Z Reviews: The Evening Sonata · 11:35pm Feb 16th, 2015
This time's review will be of The Evening Sonata, authored by Daniel Gleebits, reviewed by me, TheifofZ. If you like this review, check my blog for other reviews, or follow this link to go to the post containing the mission statement and a list of all the stories I've reviewed so far.
As always, here's how I'll be doing this; First I'll cover the story idea, and writing style and quality of the story. Next, I'll look at the actual story itself, including character motivation, action (if the story has any), and the general plot. Finally, I'll throw down my egotistical and opinionated rating, declaring exactly how good, or bad, I thought this was. And yes, I will do my best to avoid spoilers for the plot IF POSSIBLE. If the spoiled events are integral to the story, I'll throw down spoiler warnings instead, and ask that you proceed with caution. Always remember, folks. This is all opinion. Disagree with me? Think I'm dead wrong, or spot on? Argue about it in the comments if you want. It's cool. Noone has a truly humble opinion, after all, but make sure you read the review first.
I said I was done with Humans In Equestria, and I meant it. But this one is in the Equestria Girls human-verse, instead. So that doesn't count, right? Right?
With that out of the way, here we go!
It's a romance fic, guys. It's a romance fic between Sonata and Sunset. This is not a spoiler at all. Now I know I've discussed, albiet briefly, romantic comedies and their inherent flaws before, but a genuine romance is a completely different beast. And The Evening Sonata is, really, a very good Romance. I'll be upfront on that. It's a wonderful, winding tale of a very slowly developed love between the two main characters, and it doesn't avoid the more depressing or dark tones of the world. The writing is very well done, and there are very few awkwardly paced points in the story, although several points did feel somewhat rushed through or glossed over.
The story itself follows Sunset Shimmer as she slowly builds up a warm, tender relationship with Sonata, and helps her through the darkness surrounding all three of the Sirens after their defeat, including finding the other two, and helping all three reconcile and overcome their own issues. Eventually, the romantic tension between the two finally is broken when they admit their feelings, and after that the story changes tone and pace completely. I honestly felt like I was reading a separate story or an epilogue of sorts, toward the end, with several previously uninvolved characters becoming more central to the plot, while a subplot involving Fleur attempting to seduce Sunset crops up. Now, for a romance like this, pacing is vital, and while the author seemed to have problems in the first few chapters, rushing to build up a decent setting, and setting out the basis early on, after the early chapters, the pacing becomes more reliable and consistent, and the scenes are built up with a decent eye toward the background, so it never felt like it was hard to picture the scene.
Really though, the story is character driven, and this is the point where it definitely shines. While the author glosses over some of the minor character interactions, and certainly seems to rush others (especially in the beginning), the characters are all built up well, with clear motivation and emotions, and I found it easy to feel for them, to cheer the triumphs and sympathize with their defeats. I will admit, early on I was disappointed with how the first hints of the romance were rushed into and felt more like a romcom version of a romance, but toward the end, it felt a lot more natural.
Overall... I give this story 7.5 out of 10 moustaches, and 5 out of 5 loving Sunsets (Which I can't actually show, because FIMfiction hasn't updated the emotes in forever. I'll have to make do with hearts.)
Any opinions or major points you'd like to make go in the comments below. Advice, Major Corrections, story suggestions, and fan mail can be PM'd to me. ... if I ever get fans. HAH!
Final Note: Some day, once I get a solid reader base, I'm going to do special rants once in awhile. And one of those will be all the inherent flaws and problems in RomComs. Yes, I do firmly believe that the concept of a RomCom is inherently flawed. But anyway, this story is good, and while Sonata might be the flavour of the month, that doesn't make it bad.
PS: Sorry it's up late, and far from my best. First there was the mess that was Valentines, and now I'm sick.
So. There's my apology.
the review looks great, I hope you get better soon
2802803 Thanks. And thanks for the well wishing.
Really, I didn't cover nearly everything I wanted to. But my head is all fuzzy, so I kept losing track of where I was. I might take this down and redo the entire thing when I recover, if I feel like it.
Now, I go! Ze Nappage, it calls!
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Sorry to hear about your illness. I do appreciate the review, an encompassing review is something I lacked in the creation of the story itself. I got a lot of critical analysis from chapter to chapter, but little in the way of overall description. So thanks
2803870 Ah, well. I didn't get to point out a couple of the the obvious weak points in the review, but the biggest that I forgot was that I thought the whole thing with the drugs felt like it was more of an excuse, rather than a natural development from the characters. A couple hints earlier about them might have made it feel less about having something to bring it all to a head, and more like a natural occurrence.
Gah, reading through the review, I've abused the poor comma quite thoroughly. Now I feel bad. Mebbe tomorrow, I'll go through and fix this.
Anyway, thanks for the cool story, and the positive reaction. Looking forward to the next installment.