Ponyfic Roundup reviews summary, #1 to #10

Since not a lot's going on in ponyland right now, I thought I'd do something I've been thinking about for a while, and which in various ways several other reviewers do. Over on my blog, Louder Yay, I have a regular feature I call "Ponyfic Roundup". This is a weekly look at a few fics I've read, occasionally of a spotlight on a single story but usually a short review and a simple rating -- which is explicitly based on how much I enjoyed each story, rather than anything deeper or more closely analysed. I'm now up to Ponyfic Roundup 132, and I have no plans to stop.

In the early days, I rated fics out of 10, but I've since switched to a simple one-to-five-star system; note that an average fic gets two stars, and that three means a story I actively enjoyed. For simplicity's sake, I'll be converting the /10 scores to their modern equivalents in this summary. Bear in mind that, with a tiny number of exceptions, these ratings are fixed when I first review a story -- so any edits made since review date will not have been accounted for. Nor have I changed my sometimes rather generous ratings from the early days. Finally, a few stories are no longer available on Fimfiction, and a few authors have changed username.

After the break you'll find a summary of what I looked at in my first ten reviews, way way back many centuries ago in spring 2014 when "Ponyfic Roundup" began. Click on the header to go to the Louder Yay blog post with the appropriate reviews, and on a story's name to find it here on Fimfiction. In the case of Mature-rated stories, to comply with Fimfiction rules I'll link the author instead of the story name.

PR 1 -- 26 Mar 14
The Best Night Ever by Capn_Chryssalid: ★★★★
The Games We Play by AbsoluteAnonymous: ★★★★
A New Perspective by ArgonMatrix: ★★★
The Numbers Don't Lie by shortskirtsandexplosions: ★★★
On the Importance of Spelling by Softy8088: ★★★★

PR 2 -- 2 Apr 14
Daring DONE! by Aragon: ★★★★
My Beloved Sister by Deil Grist: ★★★
Naked Singularity by Cold in Gardez: ★★★★★
The Old Stories by Thanqol: ★★★★
Somewhere Only We Know by PatchworkPoltergeist: ★★★★

PR 3 -- 9 Apr 14
Almost Beautiful by Donnys Boy: ★★★★
Fluttershy is Free by Jordan179: ★★★★★
For Those We Left Behind by Drakmire: ★★★★
To Make a Spark by Chris: ★★★★
What Happened? by CrystalFeather: ★★

PR 4 -- 16 Apr 14
Autumn of love by TokusatsuKuuga-RX: ★
A Filly's Guide to Not Making Headlines by Bradel: ★★★
This is a Story You Will Never Read by Cynewulf: ★★★★
Welcome Home, Scootaloo by Lovepugkate: ★★★
When It Was In Color by Kajuaru: ★★★ (author now known as "Kaj")

PR 5 -- 23 Apr 14 -- Spotlight on Fallout: Equestria
Fallout: Equestria by Kkat: ★★★★★

PR 6 -- 30 Apr 14
Height by PoweredByTea: ★★★★★
End of the Rainbow by Deathscar: ★★★
Never a Rainbow by NorsePony: ★★★★
the rebellion! by tunderchaser: ★
Sun Princess by Skywriter: ★★★

PR 7 -- 7 May 14
No Quixote Here by RedSquirrel456: ★★★★
First Aid by Maniac92: ★★★
Fly Away by ZAquanimus: ★★
The Moonstone Cup by Cyanide: ★★★★
My Little Dashie by ROBCakeran53: ★★

PR 8 -- 14 May 14
Hard Reset by Eakin: ★★★★
Drunken Rainbow by Rainbow87dash: ★★
Moonspire Run by titanrising: ★★★
My Sediments Exactly by Twinkletail: ★★★
Princess Celestia Gets Mugged by BronyWriter: ★★★

PR 9 -- 21 May 14
Forever Young by Hyperexponential: ★★★★★
Being Neighborly by JMac: ★★★
Big Mac Goes to Therapy by Daedelean: ★★★★
The Rain-Bow Incident by gmen15: ★★★
The Stallion Out of Time by 0 to Wolfie: ★

PR 10 -- 28 May 14
Evil Belle by Akumokagetsu: ★★★
Lightning Bugs by Zoom Star: ★
Luna, There's a Sentient Race Inside Your Mane by boardgamebrony: ★★★
Pinkie Watches Paint Dry by AbsoluteAnonymous: ★★★
Shipping and Handling by Pegasus Rescue Brigade: ★★★

Comments

[oilyvalves]

Gosh this looks like a fair amount of work! All those links.

There're a few recognisable fic names in there for me.

[Loganberry]

4305226 It's mostly just copying and pasting, but it is a bit time-consuming. I won't be posting these every day -- maybe two or three times a week, and only when I haven't got anything else to blog about.

I obviously used to have a bit more spare time, given the slightly larger number of long fics I reviewed in the early days. Mind you, I don't remember all of them, not even all the stories I liked. At some point I might go back and read a couple of those again, to see whether my feelings about them have changed.