Review: My Litle Denarians, by: Chengar Qordath

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Harry Dresden, private eye, wizard, all around badass spell slinger, bane of all that goes bump in the night, never ending font of snark, corny pop culture quips and so lame they are hilarious Star Wars quotes. Meets a group of pastel colored, magical, talking equines. And neither’s world will ever be the same again.

Yes a crossover between MLP and The Dresden Files. Quite possibly two of the most awesome franchises in existence at the moment colliding. Is the awesomeness doubled? Or are the two so at odds they cancel out each others epicness and leave an utter mess? Well, let’s see.

And side note, this is actually a double review, since I’m counting Forever! in this too. It’s a short one shot of Pinkie Pie showing up in Harry’s apartment. And then proceeding to be Pinkie Pie. I’m counting it here, cause it serves as basically a prologue to the main story, and is so short, and shares so much in common with the main fic, it’s not really worth doing on it’s own when most of what I’d have to say about it applies just as well to MLD. So just counting it all as one story.

Story: As to the above question? The awesomeness has most assuredly been doubled. This is a story that knows what is and isn’t ashamed of it in the slightest. Harry Dresden, someone who can’t save the world without first blowing up or burning down at least one small part of it. Trying to help save Equestria from literal Hell’s Angel’s. Fallen Angels and their mortal accomplices trying to mess with the peaceful land, simply because it would be fun to corrupt them, and to maybe make friends with the local god of chaos in the process. See if he’d like to come back with them and have a a crack at unleashing his power on Earth.

It’s a story that realizes how ridiculous some of it’s aspects are. Harry traveling to a literal Saturday morning cartoon is just the tip of the iceberg. Yet it never shies away from it. It accepts it, embraces it, and simply says “Yeah? So? Doesn't mean it can’t be awesome at the same time.” And uses that to it’s advantage. It let’s it get away with things that if it was taking itself more seriously, would break disbelief.

Yet, at the same time it is being serious, taking what the characters are going through, the impact it’s having on them, very, even deadly, seriously. It’s serious about what it does. How it goes about doing it? Not so much. It manages to strike that near perfect balance between the serious and the ridiculous, with liberal amounts of jaw dropping awesome for good measure. It knows when to simply have fun with itself. And when to get down to business. It can have you on the edge of your seat in suspense one minute. laughing said ass off another. Break out the quite, emotional moments. Or the over the top, balls to the wall epic ones. All without giving your emotions whiplash. It all flows well. Each part works to compliment the others. The levity, the lighthearted bits, serve as a cushion for the darker, more serious ones. Both providing a contrast to make them all the darker, all the more grim and intense. But also serving to keep things from getting too grim, too dark, too hopeless.

It’s not perfect, there are a few things that could have been done better, (like Twi’s PTSD breakdown being pushed a bit to hard, made such a big deal about, be so bad.. and then just seemingly forgotten about and completely fixed in no time. For what a huge deal it was made to be, we really never got any closure on that bit.) and it does require a rather stretchy sense of Suspension of Disbelief at times. But they are rather minor issues compared to the overall story. Just how large, how epic, and how amazing some of the things it does are. And yes this bit has been light on details, and more focused on the overall scope and feel of the story, because that’s really what makes this story work. Just how large, immense, and epic it feels. While still being focused on how all these large, massive actions are effecting the characters personally. A great blend of external, and internal conflicts. Again as with the serious to ridiculous above being near perfectly balanced to compliment each other. So too are the massive scope, and the smaller, more personal issues it causes. Harry and the Ponies are trying to save two worlds, while struggling not to lose parts of themselves as they fight.

Oh and one more minor note about the story structure itself. For the love of Celestia, Luna, and Faust, give the damn thing another editing pass to fix all the typos. It doesn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the story, since I care more about what is going on in the story, what it’s about, then the how well it’s written like that. But it was very very noticeable.

Characters: With the exception of a few small bits parts by background ponies, and one person near the end, the whole thing is focused on existing characters, no OC’s to judge how well the story can create it’s own characters. Yes there was that one near the end but, well, no sense in worrying about some guy that shows up out of nowhere to join in the final battle while wearing a red shirt, is there? Though I’ll admit I did like Jenkins. But he’s just a small role near he end. The rest was all existing characters and this story nailed it.

