Squirrelly reviews
So I've been readin up on all these recs, or most of them, ...pretty much only the ones with humans in them. And here's my opinion.
But first a look a the rating system I use. It's 1-10, but a little skewed.
0: the absolute bottom grade, it's not just bad, it's maliciously bad. It's the literary equivalent of the work grabbing you and then clubbing you upside the head with a sock full of pennies, razerwire, and soaked in acid.
3: Unreadable to the degree that it would be preferable to literally do nothing as the alternative.
5: Actually enjoyable to a degree but hugely flawed by something.
7: Pretty good and a recommended read.
8: Great story has all the things needed for it to work great.
9: Perfect story. it has that added spark to make it really come alive. Would actually pay decent money for it.
10: The holy grail of good entertainment. Would cut off my right nut for it.
Arrow 18: 8/10
It was a damn good story. It's a bit slow at first and the medium of it being read as logs can make some parts a bit too bland, but it really helps capture it and you can still feel the characters in spite of it being a second hand retelling. It's a great deconstruction of the Human stories without being grimderp or shoving it in your face. You are along with a man that meets a truely benevolent alien race and as they share with each other and learn. There is not good or bad one, nor any real villain of the story, but it doesn't need it. All in all I readily recommend this story even to those who do not tend to read into the fandom.
Hands: 2/10
I had initially been expecting something far better from AJT. Something witty and creative. This was neither. I was moderately interested at first, even when the first major thing I hated came up within the first chapter. Namely completely skipping over the SI's first 2 months as he grows accustomed to an alien world with freaking magic talking ponies! But I've read some stories that still turned out good even when starting in media res (my most hated form of introduction). But it didn't really get better. The next few chapter just seemed kinda pointless, less like he was writing a story and more like he was just typing out a random idea and hadn't quite fleshed it out before starting. I'll admit that a few times I found a few things amusing but overall it just seemed like a waste of time. And then there was all the immature sex gags. It was like a 14 year old virgin boy was writing it when ever something like that happened. I can understand the concept of him going "Prison gay" for ponies(hell even some farmers do and they still have humans around), but without building up a real relationship beforehand for the readers to see it just comes out of left feild and makes the SI seem kinda creepy for lusting after horses, even magic talking ones. And then there was the SI's knack for juggling both the conflict ball and idiot ball. And despite jumping headfirst into danger senselessly in an over dramatic fashion he still only seems to go along for the ride on the plot railroad. It's like Shirou from inflight, only exchange his constant pondering on killing things for justice with lusting after ponies. Honestly though, I feel that if he had just avoided the topic of sex and lust, or at least worked up to it, than this story might have been much more enjoyable.
Friendship is Optimal: 7/10
The story of an optimized computer, Celest-A.I., that will assimilate you to satisfy your desires though friendship and ponies. All in all it actually seems like the ponies were more a colorful background element, as the story was more about the human characters and how they lived through and dealt with it before and after assimilation. It's a bit short on actual plot, jumping forth quite fast over large periods of time and change and tends to skim over some important philosophical questions but over all still a good read. It's not like TCB, while Equestria is still shown in a mostly positive light and the better option all around it still gives an unsettling feeling and CelestAI is not shown as truly benevolent nor even believing herself to be, she simply is doing as she was programed, to satisfy as many people's values as possible through Ponies and Friendship by any means necessary, and does so through admittedly questionable means. It leaves you pondering on what was truly right in the end, humanity is in a virtual paradise as immortals, but the universe itself is turning into grey goo to support them. It makes you think, and that's what makes it a good story.
Sunny Skies All Day Long: 4-5/10
I had expected something totally different out this story to be honest, especially given the title card of Celestia laying in a mud puddle. I figured it to be a 'be careful what you wish for' plot with Celestia wanting to see what life for a normal pony was like and getting the worst day of her life through a series of unfortunate accidents. It reality it was a nice fluffy slice of life fic where she enjoys seeing the world though the eyes of her new Alter ego Sunny Skies. It's short, and while not bad it just lacks a spark to make it really memorable. If you got time to kill that go ahead.
Foal Necromancer: 3/10
Again I had been expecting something different from the story based purely on the title and cover. At first I had thought it would be a dark fic and would likely go grimderp before too long and decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and read a bit. Right at the beginning I was pleasantly surprised, a benevolent Necromancer of believable origin! Oh how my hopes soared! He had escaped to Equestria and became an Alicorn, an eyeless, zombie looking alicorn. I had expected something along the lines of him becoming just as hated here and him trying to prove himself, he'd be a good character but still viewed as evil by the ponies for some his more unwholesome actions such as killing in self defense, and the whole necromancer thing. Or perhaps even an epic new quest with entirely original plots! And then I was sorely let down. There was no murderings, defense killings, or the like. The Necromancer ends over acting his surprise at not being constantly beaten with vinegar soaked whips, exposites his cruel past for no reason and without prompting, and there is not sense of plot at at all. It's just boring. Save yourself the trouble and don't bother reading this if you had anywhere near the same expectations I had.
