From The Neightorious T.I.B.:

Faster

It's a sweeping, dramatic little monkey's paw story that draws you in with it's conflict and doesn't let go. The surprise of the ending and the well-executed sequel hook are pluses as well. Overall, it deserved it's top-spot-in-the-box status for all that week.

Most sadfics ('cause this is one) are the ones that invoke tears, the ones that provoke you into opening your tear ducts and just letting it out.

This one, however, doesn't. There are more than one type of sad, more than one way to make a reader sad. Most often do we see the above; the one that makes us cry, but here is a sadness that goes deeper. Melancholy, emptiness, is how I'd describe it.

It's... difficult to describe what happens as wishes are fulfilled, and wishes are shattered. It's a quality piece of work, not doubt about that, but it... There really is no but. I want to find something that I think is really wrong with it, but I can't find anything save the lack of a happy ending which is just a personal preference on my side and doesn't affect the story itself.

I've been very strict so far, downvoted most. This one, however, gets an upvote.

This story.

I feel a great urge to vomit forth high praise, and I am fighting it for all I am worth. You guys have heard me gush about this. You guys have seen me babble about this endlessly.

So I'm not going to do it all again. I'm not going to tell you all, again, how Faster is the tip of a brilliant shining diamond, or how I wish I'd written it instead, or how I envy Ein for having done so.

This is what I will say instead: One does not simply thumb up Faster.

It is more accurate to say that it makes my pollicular digit erect.

This story brings up all sorts of conflicting uncomfortable feelings, and I mean that in the best possible way. It's not willing to make everything right and never stoops to treacly sentiment or arbitrary torture. It just presents strong characters with sharp focus and motivations and sees the consequences through to their logical and heartbreaking ends.

I hesitate to say that I enjoyed the result. But it did cause me to feel far more than most anything else I've read. A great story indeed.

-thumbs up-