All of the ponies, and all the people from Dresden’s world all felt perfectly in character. Not just copying the show/books, but understanding who they ar, how they would react to new situations, how they respond to things going from bad to worse, the way they changed over the course of the story, at all felt genuine. And the times when they were turned against themselves for one reason or another, corrupted by something, also felt believable. Felt like them. Like a darker, twisted version of them, that you could see the real character inside of. (Plus, Harry as the most over the top cliched villain imaginable was hilarious.) I have almost nothing but praise for how well this story captured these characters entire personas. How well it used them, and how powerful some of the story was, just because of the story making sure to focus on how it effected the characters, not just how awesome what they were doing was.

Really, only two minor gripes. I think Twi’s breakdown was a bit overdone, especially for how quickly it was resolved and nearly forgotten about, and Sanya. Not his characterization, that was as spot on as the rest. But his accent. This story definitely over did the Russian accent and laid it on a bit too thick. But minor issue.

Engagement: This story is a non-stop ride. It manages to keep you constantly glued to it, always something going on. Action, suspense, hilarity, drama, there is always something carrying the story along. Something making you want to find out what is coming next. It maintains a high degree of energy, without ever wearing it thin. Without burning out on tension and overdone drama. While there is always something going on, the story keeps it varied enough that things don’t get old. It knows when to have some quite, more thoughtful scene to let the reader decompress from the tension and action of others. All while keeping the overall energy high. Never lagging. Giving you just enough of a chance to catch your breath before moving on to the next bit that takes it away.

Ponyness: Again as a crossover, this part is in regards to both halves of it. How well it stuck to both the MLP side, and the Dresden Files side.

In both case, it knocked it out of the park. The ideal for any crossover like this is it should be accessible to fans of one half of it, but who have never even heard of, or know almost nothing about the other. Something this story very very much succeeds at with flying colors. It quickly establishes the facts we need to know about both worlds. The establishing of the Dresden facts could admittedly have been done a bit better. More in execution and not being so exposition heavy upfront, it wasn’t badly done just, could have been better. And is limited by this all being done from Harry’s perspective alone like the books. Seeing him react and learn about the MLP world was pretty well done though.

In style, the story does a very admirable job of blending the overall feel.. the essence, of the two worlds and types of stories together. Though siding more with keeping this a Dresden Files story in overall feel. It’s written and feels more like a Dresden Files story, which happens to involve Harry going to Equestria, then anything else. While still capturing the feel of the show as well. One of the running themes and issues is how dealing with the darker aspects of Dresden’s world is effecting the ponies. An aspect that overall is very well handled.

Writing style wise, it isn’t quite a match for Butcher’s. It is close, it definitely feels like someone writing in his style, but doesn’t quite have the same exact feel. Mostly in the timing and pacing of events. But the characters all feel the same, the events plausible, and the style is close enough, that while it’s noticeable that it isn’t the same writer, it doesn’t hit uncanny valley of close but not quite.
Yes some aspects of the pony and Dresden halves don’t match well with canon anymore, but only because of changes to it after this was written. Or new information being revealed. I’m not going to fault a story for being retroactively contradicted by canon. Most changes are easily dealt with by this being a ‘What if’ story. How would the events of Return to Harmony have been altered if Harry and the Denarian’s had gotten involved? How would Dresden’s world be different if he met the mane 6?

Above all, while the above is the ideal for crossovers, there is one level above that, pretty much the single highest ambition for a crossover of this type. Not only being able to be accessible to people who have never heard of one half of the story, but doing such a good job presenting it that not only can they follow along, but actually get them interested in checking out and learning more about this new thing. And My Little Denarians hits this. I am far from alone in being introduced to the shear raw awesome that is Harry Dresden and ending up a fan of that series as well as a result of this story.

The story is just different enough from the usual Dresden books, and Pony eps to stand out, to stand well on it’s own. Be a fresh, intriguing perspective. Yet still almost perfectly capture the heart, the feel of both and make them work well together. About the only possible complaint I could have is that for someone coming in without knowing anything about Dresden, this story contains a ton of spoilers. But it kind of has to to really show how amazing the series is, and just a taste of what is going on in it.

Overall: Exemplary. This story is a massive success, both as a story in it’s own right, and as a crossover between two series. It blends them both extremely well. Keeps all the character feeling just like their real selves. Brings up some interesting issues about how either world would deal with the other. And manages to encapsulate the best parts about each. All while the story is a non-stop roller coaster of emotion, action, tension, suspense, and just flat out over the top awesome. Fans of both series, this is a mus read. But even if you aren’t a fan of both, give it a try, even if it doesn’t lead you to want to get more into the other half, it’s still perfectly understandable without knowing more, and a great story in and of itself.