chaos_Leader
Member
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2014
- Messages
- 319
- Reaction score
- 49
Alright, dammit, I've put this off long enough...
*Downs a glass of tequila.*
*Reads.*
*Downs a glass of proper Scotch instead.*
A few –probably not unfamiliar things to you at this point– really catch my attention in The Long Walk.
The first thing that caught my attention was how technically and stylistically solid the writing is, and how consistent this is throughout. It's not got that gradual uphill climb of developing authorial finesse that a lot of long-running works tend to have, or at least, it's a much gentler slope. In any case, it relieves a huge potential headache I usually expect to contend with in long-runners, namely: slogging through a mess of awkward early chapters to get to the good stuff. Not here: it's all, from a readability perspective, good stuff from beginning to now. Good on you for that!
That's all well-and-good, being able to earnestly enjoy the entirety of the story, rather than being forced to strap on my wellingtons and arduously mud-wade to the "good part," but what of the story itself? I'm glad I asked!
The second thing that caught my attention, surprise surprise, is how absolutely British, no, English, you've decided to make this particular area of the Pokémon world. It's like you said very early on: you're writing what you know, and you know England very, very well. But you already know this, it shows, and you make no apology for sticking to it. I personally still stick to the Japanese aesthetic of the area when I write it, but then again, I've studied the Japanese language and visited the country, living with a Japanese host family while I was there ( ちょっと日本語わかります。). That being said, as both a past visitor to England on several occasions and an appreciator of English/British media, you damn-well nailed it. Of course you did! You live there, and have to deal with all its Englishness on a daily basis. It does however make me as a reader have to consider your setting in a different light than a lot of stories that try to stay closer to the original aesthetics. Rather than thinking about Kanto/Jhoto/Hoenn/Sinoh as allegories of Japan, its now allegories of England, and from Eve's comment about Fjords in Sinoh I can guess Nordic? I've actually come up with some ideas for a Pokémon region based on Britain/England/Scotland/Wales/Ireland/etc. that I hope to use sometime in the future. You can fairly safely bet your arse where I'll be referencing for information when the time comes.
"Get on with it!" shouted the angry crowd from that Monty Python skit.
Right! The Story itself. How did I like it? Well I liked it by reading it for starters. *is slightly regretting that Scotch from earlier* *takes another swig anyway*
In all seriousness though, it's pretty damn good, and I don't throw that phrase around lightly. Even with a glass of good Scotch (or sometimes because of it), I can usually pick out one or two or twenty things that really bug me or make me concerned. Dammit, I'm gonna struggle to find so much as minor niggles and quibbles to complain about, seriously...
Story-structure wise, it's fairly straightforward basic frame of the Badge-quest. The heart of the story though, the driving force, is of course the chemistry between Josh and Eve. Not that the other characters are done badly (they aren't, by the way), it simply seems they exist by and large as props and foils to Eve and Josh and the thing they got going. Also, I sometimes rag on to other writers when I review that the story feels like its missing a central thread to tie it together, that isn't the case here. Rather than an external threat to drive the story, it's an internal pressure having to do with the developments between Eve and Josh, and it does this beautifully I might add. Rather than focusing in solely on the two principal characters of the ship (it's kind of a shipping fic, okay?) to the exclusion of all else, the two principal characters are observed in the full context of their setting, with all manner of tributary characters, subplots and struggles for them to work with. It's the way a good, enjoyable romance story ought to be.
Opiniony things!
*glances at the notes I took*
Eh, mostly apparently the notes I jotted down were specific instances that helped me draw the conclusions I've already mentioned, but hey, this is a review and gosh darnit I'm gonna be thorough with it.
- The Black Knight scene from Monty Python– I mean at the bridge in the forest: yeah kinda silly, absurdly English. But it's in that kind of endearingly shameless way that Monty Python and the like can get away with: not an easy kind of humor to pull off effectively, which you do. It crops up throughout the story here and there to varying degrees, but that instance was the most blatant and easy to pinpoint unambiguously.
- The incident with Maisie/Ninetails and the shrine was a particularly poignant segment in my mind. F0r basic starters, it introduces some of the Shinto elements of the base Pokémon setting back into you Anglo-Pokémon concoction. It also in my mind codifies and secures the romantic two-character chemistry formula that is the driving force of this story. It's really at its best when Eve/Josh are dealing with all the awkwardness of them being them.
- Speaking of which, bringing us up to speed in the latest of story developments: I can only see the inevitable, impending doom of the whole "Josh dresses in drag to compete in an all-girls' tournament with Eve" situation. It's practically Shakespearean in its formula right now, like one of the gender-swap disguise plots of the comedies, like As You Like It, or Twelfth Night. I just know something is gonna happen in the next few chapters that drops the veil, that kills the ruse, that ups the jig, and its gonna be that awkward train-wreck that is comedic gold.
Ah but there's the rub of it now. Now that you've set standards high, so are the expectations. Can your future work live up to what others now expect of you? No pressure though. You got this.
