Fic recs, May 11th! · 11:13pm May 11th, 2016
I recently had the opportunity to edit the final draft of iisaw's The Celestia Code prior to its print run. In doing so, I found myself enjoying the story all over again. It's a breezy read for 65k, all the character work is solid, and I was amazed by the amount of foreshadowing for stories later in the series (I've also been editing its threequel, and let me tell you, the pre-planning was astounding). Plus, this version at least now comes with zero punctuation errors. :V In light of all this, I have upgraded my review of it to a 5 out of 5. Well done, iisaw!
So hey, it's been three days, time for some minifics! Been meaning to do one of these before I'm done with this book of PH. Better almost-late than never!
H: 4 R: 6 C: 6 V: 2 N: 1
O Death, Where Is Thy Sting? by Cold in Gardez
Genre: Pulp Action
Flash Sentry has travelled to many worlds; this one might be his last.
This is really strange; I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. The grandiose dialogue doesn't really fit Flash Sentry, but taken alongside the grandiose narrative, it works. The setting Flash finds himself in is really neat, and that this is all just a passing scene of a larger narrative intrigued me. The writing will probably not satisfy all, but if you get what's going on here, you'll enjoy it.
Recommended
1,095 Days by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Horror
Applejack was gone for one thousand, ninety five days.
The downside, this reads like a creepypasta. On the upside, I can't say I've seen the particular story before, and it's not overly dark, relying more or less on fridge horror.
Recommended for Fans of Dark Fics
A Game of Phones by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Comedy
Fluttershy gets her tail stuck in the door.
This is an all-dialogue game of telephone, no doubt leading to the title. Granted, the drama ramps up almost entirely because Pinkie takes everything out of context. The fact that she's the direct source of the issue is kind of eh. But it was a fun read. :)
Recommended as Light Reading
One Thousand Paces to Sugarcube Corner by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Shipping
Twilight Sparkle notices many things.
This is a prelude to TwiPie by way of a Twilight character study. It's honestly a pretty unique way to go about shipping, and I appreciate that someone wrote a shipfic where the sought-after party actually notices she is sought, especially when she's Twilight. Won't do anything for those uninterested in the subject matter.
Recommended for Shippers
In Thy Name by Pascoite
Genre: Slice of Life
Ever since Twilight became a princess, she's heard things.
So this is pretty much just a quick rundown of a bit of headcanon of the "inherently silly but handled seriously" sort. It's a neat idea that applies itself well in the final scene. Good, short piece for those interested in princess stuff.
Recommended
To the Moooooon by Nonagon
Genre: Fandom Jokes
There's really nothing to this. If you get the joke behind it, you've already seen where it came from, which was funnier.
Not Recommended
Dentistry by FuzzyFurvert
Genre: Twilestia
Twilight and Celestia take their relationship to a new level.
Okay, shouldn't have read this, but quite honestly? I don't even know what the fuck. I wrote a story called Erotic Toothbrush and I don't even know what the fuck.
Recommended for Twilestias?
The Biggest Party of the Year by HoofAndQuill
Genre: Comedy
No time to sleep: tomorrow is the seventh of Hay!
This is kind of more a one-joke slice of life, but I got a laugh out of what Pinkie does by the end. POV slides all over, but still, a fun little piece.
Recommended for Laughs
Guest Speaker by FanOfMostEverything
Genre: Comedy
Cheerilee couldn't have asked for a better recipe for disaster.
Not to spoil too much of the fun, but this is a great use for Discord. :D His interaction with Cheerilee and her students is extremely enjoyable. The story itself is a little spaghetti incident, short-circuiting to its ending, but it's perfectly serviceable and could stand on its own if not for FOME's weirdo MTG thing.
Recommended
Bacon Literally by FanOfMostEverything
Genre: Comedy
Twilight 'helps' Celestia garden.
The main joke here is pretty easy to see coming… Once the story gets to that point. Prior to that, it's actually a nice slice of life, with some interesting headcanon in the form of a mirrored Winter Wrap-Up and earth pony magic. But the best part is that the main joke isn't the only joke. This surprised me. :)
Recommended
Starlight Glimmer Gets Murdered by an Angry Mob by Admiral Biscuit
Reading by ShadowOfCygnus
Genre: What It Says on the Label
This retreads The Cutie Map a little too much for my tastes. Plus there really isn't anything more to it than what the title says. Huh, I guess I didn't like it very much.
Vaguely Recommended
Twilight Sparkle Eats a Potato by Admiral Biscuit
Genre: Comedy
Twilight celebrates St. Patrick's Day.
Everything about this had me in stitches. What Twilight calls her human friends, her link to St. Patrick's Day, and that this ends up being a story about pony issues were all great. It's quick and funny. :D
Highly Recommended
How Equestria Was Made by AugieDog
Genre: Origin Story
Augie has once again written us a perfect poem, a wacky epyllion told by Pinkie as the true story of how Equestria was made. And I don't just mean the nation, but the world itself, ponies included. It's got all the trappings of a just-so story, as the proto-ponies wrest creation from the topsy-turviness they were born into. This is just a really fun piece any way you slice it.
