Story Review #19

Story review #19: Sweetie Belle Gains a Soul —by Bad Dragon

Buckle up everyone this is going to be a long one!!

Characters:
Disclaimer: I’m only gonna be covering the most important/present characters in this fic since it has a lot of characters

Sweetie Belle: Quite the departure from her canon counterpart but in its own twisted way a very believable alternative that keeps you gripped into the story. Her journey is fascinating to witness and I appreciate all the effort Bad Dragon puts into making her likable and also corruptible in the first half followed up by her doing some down right morally disgusting things in the 2nd half.

Twilight Sparkle (owner of the Rainbow Kingdom Friendship Castle): Twilight is very much like Sweetie in the fact she is a departure but a believable alternative especially if MLP was a more mature rated show. But in a way Twilight is a reverse of Sweetie she starts off in the story talking about and doing some fairly Morally questionable and borderline creepy things and by the end all she cares about is Sweetie Belles well being no matter the cost.

Spike: The real hero of this story not so much as an actual hero in the fic but a shining light of mostly good, comedy, and childishness the in a way makes him a mechanic for the reader. He is the mechanism that keeps you grounded and gives you lightheartedness so you can continue reading even when the story seems to get to dark Spike will show up and stop something morally questionable or freak out and make a joke about zombies.

The darkness/King Sombra:
He’s more of a presence then a character at the beginning but I love the way Bad Dragon utilizes that ominous corruption feeling and slowly builds to the reveal/appearance in the later chapters.

Zecora: not in the story as much as I’d like but her role is well presented and very canon to how Zecora is.

Rarity: again this is a case where I wish we had more of her especially since her little sister is the one going dark. But she is utilized well in the begin and seems mostly forgotten by the end.

CMC’s/Scootaloo & Apple Bloom: Amazing friends if I’d been them I may have just ditched my increasingly unpredictable pal. Heck they even forgive her at the end and we never really see them turn on her in fact she turns on them and they just accept her back with open hooves.

Diamond Tiara & Silver Spoon: no redeeming qualities in this fic just a bunch of hater who take it to far.

All the characters and the way they bounce off each other is so well written and are honestly the highlight of this fic.

Premise: Sweetie Belle damages her horn and effort to get it back she ends up with a dark spirit and a newfound level of magical power that slowly corrupts the filly.

I was interested after few chapters but initially the stories description didn’t impress and boy was I glad to have been wrong.

Grammar and punctuation: it hurts me to say this but as the story went on I noticed more and more mistakes when in the first 20 or so chapters I didn’t notice hardly any to the last 5-6 chapters having quite a few.

Dialogue: The dialogue is really good and engaging especially during the fight scenes. As much as I liked the dialogue sometimes it feels as though Bad Dragon is showing off his vocabulary which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it messes with some of the interactions.

Flaws: I’m hard pressed to find much fault in this story because it is very well thought out and well written but the major flaws are the grammar and punctuation decline. And the fact that this story isn’t for everyone many people probably wouldn’t enjoy this story.

Highlight’s: The journey itself from beginning to end is so much fun to read and then re-read and the development and writing of the characters are all major points in the win column.

Bonus review/Extra content: The NSFW story/chapters: I just wanted to bring up the well written but very F’ed up stuff that this story does. It is grimy, dirty, smut and you’ll feel like you need a shower afterwards but if you like good writing and you have a strong stomach you might enjoy those chapters. Though I do recommend you read the story first and then re-read it with that segment. (Clonie and Zex were excluded from the character defaming because they are mostly important in these chapters however I’ll just say they are well done and the Bad Dragon should get some therapy 😜)

But as always those are just my 2 cents and I recommend you check out the story yourself and form your own opinion. Thanks Bad Dragon for a great journey and for being my first Reading Reaction.

Rating: 8/10 concerned Sweeties

Story link: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/126539/sweetie-belle-gains-a-soul

NSFW chapters link: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/438105/sweetie-belle-gains-a-soul-the-hidden-chapters

All Reading Reactions links:

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/977650/reading-reaction-1-part-2

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/977760/reading-reaction-1-part-3

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/977965/reading-reaction-1-part-4

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/980007/reading-reaction-1-part-5

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/980664/reading-reaction-1-part-6

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/986913/reading-reaction-1-part-7

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/994878/reading-reaction-1-part-8

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/995706/reading-reaction-1-part-9

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/997517/reading-reaction-1-part-10-nsfw-chapters-separate-story

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1009721/reading-reaction-1-part-11

Comments

[Max Ksenofil]

Bad Dragon sends you his warmest words of gratitude for paying your attention to his story.

Your review of his story really lifted his spirits and perhaps even sowed seeds that will grow later, turn into beautiful flowers. Flowers called "Dragon Inspiration".

Thank you.

[Pete100]

Seems interesting