R4 (Reactions, Reviews, Reference, Redirection) #0179 · 1:34am Jun 30th, 2015
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Here are five slightly edited old reviews:
Fortitude Amicitia by Arad
Almost Beautiful by Donnys Boy
The Star In Yellow by Blueshift
The Eagle Has Landed by Cyanblackstone
I Forgot I Was There by GaPJaxie
Fortitude Amicitia by Arad
[story link] [my original review]
Pretty good. Dusk Guard crossover with Stardust. No reason to read unless you like the Dusk Guard. The story is basically a single action scene. If you liked Stardust and you like the Dusk Guard stories, you should give this a read. If neither of the above is true, you should not read this.
On further reflection, I'd change my recommendation to you should read this if you liked one side of the crossover and want a good entry into the other side. It's a pretty good action scene. Just all of the character stuff will go right past you if you haven't read Dusk Guard.
Almost Beautiful by Donnys Boy
[story link] [my original review]
Nice shipping story. This story does a pretty good job giving us Rarity’s viewpoint. Not quite good enough to give Rarity her own distinctive voice, but at no point did I lose my sense of immersion that we were seeing things through Rarity’s eyes. It was also a good step by step through how Rarity could fall in love with Twilight Sparkle, and visa versa. Though we pretty much have to guess at Twilight Sparkle’s route by just one or two inferences. Highly recommended if you like shipping stories. Just generally recommended otherwise. Not a stellar example, but had some good bits in it that were worth reading.
The Star In Yellow by Blueshift
[story link] [my original review]
Hmm… This was not what I was expecting. Was hoping for a more lovecraftian vibe. Something like one of the SCP entries I have enjoyed. This was… Less dark and more misguided. Almost nothing really bad happens and by the end I didn’t really have any real feeling of the world-wide danger that was supposed to happen. I figured out the reveal at the end about halfway through, so that wasn’t a surprise. It was cool when I figured it out, but then nothing really came of it.
However, the story does touch on a few very interesting ideas. About authors and the characters they create and the reasons stories are written. In a way it reminded me a little of the anime Princess Tutu. Which, spoilers: We find out that the main villain of the show is actually just an author writing a story that everyone is just a character in (Sort of, it’s complicated) and he’s a evil villain because a story needs to have horrible things to happen to the characters in it to be a interesting story. See also: Stranger Than Fiction. I’m not sure if that counts as metafiction exactly or not.
I’d recommend this one. Just take the ‘Dark’ tag with a grain of salt, and be sure to read the author’s notes that make up the last chapter.
The Eagle Has Landed by Cyanblackstone
[story link] [my original review]
This was, well, bland. Niel Armstrong sets foot on the moon, sees Princess Luna. That’s it. I have now spoiled the entire story for you, you now don’t have to read it. Not bad, just bland as heck.
I Forgot I Was There by GaPJaxie
[story link] [my original review]
Well, when I finished this I got that emotional rush I get after I finish a story I really like. A sort of sad wistful feeling. Not exactly sad that it ended, or me wanting more, but just that the moment of the story is over. So that’s certainly a good recommendation. The pacing was a bit odd in places, and I did feel it kind of dragged a bit here and there in the middle. The amount of negative emotions the Twilight Sparkles aimed at each other was a bit extreme for pony. Yet, put it all together and it worked. This story is a wonderful exploration of identity and perception. A somewhat sad look at what might happen if a person (or pony) gets duplicated. Where a slot in life, friends, family, relationships, when that slot that was one is now trying to fit two.
If you liked The Arbitrage of Moments by this same author, you’ll probably enjoy this one. However, I’d recommend you skip it if you like rational characters acting rationally about fairly simple situations. Because there isn’t any of that here. The story is pretty much the two Twilight Sparkles acting wildly nuts and getting extremely emotional over willful misinterpretations of pretty much everything. Plus the ending is a little abrupt, but as I opened with, the ending left me with that sad but satisified emotion I get from most really good stories I read.
Most of the original review.
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