Read it Later story count: 90 (nc)
Words read this week: 25,278
The Princess and the Reaper by DrakeyC
Rot by Mister E
My house, My say by Felfox
After Glow by TheDriderPony
No Need For Words by Whirring Gears
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0 | N/A: 1
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
The Princess and the Reaper by DrakeyC
Twilight and Other
G4 Crossover; Dark/Comedy/Slice of Life; 3k words; Apr 2018; Everyone
Twilight meets Death. You can figure out the likely reason why. A Discworld crossover.
This is a crossover with Terry Pratchett's classic Discworld books – in which Death is a major character, and one with a great following among the Discworld readership. You really do need at least a little familiarity with Pratchett's work to get the jokes here (if you don't know who Albert is, for example, one will fall flat) but the comedy is pretty straightforward and broad otherwise. What makes it work is that both Death and Twilight are very clearly themselves – and Twi's reaction to Death's library, for example, is just perfect. I'd have liked a footnote or two (iisaw, for one, has shown they can work on Fimfiction) but that's a minor grumble. Three stars if you're only a mild fan of Discworld and the Death books in particular, but I love them and so this gets a four from me. Definitely recommended for fans of both properties. ★★★★
Rot by Mister E
Twilight and Discord
G4; Dark; 6k words; Oct 2016; Teen (Gore)
Discord's power was something that always frustrated Twilight. All that power, with no effort, no cost. So when Discord offers her a chance to learn his secrets, Twilight quickly agrees. Unfortunatly all things come with a price.
This story could be otherwise titled Twilight Sparkle Discoves Entropy. Discord warns her beforehand that she's not going to like knowing exactly what he does and why (when he's not with the ponies) and he's rapidly proven right. The fic is pretty much just their conversation, and it's quite interesting – although Discord is less entertaining than he sometimes is when he's gleefully explaining the nasty realities of life. I think this was my biggest issue with Rot: it says what it wants to say well enough, but it does so in a way I don't find especially involving. The underlying idea is pleasantly unpleasant, however (and this story today could justify the [Horror] tag) and I was rather creeped out as I suspect was intended – so I'm going to let it have three stars. ★★★
My house, My say by Felfox
OC
G4; Drama/Slice of Life; 4k words; Aug 2023; Everyone
A Ponyville guardsmare loses her job, and does everything innher power to get it back. But did she ever asked herself if SHE actually wants it?
Steady Watch (said guardsmare) loses her job because there's not enough crime in Ponyville for Mayor Mare to justify multiple guardsmares. That's a really interesting setup that could make great use of Equestria's particular nature, but sadly the story doesn't really carry it through. There's too much emphasis on a rather unconvincing mother-daughter relationship, and another OC we meet late on feels less than fully formed. It's this author's only completed story, and only E-rated one – although as it contains the word "bullshitting" it should really be rated T. A lowish two, mostly for that intriguing underlying concept ★★
After Glow by TheDriderPony
Cozy Glow and Twilight
G4 AU; Dark/Drama/Tragedy; 6k words; Sep 2022; Everyone
Even after everything, Twilight doesn't know much about where Cozy Glow came from. The truth is far more dangerous than anything she could have imagined.
That title is to be taken literally: this story is set after Cozy has been defeated, and Twilight is cleaning out her stuff with a heavy heart. What's fascinating is how different this Cozy is, and yet how similar she still is too. For the most part she's on the right side in this AU, and we see through her journal her thoughts on the similar-but-different Equestria she exists in. I very much appreciate that we do get a significant amount of explanation for how Cozy came to be the way she did, but not all of it. Her journal entries are occasionally a little long, I think, and they teeter on the edge of crossing-out syndrome a couple of times. But what's in that diary is fantastic and throws out several real googlies.¹ You're left at the end with the question of what Twi might do next. The fic has no sequel, so that's an exercise for the reader. TheDriderPony has ensured it's an interesting exercise. ★★★★
¹ I'm damned if I'm going to say "curveballs". I'm not American, dammit!
No Need For Words by Whirring Gears
Vinyl Scratch and OC ["you"]
G4; Romance/Second Person; 7k words; Feb 2012–May 2013; Teen
[Second Person Perspective] A strange club goer meets a certain DJ.
Oh, this is frustrating. I think this is very much one of the better second-person fics I've read. "You" are not, in fact, Octavia – but a male pony with a completely different problem. This is revealed smoothly and with a lid kept on the emotion that might otherwise have made it mawkish. Vinyl gets a decent portrayal, too, though later on the more physical aspects of shipping go a little overboard. What I could read of this was heading for a solid three-star rating, not a bad achievement for a 2p fic. The problem? A considerable amount of the story is told in a shared notebook, the many image links for which are broken, not merely offline as I originally thought but on Fimfiction as well. Since the author hasn't logged in since 2018, it looks likely this fic will never be mended. As such, it feels unfair to give it a standard rating. N/A
A rather up-and-down week, but that's hardly a rare experience with ponyfic. Next
time, I'll be reading and reviewing these five stories:
Overlooked by Sciphy
The Rain, the Poison, and the Job by HapHazred
Does she know— by semillon
Project WNDR-BLT by Bright Keys
I Know You're There by 8_Bit
How did I miss The Princess and the Reaper? It sounds like a story that is completely my jam! Downloaded to my kindle!
ReplyDeleteI am severely allergic to Cozy Glow* apologia, so I will skip that one, even though I do love literary googlies! (A perfectly cromulent word, even for a Yank, BTW.)
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* [cough] Darla Dimple ripoff [cough]
I've read the first two. I'm a fan of Discworld as well, though I'm still probably 8 or so novels from finishing it. I used to have a coworker who had them all, and I borrowed them frequently, but he retired over a decade ago, and the local library system doesn't have that many. I did enjoy that story a lot, both for how well the two properties meshed (though I did have one hangup about it that has quite possibly been edited since I read it). It kept both universes feeling familiar and consistent. DrakeyC's a solid author anyway, and since he's said he's not writing ponyfic anymore, that bumped him up in my mind again to where I might have read enough of his stories to due an author spotlight on him.
ReplyDeleteI've also read "Rot" and have pretty much the same thoughts: it was a good concept that ultimately got bogged down some by being more explain-y and not really going somewhere with it. It also needed lots of proofreading.