Fic recs, July 14th! · 4:39pm Jul 14th, 2016
I'm off to Trotcon tomorrow! Hopefully I'll see some of you there. :D Don't be afraid to say hi (I will be more afraid of you), I'm not planning on being terribly interesting over the weekend.
ScarletWeather's blog post on OCs is a must read!
I've had a chance to edit iisaw's The Luna Cypher, ahead of a print run. Between understanding what it's setting up in The Twilight Enigma and my own meddling, I have more appreciation for it now. It is still a very transitional piece, moving through major changes in the world setting in quick steps. It's also very much a shipfic primarily — not as adventury or actiony — but the more problematic parts have been fixed thanks to me. :V So for that reason, I think its appeal will be slightly limited, but it's still absolutely worth reading if only to get to the sword-and-sorcery sequel. Luna Cypher's rating is hereby upgraded to Recommended!
I realized I had saved up two complete longfic audiobooks recently, so I'm going to start one of them tomorrow. And while they're both about the same length, videos-wise, this one's half a Fallout: Equestria long. So that'll be a thing for a while. :V Meanwhile, you can head below for reviews of Late Night Reading Buddy by Scout Feather, FireEsper's Rainbow Dash Bakes a Cupcake and Nothing Terrible Happens, Twilight Sparkle Gets a Free Salad by AestheticB and at least one other story that doesn't have a Pony Does X title, plus the remainder of my new reader vetting before the audiobook!
H: 1 R: 2 C: 2 V: 1 N: 0
Late Night Reading Buddy by Scout Feather
Reading by PookieWowza
It's R63 Loganberry! (Why does everyone sound like him I'm sorry.) Her background music was a tad loud in spots, but she's got a good, even delivery, and didn't attempt character voices, which is much better than doing them badly. Also, I feel like it's been a while since I ran into a new female reader, so I'm doubly pleased. :) This is only her third reading of four, so I think she'll go into the list now.
Genre: Friendshipping
Twilight did say Rainbow was welcome to read with her any time…
This is one of those stories you have to be in the right mood for, and it turns out, I was. Readers who enjoy stories about happy ponies doing cute things will eat this up, and while I am generally not one of those readers, I very much appreciated that this was just a story about Rainbow and Twilight reading together. Even crazier, I appreciated that it wasn't romantic shipping; certainly, all the dropping in unexpectedly, Twilight noticing Rainbow is acting weird, Rainbow getting snuggly stuff has all the hallmarks of shipping. But it wouldn't have been good shipping, to say nothing of being unoriginal, and I like TwiDash too much for that. So yeah, if you're in the mood for some slice of life, check this out.
Recommended
Rainbow Dash Bakes a Cupcake and Nothing Terrible Happens by FireEsper
Reading by ShadowOfCygnus
Reading by Agent0Fluffy
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Random Comedy
Wow: I read this story on the fifth anniversary of its publication! I am of two minds about it. On the one hand, it's a hilarious absurdist comedy, quickly proving to us that not only did something terrible happen, but it is still happening. On the other, that hilarious absurdist comedy builds up to one of the most anti-humorous punchlines I've ever seen. And it's not just that it's a combination pun/meme (or 'peme'), but that the pun doesn't work and the meme makes no sense in context. It's a tremendous letdown after a decently funny story. Still, this was funny, not to mention short, so it's not like it's a huge waste of time; just know that the journey is better than the destination.
Recommended for Laughs
Twilight Sparkle Gets a Free Salad by AestheticB
Reading by GutiuSerenade, et. al.
Genre: Absurd Comedy
It's just a matter of rationality and mathematics.
This story has everything you need: an incompetent and paranoid bureaucratic agency, Twilight freaking out over details of mathematical possibility, retail hell, magic fights, hoof fights, espionage and a giant frog. Not every joke lands equally well, but there are plenty of them that do, and they tend toward the hysterical. The story goes on for quite a bit longer than I anticipated yet doesn't overstay its welcome. This is just a whirlwind of hilarity and over the top ridiculousness, and I loved every minute of it. For god's sake, listen to the reading, it's a thing of beauty.
