Fic recs, November 19th · 9:58pm Nov 19th, 2013
I’m sitting here with my to-read well over 2400 stories now (I watched Regidar). This isn’t working. Part of me would like to continue with it, just to say I did, but on the other hand, I’d much rather get back to reading the way I was and I have shit to do. :| So consider this the last of the massive rec posts. I am defeated, there is too much fics. Expect things to return to normal three days from now or whenever.
H: 2 R: 8 C: 6 V: 3 N: 2
Anxiety by Bad_Seed_72
Genre: Emotional
This is a really great look at anxiety disorders, panic attacks and the seeds of self-doubt, filtered through the lens of Spike post-Crystal Kingdom as he’s haunted by what he saw behind Sombra’s door. I think most people have felt this way one time or more, and this is going to connect with pretty much anyone who’s ever been, like, human. Fans of caring Twilight/Spike interaction will find a lot to enjoy as well.
Highly Recommended
For All to See by Pearple Prose
Reading by Scribbler
Genre: Sad Luna
Luna is being all artistic with her night sky because she wants to give a gift to her girlfriend, Twilight. She gets sidelined by self-doubts in the form of the Nightmare and Twilight has to kiss it and make her all better. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot here. What I objected to most was the use of the Nightmare as the voice of Luna's self-doubt. I don’t know what this could have been otherwise, but it really just hits all the marks on the way down and isn’t terribly original. Plus, well, you’ll have to accept TwiLuna at the start, which I oddly find is harder to do with season 2 Luna.
Vaguely Recommended
Dear Dashie by Posey
Reading by Scribbler and Cider Barrel
Genre: Epistolary
Rainbow Dad writes a letter to his little Dashiedaughter, in which he very conveniently details her life, and especially his divorce from his wife. He makes sure she knows he loves her, then lets her know he won’t be around for much longer. I take issue with this because at first, it sounds like he’s just dying, and rightly doesn’t want her to stay away for fear of being too hurt when he dies; he'd rather see her one last time. But the end scene shows him in a hospital, not looking “too badly banged up” and covered in bloodless bandages. So unless he wrote the letter at a lucid point after an accident, that means he tried to kill himself for no apparent reason, and that just ruins what would otherwise have been… well, just sort of a sappy letterfic, honestly.
Not Recommended
Blitzkrieg Poison Kills Assassins by cleverpun
Genre: Action Movie
This is literally an action movie. It’s really great satire, and there’s lots of explosions and ninjas and drama. It’s silly and over the top, and just about perfect. I really enjoy stuff like this. Make sure you read the flavor text in the description, too.
Recommended
Rarity Versus Bukkake Ninjas by Fiddlebottoms
Mature: Sex
Genre: Absurdity
Two stories about ninjas in a row? I’m not sure I can take it. This one, unfortunately, is rather low quality in comparison, which is saying something, and relies pretty much entirely on the absurd premise to evoke laughs. And I did laugh a lot, with the story even, but I don’t want to suggest this is high comedy or anything. But hey, the scene breaks are ASCII penises, what more can you ask for? Be prepared for an unhealthy dose of white stufffandom-skewering satire and self-awareness. This might be worth shutting off the mature filter for. Maybe.
If the Title Makes You Laugh, You May Want to Read This
Sprinkles by Corejo
Reading by Hero541
Genre: Comedy
Pinkie tries to help Twilight make cupcakes. Things don’t go well. This is a marvelously executed comedy with a lot of great friendshipping. Most notable is Pinkie’s voice-- well, both of their voices as differentiated across the scene break. She narrates like she talks, and it’s just great. Twilight meanwhile is detail-focused and neurotic, and it’s never a question of “what will she do wrong” but “when”. Nothing better for a clean, punchy, short comedy piece, really.
Recommended
Ever on the Edge by Nonsanity
Genre: Politics
This is weird, because it’s kind of half-incomplete. There’s a second chapter that’s meant to be the first scene of a longer work, but the author apparently hasn’t followed through on that, so it may as well not be there. But for the first scene, it’s interesting. I don’t think it’s meant to be any sort of political allegory, but there’s something to be taken away from it in terms of how to deal with heated political situations, I think. As a slice of Equestrian political life, I certainly found it intriguing, and the central conceit of trust vs. power is food for thought. So this is another where you can skip the second chapter; at this point, all it does is give a little backstory to the character introduced in the first part.
