Paul's Thursday Reviews CXL · 7:56pm Nov 29th, 2018
Whelp, turns out I’m sick. Nothing big yet, it just seems like a cold. But my coworker had something more serious in the last three days, and now I’m ill, which tells me it may be something more serious going around. As such I’ve decided to confine myself to my apartment until it passes; if the entire office gets sick, nobody can point the finger at me. Plus my job is such that I can work from home with almost zero consequences, so it’s not like my productivity’s shot.
Might take a break from writing for a few days too. I’m well ahead of my wordcount goals and already have my 50k for the month, so it’s not like I’d be seriously troubled by the crime.
Also, the image issue has yet to be resolved. I know what the problem is, just not what to do about it. For now, any images I upload that produce the known issue will be sourced from the FIMFiction cover art instead. I don’t like doing that because it gives me a lot less control and may result in broken images down the line, but it’s what we’ve got for now. An Uninvited Rainbow is a great example: I can either use the small thumbnail image or the huge origin image, but I can’t use my preferred resized image because DeviantArt is being a jerk. And yet Tiny Equine in Everfree, uploaded using the exact same methods mere minutes later, works fine. WTF, DA? Well, if you see really wonky, uncoordinated sizes for the images for a while, you know who to blame.
In brighter news, I can now confirm that there will be a short story released for December. The story has already been written, pre-read, and edited, so (as always) now we’re just waiting on the cover art. I commissioned the art this time, so it depends entirely on how fast the artist is (never worked with this one before). I won’t say what it’s about except that I’ve never done something like this before and it won’t be Christmas-themed.
Which makes me wonder. I wrote a Christmas story over a decade ago. I should give it another look. Perhaps it can be ponified.
But for now? Reviews!
Stories for This Week:
An It Harm None by DuncanR
An Uninvited Rainbow by Manaphy
The Fundraiser by Karrakaz
A Good Princess by HoofBitingActionOverload
Rainbow in the Dark by ScriptScrolls
No Matter What They Say by Mr V
Tiny Equine in Everfree by KuroiTsubasaTenshi
Darkness in the North by Commissar Rarity
How to Train Your Pegasus by L3gion
The Invisible Hairless Ape by McPoodle
Total Word Count: 142,639
Rating System
Why Haven't You Read These Yet?: 1
Pretty Good: 5
Worth It: 4
Needs Work: 0
None: 0
An It Harm None
37,732 Words
By DuncanR
Wild storms begin to threaten Ponyville and other towns along the Everfree Forest. Twilight suspects the high frequency has an unnatural cause, so she, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash head into the forest via balloon to investigate.
You may have noticed that summary doesn’t say anything about a human. You might find this odd. You’d be right. Turns out the intriguing thing about this story – the thing that makes everyone want to read it – doesn’t even get a half-mention until the story’s some ⅘ finished. Which is a strange decision on the part of the author.
Granted, HiE is enough to turn off a lot of readers by default. In this case, they’d be making a mistake. The story begins with something akin to a prequel, which itself has the feel-good, fairy tale air of old-school My Little Pony (not sure what generation it’s based on). Despite that sickeningly sweet start, things don’t stay that way; the dangers are serious and the solutions not straightforward. This is a story where friendship doesn’t triumph over all and not every answer the heroes choose ends up as the best one for all involved.
In other words, it’s curiously realistic.
I love the idea behind why there is a human in the Everfree and where her abilities come from. I enjoyed the realistic slant of the situation and its solutions. I’m mildly annoyed by, but still approving of, the significant number of unanswered questions left in the tale’s wake. I loved Maggie’s character, which was cold and deceptive but not entirely without sound (if cynical) reasons behind it.
What I’m not so positive about is the ending, which has a startlingly fast pace compared to the that of the first ⅔-¾ of the story. I don’t like how there are some elements that seem so incredibly important throughout the first half of the story only to be largely forgotten by the second. I wish the plethora of unanswered questions could be resolved. Then there’s how Spike was used as a plot tool halfway through the story.
