Story Reviews » SA: Round 168 · 12:57am Mar 15th, 2020
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Paul, chair swivelled away from the dozen or so monitors with screens of stories, reviews, and video games all running concurrently, stared at Cynewulf. He did not appear amused. Quite the opposite, in fact. His scowl was somewhere between deadpan and frustrated, as though he couldn’t decide which one he wanted to display more. “You want me doing reviews for SA now?”
Cyne grinned sheepishly. “Yes? You said you’d be available.”
“Last week, I said I’d be available. Is it last week?”
She raised a finger in the air. “Technically, the week doesn’t roll over until—”
“The correct answer is no.” He turned back to his monitors, fingers already blurring over the keyboards. “Some of us have review blogs outside of SA. Some of us have and keep schedules. Some of us—”
“We’ll pay you double-time.”
He shot her a raised eyebrow. Sarcasm dripped from his tongue like so much venom. “Is that in peanuts or pistachios?”
Cyne cringed. Time for the big guns. “Next week, you’ll get all the shares in Heartshine grooming time.”
The chair swiveled so fast it blurred at least two rotations before Paul was properly gaping at her. “All of them?”
Oh, the other reviewers were going to hate her for this. “All of them.”
Paul continued to stare mutely for what seemed like an eternity. He began rubbing his chin. “Well, if I forgo sleep and stop writing or gaming for a couple days, maybe I could—”
Cyne snatched his hand and shook it. “Good glad we agree reviews are due in twelve hours let’s get to work!”
ROUND 168
STORY 1
Tea, by Equimorto
Celestia, now completely controlled by her evil side, has defeated her sister and trapped the World in an everlasting day, and plans to rule over it as Supreme Empress Daybreaker. She has trapped the Crystal Empire, and made any form of communication impossible for Twilight. The Cutie Map calls for the young princess and her friends to stop this disaster before it's too late.
There is a strong argument to be made towards the Map's lack of a proper understanding of priorities.
Oh, but I enjoyed this.
If I had to describe this succinctly, I’d say it’s a demonstration of controlled chaos. Celestia’s gone all evil but the Cutie Map is sending all the Mane 6 on completely different, seemingly unrelated missions around Equestria. Since the Cutie Map has never steered them wrong, they do as instructed and send Starlight Glimmer to deal with Daybreaker. We get to watch all these things in action, from rampaging yetis to hideous sea monster friendship to Starlight being awesome.
True, the whole thing is played for laughs, but Equimorto does it well and I’m too busy smiling to care.
If I had to complain about anything, it’s that the author seems to have completely neglected the character growth of all the Mane 6 since season, say… four, using some of the flaws of the characters’ personalities from the beginning of the show to evoke some of the humor (Rarity’s whining about hooficures, Fluttershy’s inability to speak louder than a whisper, etc.). But if you can get past that, there’s no reason at all not to dive in. Read it and enjoy the shenanigans!
[url=
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/5097/Cynewulf]
Any truly great farce starts with the seed of a true and uncomfortable observation of some sort. In this case, our farce’s germinating seed is that the Cutie Map, while awesome, is also a very silly idea. Of course, we can suspend our disbelief enough for this (we aren’t foolish) but when not actively bracketing out our skepticism, the arbitrary and strangely laconic nature of it is kind of amusing.
And that’s where this story lives, in that tension between the suspension of disbelief and the inherent comedy of an idea. The Cutie Map hasn’t been wrong before, has it? Even as it’s commands become ever more obviously unhelpful and unconcerned with impending catastrophe, surely it must be followed! And so Starlight Glimmer must face the nightmarish Daystar alone. All in all, a pretty enjoyable story.
They say a life remembered is a life well-lived, and Twilight and I lived a very good life. But when there's more years behind you than there are in front, memories are all you have. Lose those and what do you have left?
That I can answer that question at all breaks my heart all over again.
Ouch. My feels.
