Review #97 - The Games We Play · 5:08am Apr 28th, 2017
I really feel like I'm forgetting some commitment I made..... (not LeeRoy's and not Seattle's Angels, theirs I haven't yet forgotten).
Anyway, today I am finally getting around to reviewing a certain fic I sort of promised to do a few weeks back. Sadly, the author of said fic has been offline for 106 weeks and counting.
Random, unrelated thought, Equestria Daily hates me. No, I'm not paranoid, it just has a poll for the best shy pony, with the options being Coco Pommel, Vapor Trail, Fluttershy, and Marble Pie. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love Vapor and Marble. This is a problem. I cannot vote for both. Obviously, Fluttershy has more than half the votes, so mine won't win no matter what. However, since Vapor is not quite as shy as Marble, I do believe I shall vote for Marble. If what I wrote here somehow made sense to you, then I congratulations, you did better than me.
Slightly continuing this rant about EQD, their poll options always bother me. Like, the last one, which was the season opener, we had the option of bringing back two-parters, don't care, or two stories is better than one. I wanted to vote that it was a nice change of pace. But could I? No. And the current, well, no duh Fluttershy's gonna win, why even bother asking?
The Games We Play by AbsoluteAnonymous
(Dark, Romance, Sad, Slice of Life)
There's been another sighting of the mysterious Mare Do Well...but this time, all of Rainbow Dash's friends plead ignorance, insisting that they've put aside their costumes for good. Rainbow Dash is determined to uncover the masked mare's true identity before she's humiliated yet again, but this time around, the vigilante seems especially interested in her as well. Will Rainbow Dash be able to solve the mystery before the culprit takes the hoax too far? Or is she in danger of losing not only her mind, but her heart?
Review
Well now, this was certainly an interesting read. It's a dark-ish romance mystery where the clues come from everyday life. So as to avoid potential spoilers, I shall, for the most part, only speak of Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash's character is really put to the test in this fic. At first, she's her normal, cocky self. Then she meets Mare Do Well and it all goes out the window. She becomes a mix of scared, obsessed, competitive, and confused. Rainbow is also pretty oblivious throughout the story, not noticing other's feelings toward her. At times, I wanted to just scream at her and her stupidity. The rest of the cast, are just jerks. Really, that's what I thought of them for 99% of the story. And now I speak of those things I liked. First off, the genre. I happen to love dark mysteries, especially if you throw an adventure in there. Also, I approve of the ship involved in this fic. One last thing before I conclude, do not, and I mean DO NOT, read the comment section. Two, three, and six comments in and the plot is spoiled. Oddly, by the same person but on different chapters. Beware fo that.
Sadly, it does have weaknesses. The greatest one would be how lacking it is in the mystery department. While Absolute tried to keep the reader from figuring it out too early, he (used as a gender neutral term) ultimately failed. Absolute tried to give the main five alibies, but two of them are very flimsy. Then about halfway through, one of them gets revealed to be true, leaving only one that doesn't make sense. It really takes away from the big reveal at the end. Not that it isn't fun to watch Rainbow stumble a few times...
Recommendation: Recommended for mystery geeks, otherwise Worth Reading. (Yeah, by big weakness, I mean very big weakness).
Yeah, it's definitely the fic's biggest failing. I can't remember exactly when I realised who Mare Do Well had to be, but it was fairly early on. Still, it gets points for keeping me interested in a long shipfic, not my usual thing.
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I had it pegged between Rarity and Pinkie Pie, with pretty great suspicions, but decided not to guess too much until the latter half.
huh, you know I guess you're right that the mystery was a bit too obvious. I still liked how intense some of hte moments were though, and I think it was a well-written character exploration and romance even if you are correct that the mystery part was weak.
The story is more a mystery for Dash than a mystery for the reader. Sadly the story is promoted as a mystery and that hurts it for some people where it really should be said to be mysterious.
For one thing a mystery is usually about "who done it" but this story is vastly more about Dash's journey and how she comes to terms with various things. The who done it mystery is used almost strictly as motivation but is not the real focus though it manages to dress it up enough and give you just enough false leads that you do not give up on the mystery regardless of its thin nature.
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