Fic recs, April 22nd! · 4:39pm Apr 22nd, 2018
Scribbler's newest reading is Eakin's I Can Wait, with DracKeagan, Lotsa Voices, GloryoftheRainWings and Ice Gaze!
Speaking of which, my— err, Loganberry's newest reading is of his story Shining Armor's Amour's Armour!
But wait! I hear you say. You haven't reviewed that story yet! Think again, friend, the review's in this very blog post! :V On that note, have not an edition, but a handful of unrelated stories I've been reading in the meantime!
And next time, I have something extra-special planned. See if you can guess ahead of time what it might be! :)
H: 2 R: 2 C: 2 V: 1 N: 0
Shining Armor's Amour's Armour by Loganberry
Genre: Feghoot
Do you enjoy wordplay? Alliteration? Homophones? By golly, have I got the story for you. Full disclosure, I first read this while reading aloud to myself, and it was agony. XD But the whole point is coming up with scenarios wherein words can be used for maximum narrative ridiculousness. It works! It's funny. I hate myself. D:
Recommended
Rip Van Glimmer by Allykitty
Genre: Future Fic
Starlight Glimmer wakes up two hundred years after the fight with the Pony of Shadows.
Man, people like hurling Starlight into some real awful situations. XD But this story is a prime example of why I love reading future fics. Flinging a canon character into the future makes things even better, as we get to learn about the world through the eyes of someone we ostensibly care about. And then, about a third of the way in, something changes, and that's what makes this really awesome. What was once a fun, if melancholy, look into a prosperous future Equestria becomes a pulse-pounding thriller. (Which, yes, reminded me of a Star Trek TNG episode, but not completely!) There's lots of action toward the end, and some really insane and awesome ideas at play. I will note, it needs another editing pass, and it's overall a little fast-paced (adventures with short chapters tend to be, I've found that out first-hand), but a story that can get me shaking with excitement is eminently worth the read. :D
Highly Recommended
The City That Breathes by Pearple Prose
Reading by Illya Leonov
Genre: Lost Cities
In the Dragon Lands, the earth bleeds.
Yeah, that's always a good thing to write about. :D This is some top-tier scenery porn, lemme tell you, but it stands out from the crowd of Lost Cities imitators by being really visceral. Like, gross. I've never seen landscapes described quite this way. The places featured here not only breathe as the title suggests, but teem with dead things. It's macabre and fascinating.
Highly Recommended
Anywhere but Here by P-Berry
Reading by Scarlett Blade
Genre: Grim and Gritty
Two ponies reflect on their changed lives.
I wouldn't have read this story if someone hadn't suggested it to me, because it's related to all those featurebait incest fics that were flooding the site not that long ago. Thankfully, this isn't about that, but it still can't be read alone. It's based off some blog I've never heard of, and I have to wonder if being familiar with that would have helped, because this bounced off me hard. Never once did I give a damn about either of the characters featured here, and the more they moped and whined about the shitty lives they themselves created, the more I wanted them to shut up already. Gritty realism can enhance a story about loss, but here, it feels like a means to its own end. This is just depressing, and while I won't say it's bad — it is, if nothing else, decently written — neither did I have an ounce of enjoyment reading it.
Vaguely Recommended
Vindication by Amit
Mature
Genre: Sexual Comedy
Rainbow Dash comes out to her friends. They don't believe her.
Hey look, it's a leftover old favorite! This is a really gooftastic comedy, especially given the way Rainbow ends up convincing her friends she's telling the truth. I'm not sure if there's any point to this — I can't even tell if it's trying to poke fun at anything or not — but it's definitely funny and probably worth dropping those mature filters for.
Recommended
I hate bats by Admiral Biscuit
Reading by Winged T. Spears
Genre: RPF
I would like to take this opportunity to note that, for the past four months, Admiral Biscuit and I have a running conversation wherein he posts an image of a terrible thing and I comment on how terrible it is. He is the ninja of posting these terrible images on this blog; nary ten minutes passes after I comment before he's posted another picture. I try not to check in more than twice a day, but still. It never ends. D: Anyway, Biscuit wrote a story about some beknighted saint encountering the worst thing ever, and it made me laugh.
Recommended If You, Too, Hate Bats, as Is Right and Good :V
Waiting for You by Rainb0wDashie
Paid Review for Rainb0wDashie
Reading (part 1) by Dr. Wolf
Genre: Mystery/Adventure
Rainbow Dash hasn't been sleeping well lately, thanks to strange nightmares. Could they have meaning?
One thing I've long grown tired of are narratively convenient dreams. Thankfully, the dreams in this story are the story, and their narrative is their own. It's also pretty damned interesting! From these dreams is woven a tense and thrilling mystery about the ancient past, with lots of ghosts and exploring in the Everfree Forest. (Nothing heightens mystery quite like writing to Princess Luna about your nightmares and having her say everything's fine!) The juxtaposition of the dark dreams with the more slice of life scenes heightens the wrongness of what Rainbow Dash is experiencing, while the more adventurey parts… well, they're fun, but not the best part. Actually, the best part is probably the imagery, not just visual but emotional. Just check out scenes like Rainbow contemplating how empty Twilight's castle feels, or laying half awake thinking about her day; I love how that second one blends into yet another dream sequence. That said, the writing quality overall is variable. Another editing pass is needed (the author has told me he plans to do just that), and there are problems like POV switches and a whole lot of 'could'. Like, that and passive voice are appropriate to use in the dreams, given what Rainbow's going through, but the preponderance of could + verb in both those scenes and the waking world was enough for me to comment on it here. Also, not good nor bad, but weird: Gilda. Like, she's just here, hanging out in Ponyville, and this is definitely set post-Griffonstone. To hear her talk, she and Dash have just been doing whatever for a while now. It just happens, and it's never questioned or explained, but at least some the more random aspects of that gain meaning by the end. I've seen enough odd author headcanons over the years that it didn't bother me past that initial "What?" In all, this was an interesting piece, akin to something I've wanted to write for a while, and I'm pleased to say I enjoyed it. Just watch those typos if you're a stickler for that kind of thing, or, y'know, wait a bit.
Recommended for Fans of Ghost Stories
That whole batpony image thread is amazing. Also, "featurebait incest fics"?
Yaaayyyy, lots of things I like getting good recs!
Hey thanks for the review on my story. I hope everypony likes it despite the rough editing!
On that last story, it bugged me how the resolution is just talked about instead of shown. It'd be difficult to make that more compelling than the "live" version, and it'd be much harder to justify it as the more effective way of writing it.
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If you're talking about mine I've received a couple complaints about the ending being 'anticlimactic'. I've actually got a clever idea in mind to address it but won't be able to put out a second edition until I can find an editor that won't leave me hanging like my previous one did.
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Yeah, like...
There's tons of fics about I guess the stallion fucking his daughter? I thought Delta Vee was the main character initially, but I guess not.
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They go to the orphanage with Luna and she talks to the ghost pony. o.O Or are you talking about something else?
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Ugh =/ I rarely, if ever, look at the front page, so I had never seen that stuff.
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I see it all the fucking time! :D
Thank you kindly!
I must admit that recording session is a bit of a blur, enough that I don't remember much. Or anything, really. I'll put it down to the cider.
Man, I got a highly recommended?
I dunno how to react....