Story: Carnivored
Author: Samey90
Verdict: 6/10 - Rejected

This story tells the story of two griffons – Gaby, the young chick, and Gallus from the new cast, in their search for actual food from their viewpoint, not the vegan fares that the pony locals love to shove down other creatures’ throats.

While I admit that this brief description I wrote down is an exageration of what really happens in-story, that doesn’t mean that I cannot imagine it happening in a comedy show that lampoons vegans or strict vegetarians.

What I mean with this is the following: this one-shot is full of funny interactions between a young griffon chick and a grown-up griffon, depictions of differences in thought and culture between a predator and prey nations, and the availability of foods available for either.

Naturally, this lends itself to black comedy – which I love – and which this story has in abundance, and in good taste to boot.

Concerning characterization, they are on point, distinct, well-written and it can be noticed that much effort went into keeping them distinct from one another through all of the story. There are no flaws that I could notice in terms of orthography and grammar, and the imagery portrayed was very creative.

From premise down to execution, it is a comedic story of good quality about griffons, hippogriffs, and the ocassional pony adventurer who’s braving the seas of adventurous culinary fortitude.

And while I give it a six out of ten, this doesn’t mean it is a bad one-shot story by any means. Quite the contrary, actually.

However, due to comedy’s inherent restrictions and reader’s tolerances, I cannot see this theme prospering beyond a one-shot or at most a three-chapter story, as the jokes could quickly go stale.

In this regard, I believe the author did the right thing and made his work the way he did.

Addendum:

Now, here comes the question... what can be done to improve upon it?

There are several ways to go about it. For one: Making it part of a short collection of one-shots featuring them - furthering developing them as characters. Then there's also the beefing up of the scenes portrayed, as some people may find them too dry due to their straightforwardness.

Naturally, this means both more effort and mayhaps a risk due to comedy's inherent nature as being tough to keep up in the long run. Because of that, I still believe it is fine as it is.

Of course, the author may request a second opinion in the matter - and who knows? Maybe a more experienced reviewer may find it in fact worth adding to the library, while giving me a lesson in the process concerning what to look out for.

After all, we learn as we live.