Highly Recommended
Shining Gets in Touch With His Feminine Side by Flutterpriest
Reading by Quelling Voice (It's Mature, but I have to link to something, she's new!)
My slate of recent new readers have been coming either from EQD or blogs put up by the author to celebrate new readings. So where'd I find this one? O.o Anyway, I hate to say this, because she's actually pretty good and put together a solid cast recording, but this was way too quiet for my needs. :( At max volume, I couldn't hear her over the water. So if you're not trying to listen to audiobooks with copious foreground noise, give her a try, 'cuz she's otherwise good. I'll call it a 'maybe'.
Mature: Sex
Genre: 2P R63 AiE Sexual Comedy
Luckily for Princess Cadence, she has a loving husband — you — who's okay with all her weird kinks.
This story is considerably funnier than it has any right to be. Cadence turns Shining, who is, yes, the second-person POV character, into a mare. Your reaction, if pat, is hysterical. You trot off into town to find a stallion, get drunk… and encounter Anonymous. :/ Now, I'm not too happy about that, but Anon not being the second-person character and you getting turned into a mare undercut a lot of the usual baggage second-person stories carry. Plus, I'd rather read a story where "I" am a character in the show than an OC or random human. Even if one doesn't ignore the human in the room, this is still pretty hilarious and low on the sex, with only a few humanisms to complain about. The ending is just about perfect, and again undercuts a lot of the baggage of Anon in Equestria fics, too. So yeah, while I'm not sure why the author had to go the Anon route, this is a lot more than the sum of its parts, and may just be worth turning your Mature filters off for.
Recommended If You Like Sexual Comedy
Sonata Goes to Gym Class by TheNewYorkBrony
Reading by Scarlett Blade
Reading by The Brony Chronicler
Genre: EQG Comedy
...And makes Dash feel inadequate.
Anyone remember those halcyon days when Sonata Dusk was your waifu and nothing hurt? (I do. ;_;) This is obviously a fic from around then, and it shows. It's funny and all, but it's got a single joke — given away by the combination of the description and cover art — and doesn't build to anything, ending on an infuriating non-punchline. Sonata fans might enjoy it, but if you don't think people staring at boobs is inherently funny, feel free to pass.
Vaguely Recommended
The Toy Museum by MrNelg
Reading by GutiuSerenade, et. al.
Reading by Plagen Shiki
Genre: Horror
On a family trip to Fillydelphia, Sweetie Belle finds a museum advertising a History of Toys exhibit. But the museum is locked, and no one seems to be home…
That I've been reading a lot of horror fics lately is pure coincidence, but I've been in the mood for them, so it's okay. That said, I felt like this one was lacking something in comparison to some I've read recently, at least at first. And even once the action starts, the motifs at play are familiar and not used in any terribly original way. Still, living dolls will always be creepy, and those familiar motifs are used well to build to an ending that's just spot-on. In total, I'd say I enjoyed it.
Recommended
Present Perfect confirmed for actual spider.
Oh man, I forgot about Twilight Sparkle Gets a Free Salad! What a great story! I read it like 3 or 4 years ago, one of the earlier stories I read! What a trip down memory lane! What an inspiration for my own random comedies! What magic memories this brings back!
Have you reviewed the immortal game?
"This story is considerably funnier than it has any right to be."
That's probably one of the best kinds of praise to get when it comes to comedy.
4091204 I mean, The Spiderses seems to be one of his favorite stories, so it's certainly a plausible theory.
Twilight Sparkle Gets a Free Salad is one of my top faves, so I'll definitely be grabbing the reading!
And thanks for the upgrade!
Anything AestheticB has written is pure gold. I had a chance about a year ago now to read a draft of an original novel he wrote, and goddamn was it great.
4091244
*cough*audiobook*cough*
Count me really curious about the changes to The Luna Cypher.
4092966
I still have to finalize some stuff before I leave for Trotcon today. I think it's mostly just trying to talk around tropes and cliches.