All in all, I regard this one favorably. It’s well written even if the ending feels like an unnecessary rush (was DuncanR just tired of writing it?), and its unorthodox approach to its story is refreshing despite the negatives it brings with it. For certain, it won’t appeal to everyone (especially the Need to Know crowd), but for what it is I am happy. I heavily debated on whether this belongs on the ‘Worth It’ shelf or ‘Pretty Good’ shelf, but eventually decided to reward the risk inherent in DuncanR’s efforts.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Appletheosis — WHYRTY?
Flight of the Magpie — WHYRTY?
Bittersweet Music — Pretty Good
Nothing to Say — Worth It
An Uninvited Rainbow
5,217 Words
By Manaphy
With the Wonderbolts disbanded, Spitfire spends her days teaching foals how to fly. It’s a job she loves, far more than being a Wonderbolt. But one day after class, Rainbow Dash shows up. To Spitfire, this is a bad thing.
This is a story about a pair of friends helping one another get over their respective problems, centering largely on Spitfire’s sense of guilt and lack of worth. The idea is decent, but there are a lot of issues to get over. For starters, the story makes it clear early on that Spitfire never wanted to see Rainbow Dash again. The way it’s brought up, it almost sounds like she hates Rainbow for some reason. But as soon as the introductions are over, the entire topic is dropped like it never existed, and by a third of the way into the story it’s clear they consider one another friends. So… why the whole avoidance issue at the beginning?
The story also feels a little fast, addressing a range of problems in a manner that is somewhat unbelievable. I think this is at least partially because of the dialogue, which at times felt choppy or forced, which in turn made the epiphany at the end feel forced as well.
The story’s not bad, but I feel it could use some refining. Perhaps narrow the scope, but certainly adjust the dialogue. I wish I could provide a more detailed critique, but I’m having trouble identifying the exact solution to the problem. It just felt like things were happening far too quickly.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
The Fundraiser
10,793 Words
By Karrakaz
When Cadance thinks of fundraisers, she thinks of two or three dozen highbrowed nobles, hours of boring conversation, and the mild hope of guilting otherwise uncaring ponies into lending a measly few bits for a good cause. So when she arrives in Ponyville for a fundraiser hosted by Twilight, she is surprised to discover an entire festival open to the public, to which all ponies regardless of heritage and class are invited to have fun and donate. It’s like nothing she’s ever seen before.
This was a delightful little story in which the traditional fundraiser is turned on its head and redefined forever. We follow Cadance as she visits with the various important ponies of Ponyville (plus her fellow princesses) and learns that there are far better ways to promote a good cause than some dull speechifying among stuffy, overpaid, distant ponies. Along the way she gets to have some fun with her all-time favorite hobby: being the Princess of Shipping, detecting no less than three ships in progress and helping to push two of them along.
The Fundraiser is a fun, feel good story built on a skeleton of shipping and plastered in whimsy and bits of self discovery. It’s great for those who want to just relax and not take things seriously for a little while. The shipping tossed around like parade candy does a nice job of sweetening the deal. By all means, give this a go and try not to take it all too seriously.
As a side note, I love the idea of Princess Luna have Pinkie Pie levels of absurd fun. I’ve never been one for ‘overly silly Luna’, but this time it felt justified and enjoyable.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good!
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Growing Pains — Pretty Good
Sizable Differences — Pretty Good
The Birth of a Goddess — Pretty Good
A Good Princess
6,190 Words
By HoofBitingActionOverload
For the first time, Celestia and Luna have invited Princess Cadance to take part in a private meeting to discuss elements of Equestrian Governance. What they don’t know is that Cadance is trapped in the Crystal Caverns and the mare they’ve invited is actually Chrysalis. And the first topic of the meeting: what to do with the changelings that have been discovered living among the ponies. Chrysalis soon learns things she never imagined possible, and decides to investigate and determine the truth of the matter.
This was an interesting story about a mare who refuses to accept the possibility of being wrong. In Chrysalis’s defence, she has every reason to feel betrayed and angry at the changelings who have apparently abandoned the Hive to become Equestrian sympathizers. The most fascinating part of the story is in her struggle to grasp things she’s always believed to be an impossibility. Her worldview is shaken, and her struggle to cement its foundations is interesting to watch. About the only thing I regret is that we don’t get to see if her view is affected any further by her later defeat.