Recommended
Scootaloo’s New Family by Wanderer D
Genre: Random/Anime Crossover
Okay, so this is a crossover with “History’s Greatest Disciple Kenichi”, which I have never heard of, but that doesn’t matter if you can grasp the concept of “large muscleman who talks funny” (and if you can’t, you can find something of an explanation for this bullshit here). This is an incredibly silly story about Scootaloo getting adopted by aforementioned muscleman and… that’s about it. It’s so ridiculous, though, I love it, especially the adoption scene, which features an orphanage headed by a religious zealot. If you’re tired of orphan Scootaloo fics, this is the story for you, because it does do at least a little breaking-down of the trope.
Recommended for Fans of Silly Stories
His Thorn on the Rose by Regidar
Reading by Scribbler, et. al.
Genre: Romance
This is the realistic, stop-being-a-whiny-idiot-you-pathetic-douche romance story I have always wanted. It comes in three movements, let’s call them. The first part sets up the conflict — Caramel is in love Roseluck, but she’s in a relationship with Daisy and doesn’t like colts — and then Caramel and Roseluck fight a giant bee. This is the weakest part, if you ask me. It’s a weird plot, it’s not terribly interesting, there are some issues with telling, and other than the setup, it doesn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the story. Also there are some Fallout ColtBoy lyrics, which definitely kill the mood. But then something magical happens. Thunderlane shows up in the second part, and the story suddenly becomes amazing. His character is brilliant, a douchey “bro” who shows genuine care for his friend's woes and who, most importantly, gives him good romance advice. Finally, we have Caramel ignoring said advice and going off to tell Roseluck how he feels. Hopefully I’m not giving too much away, but I saw the ending coming and was not disappointed in the least. It’s a really powerful, character-driven climax. The story’s not perfect (two-thirds of a good story ain’t bad though), but I found it incredibly satisfying. Every socially awkward geek who has been hopelessly in love needs to read this.
Recommended
An Earth Pony Orphan in the Unicorn Court by Benman
Genre: Fantasy
This is one I got to see earlier, so yet another review-from-memory. This is a great piece of medieval castle-type fiction, with a good dash of politics to boot. I’d say fans of Game of Thrones would want to read it, but I actually know nothing about GoT, so take that as you will. It’s the kind of motif this goes for, though, I think. It features action, loss, and the power of kindness, not to mention internal struggles in an frightening and ever-changing pre-Equestrian world. The one criticism it gets is that there are a lot of characters whose names begin with B, and they blend together after a while, but conversations with the author reveal this is intentional and will have a purpose later. And there is a ‘later’, because this is going to be the first in a series or somesuch. So there’s more to look forward to!
Recommended
As the Sun Sets by theswimminbrony
Reading by Scribbler
Genre: Friendshipping
I’m gonna go with that, because there’s a lot of words I could use to describe this. As Rainbow Dash and Applejack watch the sun set for the last time, they talk about friendship and faith. It’s a very emotional closeup on the two characters, with a lot of tension served by the apocalyptic frame. What’s great is that, given what we are of what’s going on, it’s very open-ended as to how dark this story is. In fact, whether or not the sun comes up tomorrow is left as a test of the reader’s faith, which makes this extremely clever. The only thing I could say against it is that it has the line “Some Element of Loyalty I am”, which I’m starting to tire of, for multiple reasons. Regardless, this one’s definitely worth checking out.
Recommended
The Sound of Raindrops of Slate by Doseux
Genre: Word Porn
I’ll level with you: this is nigh impenetrable. It’s possible to suss out what’s going on, to an extent (after some kind of cataclysm, a single human walks through a broken Equestria, finds Canterlot Castle, and somehow plays the world back to life), but after every few paragraphs, we’re given a couple of lines of dense poetry (???) that make little to no sense. There is a story in here, and with it something of a meditation on fan-creations, but you’re going to need to be a certain level of literary genius to really figure this out.
Recommended for Readers Who Like Writing
Faint Maestra by Compendium of Steve
Genre: Really Weird
Well, this reads like nothing so much as a video game with a lot of anime influence. There’s no internal logic, earning that comedy-less Random tag, but what’s happening becomes more apparent toward the end. I’ll say I was a little disappointed in the direction this took, given what’s going on and why, and it’s got a lot of small typos that could be contered with a read-through, but it’s certainly something, I’ll give it that.