This is the story of Sunset’s and Twilight’s life together, first as friends, then as a couple, then as wives. The formatting takes some getting used to, being the story’s biggest quirk and draw. At first. The entire story is told in the form of Sunset’s dialogue. You will not once see a word of narrative or what anyone else is saying. It’s all Sunset all the time.
GMP manages to make it work, and impressively so. The format does have the downside that the reader has to interpret the tone and emotion behind everything said entirely on their own, but in context this is usually pretty easy.
Aside from that risky bit of unusualness, there’s a second part – figuratively and literally – that really sells the story. It’s just a very… painful second part. It’s hard not to feel for what the characters are going through, especially if you’ve been through something similar as I have. The topic is striking and intense and real, and GMP uses the unusual writing style to demonstrate all of that with remarkable clarity.
As long as you’re okay with sadfics, this is absolutely worth a read. Just make sure you’ve got some tissues on hand.
[url=
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/5097/Cynewulf]
Interpretation is what makes fiction in prose worth writing. Really, it’s the heart of fiction in general, and (very arguably) it’s the fuel of the whole engine of Art. This does not mean that we should labor to be obscure for obscurity’s sake, obviously, but it does mean that we need not labor to be prosaically, mindlessly open either.
That’s why I love the choice of perspective here, giving us a skipping rock on the lake of time, told in character, demanding to be pieced together and felt rather than merely followed. That extra level of labor really helps to internalize the emotional air of the story, helps you feel the same things that Sunset feels as she feels them. That immediacy is invaluable and I love to see it.
After Equestria's defeat at the hands of Sombra, their navy fled in an effort to evade capture. Years later, this forsaken fleet scours the world in an effort to survive, grow, and eventually get the power necessary to reclaim their homeland.
Rarity has heard many tales of the doomed Equestrian fleet, but dreaded the day those ships would visit her homeland.
Here we have a humanized AU in which Equestria was conquered by King Sombra, but its naval fleet continues to travel the world. Now the fleet, ruled by Shining Armor and Cadance, has arrived in Rarity’s secluded nation, and she is part of an entourage of ambassadors investigating the Equestrian’s violent seizure of their lands for strip mining.
This is both fascinating and frustrating. Fascinating in that it invites a whole new world to explore, with the hard realities of a life on the run affecting formerly good people and creating a life of hardship and cruelty. Poor Rarity is forced to watch as everything she loves is signed away, but her personal future may not be so bleak. Emphasis on may; things certainly don’t look too good right now. It’s interesting to see a story in which Equestria’s people are the apparent bad guys.
That’s the best part of this story: it creates a whole new reality that any proper lover of worldbuilding could gleefully explore.
Then you get the frustration: this is little more than a trial run. A teaser of things that might come. Will GaraTheAuthor ever make this into the gloriously dark seafaring epic it’s meant to be? At this point, it’s impossible to say. But dang if I don’t really hope so.
[url=
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/5097/Cynewulf]
Some stories feel like they are actually just a chapter or prologue lifted from some greater work, that long before the end feel like they are a fragment of something larger and deeper. This story is decidedly one of these.
There are echoes of modern series like Mortal Engines and Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan series, but also of a much older strain of work--I found some echoes of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in the set up and in the heavy, hanging gloom. The steampunk elements are lovely, and also reinforce the strangely Conradesque air.
The thorny colonial mindset of the Fleet is a driving force here, and if you want to read about the dangers of cultural contact and conflict, I highly recommend this gripping fragment of what I hope is one day a longer tale.
Vinyl Scratch has to make an important decision. Octavia is there for her.
Here we are with another sadfic. In this case, Vinyl Scratch is hiding in her room because of Octavia. Why Octavia? Just Octavia.
The story combines metaphor, vivid description, misdirection, and a keen awareness of atmosphere to reflect Vinyl’s sad state. It all comes together wonderfully in that regard. One has to wonder what the full tory behind this is, because it’s clear there’s a story in the background. That story isn’t nowhere near as important as what’s right in front of us though, so I don’t blame FloydienSlip for not giving it to us.
