Subtle reviews #6: Rainbow Typhoon · 6:18pm May 15th, 2013
I've read a ton of short(er) stories the last few weeks (and a couple long ones as well), but only one of them I still remember as much as this one. And *gasp* it's not even a Romance this time! Without further ado:
Everyone · Adventure · 33k words
When a massive hurricane bears down on Manehatten, the ponies of Equestria discover that not all of life's obstacles can be overcome. Sometimes you just have to do your best to get by. When Rainbow Dash is granted the opportunity to be a Wonderbolt for a day, however, doing her best takes on a whole new meaning.
I think I tracked this story back when I joined this site already, and it only recently completed. The short version is that I started reading one evening, and it was that I had to go to sleep eventually, but I finished it first thing the next morning.
The long version is that this story is seriously underrated. At the moment of writing this blog, it is just shy of 2000 views, which is seriously way too few. From the beginning to the very end, it is just one wild - but really well written - ride. It really felt like watching a movie, or that I was part of the story. I immensely enjoyed reading this one.
Yeah, these review things are more becoming 'bbq recommends', but I can't be bothered by that. Just wanted to share this one with y'all. Go read it. Now.
Added! And bumped to the top for supposedly being a good adventure fic. I'll be going back and forth between this and Background Pony after moving.
I'm not sure if I mentioned Background Pony before. It's pretty good, and it's an emotional roller coaster, but it's likely not worth the 400k+ words unless you enjoy the less scientific kinds of philosophy (which I very much do).
By the way, you need to read Vision. You need to have read it yesterday. It took me like a month to really get into it and finish the first four chapters, but afterwards, all my spare time went into reading that. It's probably the best thing I've read on (and maybe off) FimFiction. Emotional roller coaster, intricate and consistent world, very deep characters, occasionally funny (the good kind), and the whole story has so far been incredibly well planned. Read it. Now.
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I've heard about Background Pony, but hear mixed reviews about it. That and Lyra (it's about Lyra right?) isn't really my thing (I just have like, zero interest in Lyra).
Gonna use the same argument on Vision; when I see 'Trixie' and 'OC' tags, I pretty quickly opt out. Though I guess I will add this one to a new list, namely 'things to read if I ever run out of fics'. It does seem sortof interesting and it does have a good description.
EDIT: dunno if I said it before, I also read that "A Day With My/Your Best Friend" one. Was an enjoyable one, liked it. Currently tackling a 200k TwiDash (A Bluebird's Song) while reading a lot of <15k fics as well.
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Well if it helps, Trixie so far has only been communicating remotely, and we rarely see her in the story. She's anything but pitiable here, and the only reason she's important is because she stands to gain a lot from the main character's situation. And the OC ponies are definitely not self-inserts.
I can see Background Pony getting mixed reviews. There's a lot of OOC dialogue in the first several chapters, and I can see people thinking that it's overly reflective. The dialogue does get better, though you'd have to read through like 100k before it does, and the "excessive" reflection makes sense to me given the narrating style and Lyra's situation. This fic seems to be more about raising interesting questions rather than solving anything or telling a story. Still, if that's not your thing then it's not your thing.