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Story Reviews
Jan. 5th, 2015 09:42 am There were several good stories in the latest issue of S2B2. My favorites were:
The King of Eternal Flame, by kiyala (樹夜蘭) * This took a bit to get into because everyone is called by their title, but soon I didn't notice the distancing anymore.
Strange Lexicons, by Ogiwara Saki (荻原咲) * Just enough world building (magic in the real world). Four parts long.
Terra Incognita, by Iron Eater * Another story of Riaag and Sarouth: an Orc and his Orc priest. This is story three, but there's enough back story written in to start here if you wanted. This one is five parts long, so give yourself time to finish. Then go read the other two. They're worth it.
The thing these three stories have in common is that they all made me at least tear up, I was that invested in the characters and what happened to them.
Two other good ones were:
Our Lives in These Empty Spaces Aside, by shukyou (主教) * One point of view is in italics, but what he's saying (difficult things) meshes well with the harder to read font. Although the ending is solid, just who (how many of them) end up as lovers is left to the reader.
Diamonds in His Pockets, by Renaissance Makoto J. Every instance of someone/thing acting out of character (including the weather) is explained, which I found satisfying. This one also has five parts.
I've also read a few of the free (first in series) books Meep linked us to. I had almost no time in the lead up to Christmas (when these were free), so I downloaded stuff without really reading what it was about. But a-high-school-teacher-finds-a-body caught my eye, so when I had time I read what I thought was it.
Foxe Tail by Haley Walsh. Long before the end, I was hoping that since the main character had a group of friends, all looking for relationships, the series would have each of his (much more interesting) friends as Main characters of a book who, say, solved a mystery and found love or something, so I was bitterly disappointed to have another mystery foisted on me near the end and realize that this main character would be the main character for all the books. To me, that makes the whole series irredeemable.
Then I found the book that matched the description I'd thought I'd read. Also a-high-school-teacher-finds-a-body, this time with a second POV: Life Lessons by Kaje Harper. I like the slow relationship, the way the main character asked questions (off screen and because he's curious - although him considering why he was asking was a little clunky), and the can't-put-it-down ending. But before that, a couple of pages in, when he finds the body, I was starting to wonder if the book was any good or if it was just the joy of reading on my birthday present (the first thing I did on it). The MC is in an elevator and Mr. W falls in the door, 'the man' slumps to the ground and 'the other man' coughs up blood. How many people were in the elevator? I was so confused, I had to read it twice, once starting a few paragraphs above. Then I just skipped it. The rest of the 'the man', 'the taller man' etc., were easy enough to ignore (although I still don't know who was taller - can you tell I find this kind of writing annoying) But after my confusion over what happened in the elevator, the rest of the story had me gripped.
The only part I didn't like was the epilogue. I was hoping for more stories (I'd even pay for them) about the relationship building with the eventual end of one guy and his daughter and the other guy and his late best friend's son all living together as a family. But the epilogue squished a novel into fifteen pages and left me sour. I want to see that as a real scene with lead up and follow through, not as an out of place flash back.
Then I tried Alien Quest by Mark Zumbro. I stopped after five pages. Reading books on my present doesn't actually make them more readable. If someone says it gets less disjointed later, I might skip a dozen pages and try it again, but otherwise no. Also I just can't believe someone could have all the tech necessary to get to Earth undetected and still get beat up by bored teenagers.
On the plus side Cops, Cakes, Coffee by Sara York was cute and sweet and short (most of the others were over 250 pages long. This was 63).
If anyone has read any of the other ones, I'd like to know what you thought of them.
The King of Eternal Flame, by kiyala (樹夜蘭) * This took a bit to get into because everyone is called by their title, but soon I didn't notice the distancing anymore.
Strange Lexicons, by Ogiwara Saki (荻原咲) * Just enough world building (magic in the real world). Four parts long.
Terra Incognita, by Iron Eater * Another story of Riaag and Sarouth: an Orc and his Orc priest. This is story three, but there's enough back story written in to start here if you wanted. This one is five parts long, so give yourself time to finish. Then go read the other two. They're worth it.
The thing these three stories have in common is that they all made me at least tear up, I was that invested in the characters and what happened to them.
Two other good ones were:
Our Lives in These Empty Spaces Aside, by shukyou (主教) * One point of view is in italics, but what he's saying (difficult things) meshes well with the harder to read font. Although the ending is solid, just who (how many of them) end up as lovers is left to the reader.
Diamonds in His Pockets, by Renaissance Makoto J. Every instance of someone/thing acting out of character (including the weather) is explained, which I found satisfying. This one also has five parts.
I've also read a few of the free (first in series) books Meep linked us to. I had almost no time in the lead up to Christmas (when these were free), so I downloaded stuff without really reading what it was about. But a-high-school-teacher-finds-a-body caught my eye, so when I had time I read what I thought was it.
Foxe Tail by Haley Walsh. Long before the end, I was hoping that since the main character had a group of friends, all looking for relationships, the series would have each of his (much more interesting) friends as Main characters of a book who, say, solved a mystery and found love or something, so I was bitterly disappointed to have another mystery foisted on me near the end and realize that this main character would be the main character for all the books. To me, that makes the whole series irredeemable.
Then I found the book that matched the description I'd thought I'd read. Also a-high-school-teacher-finds-a-body, this time with a second POV: Life Lessons by Kaje Harper. I like the slow relationship, the way the main character asked questions (off screen and because he's curious - although him considering why he was asking was a little clunky), and the can't-put-it-down ending. But before that, a couple of pages in, when he finds the body, I was starting to wonder if the book was any good or if it was just the joy of reading on my birthday present (the first thing I did on it). The MC is in an elevator and Mr. W falls in the door, 'the man' slumps to the ground and 'the other man' coughs up blood. How many people were in the elevator? I was so confused, I had to read it twice, once starting a few paragraphs above. Then I just skipped it. The rest of the 'the man', 'the taller man' etc., were easy enough to ignore (although I still don't know who was taller - can you tell I find this kind of writing annoying) But after my confusion over what happened in the elevator, the rest of the story had me gripped.
The only part I didn't like was the epilogue. I was hoping for more stories (I'd even pay for them) about the relationship building with the eventual end of one guy and his daughter and the other guy and his late best friend's son all living together as a family. But the epilogue squished a novel into fifteen pages and left me sour. I want to see that as a real scene with lead up and follow through, not as an out of place flash back.
Then I tried Alien Quest by Mark Zumbro. I stopped after five pages. Reading books on my present doesn't actually make them more readable. If someone says it gets less disjointed later, I might skip a dozen pages and try it again, but otherwise no. Also I just can't believe someone could have all the tech necessary to get to Earth undetected and still get beat up by bored teenagers.
On the plus side Cops, Cakes, Coffee by Sara York was cute and sweet and short (most of the others were over 250 pages long. This was 63).
If anyone has read any of the other ones, I'd like to know what you thought of them.