Vaguely Recommended
Quod Timeo by Figments
Reading by TheLostNarrator, et. al.
Genre: Horror
This is a good example of how not revealing the monster makes it scarier. A thing is chasing Rainbow through the Everfree Forest. She winds up in a cave, where she’s haunted by something else that giggles and speaks to her. By the end of the story, we have no idea what these things are, and only one suggestion of what they are not, and that’s very effective. That said, I’m also not sure what did happen, so while this story will leave you with a lingering sense of dread, there doesn’t seem to be much purpose behind it. Still, I’m very pleased with the way dreams were handled in this. Rainbow Dash wakes up twice, and though the question is posed, the difference between what is real and what is not is always made starkly clear. Had it not been so, this would have lost a lot of oomph.
Recommended
The Stars and Sky Above by Golden Vision
Genre: Character Piece
Luna joins Celestia at their birthplace, and they wax philosophical about their existence. Tenuously related to today’s canon as they are, I will never tire of stories about the Princesses as actual goddesses, birthed from nothingness to wield their powers over nature and the world itself. Along with that, this gives me a lot of other stuff to enjoy, like a really deep, emotional look into their relationship, and then some catharsis in the form of watching them at play, which yes, is still just about my favorite thing ever. And around the two-thirds mark, this just blasted me in the face with a religious allegory, for lack of a better word, that left me reeling. This is really powerful stuff.
Highly Recommended
On the Edge of a Cliff by KitsuneRisu
Genre: Cliff-Edge Fic
Y’know, the order sort algorithm on this site is messed up, because the last fic I read has a story number in the 90k’s, and this one’s in the 30k’s. :| Anyway. Cliff-edge fics are a real pet peeve of mine. By this point, I’ve read so many that it doesn’t matter how they turn out, they’re still cliched as hell. And using a pegasus is cheating, because she can always save herself after she jumps. But, as tends to be the case, this is focused around Scootaloo’s life and the reasons for making the decision she does. It presents her as the last of the CMCs to get a cutie mark, and actually posits that they may very well be their own greatest obstacles to gaining their cutie marks. This is well-written, albeit extremely coy, but I dunno, I think I’m just tired of these.
Vaguely Recommended
Farewell by obabscribbler
Reading by the Author, et. al.
Genre: Sad AppleDash
This starts out at Applejack’s funeral and never gets any happier, so you’ve been warned. This is a really focused look at Rainbow Dash coping with losing AJ. The opening scene features a really great representation of the tumultuous feelings that come with grief, and the rest is very much Rainbow-specific. It also explores a bit of how one can face death knowing a supremely powerful magic user or four. If you don’t care much for mane cast shipping, or AppleDash, you may not get much out of it, but if you didn’t want to be happy today, this is a good way to achieve that.
Recommended for Shippers
Thunderstruck by Device Heretic
Reading by KwirkyJ
Reading by Illya Leonov
Genre: Inner Monologue
Looking at that cover image just makes me yearn for the old Spitfire. Wonderbolt Academy really killed my love for her, and for SpitDash as a ship. (Plus, the flaming lightning bolt cutie mark is way cooler than the Hunger Games one.) It hurts even more because this really captures her circa season 2. As she’s falling to her death, she thinks about a lot of things: falling, flying, mostly Dash. What gets her into this position is a mistake on her part, after Dash has been recruited to the ‘Bolts, that really makes me want to see the actual story focused on their relationship: Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts, with her crush on young, impressionable, utterly irascible Rainbow Dash, who can’t spent two seconds around her without squealing in glee. While this is a very good story, a mistake near the opening nearly killed it for me: a metaphor, involving cooking, that is every bit as ridiculous as the Titanic one in Eternal that drove me to parody. Gales of laughter are not a good way to start off an introspective piece about the ways in which love can lead us astray.
Recommended If You Can Stand the Silly Metaphor
Canon by Pascoite
Genre: Music Performance
First thing: as mentioned in the author’s notes, Pascoite has a keen sense of musical jargon, and this story uses it well, in a way that makes it accessible to the average reader, specifically because that’s what he was going for. I was able to easily blip over all the unfamiliar things right into their descriptors. It’s something far too many Octavia fics tend to fall down at doing. And while I have a feeling that’s all he was going for, there’s a lot to this. There’s a good deal of musing on art, music specifically, and what a creator might want from their audience. I also sensed a little allegory about the difference between a voting system and comments as responses to online works. At its heart though, this is just a lovely piece about an artist being appreciated for what she does, with a really nice use of Derpy.
