Read it Later story count: 96 (+1)
What with everything going on this week (two named storms and serious flooding in my town, though not where I actually live) I've had even less time than usual to myself. That being so, for the first time in several weeks I don't have any fics with a five-figure word count on this occasion. However, I have still managed to get four stories read and reviewed, so off we go!
Lovey Dovey and the Business Pony by Crystal Wishes
Dragonsat by Cold Spike
Chrysalis Still Works at Quills and Sofas by Majin Syeekoh
Let's Make a Story by Heroic412227
★: 1 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.
OCs
Romance/Comedy; 9k words; Feb 2015; Everyone
Lovey Dovey is a professional matchmaker tasked with finding a special somepony for Magnate, a hard-working stallion who doesn't believe in love. Has Lovey finally met her match?
To start off this week, something quite light. Admittedly you can probably guess where the story is ultimately going just from the short description above, and you may be right. But Lovey Dovey's special talent is interesting: she can sense "love lines" that connect ponies destined to be together, and she makes it her job to match them up. Magnate, meanwhile, is the archetypal businesspony, even more than Filthy Rich (who of course does have a wife and daughter). Lovey can't work out why she's finding it so hard to find his special somepony – she's been engaged by Magnate's sister, by the way, not by the stallion himself. Readers who really dislike the way destiny in love impinges on free will here, or the way Lovey can occasionally come across as frankly pushy, should probably look elsewhere. And as I say, the story is not the most unpredictable. However the concept of a matchmaking special talent is interesting and both principals are, if not always entirely likeable, at least not bland either. There's a considerably longer (34k words) sequel which I may get to eventually, but this story just about scrapes into the threes and is worth a look if you already like fluffy romantic comedies. ★★★
Dragonsat by Cold Spike
OC and CMCs
Comedy/Slice of Life; 5k words; Feb 2016; Everyone
Three blank flanks catch a dragon, or so they think.
The pre-cutie mark CMC have decided they want a mark in dragon capturing. What they actually get in their net is... well, we never quite find out, but it seems to be a human who has somehow ended up in a dragon's body. The story is told partly from his point of view (in first person) and partly from the Crusaders' perspective (in third). The comedy here comes from the contrast between the ?human's terror that these weird creatures are about to kill and eat him, and the fillies' usual snarking and fighting with each other. I found the latter especially really quite adorable, though one little hint at Scootaloo's home life didn't work for me. There are rather too many little technical errors ("Scootaloo took a few steps passed Sweetie") and there's a strange passing reference to a "Nathan Farrlen" whose name, if I'm supposed to recognise, I don't. One other oddity: Princess Twilight, who appears briefly late on, is described as a "uni-alicorn", a term I don't think I've ever seen before. A mixed bag then, a bit rough but with an entertaining heart. So a fairly solid two overall. ★★
Chrysalis Still Works at Quills and Sofas by Majin Syeekoh
Chrysalis and Luster Dawn
Slice of Life; 1k words; Oct 2019; Everyone
Luster Dawn finds out that Chrysalis works at Quills and Sofas.
A sequel to Chrysalis Works at Quills and Sofas (PR 369), surprisingly enough. It's much the same idea as that one, but it perhaps works just slightly better by having a protagonist who doesn't have a long history of fighting the changeling queen. Actually Luster here reminds me more of the newly reformed Starlight in S6, when she was working out what was what. There's some fun comedy (at one point Luster asks Chrysalis, "Are you King Thorax?") and the explanation as to why the queen is allowed to be working in a Ponyville shop in the first place is worth waiting for. A slightly dull ending, but it doesn't do much harm. Like the first fic, this is a three. It's a slightly higher three, though. ★★★
Let's Make a Story by Heroic412227
Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Other
Slice of Life; 2k words; Oct 2020; Everyone
Pinkie wants to write the best story ever!
But she's finding it tough – so naturally she heads for the castle to ask for Twilight's assistance. Twi is of course happy to help, explaining the structure of a story to Pinkie and helping her turn her basic premise into a rather more solid grounding. Pinkie is quite early-series here: I enjoyed one joke where a lightbulb moment consisted of a literal bulb above her head whose brightness hurt Twilight's eyes. The dialogue is shaky in places, though: I'm not sure I can really hear Twi saying, "What a peaceful and domestic day." The author notes that this was written deliberately simply to help them improve their writing – this was only their second published ponyfic – and indeed this is very easy reading without any twists or turns to speak of. In the end, that's its fatal flaw. The lightbulb joke shows that this story could be turned into something sparkier, but as it stands it's bland, like a pizza base without any toppings. A top-end one-star fic. ★
Next time, I hope that stories reviewed will include Impossible Numbers' world-building adventure An Old Tale in a New World.
Do you make a conscious effort to try and read at least one story per week that's over 10,000 words? Makes sense, otherwise the RiL list would get too lopsided with the longer stories. Though for what it's worth, this Roundup is still longer in word count than Roundup 378 three weeks back (17K to 16K, more specifically). So not too big a drop! Though I'm sure you'll want to raise the cumulative word count back up to the mid-20K range next time.
ReplyDeleteThese stories are all new on me, though I remember reading and liking Chrysalis Works at Quills and Sofas, so I'll give its follow-up a look. The OC-starring matchmaker one seems intriguing enough, despite the hurdles you cite. The other two… less so. But that's why we come here, we trust your judgement!
Do you make a conscious effort to try and read at least one story per week that's over 10,000 words?
DeleteSince the recent change to four fics a week, yes. I often didn't when I was only doing the three. There was a time, long ago, when 50-100k words a week wasn't unusual for me, but life has just got busier since then.
Uh, looks like Chrysalis Still Works at Quills and Sofas is by Majin Syeekoh, not Equimorto. c.c
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is. As it says up there and quite definitely always has... <.< >.>
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