Fic recs, April 30th! · 12:22pm Apr 30th, 2016
So I was super-happy about The Cutie Map being nominated for a Hugo, for approximately ten minutes, until I found out it was just a political ploy by the assholes who run that thing now. More detailed info here. But rather than spread negativity, I'd rather talk about something awesome.
Like The Dresden Files card game Kickstarter! :D I know there are a lot of DF fans around here. The game looks very cool, from what I've seen in their videos, and early reviews have called it easy to set up, quick to play, thematic and fun. Also, if they make $315k, they will include a character from Sentinels of the Multiverse and you know how I feel about that. :V Also, Mouse as a playable deck is now a stretch goal! Go check it out.
It's been almost two weeks cuz I was waiting for one of these to get published. Hopefully the large number of H's will make up for that. :V Click below for reviews of Surrogate by Pascoite, Ave Celestia's My Roommate Is Not a Vampire, Terra Incognita by Carabas and a whole bunch of other really worthwhile fics.
H: 5 R: 1 C: 2 V: 0 N: 1
Surrogate by Pascoite
Genre: Emotional
That morning, they had a daughter, but now…
Like all of Pascoite's really hard-hitting emotional fics, this one relies on a twist that recontextualizes the entire first half. Granted, up to that point, it's a little tough to follow, but purposefully so; once you hit a certain spot, everything will become clear as day, and the impact is totally worth it. It's also unique in that it takes us into the lives of upper-class ponies (they have two servants, if that tells you anything) and treats them with complete sympathy. It's not something you see often in this fandom. This piece should definitely be read, and I can't even tell you why.
Highly Recommended
The Purloined Pony Fic-a-Minute by RTStephens
Genre: Not Sure
This is a very odd piece. Clocking in at 4 words long and obviously not published, the description is actually longer than the story itself. Yet those four "words" are actually a pair of Youtube embeds, making this, proportionately speaking, one of the worst ideas ever put to page. After all, throwing Youtube videos in the middle of a story is pretty immersion-breaking. But what can you say to something where those videos are the entirety of what's presented? All I know is that Indiana Jones fans will probably get the most out of this. And, well, I can't fault it for not wasting the reader's time overly much! I've definitely read worse.
Facetious Recommendation :V
The Canterlot Conference by Rezo
Genre: Dark
Hey, it's story #93! I was more or less dared to read this, and not given any context as to why. The reason, as pointed out by Loganberry in the comments, is that this is a ponification of the Wannsee Conference, a historical meeting wherein the Nazis came up with their "final solution", a phrase which is even used in the story. In this case, it's Celestia and a few sycophants talking about how to deal with the buffalo, their original plans having been derailed somewhat by the events of Over a Barrel. Really, it's just a bunch of early-fandom character destruction, what with the cold, heartless Celestia calmly discussing how many buffalo they should kill each year. And there's even room for a Progress joke! :| Overall, I can't get too worked up about this one, but yeah, not worth it at all.
Not Recommended
My Roommate Is Not a Vampire by Ave Celestia
Reading by Scribbler and DracKeagan
Genre: Comedic ScratchTavia
Vinyl Scratch has become a creature of the night! Whatever is Octavia to do?
Even given the touting of My Roommate Is a Vampire in the description, there was no way I'm not going to read a story with this title. I was not disappointed. This has the kind of interactions between Vinyl and Octavia that I like — that is to say, antagonistic, with Octavia unwilling to put up with Vinyl's shit aka LyraBon — regardless of whether or not they're actually in schmoopy-doopy love. And for all that the first part ends in sickeningly cute roleplaying, I can't say no to Octavia's first line in part two. I laughed. I laughed a lot. :D This is the second-best ScratchTavia fic I've ever read.
Highly Recommended
CockneyTavia's Big Night by Flutterpriest and Wuten
Genre: Comedy
If you thought the fandom was able to ruin stories via highly stylized Applejack accent, you ain't seen nothin' yet. This is not for the faint of reading: Octavia's Cockney accent is grossly overwritten, enough that I even had trouble meandering through it. Thankfully, I've listened to enough of Wuten's videos to know what they were going for. And, well, if you think "Octavia exemplifying the stereotypes of a particular brand of Briton" is funny, this is as well. Even when I had no idea what she was saying, I was laughing, and I appreciate how they characterized Vinyl as well. It obviously hasn't been proofread enough, but as a quick lark, it's fun.
Recommended for Laughs
Terra Incognita by Carabas
Reading by Me!
300th Review of 2016!
