Cerulean's Voice On The Matter #22 · 4:33am Jun 30th, 2015
The final day of my challenge has arrived. And guess what?
I did it! I read 1,000,000 words!
Now what helped make up this final count? Check them out. This lot probably won’t appeal to a lot of people to be honest, but this is just my voice after all. I’m no gospel choir.
Previously-reviewed favourites with new chapters read: Letters From a Disgruntled Friendship Student, Besides the Will of Evil, Not The Hero, Long Road to Friendship, The Gentle Nights: Audience of One (Complete!), Withdrawal (Complete!), Cartography of War (Complete!).
Story: Always
Author: Vlad
Synopsis:
Spy.
Potions Teacher.
Traitor.
Murderer.
Severus Snape was known as many things. But right now, he was just confused.
"And just...what are you all supposed to be?"
Length: 8,640 words over 7 chapters, averaging 1,234 words per chapter
Status: Incomplete
Review: Yeah, so the story’s writing quality is pretty sub-par. The grammar’s all over the place. Some characters feel a bit off. No way would this even come close to one of my favourite crossover stories. And yet… I mean, it’s freaking Severus Snape in Equestria! I loved him as a character in the Harry Potter series, so it’s good to see that he’s very much himself here.
Honestly though, if you’re not a Potter fan, you probably won’t like this much. You might not even like this if you are a Potter fan. Mercifully, the chapters are very short, so if you do take a peek at Always, it won’t take you long to decide whether to take it up or drop it.
Story: Upheaval: Legacy
Author: Visiden Visidane
Synopsis:
After the siege of Bastion City and the theft of the power of sunlight, Spike takes on Prince Terrato's offer to train under the kirin, Seethe Scale. He must travel to the Western Barrier Land to gain the strength to help his friends.
Once there, however, Spike soon realizes that there is more for him to contend with in this harsh environment than developing his abilities.
Length: 32,582 words over 7 chapters, averaging 4,655 words per chapter
Status: Incomplete
Review: Visiden Visidane is most known for this Upheaval series of stories, in which there is far too much world building and character development to do justice with any short review. Suffice to say that this tale of Seethe Scale the kirin training Spike to be an actual dragon so he may be useful with the war effort is but a small fraction of the larger universe. To those of you who have read this series and at least gotten through half or more of Reckoning, this will feel very familiar. VV actually decided to extract the sections related to Spike in the larger story and put the focus on him with his own story. As such, I can only possibly recommend this to fans of the Upheaval series. For those following it though, this is an integral part of the story and should be treated as essential reading. Competently written and full of interesting ideas along with an endearing, unique character, Legacy practically commands a read if you miss Spike in Reckoning. It also adds in my favourite headcanon about dragons, which serves only to add to Seethe Scale’s badassery level. Just be aware that the first five chapters have been pretty much pulled out of Reckoning so it will take a little bit to get past content you might have already read. Then again, looking at it with fresh eyes is never a bad thing.
Story: Upheaval: Journeys
Author: Visiden Visidane
Synopsis:
Equestria's fragments have reunited, and the power of sunlight shines once more within Celestia. With the remnants of the Old Kingdom destroyed, the Abyssal Throne sent away, the threat of Gravitas defeated, and Black Rose no more, Equestria now faces the encroaching darkness of Oceanus and his rebels.
But the stage is not yet fully set. Twilight Sparkle and her friends must gather what means they may before the battle is joined.
Length: 26,296 words over 3 chapters, averaging 8,765 words per chapter
Status: Incomplete
Review: Like with Legacy, Journeys is very much a story in the throes of its own adventure, you’ll need to have read Breaking Point and Reckoning to understand it. Those familiar with the series will find it a worthwhile continuation in the wake of Oceanus and his forces awakening as well as Black Rose and Gravitas’s deaths. The Upheaval saga was one of my first humongous ponyfic series from getting into reading fanfiction and I have stuck by it for these past three years. Never have I found another pony war setting quite like it. It’s worth getting into, but like I said, you need to start from the beginning before you even consider starting Journeys or Legacy.
Words read so far this June: 1,010,827
I did it! Woohoo! 
Perhaps I'll just whittle away the last 10 fics on my RL list over the net few days... but then I really need to get back into the editing game. I've promised a few people to help them out, so that'll be my priority for now. After that's all done, then finally, finally, I'll start again on my stories.
P.S. Withdrawal, Audience of One, and Cartography of War are now all completed just in case you missed that fact up the top. Those three make up my favourite stories to have read between Feb 2014 and July 2015, and that’s saying something quite special coming from me. Please go and give all three some attention, or at least put them on your Read Later list. They’re three vastly different types of stories, all written by highly competent authors. I can’t recommend them enough.
Withdrawal, by Raugos
Final Score: 8/10
The Gentle Nights: Audience of One, by PaulAsaran
Final Score: 8.5/10
Cartography of War, by Daetrin
Final Score: 9.5/10
congratulations
Here's from my fave's list. These are stories that I have faved.
Total Words: 14,473,718
3193946
Cheers.
3193985
Well it's not about totals. It was about me forcing myself to read because that's what it seems to have come to lately.
My totals from all my faves (Tier one, Tier two, and Mature) comes to 10,760,112.
That's being here for over two years (counting from when I was a lurker and not yet officially joined as well). So to do 1M in a month is a lot for me, considering I've only read nearly 11M in 30 months. That's why it was a challenge. I have a busy work schedule and other commitments in life as well.
Also, those lists are with every chapter read. Nothing outstanding.
3194006
11m in 30 months. That's a lot. Not bad.
Clapping intensifies.
Cutting it a little close eh?
3194044
You have no idea. If I didn't finish when I did, having to go to work this same night, I wouldn't have made it.
Doesn't help that I wasted about 80+ hours over the month watching Youtube vids instead.
Congrats! Now for Two Million Word July. No problem, right? It has a whole extra day ...
3194098
Hehe. More like "Edit 200k Words July." I owe it to Jawjoe, Ausbrony, Albinocorn, DrakeyC, and PaulAsaran to continue polishing their fics. And then I need to resume my own...
With any luck I'll be able to enter the July Writeoff.
Well done, buddy! Now let's see if you can keep your RiL from filling to the brim again.
Also, 8.5? I am quite pleased with this.
Whoo!
Ugh, I'm going to try reading Upheaval for the third time ever eventually, and I'm not looking forward to it. I could never get past chapter two of that story.
Congratulations!
That's possibly two orders of magnitude larger than the number of words I read this month
3194371
Then why do it? You know, if I try to read a story and fail to get past the first few chapters, I set it aside and never look back.
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Because it's an important story that everyone loves, and I want to figure out what I'm missing.
Of course, the only way to do this is to dedicate a vs. post to it, which comes with the rule of I can't stop early. It could be torturous, I have no idea. :(