Strongly written with a great theme of learning – or at least, trying to learn – to move on, this earns its recommendation.
[url=
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/5097/Cynewulf]
Floydien has always been good and if you didn’t know that, then you live inside of a rock. Do not ask me how you got there, I didn’t put you there, it’s your rock home.
The Vinyl/Tavia ship is old, and it’s been portrayed a dozen different ways. But so often it is done in a way that is, well, cartoonish. Not interested in the idea of what these characters might be like, but rather merely checking off an aesthetic box on a checklist. But Floydien has crafted something claustrophobic, intense, deeply uncomfortable, circling around music and bonds and the very real potential for both to be shattered. Music, like our bonds of affection, is easy to push into disaster or send careening into chaos. The value of accounts that bring us into contact with that reality is that, besides priming us for the inevitable suffering, is that they force our selves to expand to accommodate it, and in so doing can hopefully spark a reflection on ourselves and how and what we feel and think.
“And that’s that.” The reviews were ready. But Paul looked… disturbed. “I’m not so sure about—”
“Nope, they’re done.” Cyne started for the door, reviews in hand. “I’m gonna go submit these.”
“But wait a minute.” Paul stood from his chair, brow furrowed in thought. “Something feels off. I think I should—”
“All of them, Paul.”
“Yeah, but—”
Cyne turned to face him, her face stoney. With a steady hand, she opened the door to his office. “All. Of them.”
Heartshine came prancing into the room, a big grin on her face. “Hey, Paul! I heard you’re giving me ear scritches and brushies for a while. Me want!”
Paul was too happy to notice Cyne slipping out the door. Just as Heartshine got within reach, however, a thought struck him. “Doesn’t it bother you that I’m hoarding all the grooming time for the next week?”
Flapping her wings, she hovered before his face, muzzle practically touching his nose and unbridled joy in her eyes. “They pay you in peanuts. They pay me in brushies and ear scritches. Do you care where the peanuts come from?”
“Actually, they pay me in pistachios…” Paul grinned. “But point taken.”
Feel free to visit our group for more information and events, and to offer some recommendations for future rounds. See you all next time!
Ooo, it’s lovely to see In and Out of Phase here
Good choice!
Litty.
But what if I am a rock?
(Floyd's a friend, and I know he's good.)
I blocked this account. Why do I still have shit from you in my mailbox?
Great set of reviews! Looking forward to reading Tea in particular.
By the way, Cynewulf's formatting seems to be broken.
5220822
Can't hear you, too busy giving ear scritches and brushies.
5220814
SA Reviews are distributed to all members site-wide as part of FIMFiction's news feed. The only way to not get our review blogs is to not be a member of FIMFiction.
5220987 Huh. I guess whoever programmed the site was a moron. No help for it, I guess.
5221070
You actually can unsubscribe from these--in your feed, click on the "view" button close to the top, uncheck "social site posts," and you shouldn't see these anymore.
I don't think it's as obvious as it should be that you can do that, because you are far from the first person to complain about it, but the option does exist.
5221080
Huh. I did not know that was an option. The more you know.
5221087
I doubt I'd know about it either if it weren't for people complaining about these posts! A post a week or so, between SA and RCL, doesn't seem intrusive at all to me, so I never had a reason to turn them off, but clearly some people feel differently.
5220814
Dude, if you want to ask a question, at least do it politely.
5221214 Don't let it bother you. He's been told before how to turn off notifications, and no one else can do that for him. Here's hoping he saw the reminder earlier.
5221338
I'm sorry. I just don't want to see anyone disrespecting those who help to make Fimfiction what it is. But thanks for letting me know and I'll try not to make a scene in the future!
5221373 nah, you don't need to apologize at all. Dude already knows what he needs to do, so here's hoping he does :)