[Report This]Date: April 13 2024 4:40 AM Title: Ch 10. The Best is Yet to Come
I love almost everything about this finale. The couple moving to a smaller, accepting piece of civilization, the welcoming townspeople, their wonderful coupling once they've been reunited - it's all wonderful. This is the ending the two of them deserved, at least until they take the next step in their lives, and you deopped plenty of breadcrumbs to suggest how that might go.
The one thing I would have liked to see, is Lanz finding a reason to live for himself. I'm so glad that Miriam can be and is that for him, but to be truly healthy, he needs something for himself as well, if only to avoid becoming lost in his incredible partner. However, it's only been 6 months. There's plenty of time for him to heal, and to grow as a person, and this ending leaves that as a possibility.
Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into this story, and thank you for sharing it with us. Stranded With The Enemy has been a powerful, captivating, detailed, and living story, and I am sad to see it end. I suppose I will have to console myself by diving into the next couple chapters of Twin Sizes, which I haven't had a chance to read yet.
Thank you again, and well fucking done.
Author's Response:
Thank you! In my head, Chapter 9's the real finale and this is more a sort of epilogue that I felt the audience deserved. Like with Mixing Sizes, my goal was to end on maximum good feels and point to a hopeful future for our protags.
That's a good point you make about Lanz finding his own happiness alongside that provided to him by Miriam. Lanz is a character who has never been able to live for himself, always acting on the behest of those with control over him, so I probably should have delved into that for this finale, but I do think he would need some time to actually find that for himself.
Thank you so much for reading, and for letting me know you liked it! I can only hope my future work continues to impress.
[Report This]Date: January 08 2024 10:56 PM Title: Ch 10. The Best is Yet to Come
What a fucking phenomenal piece of literature. I mean no hyperbole when I say this is the gold standard for what a story should be. Characters are fun, descriptions are vivid, the lavish prose is amazing. Seeing the pair grow on each other is literally the best character work I've read, it feels natural and earned, while also not being too slow. The foreshadowing of the double-double cross way earlier in the story was great. I seriously have nothing but good things to say about this one. I could go on and on, and because you deserve it, I will. Rapid-fire round!
World is great, worldbuilding is well done and natural. I loved how you implied what decade it was through the technology rather than outright saying it (vietnam-war era weaponry, correct? Also, was that a nuke later in the story?). This is a world I'd love to see explored more if you ever do something like this again.
Gecko program is cool as hell, too, I adore that body-horror type stuff (genuinely super cool).
The tiny technology is a magnificent way of tipping the odds.
Setting is just great fun. I can really picture the lush forest, the shimmering blue water pools, the rocky outcroppings.
Again, I cannot understate how much fun it is seeing the pair interact throughout the story, alone on the island. I like their little films they make with one another, though I did worry for a moment that they were losing their shit.
The little bit about how easy it would be for Miriam to kill Lanz, while typically not my thing, elicited genuine fear from me, so great work with that.
Generally just great work making us feel connected to the characters.
TL;DR: fantastic work, the rating doesn't let me go high enough.
Author's Response:
Thank you so much! This is extremely high praise, and I cannot express how much I appreciate it (though I'm gonna try anyway). This story was very stressful to write for a variety of reasons, most significantly that I've never done enemies to lovers before and was terrified of progressing their relationship at unsatisfying pace (whether too fast or too slow) and making sure it was believable. I'm so, so happy that I apparently managed to succeed on that front from your and others' feedback.
Thanks for appreciating my worldbuilding through the era of weaponry mentioned. I was actually going for WWII-era (which is why Baltzimar was in the middle of developing nukes), but I did cheat and included some later tech as "prototypes" (I had to include a Desert Eagle, I'm sorry!). My main goal was to establish this world as pre-computers/pre-cellphones, so Vietnam War is close enough for my satisfaction.
Environmental descriptions are something I struggle with more than characterization and such, so I'm glad so many people liked how I wrote the island. Tropics at least give me a lot of colors to work with, so that helps a lot.
I think after enough time stranded, anyone is going to go at least a little crazy, even hardened soldiers. I knew they wouldn't completely lose their minds, but after enough time from civilization, it makes sense their inhibitions would start to fade away.
I don't remember which moment you're referring to with me describing Miriam's ability to kill Lanz, but that's something I find very appealing about gentle giantess: the idea that they could effortlessly kill their tiny companion, but choose not to and consciously hold themselves back when handling them. Glad you were able to stomach that, sorry if I ever went too far with it lol.
Thanks again for all the kind words. I'm really proud of all the love this story has garnered.
[Report This]Date: November 27 2023 4:00 AM Title: Ch 10. The Best is Yet to Come
...and a perfectly executed finale, couldn't ask for much better than this. :3
Author's Response:
Thank you! I do like my happy endings lol. Glad you enjoyed the story.