And then there’s the elephant in the room. I have often noted how Celestia is so mistake-prone that I believe incompetence is one of her key character traits. That’s not said in jest, nor do I intend it to be a criticism. I see it as fact. I don’t apply the same rule to Luna, though she has made a doozy or two in canon herself. And yet even with that view I find it outrageous that Celestia and Luna listen to Cadance – the Princess of Love, the most affectionate and caring pony in the land, whom one of them practically raised to be a bastion of Harmony – declare her intention to execute the traitor changelings personally and don’t so much as blink. This goes beyond incompetence, free falling into the bottomless hole that is willful stupidity. That scene with all Chrysalis’s vehement fury and their indifference defies belief and ruins the entire story all on its own.
But if you can ignore that ridiculous start, the rest of the story is thoroughly good and worth investing in.
Overall, a great concept with a crummy start, but a solid conclusion. I can see why this story was such a big deal when it first released. Canon has done nothing to deaden its staying power, which is a nice bonus. It’s rare to see a story that can stand the test of time as this one has.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Bouts of Forgetful Artistic Destruction — WHYRTY?
There's Something in the Woods — WHYRTY?
Where Have the Stars Gone? — WHYRTY?
You Want Me — WHYRTY?
Our Weary Daughter, Rest — Needs Work
Rainbow in the Dark
8,456 Words
By ScriptScrolls
Alternative Title: In Case You Didn’t Know, Immortality Sucks
A Luna x Rainbow Dash ship? I don’t think I’ve seen that one before, so I of course had to take a look. What would you even call that? LunaDash, perhaps? Anyhow, the story begins one Nightmare Night with a sleepless Rainbow going for a night flight because she had nothing better to do. Once she gets above the cloud layer, however, she runs into Princess Luna, who still hasn’t gone home. Enjoying Rainbow’s… attention, Luna offers to race her… with the caveat that whoever loses must grant one wish from the defeated party. No way in Tartarus is Rainbow going to say no to that!
Conceptually, I suppose this story is okay. It’s a very typical romance with not one but two instances of Love at First Sight, Luna being all ‘starved for affection royalty’, and a number of other tropes of the genre. It is all utterly predictable. But if you’re in it for the hopeless romantic aspect, it’s got everything you could possibly want. Shippers will love it, to be certain.
To me, there’s really only one aspect that intrigues, and that is when ScriptScrolls offers a very different reason behind Luna’s exile. It painted her and Celestia in slightly different roles, even if those roles are just rehashes of established ones we all know. So credit where it’s due: that’s a nice extra slice of history reinterpretation.
Ignoring that? There’s nothing new about this story. Read it if you’re looking for a quick romance with an unusual pairing. If you’re not into romance, this may be one to skip.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Rebellion: Of Goddesses and Gallows — Incomplete
No Matter What They Say
8,080 Words
By Mr V
In what amounts to a semi-traditional romance, this story is about the lone human, “you”, in Ponyville falling in love with Pinkie amidst an entire town’s worth of anti-human prejudice.
And I just revealed to you the two big problems with the story.
First, it’s a second person story. I’ll grant that this is subjective, but as far as I’m concerned there is no such thing as good use of second person. The “you” in such stories is never going to be me. An author cannot reasonably be expected to know who the reader is personally, but that’s exactly what they assume to do with this format, and it destroys immersion for me.
“But Paul, if you know you don’t like second person stories, why’d you select this for reading?”
Because I was curious to see how the mind behind Sweet Little Lovely: A Gothic Romance would approach it. More on that in a moment.
The second mistake, and the one I didn’t see coming, is the prejudice. Welcome to Equestria, folks! We love everyone: ponies, goats, donkeys, mules, griffons, yaks, dragons, kirin, hippogriffs. Heck, we’ll even welcome our once-sworn enemies, the changelings. But don’t you bring any dirty, filthy, ugly humans into our lands! Bunch of freaks...
Yeeeeeah, this premise makes about as much sense as Tirek wearing a tutu to demonstrate his masculinity. or Luna throwing the Moon into Tartarus to make Celestia happy. You’ll never convince me that ponies hate humans this much, especially not without an AU tag in there. Things only get more unbelievable, with the prejudice getting worse as the story progresses despite the human doing nothing whatsoever to promote it. I’d understand if he was an asshole or something, but from all we see he’s as normal and friendly as can be hoped. Yet long-established, perfectly reasonable characters from the show treat him like he’s some kind of monster for existing. Not buying it.
