R4 (Reactions, Reviews, Reference, Redirection) #0178 · 1:19am Jun 7th, 2015
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Here are five slightly edited old reviews:
Heads in the Cloud by PresentPerfect
Present Tense by PresentPerfect
Right Before Your Eye by PresentPerfect
Stardust by Arad
Broken by Arad
Heads in the Cloud by PresentPerfect
[story link] [my original review]
A really interesting idea in this story. With a longer build-up this could be a great epic adventure story. As is, it’s just a good non-epic adventure story. It touches on concepts of consciousness, inner self vs outer self, and the tragedy of unintended consequences. I also liked that the backstory involved a magical scholar who was a pegasus.
Present Tense by PresentPerfect
[story link] [my original review]
The first story posted in the author’s fimfiction account. Reads a lot like a writer’s first or second attempt at a story too. A bit cliche, but silly and fun. Not up to the author’s later standards of quality, but still better than you’ll find in a lot of other places.
Right Before Your Eye by PresentPerfect
[story link] [my original review]
Hmm. This one was kind of flat. Not bad, I still enjoyed it. Just was missing something that was present in all the other stories of the author’s stories I’ve read. I’d still recommend it if only because I like stories about ponies in modern professions in Ponyville. Don’t think of pony optometrists, but got to be some given that we’ve seen ponies wearing glasses in the show.
Stardust by Arad
[story link] [my original review]
I would give a warning that the pacing might be a little slow. For about 2/3rds of the book it’s almost a slice of life where nothing really happens. Well, most of it. We do get scenes of danger and action, but pretty much everything involving Twilight Sparkle is just sort of meandering fluff. Which is somewhat the point.
I’d highly recommend this one if you don’t mind video game crossovers. Not sure how much someone who doesn’t know xcom would enjoy this, but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be completely lost. I’d give this the highest compliment a video game crossover can get, at least from me. I not only enjoyed the story, but it made me want to play the game. In fact I ended up playing xcom while reading a good portion of this. Which is how I discovered how awesome the Long War game mod is. So that’s a double win in my book.
A few choice bits from the original review. I've read this a second time since and enjoyed it as much, or even more that time. Though I must admit I skipped over the exposition/official report chapters for the most part the second time through. They really do kinda just slow things down.
Broken by Arad
[story link] [my original review]
A mini sequel to Stardust. Not nearly as good as the previous story, even taking into account the brief nature. It isn’t bad, just a little flat. The time loop trilogy by Eakin did this subject so much better. Still, not a bad story. Just reading it right after Stardust was perhaps a mistake. Comparing really good to pretty decen.t
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You know, it's weird to be on the other side of common opinion. Hard Reset is so universally loved by this fandom, but I really didn't care for it. Like, at all. The longer it went on, the more irritated I got reading it. I was shocked when I read it, since I'd only ever heard good things about it. Makes me wonder if I'd like Broken more.
Too bad, too, since Eakin is a nice guy. I'd love to tell him I love his story...
3128641
Eh, I can easily see why someone would not enjoy Hard Reset. Especially the first of the trilogy. I get kind of puzzled why its so popular. For me its kind of weird to be on the side of popular opinion on that one, since the reasons I like it are it just hits specific parts of my brain.
As for Broken, I'd say give it a shot. Though you probably won't understand the context without reading Stardust first. Though I'm not sure how much context you really need other than the basic premise of Stardust and knowing about Twilight losing control and going all non-family on bad guys.
3128823 I only read Hard Reset. Since I didn't care for it, I didn't continue on with the series.
I do like me some XCOM, so I might give Stardust a shot.
3128828
If you have played and liked the new xcom game, you should read Stardust for sure.