R4 (Reactions, Reviews, Reference, Redirection) #0189

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Here are five slightly edited old reviews:
Those Awful Rumors 'Round Town by PresentPerfect
Let Me Complain, Dear by Oroboro
And then Twilight Exploded by ManlyDerp
Diamond Tiara Gets Filthy by The Elusive Badgerpony
We Who with Songs Beguile by Loganberry

Those Awful Rumors 'Round Town by PresentPerfect
[story link] [my original review]

Hmm.. This is another well-written fanfic that just didn’t click in my head. Interesting concept I guess, but not really enough there to get any hooks in my brain. Partially recommended. In that I recommend it, but not sure you should expect much out of it. Might just be one of those stories where the reader needs to bring most of the emotional impact with them to the story.

More at the original review with spoilers for the story.

Let Me Complain, Dear by Oroboro
[story link] [my original review]

This is one of the really short fanfics that is less a story and more just a scene. I liked it quite a bit. Then again, I’m a fan of Rarity and Applejack romance so I might be a bit biased. Thought this pulled it off wonderfully. It might only be a scene, but I could feel a bit more story around the edges. Felt like there was a story before it leading up to it and that there would be a story after it.

And then Twilight Exploded by ManlyDerp
[story link] [my original review]

I thought this was going to be a comedic look at what the rest of the mane six was doing while Twilight Sparkle was in the astral plane watching her life flash before her as she got princess-zapped. It is a much crazier and funnier story than that. This is a very silly light comedy that I would recommend if you like absurdness.

Diamond Tiara Gets Filthy by The Elusive Badgerpony
[Story is tagged Mature] [my original review]

Well-written porn. The mix of equine and human terminology was a bit confusing. Guessing the story has anthro versions of the characters, but it was odd. The prose is flowery and a bit overwrought, but it works. It reads like our perspective character using fancy and flowery language to hide and/or justify what is going on. As for how predatory Diamond Tiara is being towards her father, I couldn’t help but notice that it is a first-person perspective so all we get is his perceptions of the event. Everything we hear about her actions, motives, emotions, tactics, are all his thought and guessing about the situation. Sure, that can’t cover all of it, but some of the early parts of the story really did feel somewhat like, as I mentioned not two lines ago, he is trying to justify his own actions as those of a victim. Her actions in the second half of the story shows that she isn’t exactly a victim either, but the perspective choice and flowery language did get me thinking about, well, perception and the lies we sometimes tell ourselves about the things we want that we shouldn’t have.

We Who with Songs Beguile by Loganberry
[story link] [my original review]

I’d heard good things about this story. Turns out it totally deserves the praise. A wonderful look at ponies from an outside viewpoint. Not to mention a wonderful example of how to worldbuild without using exposition. Every phrase, every name, each choice of words in general paints some of the world the birds are living in. A different, but recognizable world that the ponies also inhabit. Highly recommended.

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