So. Taking in those two errors, how did Mr V do?
Surprisingly well. We get a sad tale about two individuals gradually falling for one another over the course of what I presume is a couple months. The romance is curiously believable considering that it involves Pinkie Pie, and made all the more interesting in how most of the traditional romantic moments of these kinds of stories are skipped and probably didn’t happen at all. Even in second person and with the unrealistic setting, the scenes can be quite touching, especially at the end.
I think what this story really needs is a change in setting. That this story is set in Equestria is its biggest flaw by far. If the story was set in, say, Griffonstone, it would have been far more believable. Or how about a Pony-on-Earth story so that the prejudice has a more easily recognizable source (read: beastiality)? Generally speaking, the story is good. Excellent, even! But I simply cannot accept the premise with the setting.
I still recommend people read it. The material is great on the whole as a touching ‘denied romance’ type of fiction. It’s got solid atmosphere, pacing, and style. If not for the setting and choice of perspective, this would be a lot higher on my bookshelves.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Sweet Little Lovely: A Gothic Romance — WHYRTY?
Tiny Equine in Everfree
4,926 Words
By KuroiTsubasaTenshi
This is supposedly an ancient story of the Crystal Empire rediscovered and translated by a team of experts for modern Equestria. What it is is a Choose Your Own Adventure story. But it’s a nonsensical, silly one that reads like… well, like it was written by a child and then very poorly translated into English. The good news is that this was clearly done on purpose for lulz. The bad news…
There is no bad news. As soon as I realized what was really going on, I dove in and never stopped smiling. I gave it several tries (Eight? Nine?) and came up with a different ending every time, each more silly than the last. The entire premise is a filly trying to get her cutie mark, and not all the ‘victory’ endings are good ones. Unless you like being boring, I suppose. Or being the troll queen of 4chan (yes, it goes meta sometimes).
There’s not much else to say. Jump into this if you feel like having some silly fun, because that’s all it’s meant to be. I’m sure I missed some awesome endings, but I’ve got to tear myself away from this thing eventually or I’ll never get any other reviews done.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good!
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Treasure — Worth It
Darkness in the North
26,201 Words
By Commissar Rarity
Recommended by Matthewl419
The description of this story describes it as ‘pulp adventure’, with little to no development or purpose other than to be a fun romp. At least Commissar Rarity is honest.
In this tale, Twilight is sent by Celestia to the northern Hinterlands, where a group of druids have found a means of giving unicorn-style magic to all ponies regardless of race. As this would unbalance the very fabric of natural law and lead to the opening of the gates of Tartarus, it’s up to Twilight to stop them. Naturally, she asks Applejack and Rainbow Dash to join her. Unnaturally, she decides to ditch Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike for no real reason (except perhaps the author not wanting to juggle that many extra characters). Oh, and she meets Trixie while there.
This story is exactly what Commissar Rarity promises. There is no background development. There is no character development. There is no relationship development. There’s barely a setting, and what is there is largely ignored in favor of vague running around in indistinguishable, nondescript locations. Towards the latter half of the story the author doesn’t even bother with scene descriptions, just saying events happened and hoping you don’t get confused as seemingly random names pop up all over the place. Basically, all the things that make a story worth reading have been intentionally skipped or ignored.
Hey, kudos for doing exactly what you set out to do, amiright? And looking at it from that perspective, I suppose I can’t say Commissar Rarity did anything particularly wrong. I mean, if they very intentionally didn’t want to write a good story in the first place, just a mindless series of actiony events in jerky, transitionless scenes, then I say well done. Goal achieved and all that. To be certain, the adventure is interesting.
But for it to be a good story, it needs everything the author refused to provide. Heck, I’d have even settled for a consistent sense of locale and setting. So don’t come into this looking for a well thought-out, well-written, epic, intelligent story. It’s like comparing the Dungeons & Dragons movie to the tabletop game – there is no comparison. At least, not one that can cast this in a positive light.
