Queen Mother (Story Review) · 10:37pm Sep 17th, 2015
Queen Mother is...bluntly put, one hell of a weird story. It's the sort of story that you read, and enjoy, even if you don't quite understand anything the first time around. The fact that, several months after first reading it, I've decided to go back and reread it should indicate that it is a bit of a mind-worm that requires you to piece it together with an interpretation solely your own. If you don't mind not getting all the answers (or any of them) and want something that'll let you build your own headcanon for Chrysalis, this story is like headcanon jet fuel. Most of it's success relies on reader interpretation and I was really itching to scroll down into the comments to see how people were reacting to it.
And I was disappointed, because it looks like so far I'm the only person to offer any sort of interpretation. What a let down.
Publish Date: July 17th, 2015
Genre: Trippy, Dark, Slice of Life
Status: Complete
Queen Mother is a story by BlndDog about a mare named Marillia and her daughter, Chrysalis, who live in an unspecified settlement on Equestria's border. There's very, very little description of this town and yet I feel like it's one of the more unique settings I've seen. It's world building as it should be done, showing a location as a snapshot of what is typical for it. Yeah, not much to be said, it's textbook showing instead of telling, which is always nice to see.
In fact, the same could be said about nearly everything in this story. Much of the enjoyment here is trying to string together a coherent narrative using the sparse and random details the author has presented us of Chrysalis and Marillia's relationship. Because the ambiguity is clearly intentional, and clearly a big plus her. The vagueness of the story isn't frustrating so much as it's intriguing. Frequently there are jumps in the timeline of the narrative, with very little indication as to such. This gives the story a very panicked, claustrophobic feel to it, making the reader feel unsettled and uncomfortable, but ultimately intrigued. It defies typical story conventions in a way that is very unique and dare I say bold.
But that's just me. I know that the sort of..."up to YOU to interpret" mentality is subjective and perhaps off-putting, and this story's narrative certainly is difficult to grasp, but I still stipulate it's written in a way that manages to be intriguingly confusing instead of frustratingly confusing.
The writing is quite good, no notable grammar issues. Many of the sentences and paragraphs are quite quick, and the use of these brief sentences helps enhance the uneasy feel of the story. Likewise, the panicked pacing helps the mystery of the story develop. It's very quick. Details are presented to us instantly, characters are established through subtle actions, and there's not a single sentence that isn't devoted to building up the setting, situation, or characters, and the whole while the narrative is changing location and time whenever it damn well pleases, like Emily Dickinson with a Vortex Manipulator. There's hardly any dialogue and yet the characterization and relationship between Marillia and Chrysalis is dark, disturbing, creative, and even heartwarming at moments. I like Chrysalis as a ferocious, unmerciful villain, but I like the caged/desperate animal persona that BlndDog has given her here as well. She is still clearly a monster, but definitely not an unpitiable one.
Marillia is a character who...serves her role. She's a fairly typical kind motherly figure, but there's little deviation from that. I don't have too much of a problem with that, because the story is very short and ambiguous. I would have liked a bit more of a clear exploration of her, but as it stands the ambiguity isn't too much of a problem.
Uh...guess I gotta give a final rating or something. I'll do this conventionally and rip-off other reviewers styles and just make a list of my summed points, followed by my final recommendation:
Plot and Characters: Ambiguous yet intriguing.
Setting: Unique and interesting. I'd like to see this border town developed further in another story.
Grammar and Prose: Unconventional but well-presented.
Uniqueness: Depends on reader's interpretation.
I'll finish just by saying that Queen Mother is short, unique, and worth your time, and more importantly worth your interpretation in the comments.
Wow, thanks for the review! I thought this story just got lost forever. It's great to hear that you really read into the story. It was supposed to be something of a conversation piece, and you're the first person to ever talk about it.