*Downs a glass of tequila.*
*Reads.*
*Downs a glass of proper Scotch instead.*
A few –probably not unfamiliar things to you at this point– really catch my attention in The Long Walk.
The first thing that caught my attention was how technically and stylistically solid the writing is, and how consistent this is throughout. It's not got that gradual uphill climb of developing authorial finesse that a lot of long-running works tend to have, or at least, it's a much gentler slope. In any case, it relieves a huge potential headache I usually expect to contend with in long-runners, namely: slogging through a mess of awkward early chapters to get to the good stuff. Not here: it's all, from a readability perspective, good stuff from beginning to now. Good on you for that!
That's all well-and-good, being able to earnestly enjoy the entirety of the story, rather than being forced to strap on my wellingtons and arduously mud-wade to the "good part," but what of the story itself? I'm glad I asked!
The second thing that caught my attention, surprise surprise, is how absolutely British, no, English, you've decided to make this particular area of the Pokémon world. It's like you said very early on: you're writing what you know, and you know England very, very well. But you already know this, it shows, and you make no apology for sticking to it. I personally still stick to the Japanese aesthetic of the area when I write it, but then again, I've studied the Japanese language and visited the country, living with a Japanese host family while I was there ( ちょっと日本語わかります。). That being said, as both a past visitor to England on several occasions and an appreciator of English/British media, you damn-well nailed it. Of course you did! You live there, and have to deal with all its Englishness on a daily basis. It does however make me as a reader have to consider your setting in a different light than a lot of stories that try to stay closer to the original aesthetics. Rather than thinking about Kanto/Jhoto/Hoenn/Sinoh as allegories of Japan, its now allegories of England, and from Eve's comment about Fjords in Sinoh I can guess Nordic? I've actually come up with some ideas for a Pokémon region based on Britain/England/Scotland/Wales/Ireland/etc. that I hope to use sometime in the future. You can fairly safely bet your arse where I'll be referencing for information when the time comes.
"Get on with it!" shouted the angry crowd from that Monty Python skit.
Right! The Story itself. How did I like it? Well I liked it by reading it for starters. *is slightly regretting that Scotch from earlier* *takes another swig anyway*
In all seriousness though, it's pretty damn good, and I don't throw that phrase around lightly. Even with a glass of good Scotch (or sometimes because of it), I can usually pick out one or two or twenty things that really bug me or make me concerned. Dammit, I'm gonna struggle to find so much as minor niggles and quibbles to complain about, seriously...
Story-structure wise, it's fairly straightforward basic frame of the Badge-quest. The heart of the story though, the driving force, is of course the chemistry between Josh and Eve. Not that the other characters are done badly (they aren't, by the way), it simply seems they exist by and large as props and foils to Eve and Josh and the thing they got going. Also, I sometimes rag on to other writers when I review that the story feels like its missing a central thread to tie it together, that isn't the case here. Rather than an external threat to drive the story, it's an internal pressure having to do with the developments between Eve and Josh, and it does this beautifully I might add. Rather than focusing in solely on the two principal characters of the ship (it's kind of a shipping fic, okay?) to the exclusion of all else, the two principal characters are observed in the full context of their setting, with all manner of tributary characters, subplots and struggles for them to work with. It's the way a good, enjoyable romance story ought to be.
Opiniony things!
*glances at the notes I took*
Eh, mostly apparently the notes I jotted down were specific instances that helped me draw the conclusions I've already mentioned, but hey, this is a review and gosh darnit I'm gonna be thorough with it.
- The Black Knight scene from Monty Python– I mean at the bridge in the forest: yeah kinda silly, absurdly English. But it's in that kind of endearingly shameless way that Monty Python and the like can get away with: not an easy kind of humor to pull off effectively, which you do. It crops up throughout the story here and there to varying degrees, but that instance was the most blatant and easy to pinpoint unambiguously.
- The incident with Maisie/Ninetails and the shrine was a particularly poignant segment in my mind. F0r basic starters, it introduces some of the Shinto elements of the base Pokémon setting back into you Anglo-Pokémon concoction. It also in my mind codifies and secures the romantic two-character chemistry formula that is the driving force of this story. It's really at its best when Eve/Josh are dealing with all the awkwardness of them being them.
- Speaking of which, bringing us up to speed in the latest of story developments: I can only see the inevitable, impending doom of the whole "Josh dresses in drag to compete in an all-girls' tournament with Eve" situation. It's practically Shakespearean in its formula right now, like one of the gender-swap disguise plots of the comedies, like As You Like It, or Twelfth Night. I just know something is gonna happen in the next few chapters that drops the veil, that kills the ruse, that ups the jig, and its gonna be that awkward train-wreck that is comedic gold.
Ah but there's the rub of it now. Now that you've set standards high, so are the expectations. Can your future work live up to what others now expect of you? No pressure though. You got this.
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