Diktat Review

Diktat was written by Merc the Jerk and is a sequel to The Laughing Shadow which I did a review for some time ago. I promised a few months back that I would read Diktat and I chipped away at it for a few weeks and finally reached the end. I wanted to wait a good night before I gathered my thoughts though, so here I am!

Diktat begins a few years after The Laughing Shadow and Jack is now basically god tier hunter of badassery trying to live a split life of being a farmer and a hunter of mystical beasts with Will and companions. It eventually evolves into an enlistment into a quest to find the Holy Grail with Celestia, Spike, Diane and Rarity.

I'm going to talk about the high points of the story first here.

So, the one major thing to take away from this as a huge positive is that this story actually takes characters Diane, Spike and Celestia and brings them out as characters. In The Laughing Shadow they were more or less left unexplored, but Diktat does a great job of bringing them to life and giving them depth. They are actually very interesting too, and seeing them grow is a rewarding experience. Celestia too becomes far more dynamic and seeing her internal struggles was a real treat.

I was also pleasantly surprised by how much Rarity grew as a character too. She upgrades from damsel in distress to actually competent, so it's refreshing to see she has used the years to improve herself.

A few low points is that most of the beginning of the story feels a little "filler"y but not in a bad way. Like yeah a few parts feel like they are a distraction from the main quest, but they are not unpleasant reads at all.

The only other issue is the last few chapters do have a few spelling and grammatical mistakes, but nothing too serious.

The ending I had mixed feelings about at first, but when some time passed I kind of decided that it fits, it makes sense and it's solid enough.

Overall I wouldn't say it's superior to the Laughing Shadow, but it's damn good regardless.

The story sets itself up for more, and I know a sister story is supposed to come following the adventures of Gilda and Isabelle, so I eagerly await the opportunity to read and review it.

If you haven't read Diktat, I highly recommend it. I give Diktat an A-