Words read this week: 45,633
I can't even remember the last time I managed to review five stories in a single Roundup, but here we are! Today's quintet includes the first M-rated fic I had recommended to me, in this case by private message. I picked it to read and review semi-randomly from the shortlist, but seeing an author's name I already had good regard for pushed it to the front of the queue. Here's the full list:
Braiding by Admiral Biscuit
Thunderstorm and the Four Winds by Carabas
Lick by HoofBitingActionOverload
Applejack Shy by HareTrinity
Anypony for Doomsday? by PhycoKrusk
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
Braiding by Admiral Biscuit
Roseluck and Other
G4; Slice of Life/Human; 7k words; Oct 2014; Teen
Sam's still trying to fit in, and Rose is still trying to help her, but the human and the pony don't always understand each other's culture.
The sequel to A Sleeping Rose, which I really liked (PR 227), this is another very solid Biscuitty slice of lifer. Sam is continuing to learn about life in Equestria, and simultaneously Rose is continuing to learn about humans. Some fascinating explorations of cultural differences, not in any explosive kind of way but on the quiet everyday level that I'm sure most readers will relate to. Still with a distinctively Pony slant, though: for example, Sam stops using creamer¹ after being introduced to the cow that produced it. (S1-style talking cow, apparently.) And yes, the braiding of the title is very relevant. Like its predecessor, this is a refreshingly different, grounded approach to Human in Equestria fics, and I do expect eventually to read more Sam and Rose instalments. ★★★★
¹ It's not really a UK thing to put cream in coffee, but I got the idea
Thunderstorm and the Four Winds by Carabas
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and OCs
G4; Adventure; 6k words; Feb 2016; Everyone
Once upon a time, one brave pegasus stole command over the weather itself from the heavens.Rainbow Dash tells Scootaloo the legend of Thunderstorm, without whom Dash herself could never have been a weather pony in the first place. This all is nicely reminiscent of the mythological and folkloric edge that FiM once had, and the story itself is an enjoyable folk tale with plenty of nice world-building. Where I had a problem was that Rainbow sometimes doesn't sound like Rainbow. The occasional in-story acknowledgement that she's talking like that for the legend doesn't quite stop the voicing feeling a bit out for Dash. Three stars as I like the legend. ★★★
Lick by HoofBitingActionOverload
Rainbow Dash and Applejack
G4; Romance; 10k words; Oct 2013; Mature (Sex)
Applejack is good with a rope. That's a talent Rainbow Dash is excited to take advantage of in the bedroom. But what begins as only a simple game, soon becomes something much more than she ever could have hoped for.
It's probably not hard to tell where this is going, even more so when you've seen the cover art. Indeed, this is a Rainbow-perspective BDSM story, with her in the role of submissive and Applejack... well, not. It started out very well with Dash's thoughts and desires, but then rather lost me with a scene that didn't appeal to me at all and left a bad taste in my mouth regarding AJ. I wish the fic had concentrated more on the psychology, bondage and sex, which is decently written – well, indecently written – and quite a bit less on Applejack rather painfully training Dash with a switch, as pain holds no appeal for me. Still, BDSM is such a YMMV topic that you may want to adjust this rating up or down by a star accordingly. ★★★
Applejack Shy by HareTrinity
Mane Six, Granny Smith and Big Mac
G4; Romance/Comedy; 11k words; Oct 2012–Nov 2013; Everyone
Applejack has problems getting her dream mare
A much gentler and worksafer (it's a word, shush) AJ shipfic now. Applejack yearns for Fluttershy, but she keeps on asking other ponies out and coming to AJ when things go sour. The episodic format stops it dragging too much and it's certainly easy light reading, but some of the characterisation is a bit off: I wanted to yell at Pinkie at one point. Plus the LUS is fairly strong in this and there's some head-hopping later on especially. The author openly states in the end A/N that the fic is deliberately "soppy, simplistic and silly", so points for honesty because that's exactly what this is. ★★
Anypony for Doomsday? by PhycoKrusk
Twilight, Sombra, Cadance, Shining Armor and Spike
G4; Comedy/Slice of Life; 12k words; Jun–Aug 2015; Everyone
The world is about to end, and assuming there are no technical issues, it's all Princess Twilight's fault.This RCL-featured comedy is basically an extended, polished crackfic, and it's none the worse for it. Sombra turns up one day and is shocked to find that Twilight never built a doomsday device. As are Cadance and Shining: after all, all unicorns build doomsday devices. Twi needs to get going, or Sombra will do something really evil: hurt Twilight's books. The barrage of jokes is funny nearly all the time, there is some absolutely cracking dialogue and even most of the meta lands, though one running joke about Twilight's castle has dated a bit. (And a Gary Gygax reference is pretty clunky.) The ending is a bit weak, but I had such a good time getting there that I have to recommend this even so. ★★★★
Next time, I hope that stories reviewed will include another RCL-inducted fic, Foehn's Blueblood short A Tale Told.
I've had an HBAO blog set up to do for... uh, longer than I would like to admit. c.c; But I think I'll have to skip that one!
ReplyDeleteHe has four M-rated fics up altogether. This was the first one. As far as I can tell, none of the others cover this particular aspect, though.
DeleteLooking forward to that blog... I've read and enjoyed a couple of his stories, but I'm on the fence about several more.
DeleteThis is the second week in a row where your cumulative word count is higher than mine. And where you review five stories again for the first time in donkey's years.
ReplyDelete…How long have I been asleep? What year is this…?
Moving on, I've read Thunderstorm and the Four Winds too (hey, we both read TCC56's Recommendsday blogs, what can I tell ya) and have it stockpiled. Broad agreement, though I barely noticed it not being quite a Dash voice, so it's hovering on the ★★★/★★★★ border for me. I also read Braiding alongside most of the rest of the Sam and Rose fics Admiral Biscuit penned, and don't remember enough to really say much about them individually. But, he continued to make HiE fics works in a way few can as comfort food, so fair play to the lad.
And ★★★★ for Anypony for Doomsday? It looked like a dumb joke fic to me, that comes as a surprise. Must have missed it being a RCL-inductee. Still not sure if I'll read it, but it's piqued my interest.
It is a dumb joke fic. But for me, at least, it manages something that a lot of others of its type don't: it's a funny dumb joke fic.
DeleteI may have to give Anypony for Doomsday? a look. It seems like one of the rare crackfics I would enjoy.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely in a different class to "random means random grammar!" crackfics, as its RCL induction shows, though it's probably still a slightly acquired taste. I'd say it was worth a shot, though.
Delete