So yeah. Either go into this knowing what’s coming and accept it as such, or don’t go into it at all. I’m going to rate it on the middle ground, but only because Commissar Rarity made it clear what their goal was and, for all intents and purposes, achieved it.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
How to Train Your Pegasus
27,100 words
By L3gion
Recommended by Novel-Idea
10-year-old Snow Bolt is in a bad spot. Her mother’s dead, her father’s distant, and she’s getting carted off to live with an uncle she barely knows. When a trio of bullies push her a little too far, she tries to run away from it all by leaping from a moving train. Which, in hindsight, might have been a bad idea considering it’s the dead of winter, she hasn’t learned to fly yet, and she’s now in the middle of nowhere. Then a dragon named Scarlet picks her up and decides to make a pie out of her. Could things possibly get worse?
This story is a delight. Much of it focuses on Snow Bolt’s training to learn how to fly the dragon way. Why? Because Scarlet doesn’t like white meat, and so can’t eat Snow Bolt until she properly learns to fly. Obviously. The story ends up being a wonderfully character-driven tale in which a child learns to appreciate what she has and to believe in herself. Scarlet (whom I can’t help but think of as being voiced by Tabitha St. Germain, only deeper in tone) is ever-entertaining with her regular disdain and promises of a foal-based pot pie, and the squirrel Cheeky manages to avoid the ‘annoying cute sidekick’ routine by actually being beneficial to Snow Bolt’s development.
There are only two issues that may cause problems. The first is the regular inclusion of words then writing the words again and oops forgot to delete the first word oh well who will notice? This is combined with sometimes writing the wrong word but not bothering to correct it. So yeah, a proof-reader might be needed. This isn’t constant, but it happens once or twice a chapter and really hurts the immersion every time.
The second thing is a snippet, maybe a hundred-fifty words long, featuring Princess Celestia. Uh… why? What possible reason would Celestia have to go out of her way to get a dragon to save a lone pegasus filly? Are we supposed to assume that every time a foal gets lost for any reason Celestia’s there, a mystical guardian angel to pull strings and get them home? How does she know what every foal’s issues are that they need help with? How does she know who to ask for help? How does she run a country if she’s doing all of this all the time?
Yeah, the Celestia cameo was beyond pointless.
Ignoring that one glaring issue, this is a wonderful tale of a filly’s personal growth, both physically and mentally. Full of fun characters, it’s definitely worth the read. It makes me want to see more of little Snow Bolt and Cheeky.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good!
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
The Invisible Hairless Ape
7,678 Words
By McPoodle
Recommended by RTStephens
Oh, but I do so enjoy this story. I first read it for Seattle’s Angels, and I can tell you it’s one of the more entertaining Trixie stories out there for a variety of reasons. In it, we find that Trixie is being accompanied in her travels by an author who seeks to record her (most assuredly real) adventures for posterity. When he stumbles upon images of a pegasus stallion being haunted by a creepy shadow, he begs her to tell the related story. Thus do we learn of the time when Trixie was not a mere adventurer and mage, but also a ghost-hunting private detective!
There’s so much that comes together to make this a memorable tale. For one, the majority of the story is told in Trixie’s signature voice, which keeps things entertaining from start to finish with her trademark bravado. There’s the worldbuilding elements, particularly relating to Pegasi family traditions and the idea that humans once lived in Equestria millennia ago. But by far the best part to me is the hints and slips that reveal Trixie’s true past. I even saw a couple this time around that I missed in the first reading, and that makes me happy; the discovery is half the fun. Finish that with a decent attempt to recreate the literary style of the 1910 classic this story is based off of, and you have a delightful and fascinating piece of fiction.
This story is a must for Trixie fans. Even if you don’t necessarily care about Trixie (what’s wrong with you?), this story is worth the read for its excellent example of style emulation, clue seeding, character voice, and pacing. I really have nothing to complain about. The story is fun, amusing, and revealing. What more would I ask for?
Bookshelf: Why Haven’t You Read These Yet?