Genre: Historical
A journal entry from Star Swirl's apprentice, Meadowbrook, details their first trip through a mirror to a strange, yet familiar, land.
It's funny, I was gonna post about this in my journal news, but instead, the exhortations of myself and a few others turned one of Carabas's Palaververse world-building blogs into an actual story! :D And what a story it is! Removed enough from the 'verse at large that those unfamiliar won't have a hard time reading it, it's got my favorite kind of Star Swirl, plus a non-Clover sidekick as they design and then use the mirror portal to human-world. As background for EQG, it's great, and as a historical tract in its own right, it's fantastic. Plus, there's plenty of doubles fighting. :V (EQG needed more of that!) It's funny, it's thought-provoking, why aren't you reading it right now?
Highly Recommended
White Out by the dobermans
Genre: Literary
The Princess pays a visit to Ponyville. Whatever could be the matter with Featherweight?
This is the kind of story you both need to pay close attention to and chew on for a while after you've finished to get the full effect. And what an effect: this is one of the most unsettling things I've ever read. The narrative is pervaded by an unerring sense of wrongness, and purposefully so. While some might decry Celestia as out of character, her every action that makes no sense, or that seems to break her character, has behind it a deliberateness that carries the story. The use of Featherweight is an interesting idea, considering that their paths do intersect in the show in a way I had forgotten about until this story reminded me. His mother is quite the character, too. Looking at the comments, this one's controversial, and the main complaint is that it's "too literary" or "nothing happened". And I'll admit, I don't have a 100% clear vision of what this piece is necessarily about, but I sure as heck appreciate that there are at least three totally different theories therein. (And I think the lack of a Dark tag should perhaps guide the reader every bit as much as the other omissions.)
Highly Recommended
A Million Little Lights by Aragon
Reading by Illya Leonov
Genre: Slice of Life
She didn't need to have this conversation with Shining Armor, but Celestia sat him down anyway.
In this unique piece, we see Celestia as, if not a divine being, then one so powerful and knowledgeable as to be indistinguishable from divinity. The "lights" of the title are what give her her power, and they are a very original way of portraying it: something intrinsic to her abilities, yet external to her self. She's got power, but she deliberately doesn't use it, and we're given two scenarios that explain why. This is a deconstruction of a classic trope, one that succeeds by very carefully weighing all that trope suggests. I'd say it makes a solid argument. :)
Recommended
Three Nights by Bradel
Reading by Scribbler, et. al.
Genre: Slice of Life
On Hearth's Warming Eve, Cadence finds her family.
As Cadence backstory fics go, I would place this squarely between Essenza di Amore and Cadence of Cloudsdale: good company! It takes us through her story with three very important Hearth's Warming Eves: the first, when she's found (it takes a good halfway through the first chapter for it to become clear what's going on, no spoilers); another, when she meets Twilight for the first time; and the final one, after she's become the Crystal Princess, and is waiting for Shining, Twilight and their parents to return from Canterlot. It's the third chapter that takes up the bulk of the story, but the second that really caught my attention. We're shown a really arresting view of Twilight at five years old: precocious as all get-out, of course, dreadfully lonely, somewhat neglected by her parents. The way her parents were written was great — no one ever shows them arguing like married couples do — and Bradel is able to wrest important, emotional detail from short pieces of dialogue. In the third scenario, we're treated to Cadence's own loneliness and what Hearth's Warming means to her. Even better, it's a story about how alien the crystal ponies are; they don't know anything about Hearth's Warming, for instance. Many of them treat her the way they treated Sombra, despite preferring her rule to his. It echoes a thread throughout the entire piece, about Cadence suddenly being thrust into things and having to grapple with not quite fitting in: a family, a horn, a kingdom. So yeah, if the first sentence of this review wasn't enough to go by, this is a really excellent piece, and the kind of emotional Cadence story I enjoy reading.
Highly Recommended
Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait...
You are a Dresden Files fan?!
w00t
Man, good bunch this time, huh? I think I'd never seen so many H's outside a CiG-themed blog. Bradel's story sounds interesting as hell, so I'll add it to the RIL list.
First time I see you actively liking an Octascratch story, too. I personally wasn't interested just for the title alone. Maybe I'll give it a pass at some point, who knows.
But yeah, your hate for the ship is well-known, so it's a surprise. I personally find it hilarious how out of the last four fics I've written, you've reviewed three -- because you skipped the Octascratch. With extreme prejudice.
Mind you, not calling you a chicken or anything. Just stating the facts.
Bacaw.
