that nothing will ever be the same until long after, and only in hindsight can we look and say, “There! That was it! That changed everything.”

Well, at least we could, if we’re alive to do it.

For me, it was just another Thursday evening on a blustery spring day. I was finishing up a Japanese-to-English translation job and only somewhat pretending to mind the register in my comic and game shop. That’s the benefit of being the owner, I suppose. No one was going to tell me to be cheerful and pay attention to customers.

There weren’t any, anyway. Thursday nights are game night and we close early. I hadn’t flipped the sign yet as I was waiting on Harper, my best friend of the last four years, to stop swearing at her game of StarCraft.

“No amount of Banelings in the world are going to save you here,” I said, glancing over at her screen.

“Marines are overpowered,” she growled.

“Sure,” I said, trying not to laugh. It was an old gripe. Whatever race her opponent played in the game was always OP, according to the logic of Harper. “Maybe you should play with a mouse instead of just your trackpad?”

“I’m practicing my hotkeying,” she said. “Shut up, you’re distracting me.”

The string of bells on the door tinkled and I turned away from my laptop to face the front of the store, figuring it was either a college student or a harried mother looking for Pokemon or Magic the Gathering cards. Those types, beyond my regulars, are about all that trickle into my store on weekdays.

The man who came in was no college student, and he definitely wasn’t a soccer mom.

Bellet, Annie. The Twenty-Sided Sorceress (pp. 1-2). Saga Press Press. Kindle Edition.

My First Impressions

I have to confess, I was initially a bit daunted by the size of this one. Not that it is huge compared to a lot of the books I read, but UF reads tend to be shorter. But after reading the first bit, the flow and style definitely lend itself to be read quicker, so I don’t think that length is an issue. I admit, I’ve never been a gamer, but I am surrounded by them in my life, so I will get some references, but not all. The few pages I was a little concerned the gaming references would feel somewhat artificial, but about 15% in I don’t feel that way any more. The more I’ve read of it, the more I’m enjoying it, which is just how I want a book to go. Fingers crossed the last 85% keeps that trend going.

What are you reading right now? Did it start out strong? Feel free to share in the comments, and also feel free to link up!