Read it Later story count: 92 (+1)
Words read this week: 22,543
Pumpkin Talk by Heavy Mole
Try by Nailah
More Than Her Mane by Westphalian_Musketeer
Ever After Never Came by Thunderbug80
The Best and the Worst by Shrink Laureate
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
Pumpkin Talk by Heavy Mole
Twilight, Celestia and Luna
G4; Comedy/Slice of Life; 3k words; Dec 2021; Everyone
Celestia and Luna take a surprise interest in roleplaying at the onset of their long-overdue retirement.
This is a fun, if rather unusual, comedy with the two now-ex-diarchs being completely ridiculous and playing (something like) live-action Ogres & Oubliettes for the sake of fun and profit. The choice of prose style is interesting, in that it tends to verbosity rather than snappiness, but on the whole I think that works as an apparently deliberate contrast to the silliness of Luna (in particular) and Celestia. Neither "intervales" nor "lanai" are words I'm familiar with, though; maybe they'd be more so to American readers. I'm a bit less enamoured of Twilight here, as until late on she doesn't really sound right to me (even noting the author's comment), and there's the odd surprisingly basic typo ("sheild", twice). Even though this didn't entirely click with me, it had enough that did for me to be comfortable giving it a three-star rating. ★★★
Try by Nailah
White Lightning
G4; Sad; 3k words; Oct 2020; Teen (Death)
"Is there a good way to deliver bad news? If there is, I haven't found it."
White Lightning is a soldier, and her duty is to turn up on ponies' doorsteps and inform them formally that their loved one has died fighting Sombra. We follow her through what seems to be a typical day. I like the way White struggles to deal with the sometimes seemingly bizarre reactions of the relatives, in tandem with her own difficulty in managing the harsher aspects of her work, as glimpsed after hours. There's a never-answered question about why an apparently fit and healthy mare is doing this job while the war is still active, and another one as to why the story isn't tagged [AU]. It certainly feels more like the war alternate timeline from the S5 finale than the mainline canon one. Even so, this is interestingly different, and that's worth enough to bring this into the threes. ★★★
More Than Her Mane by Westphalian_Musketeer
Pinkie Pie and Spike
G4; Slice of Life; 7k words; Dec 2012; Everyone
Pinkie get's [sic] her mane styled, and Spike freaks out.
A definite old-fandom fic, this one. Pinkie turns up at Twilight's library with her mane all straight and Spike is rattled. Later on, so is Twi, and so she insists on conducting research – "Feeling Pinkie Keen" basement computer headset and all. I do like the eventual outcome, which strikes me as something which could have made a Season One friendship lesson; indeed, there's a good old-fashioned letter to Celestia near the end of the story itself. It's also nice, in passing, to see S1-style Pinkie-and-Rainbow pranks. But there's a big problem here: a lot of the story is just recycling elements from the show, such as scenes and gadgets, and we even "enjoy" a few decade-old memes ("sandvich", anyone?) which have dated horribly. Add to that writing that desperately needed to be edited down, and the end result is sadly rather dull. Just about makes a two for its moral and comfortable old-fashioned feel. Great username, though, author. ★★
Ever After Never Came by Thunderbug80
Pinkie Pie and Other
G4; Sad/Slice of Life/Human; 6k words; Jan 2020; Teen
A troubled old man faces life's challenges with a little help from Pinkie Pie, whether he wants it or not.
This is a sequel to the same author's Imaginary (PR 415), and although it's not strictly necessary to have read the earlier story first I strongly recommend it; the knowledge will help give depth to this one. Jesse, the man in the shortdesc, is not necessarily that keen on Pinkie's cheery visits, but it seems that Celestia has herself sent her there; it's never quite revealed exactly why, which invites some interesting speculation. The fic doesn't especially hide what's happening to Jesse, even providing occasional notes from his doctor, but for a while it simply seems a competent approach to how Pinkie's wisdom extends to using jollity in very un-jolly circumstances. It's the ending that truly elevates this to the realms of the excellent, but it's also there that having read Imaginary will give it the most emotional impact. A highish three stars if you read this as a standalone, but four stars if you do so as the second half of the pair. ★★★★
The Best and the Worst by Shrink Laureate
Gilda and Zephyr Breeze
G4; Romance/Drama/Sad; 5k words; Mar 2022; Teen (Sex, Profanity)
Gilda tells the tale of the best and worst relationship of her life
...and yes, it was with Zephyr, back when they were both at flight school. As that [Sex] tag will tell you, it got a bit more serious than a peck on the cheek, too. This fic was written for a crackship contest, but I'll be damned if Shrink Laureate doesn't go and make it work. The tale is told in alternating scenes from Gilda and Zephyr, and crucially both characters sound exactly as they should. Twin unreliable narrators? You betcha. There's a surprising amount of world-building for a crackfic, with some very interesting looks at pony culture from a griffon's perspective. In spite of the inevitable squickiness of Zephyr boasting about sex, it's great reading. ★★★★
I said recently that I was planning a Spotlight review, and I think that's now very likely to happen this side of Easter. Next week, though, a themed edition: deliberately running contrary to my usual preferences, I will be making this an entirely Equestria Girls Roundup! Here are the five stories I've chosen:
Penance by Bicyclette
Just Want A Hug by SilverStar7
My Little Songfish by BlackWater
Dark Sunset by pabrony83
Asking a Favor by Tinybit92
Always a dichotomy with a sequel to say "this works grand as a standalone, but is even better with knowledge of the prior one". But it is a correct qualifier for Ever After Never Came, the only fic here I've read and looked at. Also hard when it comes so many years (seven after the first), to the point of only 1/6 of the first's views and not even a tenth of its likes. But it works – maybe not so well that I'd suggest it to those who steer clear of even good sad tales of this ilk, but its earns its melancholy sentiment.
ReplyDeleteI've read "Pumpkin Talk" and was kind of nonplussed by it, but the ending joke saved it for me. It kind of reminded me of an old King of the Hill episode where Bobby learns a very highbrow form of humor that goes over everyone else's heads. But it was pleasant enough. American audiences might know what a lanai is just since it's a Hawaiian thing, and "racoon" is actually an acceptable alternate spelling.
ReplyDeleteHey, I've also read "Try." I liked the idea of it as well. It did a good job creating atmosphere. Of everything I've read by the author, this one stands a notch above.
Speaking of great usernames... one of the best ones I've encountered is LordSmokedMeatsandFishes.
You're quite right about "racoon", and I'm irritated with myself for not remembering that. I've made a slight edit; my apologies to the author. That aside, I can't say I entirely grasped what Heavy Mole (another good username!) was going for, though most of the commenters seem to have found it hit more centrally than I did. Possibly not a very high three, but a three nevertheless.
DeleteTry turns out to be the first story I've ever reviewed by Nailah, rather surprisingly since they've published plenty of them, so I don't have anything to compare it with. Checking just now, it's sitting eighth out of 71 in Fimfiction ratings for that author.
I didn't know this before a Google, but it seems that "Lord Meats and Fishes" was a name a character called Lord Bravery took in a Freakazoid episode because the name "Lord Bravery" had already been taken by someone else.
"Lord Smoked Meats and Fishes", gah.
Deletewhat the hell is a "sun"?
ReplyDelete