Z Reviews: Withdrawal · 4:42am Mar 11th, 2015
This time's review will be of Withdrawal, authored by Raugos, 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.
Some stories are sombre dark things, full of looming shadows and creeping sickness. And I love those kinds of stories, I really do. Something in the way that the author spends time building the mood without drawing attention specifically to it makes them an impressive piece of work. And Withdrawal is an amazingly done work of art for a story like this, full of the steady and inexorable deepening of Twilight's addiction to magic, which is the sole focus of the tale. That is, the story delves into, and showcases, the sickness that is a serious addiction, and the affects it has on those that care about the diseased. In this case, Twilight's addiction to magic, caused by her brief stint holding the magical power of 3 other alicorns. The writing is top notch, with strong use of English and a smooth flow of ideas that doesn't stumble over itself.
The overall story itself is incredible, too, as it follows Twilight struggling to come to terms with and hide her growing addiction, and after it's discovery, her attempts to confront and overcome it with the aid of those she cares for. It's a very clear and heart-rendingly realistic portrayal of how addiction works, and how it affects it's victims. Twilight's suffering is compelling to follow, and as the story progresses, the author does an amazing job of building the ideas and characters up, while setting up for later chapters with simple tidbits early on that seem a natural progression of the story. The author's attention to detail and portrayal of the problems with addiction are both impressive, and the story only benefits, even as they serve only to increase the creeping darkness.
As I've said before, there are types of stories that rely almost entirely on characterization to pull through, and this is one of them. Given how I'm singing praises so far, I'm sure you all predict a positive response on this, and you'd be right. The characters intentions and actions are all very clearly portrayed in the writing, and everypony is still very true to the source, even, or especially, Twilight. As we've seen in the show, Twilight Sparkle can be very... nervous and obsessive compulsive, and it's easy to imagine her falling into a nervous-use addiction pattern, which is almost exactly what comes to happen here.
Overall... I give this story 9 out of 10 moustaches, and 5 out of 5 recovering Twilights.
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: Addiction isn't easy to face or overcome, and it's something all too many of us suffer from; minor addictions especially are easy to excuse or ignore. To see a story discussing it is impressive in and of itself, but to see it done so well... My compliments.
