R4 (Reactions, Reviews, Reference, Redirection) #0021

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Here are five slightly edited old reviews:
The Traveling Tutor And The Librarian by Georg
A Short Story By Twilight Sparkle by Skywriter
A Breakfast of Time Loops by Obselescence
A Novel Tale by Blissey1
Going Different Ways by Aray

The Traveling Tutor And The Librarian by Georg
[story link] [my original review]

Pretty good, but not great. A bit sitcom-ish in places, a few too many moments of out of context misunderstandings, and not enough emotional depth for my taste. Thought that is mostly just style disagreements and not quality issues. Was a very sweet romance story. I would have liked more slice of life stuff once the two romantic leads had become a couple. The story really starts to drag when they hook up and the author doesn’t seem to know what to do without the comedic romantic tension between them.

Also wish the events of the show weren’t mentioned as often. A piece of fan fiction can be made stronger by occasionally referencing the show to provide backstory and immersion, but in this case it turns out to be a weakness. The trouble is that the events of this story would be mentioned during the events of the show, given how important some of this story is to the characters, so by trying to connect it to the source material it hurts immersion rather than enhances it.

The story also felt kind of rushed. Not because the pacing was wrong exactly, but like every other scene between the important ones was missing. The difference between a documentary video on a subject and a slideshow with narration. So you still get the basic gist, but are left with the feeling that there is a whole lot more that was missing. Part of that is the chapters are all really short and have odd cutoff points. This is actually a pretty well written story. A good example of telling instead of showing. Many places the author is simply telling the reader what is happening instead of showing the situation and letting the reader come to their own conclusions.

I've read this one a few times since, and I've enjoyed it more. It's a nice fluffy yet sincere read. Definitely one that requires you to meet it halfway and just roll with assumptions, but if you do it's very enjoyable.

A Short Story By Twilight Sparkle by Skywriter
[story link] [my original review]

Another very meta short story. Much like Heretical Fictions this is fan fiction that involves other fan fiction. In this case the story that the characters are talking about is Princess Celestia Hates Tea. This story has wonderful comments about both that specific story and writing in general that are quite close to the heart of most writers.

A Breakfast of Time Loops by Obselescence
[story link] [my original review]

Eh, this one was disappointing in that we didn’t get to actually experience any of the time loops. It was pretty well written, but I like time travel/manipulation stories from the point of the view inside the time-loop. In this case it was more just a plot device than a cool idea to explore.

A Novel Tale by Blissey1
[story link] [my original review]

More changelings. Lots of cool ideas in this one. Different changeling hives feeding on different emotions with different strategies to get their preferred emotion. A lot of the same concepts that was in Flitter, but usually with a twist or two that showed this author had gotten there by a slightly different chain of inspiration. Didn’t like the chapter that was describing how the changeling disguises worked. Was just a bit too much magic-as-technology for me, not enough just ‘a wizard did it’. ery good characters and plot. Wish the author had written more stories. This is the only fanfic on fimfiction and it is marked as a work in progress.

Going Different Ways by Aray
[story link] [my original review]

Sweet story, as many of the non-sex romance fanfics are. A snapshot of a bittersweet, but not sad, romantic moment between Twilight Sparkle and Applejack. Which has been a favorite pairing of mine since Yours Truly. Also fond of Rarity and Applejack as well. Really it comes down to how good a story presents it more than any particular personal preference. This story would be a great seed for a much longer one.

As always, The Big Master Review List is here: { THE MASTER LIST }
If you know of a text-format reviewer I'm not keeping track of, please let me know and I'll see if they meet the criteria to be assimilated into the list.

If you are an author who wants a more detailed review of a story I've covered feel free to message me. My reviews tend to be fairly light, mostly just reactions to a story right after reading it. I am happy to give a more careful read and reply to anyone who wants more precision and/or feedback.