Words read this week: 28,591
Another week, another waffly intro post. Not a lot to chat about here, other than that I've finally been starting on a years-old plan to play some retro racing games, starting with the (not really unjustly) forgotten GT Racing '97. Defining "retro" is tricky, since where do I draw the line? I mean, Assetto Corsa (2014) certainly doesn't count as retro, while anything from the DOS era certainly does. But then, Grand Prix Legends (1998) is a modern sim in many ways but not in all. I think I shall have to take the approach I do with ponyfic: picking games because they interest me. And talking of ponyfic...
Recurring Dreams by Lunatone
Krastos' Krew by Masem
Run for the Skyline by Rambling Writer
Conundrums by Reviewfilly
Even More Awesome Than Me by Emotion Nexus
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
Recurring Dreams by Lunatone
Luna
G4; Drama/Mystery/Slice of Life; 1k words; Jul 2016; Everyone
Princess Luna reminices [sic] a dream she has been having for years and recollects its importance.
The dream in question involves a door, though she's never been able to see inside. Well, almost never... Luna cannot use her sorcery in her own dreams, so she has only her wits to rely on to find out the dream's meaning. An intriguing setup, and the writing is really quite evocative but I can't decide whether the frequent tense mismatches are deliberate¹ or simply sloppiness. The fic is also really too short to let the atmosphere build – even another thousand words might well have made a real difference. I was wavering between two and three stars, but it can have a three for the, well, dreamlike atmosphere. ★★★
¹ I've seen it done well, but it's very tricky to pull off without it looking clumsy.
Krastos' Krew by Masem
Mane Six and Spike
G4; Adventure; 17k words; Mar 2012; Everyone
To rid Ponyville of a trio of drakes, Twilight is forced to turn to an unlikely hero: Fluttershy.
"Drakes" here are not simply male dragons but a different, albeit closely related, species. They appear in Ponyville and threaten the inhabitants. To try to save the village, Twilight sets up a seemingly desperate bet: if their best pony can beat the fastest drake in a race, the drakes will depart. If not, the drakes get all the village's food and livestock. It's a perfectly good setup, and the identity of the racer is nice and makes sense in context. Sadly the writing is rather uneven – not terrible, but it clunks and drags a bit. There are also several scenes that stretch canon to its limits, as well as a way-too-obvious clue early on. I ended with a feeling of a great opportunity rather squandered. ★★
Run for the Skyline by Rambling Writer
Rainbow Dash
G4 AU Crossover; Sci-Fi/Thriller; 6k words; Mar 2023; Teen
When you live your life on the razor's edge where steel meets sky, you know who you really are.
This is a thematic crossover with the 2008 game Mirror's Edge, but familiarity with that is not necessary. Good job in my case! The setting is a dystopian Equestrian city where surveillance is pervasive and so sensitive/subversive messages are moved manually by Runners – with Rainbow a particularly fine one. "An experiment in atmosphere" is how the author describes this, and it's a successful one. The pacing is brisk and effective, the tension of a game-based AU is strong and the world-building is fascinating without getting in the way. The [Thriller] tag is well earned, as this is thrilling. An easy four. ★★★★
Conundrums by Reviewfilly
Twilight and Luna
G4; Random/Slice of Life; 3k words; Mar 2022; Everyone
Twilight finds a book of puzzles. It leads to an unhealthy obsession.
This fic is set just before S2, which is both a necessary specifier for Twilight's characterisation and a slightly disappointing one for reasons that would be highly spoilery. Anyway, Twilight finds that when she solves one riddle, the book itself dissolves its text into the next – until she reaches the final, thousandth, riddle. There she gets stuck, and the story's main tension happens then. The reveal is one some will probably guess (I was nearly there, but not quite) but it fits and meshes into canon okay, even if the ending is a tad lacking in excitement. There are a few slightly clunky bits of English (probably explained by the fact the author is Hungarian) but nothing show-stopping. ★★★
Even More Awesome Than Me by Emotion Nexus
Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash
G4; Sad/Slice of Life; 1k words; Dec 2020; Everyone
Yakyakistan is a cold place, and Scootaloo is starting to find that the chill is cutting deeper than she expected.
Scootaloo has moved (it's not clear how long-term) to Yakyakistan, and she's finding it hard – all the more so being away from what and who she knows. Then she finds a letter from Rainbow Dash... This story isn't especially sad, despite the tag, but it is thoughtful and sincere, and that counts for a fair amount as long as the writing is decent, which in this it is and perhaps slightly more. A solid quick-read choice for Scootafans especially. ★★★
An early heads-up that PRs 496 to 499 will consist of three themed editions (including the FanOfMostEverything author spotlight) and one devoted to a longer story. As for PR 500... well, who knows, eh? ;) Next week's edition, however, will be a standard one. These five fics will be on the table:
Why-Hole by Decaf
My Path by Silver Moon
The Piper at the Gated Lawn by AugieDog
Derpy Tries out for the Wonderbolts by I Vicious I
Time by Fallowsthorn
I would guess those tense changes are not intentional, given the typo in the short description, which should be especially easy to do correctly. And with editors credited just below said typo, no less...
ReplyDeleteIt's possible they are intentional, but then the point is for it to be done in a way the reader can tell they are and appreciate the effect they have. If you couldn't find a reason for it, then there probably isn't one, or one that's too subtle to expect readers to see. If a reader can't discern something from a mistake, then they're going to assume it's a mistake.