3907103
Oh yeah :V
3907108
I like that story because it turns out I can take ScratchTavia if they're antagonstic towards each other, and also it was making fun of a horrible fic. And your fic's still on my RIL. :V I think I'm waiting for the audiobook. (Which means I'll be waiting a while. c.c)
U sure, buddy? Thing got a reading in like three days, brah. Brah-caw, if you like it better.
(In all seriousness -- 'tis a joke, not an actual petition for you to review that. You made perfectly clear that it annoys you when other people ask you to read their shit.
Read this shit instead, rather.
Now, in all seriousness --I gotta admit that, in hindsight, some of the Octascratch fics I labelled as masterpieces were really damn bad, so you had a point when you said it was hard to find good stories about them. Allegrezza broke my heart when I re-read it, man.
I think the major problem those two have is, well, fanon. They're always written the same way, and that "same way" tends to have very little chemistry -- because, while we're given reasons why Vinyl would be into Octavia, Octavia definitely can't see anything good in Vinyl. She's written as an annoying idiot who has nothing to offer, and yet we're led to believe Octavia is willing to, in your wods, "put up with her bullshit".
Hahah. No,
3907187
You hit it on the nose, there. :) And I mean I'll have to wait because there's still a lot of Project Horizons to go, plus all the stuff that's been piling up while I'm reading that. :B
But have you read worse with fewer words?
I've been meaning to read Bradel's Cadance story five ever
I really liked "White Out" as well. It's definitely the kind of thing where it feels almost incomplete but in a good way. It's unclear whether Celestia's oblivious or complicit, or whether anything bad is actually going on in the first place. But from the outset, it's just got excellent characterization of Leadweight. She leaps right off the page. And then, yes, it's turned out to be very controversial. It may be one of the lowest vote ratios ever for a story featured on EqD (currently a single vote over 50% up). But inasmuch as someone not liking it doesn't in and of itself make it a bad story, I think the writing is excellent and the characterization just as good. As to what happens in it... that's going to be hit or miss by personal preference. But I'm comfortable saying it's a good story, and I was happy to be the one who approved it after working with the author through a round of revisions.
3907429
For my money, it's probably the best one in my library right now—though I've got another good one coming up next if I can ever manage to finish it...
I was actually kinda shocked PP hadn't read it yet! :V (But thank you, PP! I always love when I can actually impress you with one of my stories.)
3908098
I just read White Out and… yeah. That's one to think on. Thanks, PP, for pointing out the lack of the dark tag. I have some rough ideas of what was actually going on there, but I could also be way off base.
Gah, now I really want to compare notes, but I don't want to risk spoiling it for anyone
In fairness, Cockney dialect is meant to be grossly over-exaggerated, since its original purpose was for thieves and criminals to communicate with each other without the authorities knowing what they were talking about. It's quite an interesting thing to read up on, if you're ever curious.
The confusion of what she's saying is indeed part of the charm~
Just reread white out. The only definitive conclusion is that Celestia is abusive. It's ok to make vague stories, or ones aiming to primarily have an emotional impact, but when you tease so many concrete details that could be read different ways, it gets frustrating. I would love if this was part of a series of thematically similar vignettes outlining a dystopian AU, however.
3908100
You asked me to read it like, back in September. c.c And unfortunately, you won't be getting the video review until I can fix my computer. D: Which could well be next September at the rate I'm going. :(
Hi Present Perfect. Thanks so much for the discerning review of White Out. After getting death threats for it over in the EQD comments and so many downvotes, I thought I had totally blown it. It's reassuring that trained eyes can see all the possibilities, rather than just the one.
3908098
Ah, it was you!!
Let me thank you once again for helping with the development. If I didn't mention it before, I'll say that I took something important away from your advice, and I think my writing has improved as a result. Also, getting Featherweight's perspective, as you requested, added a dimension that was sorely lacking. I've come to consider this my best work so far.
For any who are feeling frustrated as to the story's meaning, it was intended to lend a voice where there isn't one. Beyond that, it's an array of meanings, referring to each other. If you gave it an honest attempt and drew a conclusion, you're probably right.
Now I'm really curious about what I said in my previous comment that warrants a downvote.
3911861
Probably just that you dared say anything positive about a controversial story. :B
I've seen--I've written--reviews which were longer than the stories themselves, but never one 28.25 times longer than the story in its entirety. On the other hand, if any fic ever deserved the level of nuanced digging-in which is surely implied by a nearly 30-1 review-to-words ratio, it's surely RTStevens' seminal work of CYOA-ness. The depth, it is staggering!