The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Reviews #04: 80 Days 'Til the World's Farthest Shore · 5:44pm Aug 29th, 2016
Anyone who has followed me for any length of time will have realised that most of the things I review are crap. There is, as a matter of fact, good reason for this: I find such reviews entertaining to read and write, and they allow me to highlight common trends in fiction which often lead to shoddy work. Thus, they are informative: this is What Not To Do.
Occasionally, however, it does the soul good to highlight What Good Things You Could Do. To that end, I like to call attention to good fics, and, on occasion, write a positive review of a work that is unambiguously good.
Hence todays review:
Tags: Adventure, AU, Human
Description:
When I first met Princess Twilight, she was confused, lost. Adrift in an alien world. I thought of her as a rich eccentric, certainly a foreigner. I humored her as much as I believed her, really. Even when she dragged me to the very ends of the world in her mad quest for a mythic well, I really did it all for her. I figured it would help her find some closure, and we could go home.
I was right, in a way.
Based roughly on the game 80 Days.
First Impressions:
Before we proceed any further, I am going to take the unusual step of advising you to stop reading this review. Instead, you should chick the provided link and go and read the story. It's only ten thousand words; it won't take long. There will be spoilers ahead, and trust me, you are going to want to read this one.
So, my good ladies and gentlemen, bugger off and read it. Head back here when you're done.
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Back? Excellent. Let's continue.
First things first: that is a really awesome picture of a human Twilight, and it is what first drew me to this fic.
I have oft argued the importance of a good cover art. On this site, there are over one hundred thousand fics; there are lists upon lists of them, catering to any possible pony related taste. An author, therefore, requires something to catch the eye as there is much competition and little time to convince readers that your fic, amidst the multitudes, is worth their time. Good cover art will do that for you.
This is good cover art.
Note twilight's expression. She is interested and bright eyed, with just a sidelong look, as if just turning her attention to the reader. Note the dodad on her back; a wooden, almost steam punk looking contraption; what's that for? Note the gauntlet, note the books.
It's really quite cool.
Our description is top draw as well. Written in the first person, it shows a lovely view of Twilight at once removed, and through the eyes of another. The text provides just enough information to titillate: Twilight and our point of view character are of on an adventure, and one we can just see the shape of. It promises to be fascinating.
With a cohesive set of tags promising an adventure in an alternative universe with humans, I went into this one with high hopes.
I was not disappointed.
Story and Characterisation:
We begin in a bar in the far north. The far north of somewhere anyway, and it is here we are introduced to one of our main characters.
Our point of view character, a gentleman at the bar, descripes a new arrival, the Traveller, our second most important character in the piece:
But as she stood, the traveler removed the wrappings from her face and was again human. On her head she wore a furred hat, as sometimes you see in the northern climes, and on it sat a strange, crude metal insignia like a jagged, many-pointed star.
I watched her as she sat at the bar, unblinking, and muttered something. Her accent was foreign. She pronounced each word with an alien care in a voice I found beautiful.
Perhaps her voice, speaking as if she cradled each unfamiliar syllable with care, compelled me to cross from my own table to sit beside her. Or, if I am more honest, it was more likely that foolish sort of audacity that is more accurately understood as a potent mix of arrogance and libido.
The descriptions here, and throughout the fic, are lovely: the writing is flowery and elegant, without tending towards purple. The author uses a rather old fashioned prose that is deliberately evocative of an old school adventure story of the sort Tolkien or Lewis might have written, with a hint of Bernard Cornwell about it.
Through this rather nice prose, we are introduced to the Traveller, who is a woman with a story to tell. And so begins our story proper. This is the Traveller's story, but it is not really about her, it is about Twilight:
Twilight was kind, much as the Lady, my sometime teacher and omnipresent liege, was. When she had calmed down, she was polite, refined, and certainly friendly. Not once did I feel that she was mad in the traditional sense. There was no outburst of nonsense, no dire proclamations of doom. Simply an eager woman who was genuinely interested in my own magical pursuits.
The next week was strange. I helped the Princess find lodging in town, and she offered to hire me as a sort of secretary-cum-translator. I would help her navigate a strange new locale, and in return she might impart a bit of her knowledge as she felt I could understand it. It helped that she offered to pay me with those gold coins, which I found could be exchanged for a handsome little fortune with the proper application of arm-twisting and flattery.
Our Traveller, much like Twilight, is the student of a prominent ruler and a scholar of magic. Her purpose in the story is twofold: she provides in character narration of the events of the story, and she provides the author with a lens with through which to examine the character of Twilight Sparkle.
Even more than the adventure, which is excellent, it is in this that the fic truly shines. The author has an excellent command of his or her characters, and he or she utilities the adventure to show off Twilight to best effect. Additionally, the author does a far better than average job of showing off Equestria as seen through foreign eyes:
Equestria, she said, was a kingdom of magical beasts. Talking horses, in fact, of various varieties, living in great cities and in tiny villages much as we humans make. Their Princess—she was adamant on this point, that her liege was not a queen and would never be, though I confess I do not know why—was named Celestia or Celeste. She kept changing her mind as the days went on, but Celestia was the most common version. Her sister, who apparently ruled alongside her in a sort of dual monarchy, was named either Selene or Luna, and she too was a victim of the Princess’ frustrated precision, for her name shifted with time.
This paragraph does both of those things. First, we have a brief description of Equestria, here termed a land of magical beasts. The description itself is as well written as everything else in this piece, but note the lens it provides on Twilight.
She, ultimately, is the origin of this description and she is providing it via an imperfect translation. Twilight being who she is, those imperfections drive her nuts. The fact that Twilight is forced to rely on translations is itself a nice touch, as it shows that the author has thought about the nuances of moving to different worlds and what that might entail in some depth.
It works best, however, as a subtle look at a facelet of Twilight's character. All the while, of course, we see more and more of the character of the Traveller.
The story is full of excellent character moments of this sort, and this is far from the best. For the sake of any who ignored my spoiler warning, I will not reveal the best, which occur later on.
As you might have gathered, Twilight is trapped in another world, and she wishes to return home. And thus begins our journey of eighty days. We see action, we see adventure, but above all we see Twilight's character, examined subtly and wonderfully through the eyes of another.
We see her motivatIons, we see her history, we see her interactions, we see her development.
I will spoil no more.
If you haven't already, read the fic.
conclusion:
This is one of the best fics I have read in a while. An elegant character piece disguised as an adventure, and a damn good adventure at that, it is satisfying on several levels, and a thoroughly enjoyable read. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that I name this fic among the Good:
It's nice to see a good fic made it through the queue.
4179973
It's nice to review something good occasionally. I have a few good fics that shall be featured here. Watch this space.
Yeah, after reading this one, I had to add it to my Better Stories Than Mine box. Seriously one of the best things I've read in months, if not longer.
Huh. It's a surreal, though certainly not unwelcome thing--I rarely register on reviewer radar!
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I rather enjoyed writing it, myself, even if it got away from me very quickly. I'm always surprised by what does well, and 80 Days is part of that surprise. I had expected it to follow suite with most things I've done not tagged Romance in the last dozen stories--tank with a vengeance--but people seemed to like it. The moral arc of the universe swings up, I suppose.
4180115
It was a pleasure to read. Thank you for writing it