Fic reviews, November 24th! · 8:16pm Nov 24th, 2018
Scribbler's newest reading is Flint-Lock's Grow Me a Garden of Roses, with Goombasa and Gina M! Illya Leonov has done Soge's Sol Invictus!
More hardcover runs happening! This time, it's One Full Day from Reading Rainbow!
Today is more newcomers! Strangely, a lot of really old fics in this, not sure how that happened. <.<
H: 0 R: 1 C: 3 V: 2 N: 1
Derpy Gets Fired by GarlandGala
Genre: Shipping
Derpy's lost her job, but Pinkie is determined to make her smile again.
Wow, this story's six years old, written by an author who hasn't been on-site for half that time! c.c How'd that get in here? Well, it explains the nostalgia trip I went on while reading this, anyway; it's been a long time since I saw a shipfic where Pinkie's the one with the crush. And for all that this suffers from POV shifts and the whole "bring a character low to make them shippable" plot… Goddamn, this is really cute and positive. Like, just try not to smile while you're reading it. This is feel-good fic and a half.
Recommended for Shippers
Eventide by DivinePanzer
Genre: [REDACTED] Crossover/Crackshipping
On the eve of her darkest night, can Celestia find the solace she needs in an interdimensional traveler?
I always have to wonder when I find stories like this on my RIL. Big red bar, Human/Romance/Crossover, no word of what the crossover might be. I wondered, "maybe the crossover's the joke?" I was right. I am absolutely not going to give this away, save that the writing could use some work, but this nevertheless delivers one of the best punchlines I have had the pleasure to read all year. This just about killed me, holy shit. XD
Recommended for Laughs
Pinkie Pie Swear by Annuska
Genre: EQG Shipping/Drama
Pinkie had no idea just how much the cute girl walking into Sugarcube Corner would change her life.
There's nothing better than a capable author writing about something they care about passionately. In this case, Pinknata. You can tell that not only is the author really invested in the ship — in turn investing the reader — but they've also considered the characters a ton. This comes through in the loose and flighty writing, which only gets better as the story progresses. There are in-character asides all over the place, regardless of how deep we're in someone's head, and it always works really well. Meanwhile, I love the temporality of this: it starts after Equestria Girls and five months before Rainbow Rocks, and the author actually has the audacity to continue their relationship through the Battle of the Bands, making for some of the best emotional scenes in the whole story. Not gonna lie, I was a wreck in the middle of this. This is the prototypical fanfic, taking a scenario that would never happen on-screen and using it to explain little bits of canon, while also being a really damn fine example of good shipping. Highly Recommended for Shippers.
Recommended
The Old Hound by The Mad Moon Dog (TheWritingWorkshop)
Genre: AU
Two ponies meet again in a Canterlot cafe.
A weird entry: this was posted on behalf of someone who didn't want to sign up with the site, according to the description. Also odd is that this is set in an Equestria more like Earth, which has already had a World War and doesn't realize it's gearing up for a second. Which means this feels like original fiction that was ponified for no particular reason. I mean, juxtapose the plain use of "Paris" with the "unoffended mule" joke; ignoring that the latter just doesn't fit the overall tone, so much of this just has so very little to do with ponies, it's a wonder to call it fanfiction. As for the story itself, well, it's obvious the two characters have a long and storied history, which they are willing to expound upon at length for the audience's edification, but I really felt like I wasn't getting the whole story, and not in the good way. I barely got to know them by the end. The writing's a bit of a letdown, too, in need of another editing pass and a lesson in the difference between "cloths" and "clothes". Not awful, mostly just inexplicable.
Vaguely Recommended
Run from Here by HerpDerp
Genre: Epistolary Horror
Called to teach at an obscure academy, a mathematics teacher begins having strange and terrifying dreams.
Here's one I read earlier; how did I even order these? Well, this is a decent enough example of journal writing, save for the intentional errors in the final entry, which are kind of narmy. As horror, it's workmanlike. You'll notice the bits in the early going that are meant to set up scares later, and while it does a great job of building tension, again that final entry is an unsatisfying punchline. I think the problem is there's no story here, just a series of creepy happenings. No real payoff; it's just okay.
Vaguely Recommended
Beating the Deadbeat by BikerPon3
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Episode Followup
Starlight's had it with Spike's supposed 'dad'.
Time for something a little more recent! Anyway, this is epic and over the top in all the right ways, just some dumb fun if Sludge's mere presence drove you up the wall. There's not much to this, but he definitely gets what's coming to him!
Recommended for Laughs
A Day in the Life of Opalescence by CelestialScribe
Genre: What It Says on the Tin
I'll be honest, I found this tremendously dull. It's far more slice of life than the comedy tag suggests, not particularly funny, and it doesn't really do anything with its premise. The writing needs to be tightened as well. You're just going to have to be really committed to the idea of not much happening for four thousand words to get anything out of this.
Not Recommended
Honestly, the reason it passed moderation so late was time. The first time it went up, Obs denied it because, at that time, I didn't have the "crossover" tag, which I had left off because spoilers.
I have conflicting feelings on it. Yes I should have taken more time on it, no I gave Twilight far more time than it deserved.
Also, ending it like that just makes me giddy, like a trolling rubbing it's hand giddy, but it's Twilight, WHY DOES THIS MAKE ME FEEL GOOD?!
Thanks for the review and recommendation!
When I see you enjoy a fic I tossed at you, it makes me feel much less bad about the ones where I’m all “it has like 4 amazing bits and 200k of okay stuff.”
Pinkie Pie Swear is one of those fics that anyone who doesn’t immediately hate the base concept needs to read. Apart from being fantastic, it’s one of the few stories that works with canon events like RR instead of working around them. I wish there were more of it.
4972497
Oh shoot, you recommended that to me? :D Excellent!
I liked "Run from Here" better than you, even though I had a lot of the same complaints. And Paul Asaran liked it quite a lot, even though he had a lot of the same complaints. So I guess we have a full spectrum of forgiveness here.
Hm. How can I put one of mine on the list for next time?
4972533
Yes! I hope it makes up for the other crap I’ve said you should read.
4972600
Pay me a dollar per 1k words, or just be patient. :B