Recommended
Dear Luna by electreXcessive
Reading by Scribbler, et. al.
Genre: Letterfic
Luna is going through the royal mail and happens upon a letter penned by a very sick young colt. I like seeing Luna be appreciated for what she does, but the opening is dull and the main part is based around a Sympathy Sue. That’s all there is to it. And if his hoof shakes too much to write, and writing that way is painful, why doesn’t he just write with his mouth?
Not Recommended
Do You Remember? by DegeTheMighty
Reading by Scribbler and Finish Line
Genre: Fluffship
Thunderlane and Blossomforth end up with the Feather Flu together, conveniently reminisce about their past, and then reveal that they both conveniently have feelings for each other. Things this is: cute, fluffy, inoffensive. Things this is not: amazing, memorable. But if you like fluff, you’ll like this, and you’re feeling down after reading that AppleDash fic, this might be the cure for what ails you.
Recommended for Fans of Fluffy Shipping
And that’s how I read 51 stories and ended up with a hundred more to read later. :B As a second sidenote, I’m almost at the end of Scribbler’s channel, so what Imma do is start checking out other channels, one story at a time to see who I might want to follow. So expect to see some new names over the next few weeks!
It's kind of amazing how many readings Scribbler has done.
I have never heard of a Sympathy Sue before!
Uh...
The only thing you should really know about Game of Thrones is that you should be reading it. Also, thanks for doing these; I find them to be very helpful.
You liked GV's thing? I thought the ending was a letdown.
I also asked him--and he had no answer for me--why in the world he thought it was a good idea to write out, in completeness, the entirety of Luna's flight.
*slow claps*
Why not limit yourself to a handful like 7 or 8? Read, list random ones you remembered the next day, review those instead.
1521671
No. He doesn't. Having read 2 1/2 of those books I can easily state the TV show is loads better. Just, amazingly better. GRRM has no problem coming up with an interesting world, but he's not good at actually writing it.
Might I make some suggestions of other good readers?
Nimbus Studios (Indubitably Ponified) -- They do readings with multiple VAs, kind of like I do.
Nightfire5150 - Not many, but the later ones are very well produced.
Dr Cobra (PrinceofPenguins) - Excellent, lilting narration and good grasp of character voices, though literally every other fic is a clopfic.
Brelia - Some nice stuff, plus, a female reader!
Goombasa - Not many fics up yet, though the one-shots are all well chosen. Just, uh, ignore that silly OctaScratch thing ...
Mr Kenyon - Though I can't imagine you wouldn't have heard his stuff already, I figured it was still worth putting this one in. ^_^
Greenlitsky - Another British fanfic reader (though male this time)!
LandonWho - A bit hit or miss sometimes (especially the earlier stuff) but generally still a good narrator.
Hero541 - Mumbles a but into his mic sometimes, which makes somereadings a bit hard to hear, but worth it for the good stuff (note, it you're only going to listen to one, make it 'Wheels, Not to Be Trusted').
KaosSparkz - Again, a bit hit or miss in places, and you have to like multi-chapters, but some good picks here.
Forest Rain - I would be unbelievably surprised if you *haven't* heard of Forest Rain, but he's one of my all-time favourites - and introduced me to my favourite MLP fic too. ^_^
There. That ought to tide you over for a while.
1521628
Heh ... amazing as a synonym for 'waaaaay too into this kind of thing'.
Thanks for the plug, Pres.
You know, different people get different things from different stories. And if you look at NTSTS's comment on "Canon," he says he didn't get anything from the technical language. And I can't say I blame him for that. A reaction to a story is a very personal thing, and if that's how he (or anyone else) feels, that's just the way it is.
But there are two levels here. First, I did hope that people who were well-versed in musical terminology would find this story enjoyable because it meshed with their interests. But as you noted, you don't have to understand the jargon to follow the story. The main thing for me is that it gives Octavia an authentic voice. She's basically narrating, so she's going to to be using language she's comfortable with. If you're an expert in something and you're thinking to yourself about it, are you going to dumb it down so anyone would understand, or would you use the technical terms that you're comfortable with and are more precise, descriptive, and concise? It just adds to the authenticity of her voice, but there is a fine edge to walk: if you go overboard (use too much, provide no context as to what any of it means, etc.), most readers will get bored, and you're left with a niche audience. So I'm glad I struck a balance that most people seem to be able to live with.