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Stories for Next Week:
Go Sweetly Into That Dark Night by lunabrony
What Have You Done? by cloudedguardian
Dear Princess Twilight, my name is Spider Web, and I am a changeling... by Lise Eclaire
About Last Night by Darth Link 22
Fool's Gold by Merc the Jerk
Something Happened by SamRose
The Mare That Time Forgot by The Auspicious Author
All That Lingers by Ice Star
Not an Adult by Sapidus3
Broken Bindings by anonpencil
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Oh, hey, I’m sick too....
Man, sickness sucks xD
I've got A Good Princess upthumbed already, and How To Train Your Pegasus faved from back when I read it. Nice picks.
Tiny Equine is fantastic :D
Wow, a rare post where I haven't read any of the stories. I got nuthin'.
Watch out. There are some nasty bugs going around already this year. Don't succumb!
Be sure to drink some acai berry juice mixed with emergen-c, it'll help with the cold and maybe stop you from getting down with the sickness.
oh wah ah ah ah
Thanks for the review!
I remember being sort of baffled at the time by reactions to Imposter Cadence's portrayal, and still am. Is Cadence really 'the most caring and affectionate' character in the show, then or now? I'm almost certain that's Celestia. I don't really find Cadence to have much of a characterization. She's always been a blank slate to me.
I guess if I wrote it now, Celestia would have reacted differently, but the outcome would still have been the same.
4974568
IKR?
4974685
4974698
I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’m basically being a lazy lump so my body can do what it needs to do. I got plenty to drink, water and juice. Thank goodness I added that stuff to my diet in the last few months, eh?
4974847
Well, if you want to ignore the entire idea behind the whole ‘Princess of Love’ thing and all it implies, then sure, Cadance can be a vicious, bloodthirsty little warrior princess. But I seriously doubt anyone who would ascend to alicornhood through devotion to a concept such as love would ever approve of capital punishment, much less show great eagerness at the concept. It would be the equivalent of Twilight plunging Equestria into civil war because one of her fellow princesses badmouthed one of her friends.
To be clear, there’s nothing wrong whatsoever with the conclusion. I just feel Cadance’s behavior and Celestia and Luna’s reaction to said behavior is way off.
Okay, that is not what a good pulp story is. The Alloys of Law is good modern pulp fiction. Batman: The Animated Series is a good example of pulp fiction; it's moody, dark, and serious even though it's main character dresses like a giant bat. This comic is another great example.
This guy sucked and was trying to pass off sucking as a stylistic choice.
4974856
'Love' is a lot of things. Does 'Princess of Love' mean she loves all beings everywhere equally and universally no matter what awful things those beings are or what terrible things they do? If changelings are an evil and dangerous race that bring death and destruction everywhere they go, would a Princess of Love choose death of the changelings out of love for her own subjects?
Not properly described in the story? Yes. Out of the realm of possibility for the character? I really don't think so.
4974870
I’ll read the author’s other material in time, and if I see all of it has the same quality then I’ll be inclined to agree with you. Seeing as this is my first story by Commissar Rarity, I’ll grant them the benefit of the doubt for the time being.
But yeah, if every story I read is at this level, then the author has no excuse.
4974871
When a race often characterized as ‘naturally evil’ shows clear indications of not being so after all, have an opportunity to prove it, and doesn’t give any sign whatsoever that it intends to break the trust given it, ‘Love’ grants the benefit of the doubt.
The changelings have abandoned their evil overlord to devote themselves to ponies, and all indications are they are legitimate in their actions. The Princess of Love would not immediately assume such acts are deceptive in nature. True, she might suspect the potential for deception, but there’s no way she’d conclude instantly that the deception is fact without a proper investigation. And since we know Cadance was all but raised by Celestia, and Celestia has already performed her own investigations, it stands to reason she would trust Celestia’s word when she claims there’s nothing fishy going on. Unless you want us to believe Cadance doesn’t trust Celestia to make sound decisions, which we can’t believe without some evidence shown for it.
Love doesn’t mean instant adoration of all things, but it does suggest a willingness to take risks in its own name. If there’s a chance that something corrupt can be made good through love, Love would not refuse the opportunity to try. On the contrary, it would leap at the chance! Celestia and Luna gave perfectly good reasons to leave the changelings be, and that Cadance would refute those reasons offhand is a problem.
Thanks for the review!