My family was all asleep by 11:45 on Friday night, but I was a little restless. I decided to go pick up the book. I have a discount card for Barnes and Noble, so I went over to the location at Northwoods. I got there at probably twenty after twelve. I naively thought that by that time there would be no line. I ended up wishing I had brought my camera. You had to get in line to get a ticket to get in line to buy the book. If you weren't on the reserved list, you could get in line, but they might run out of extras before you got to the counter in which case you were out of luck. It was just a weird and silly scene. People were lined up between the racks through half of the store. I saw employees holding signs at the front of aisles with "151-200" and "201-250" on them. Lots of kids were in costume. There was face-painting happening. It was one time when the crush of people was actually kind of entertaining to me.
I left after about fifteen minutes of people watching. I went across the street to Wal*Mart and walked right up to the counter with no line and purchased the book for $15.82, a couple bucks cheaper than my card would have gotten it for me at B&N. Actually, there were lines when I walked in the door, but I first went to check the game aisle for Heroscape wave two (Utgar's Rage) booster packs. I found them and was delighted to find the several cashiers without lines by the time I got back to the front of the store.
I traditionally read these books aloud to my wife. We are only four chapters in.
I think I am about a book behind on this series. The reviews I have read say that the author rushes up the ending in this one, making it weaker than the others. Guess I'll read it and see if I agree.
Posted by: Susan McJilton at July 20, 2005 5:06 PM