Definitely find a pace that's more comfortable for you, but I love reading your review blogs, Pres!
1521667
If that's true, it's highly unfortunate.
1521671
I KNOW, I SHOULD D: And you're welcome.
1521755
Well, in trying to get through as much as possible, I've been doing this wacky humongous journals. :B Normally I do 5-10, which is far more reasonable an amount.
1521937
I keep a biglong list of channels to go after nextly, and these will get added. :B
Yeah, he kinda read one of my fics. :D
I watch him just for the music. :B I actually couldn't get into Upheaval.
1521831
While I love the show, I think I'll have to disagree with that. To be fair, GRRM does plenty of things wrong, several of which I think the show does better (Theon's character as a whole comes to mind), but he's just so good at the things he's good at that his missteps aren't so important to me. For instance, the series is positively filled with off-handed remarks and internal references that come back into play later in the story.
SPOILERS UP THROUGH SEASON 3/FIRST HALF OF STORM OF SWORDS
For instance, Walder Frey, when welcoming Robb for what would be the RW, says “Food, heh. A loaf of bread, a bite of cheese, mayhaps a sausage.” as well as "You wanted crossing and I gave it to you, and you never said mayhaps, heh." It's a fairly minor thing, but that's a reference to the lord of the crossing game that Big and Little Walder taught the Stark boys in the previous book. Those small references give an insight into Frey's dark humor and foreshadow the coming events.
It's little things like that that give the world and characters (with a few notable exceptions) a vibrancy and consistency that I don't feel the show can match, and those sorts of things are littered everywhere throughout the books. The show is still excellent, though.
Likely, since I pretty much stole two of the main characters.
Woo, thanks for recommending my fic! I try my best not to be a complete failure 100% of the time.
Thanks for the recommendation! You're too awesome!
1521831
Let's be honest, kits. The Mountain That Does Not Write would rather be watching the Jets play football and editing Wild Cards than writing ASoIF, and it shows.
He's done the same thing Jordan admitted in the end, and made too many plot threads for his own ability to let him wrap up, and it's killed his drive to write.
Huh. Thanks for the recommendation! Wasn't expecting to see my name here.
Though, I do wish some of my other (better) stories got as popular as that one did -.-
1523953
I know that feeling. :B Anything you'd rather see someone like me review? (Completed, of course.)
1524243
Well, now that you mention it...
This one hasn't gotten much attention.
I got it reviewed by WRITE and decided to edit it somewhat. Also, I'm aiming for EqD with it, so I'd like another opinion.
If you ever do read it, thank you. It's really kind of you!
Thanks for the recommendation
Given your story gallery, I can't help but suspect you might be a little biased (sounds crazy, I know), but I'll take what I can get
1521831 I'd have to second this. Martin's bloated prose and dull descriptions really don't endear me to the characters or world. The show just delivers all those details so much more succinctly and clearly. That's true of any book translation, of course, but it's really noticeable with something as dense as GoT.
1521635
I did, but I didn't know that there were enough cliff-edge fics for it to count as a genre/cliche before.
Oh man, somehow I had forgotten to fave Blitzkrieg Poison Kills Assassins. Thanks for reminding me!
1524285
When I do, you'll see it here! (Unless you're not following me and then you'll never know.)
Howdy there, friend! Uh... Elec here. Author of Dear Luna. I'd just like to time to say thanks for your honest criticism. I honestly have absolutely no idea how that fic did as well as it did, considering how terribly written it was. Er... I just kinda wanted to ask, since I really respect your blogs and you as a writer, if maybe you had some suggestions on how I could maybe make my future fics... less poor in quality. Or am i a writer doomed to mediocrity? I mean, if you're not busy that is. Thanks for your time. Sorry if I wasted it :/
~electreXcessive
1526128
Writing emotional stuff is really hard, and I don't have any quick and dirty suggestions for how to get it right, because I don't even know that, I just know when it doesn't work. All you can really do, like with any writing, is read stories that work, learn what they do right, and at the very least, learn to avoid the cliches (characters and situations meant to evoke sympathy, rather than allowing a character's feelings to speak for themselves).
Of course, as luck would have it, I was just reminded of this journal, which addresses the issue head on. Hope that helps. :B
all i have to say is 2/3 ain't bad
5744906
god, now we're starting to analyze my previous states :B
5744915
:2/:3