Quantum Castaways: 9/10
To be honest i was expecting to hate this story, I was most pleasantly surprise! It's the story of Twilight being transported to an island by herself where everything wants to kill her and meets a human living there. I had thought it would go Grimderp in a second, boy was I wrong! Oh, it does have it's share of grimness and blood but still keeps a light and easy tone and doesn't shovel it on where it doesn't need to be. It take the time to build up a good relationship between Twilight and Marshall but doesn't meander long enough on it for you to get bored, just nice solid and enjoyable character development. You really feel it when one shows emotions, especially concerning the other. It's such a nice character dynamic that even if it did end up going romantic I wouldn't much care, nor would I even if it stay completely platonic as it works either way. The basic plot comes in later, with them trying to find a way off the island, which is a mystery, reminding of Cage of Eden before it sucked. It does have a few problems to warn about though, for some reason every chapter starts with a whole song written as the intro, it can be annoying but easily ignorable. Marshall tends to swear alot at the beginning, it can be a little out of place at times especially his lewd humor but again it's ignorable. I highly recommend this to everyone, even people who normally would hate MLP, it's just so fucking awesome!
Stone Cold: 5/10
Discord trades places with some human who ends up sealed in the statue instead of him. He slowly goes insane. I didn't really know what to expect. You get to watch from his point of view as he slowly starts to starts to lose his sanity bit by bit, making just a bit less sense with every skip until eventually he's more loopy than Pinkie and Discord put together. It's an okay read, if kinda slow, and sadly likely won't be continued past the cliff hanger it ended on. It you got patients that feel free to read it, but if you don't it's probably not your cup of tea.
The Golden Record: 7/10
Short, too damn short! It's like blue balls! The Voyager probe lands in Equestria, the whole thing reads like the opening prologue to something epic, and i am not using that word lightly. It's too short to get a really good rating, but what it does have leaves you really wanting to see it continued. I warn you though, prepare yourself before hand lest you smash you computer in rage at it's epic teaser cliff hanger of an ending. There's a link in the comment to a fic that tries to "continue" it called Interstellar Record, I'll save you the trouble of checking it out. It's shit. Most of it was just youtube embeds to what was recorded because the lazy SoB couldn't bother.
My Little Megas XLR: 9/10
Fuck yeah. A truly great work of comedy on par with "Big Human on Campus After School" or anything by Legendary Legacy. It really captures the spirit of Megas XLR, the jokes are all gold, the plots are just what you'd expect from an Episode of Megas with their own little twists. Nothing more needs to be said, it's fucking hilarious. Read this, READ IT!
Ghost story: 3/10
Boring. Just boring. There's no conflict nor real character development. The jokes tend to fall flat and the SI barely has a single dimension and that it's just "Yay ponies!". Unless you are very forgiving and have literally nothing else to do than don't bother reading this story.
Anthropology: ???
My rating on this is pending but looking good. I haven't actually gotten past the point where Lyra, spoiler: turns human and goes back to the human world but it seems pretty good so far.
My little Dashie: 7/10
I had expected a story that would stab me in the feels so hard I'd have flash backs to Disney's The Fox and the Hound. While it was pretty sad it wasn't quite as feels-shanking as I'd thought. It was very bitter sweet, but nice I have to say. Nice, it pulls your heartstrings in both directions.
Arddun Lleuad: 6/10
It's a sort of an odd story and with how it was described to me I'd expected something more. Honestly, while it has some nice writing it's pretty rushed and confusing especially towards the end. It leaves too much hanging by the end of the story and Chester and Luna's romance just seems mashed together in a rush and left me feeling squicked, and not just because it was man on pony. Still an okay read, just nowhere near as good as the hype.
Ballad of Echo: 3/10
I'm seriously hating Echo, serious he's fucking annoying. So the story is this guy gets trick by discord into entering equestria, only as a Diamond dog rather than the pony he thought he'd be. He takes the whole thing far too much in stride for it to be believable. I had initially thought it'd be a good look into Pony social structure from an outsiders view from a perspective that was generally antagonistic towards it. Nothing like that. The annoying bastard ends up tagging along with Daring Do, I'd felt hopeful when he'd gotten his throat ripped out casually by the big bad after showing off and being annoying, that it'd been a clever way to subvert how these things usually go by showing the SI that it's not all sugar and sunshine bitch! But that was not to be, he somehow got more annoying by just writing everything instead of saying it, which kinda killed any reason for him to have his voice box removed. It just gets worse.
Chains: 5/10
Meh, Don't really have strong feelings about it. It's an okay read but some of the stuff can probably drive some people to tardrage.