Golden Oaks Book Club mini-review #1: Schemering Sintel (spoiler warning) · 1:59pm Sep 26th, 2014
This is a new thing that I will be trying out with the rise of the Golden Oaks Book Club. Here is the first story to be reviewed for the book club's discussion focus. Check out my take on the heart-rending Schemering Sintel below!
Author: N00813
Synopsis:
It's been a long, long time since Spike was stolen from her, but Twilight hasn't forgotten nor forgiven. After a long and arduous journey, she has finally found him and his kidnapper.
She will save him.
No matter the cost.
Current Length: 29,611 words over 10 chapters, averaging 2,961 words per chapter
Status: Complete
Review: As a connoisseur of dark and tragic fare, I love seeing characters degenerate over time, the hardships they endure, and their steady transformation and descent into darkness, particularly if it's a result of their own actions and choices.
Schemering Sintel not only took me on a fast track to the feels station, but I saw just what happened to Twilight along the way. Knowing the character inside and out, it is difficult as hell to see her character we know and love so much begin to unravel as she makes more and more personal sacrifices "for the greater good."
I quite enjoyed the Final Fantasy vibe I got from the early chapters, and it was interesting to note that Twilight hadn't lost sight of who she used to be. Far too often, an author will slap an AU tag on a story to "excuse" a character's seemingly bizarre behaviour, but here we were treated to just the right amount of backstory—alongside the main story, which surprisingly did not actually throw me off—without it feeling overly expository, infodumpy, or straight up telly.
We felt what Twilight felt. Her pain was ours: her struggle, our struggle.
Still, this fic is not without its flaws, few though they be. Quite honestly, I feel like the story could have (and probably should have) ended after chapter seven, at the climax of the conflict. There was no reason to continue, and the resolution (of chapter nine), while powerful, could have been even more so after Spike's death.
Despite the way it ended, I enjoyed Schemering Sintel immensely, and will recommend it to anyone who can appreciate an emotionally moving story... so long as they are tough enough to take a hefty blow to the gut.
9/10
Dammit, I wish you'd not liked it. Now it's gotta go into my ever-increasing RiL. If this story doesn't punch me in the gut, I'm going to be
at you.
I honestly didn't really like it.
I mean, hangovers are convincing and all, but I couldn't get myself immersed in the ideas that were playing out. I dropped out around chapter 5. I didn't feel a connection to the story in means of flow and process, in that I couldn't piece together the unusually heavy prose at times. I was drunk and tired and then I was tired and hungover, but both times left me with a boggled head every other sentence. I felt like I was reading a shortskirtsandexplosions fic, and everybody knows you can't read those intoxicated.
Well, you can, it's just gonna be a bad time. :\
Just didn't interest me. *Shrug*
I was trying to get shitfic recs but i knew someone would take me seriously
2485229
It's probably a good idea to not read while intoxicated.
That's my conclusion as well of the story. It was great overall, though.
2485253
Incriminating evidence suggests the responsibility was not mine.