Fic recs, April 8th · 6:38pm Apr 8th, 2014
I feel like I'm starting to get back into a spot where I'm reading for pleasure rather than any obligations. It's kinda neat. :D Which isn't to say I don't have any obligations, just that I'm taking a short break from them.
H: 2 R: 2 C: 2 V: 0 N: 0
Pumpkin Cake and the Storm Giant by Cloud Wander
Sequel to The Cake Twins’ Surprise Party
Genre: Adventure
I reviewed The Cake Twins’ Surprise Party in the very first review journal I did in this format. I was somewhat less than impressed with it, twist ending aside, but now I see that’s because the voicing is a little hard to get used to unless you’ve seen it in Short Cakes, not to mention it relies a lot on the emotional attachments formed in that story. So, having read that story and reread Surprise Party, I’m going to upgrade its rating to a C and head into this third part of what is apparently an unlinked trilogy. In this story, Pumpkin, Pound and Gummy embark on a valiant quest amidst the ruins of Sugarcube Corner’s cellar, with all the gravitas that true heroism requires. On some level, it is entirely beyond me. I am not pleased to admit this. But it’s also entirely amazing. The voicing is slightly different from its predecessors, but lacks entirely any sense of disjointedness, replacing it with out and out hilarity. The little guys are just so serious. And when the titular storm giant comes into play, the tone shifts without being jarring. This is without a doubt one of the best stories I have ever read on this site, and it’s absolutely worth reading the other two to get to it.
Highly Recommended
Equestria’s First Prank Call by JapaneseTeeth
Genre: Comedy
When I saw this in the featured box, I thought it might be worth a laugh, and it turns out that hunch was correct for once. Twilight invents the telephone (or “Longevox”), Pinkie defies all laws of magic and physics to prank call her on it, and then things get weird. The pacing doesn’t always serve the comedy, and there are some spots where I could quibble with the narrative, but in all this is a fun ride and definitely high quality for featured material.
Recommended as Light Reading
For Those We Left Behind by Drakmire
Genre: Sad
Usually when I start off a review mentioning that a story is old, it’s a cue to throw your mind back to an earlier time when the things we take for granted today as parts of the show and the fandom hadn’t been thought of yet. But this story possesses a certain timelessness that, despite being about Twilight’s family, allows it to resonate emotionally without needing something like Shining Armor. (I don’t think it would be a terribly different story with him, either, perhaps just another scene or two to establish his relationship with Twilight and their mother.) Anyway, this is part of a sub-genre I really enjoy, Twilight dealing with her mother’s death, and falls under a very specific subset thereof, namely a situation wherein Twilight sees Celestia as her mother figure and has to deal with not being as sad about her actual mother as she “should” be. This throws an extra twist into the emotional milieu by bringing in Star Sparkle’s “replacement” for Twilight and having them try to connect. The emotions on display are very real, and the writing is just beautiful. This is a piece I’ve heard a lot about, and it’s absolutely worth reading.
Highly Recommended
Faster by Einhander
Genre: Adventure
Rainbow Dash, faced with the fact that she’s getting older and older ponies start slowing down, desperately tries to qualify for her final Wonderbolts tryout and ends up nearly killing herself. In a state, she accepts an offer from a mysterious entity (its identity is quite awesome!) to become faster, and gets quite a lot more than she bargained for. I have a few quibbles with this piece, but the short version is I liked it. Quibble number one: Flutterdash shipping. Non-shippers may feel that it comes out of nowhere, as it sort of does. My problem was it was a little too “I’ve always loved you”, but this is mitigated somewhat by the fact that it’s a major focus of the middle of the story, and follow-through is what a lot of shipfics lack. Not to mention, its existence gives the story's events something extra to affect in her life. My other quibble is that the setup is something I’ve seen a lot, with the Wonderbolts having pointless age-based rules to ramp up the Rainbow Drama. Okay, and “be careful what you wish for” has been done to death as a theme. But if you can get over those issues, this is a really fun, tense piece with something of a Twilight Zone feel, some cool worldbuilding, and a fantastic teaser for the sequel, Stronger, which is currently in progress. This series is gonna be awesome. (I have scuttlebutt that says there will be stories called “Harder” and “Better”, and yes it’s a Daft Punk reference, and no, I do not care, I think it’s freaking sweet.)
Recommended
August Fifteenth by Nicknack
Sequel to Evening Flames
Genre: Slice of Life
Ahh, back into the Gildaverse. (Yes, I just gave this series a name, deal with it.) This is a series of vignettes based around the various stories following Heart of Gold, Feathers of Steel, and if you’re not familiar with those, you’ll likely want to be so before you read this. They detail, in order: Iron waking up next to Gilda; Gilda’s brother meeting his paramour; Gilda’s life in the Farrington guard’s “bruiser squad”; Memo feeding ducks and reminiscing about her lovelife; Starfall relaxing at home; and Maxie coming home from a date. I particularly like that one, but honestly they’re all great, and it’s nice seeing these characters brought out into the spotlight once again. Not to mention, it's neat how all six vignettes span a single day from morning to evening. Anyone who’s read HoGFoS and its followups definitely won’t want t miss this, and anyone who hasn’t… should. :V
Recommended
Lovebirds by Zay-el
Genre: Pet-venture
Owloysius sets up a trap for an intruder that’s been haunting the library recently, and gets more than he bargained for when it turns out to be a certain mischievous phoenix. I’m very glad someone wrote this story. I’m pretty sure Owlomina shipping is an idea that crossed my mind at some point in the last three years, not to mention I really like stories from animal perspectives. This is cute as fuck, not to mention funny, if fairly arrow-focused on tracing the path it lays out. The writing does have a few flaws, mostly typos here and there, as well as Lavender, uh, Bird Syndrome. But this really does capture both of their personalities perfectly, and it’s good, clean fun.
Recommended for Fans of Comedic Pet-Shipping
I really need to stop reading these. I blame you for my 'Read Later' list being over 200 stories long.
I always confuse For Those We Left Behind with Memories of Those Friends Who've Gone Before Us. I think I generally like the latter more, but I do agree on your rating for the former.
1992723
It's funny, because I can pass that buck on to a whole lot of other people. :V Mine's over 3100.
1992848
Ah! I knew there was another story with a similar title I was getting confused on. XD
I'm pretty sure Nicknack calls it the "Farringtonverse".
2003091
ohyeah, that sounds right :B