Highly Recommended
The End by Silvernis
Genre: Character Death
Death comes for Twilight at long last.
This has an interesting look into unicorn longevity, but otherwise doesn't stand out too much from other, similar pieces. Well, save for not being at all depressing.
Recommended as Light Reading
The Nature of War by GhostOfHeraclitus
Genre: Epic
A telling of the glorious war between Equestria and Griffonstan, fought for no reason at all.
I read a story like this not long ago, that told of things in grand, sweeping hyperbole, with lots of titles and the epic fantasy version of hashtags. I have to say, this one did it better. Despite being so grandiloquent on the subject of the glory of war, it fits well enough into the show's setting that I could see it being legitimate world-building. There are some great ideas about griffons, a cool story about a sword, and an appropriately anticlimactic ending. Plus a little extra. Great stuff.
Highly Recommended
Monsters by Sharp Spark
Genre: Horror
Oh shit, I remember this one from a writeoff. It's a shame it wasn't published on its own, because it's great. It's also pretty shaky on the pony connections (probably why it wasn't published solo), beyond mention of changelings, but if you like horror stories, you'll like this.
Recommended
Manehattan by Bradel
Genre: Episode Followup
Applejack knows what Manehattan is like.
This is a followup to Rarity Takes Manehattan, told from AJ's perspective. It's a little bit more than that, though. Even if it weren't, the writing would make it worth reading, but there's a twist near the end that… Well, it doesn't exactly reframe the whole story, but it kind of gut-punched me. It was totally unexpected and entirely welcome, and it absolutely makes this worth reading.
Recommended
We Shall Never Speak of This Again by Wanderer D
Genre: Christmas Pageant
Oh dear god, this is amazing. It's a little hard to follow, but that's because it's perfectly frantic, capturing the hilarity of a play no one's apparently rehearsed. Ponies trying to tell the story of Jesus… I can't.
Highly Recommended
Love by Bombastic Bookpony
Genre: Sad Shipping
It's time for Rainbow to let her down.
I like what this has to say about Rainbow Dash, but I expect the writing problems will turn a lot of potential readers away. It even gets bad enough that a word is wrong. And of course, it won't do anything for anyone uninterested in mane cast shipping.
Vaguely Recommended
Two things:
1) I ALWAYS get the best reviews from you.
2) How come One Thousand Paces to Sugarcube Corner gets its genre as 'Shipping' and Dentistry gets its genre as 'Twilestia?' ??? Recommended to 'Twilestias?' You can't? I CAN'T!
2.5) Now I want to read Erotic Toothbrush.
Wow. I'm always looking for quality poetry. How the heck did Augie's collection slip by me until now?
(Also, were it not for that weirdo MtG thing, I'd have never thought of writing a story featuring Discord and Cheerilee.)
You didn't like it... so you recommend it?
Sorry dude (and sorry Biscuit for picking your story as an example), but this is probably the biggest issue I have with your reviews. I appreciate you doing these things, and I've definitely found some good stories thanks to them, but... you really seem to go easy handful of authors you like. I thought about this the other day, and realised I mentally lower the rating you've given stories down a peg if you've featured the author more than a half-dozen times, or if I know they're a friend of yours. So a Highly Recommended Biscuit fic is about the same as a Recommended random user fic, in my mind.
Not trying to insult you or anything, and I definitely don't want you to stop doing these reviews. I just needed to get it off my chest.
3938616
Vague recommendations are sometimes a backhanded compliment. :B In this case, the story's short, so it won't waste your time. (Granted, I didn't give that luxury to Nonagon's entry this time around, which is 1/4 the length of Admiral Biscuit's.) There's just nothing to write home about. If it seems like I favor certain authors, it's probably because they show up in these minific roundups again and again, and I tend to be far more lenient with these.
3938636
It's short, that's all! D:
3938747
It's not just them, though. I mean, take your review of Pav's story, A Fork In Time:
I dunno, man. I'm sure you don't mean to do anything of the sort, but it definitely feels like you're not as harsh on your friends as you are other users.
3938788
In that case, it's "You guys will like this, probably; I don't, and I don't know why you like this anyway. I figure you'll just eat up anything with this tag."
But as you can see, that is a very long thing to put in a recommendation. :B
Also I'm friends with everyone give me a break D:3938865
Just suck it up and say what you want to say, PP.
Recommended for people whose taste isn't as good as mine.
(I say this in tongue-in-cheek good fun, and I want to point out very clearly that PP "Not Recommended" the first story of mine he read. In fact, I think he may have "Not Recommended" the first two or three.)
Glad you liked it! Now I need to write something else for you to hate/like next time!
Woo-Hoo!
Oops... I mean "Woo-hoo," of course. Someday, I will learn to use commas properly, I swear!
Lots of fun stuff here to add to my list!
3938910
That I am a bastion of taste should be obvious. :V
I learned a new word today.