Mini-Reviews Round 119

Usually, these mini-reviews are whatever I've happened to read recently, which can make for an eclectic mix of story ages.  But within the last few days, three different just-published stories have caught my eye/been directed at me.  So have some reviews of brand-new stuff, below the break!





Fluttershy's Extremely Odd Jobs, by MythrilMoth

Zero-ish spoiler summary:  Pinkie thought she had complete files on all of her friends, so naturally she's distressed to discover a gaping hole in her knowledge: she has no idea what Fluttershy does for a living!  Chagrined, she decides that the only course of action is undercover investigation.

A few thoughts:  First thought: this is the first story by the author that I've read, so this is the first time I've looked closely at his name.  All this time, whenever I skimmed past it in a comment section or somesuch, I read it as "MyrtleMoth"... as for the story itself, it's a very uneven work.  It has some frankly excellent character-based humor, and the beats of the fic show a keen understanding of how to adapt the format of the show to a written medium, even as the actual story events steer quite a bit farther into teen territory than the show ever could.  On the other hand, Fluttershy is forced pretty far out of character in order to set up some of those moments, the humor of the piece doesn't start to (consistently) come through until the third scene, and the story doesn't so much "end" as "stop."

Recommendation:  Readers looking for some light comedy which works in a few innuendo-style jokes without feeling completely tasteless will probably like Odd Jobs.  Anyone who's going to get bent out of shape by, for example, Fluttershy unapologetically putting a bear in the hospital for fun and profit, is probably not going to be able to enjoy this, though.



Shub-Caduroth, by PresentPerfect

Zero-ish spoiler summary:  It's the definition of a random trollfic; wasting time describing the actual events would be quite besides the point, now, wouldn't it?

A few thoughts:  Look, I don't get the appeal of stories like this.  I don't get the appeal of Spiderses, either; the entire idea of "it's bad, and it's on purpose, but it's not making any sort of commentary or acting as satire, it's just actually bad... on purpose," just... it doesn't seem like the sort of thing that's either enjoyable or edifying to read, and if that's the case, what's the point?  Anyway, this story occasionally pretends that it might be a mythologically-inspired glimpse at the psyche of a mother of monsters, but it's actually just a vessel for random-for-the-sake-of-random "gags," meme-ery, and the like.

Recommendation:  If trollfics are your thing, this seems to me like a good one; I disliked it less than some of the more grotesquely sexual ones I've seen, and I found it less dull than Spiderses.  If trollfics aren't your thing, you probably only needed the summary to figure out that you needn't bother.



Princess Celestia's Legendary Litany of Laughable Losses, by Prak

Zero-ish spoiler summary:  Over a meal, Luna and Celestia discuss Celestia's history of personal combat... a history which, Luna is all too happy to note, is rather light on victories.

A few thoughts:  This story is basically a gleeful run through a ridiculous-but-just-canon-compliant-enough-to-work bit of speculation, to wit: that Celestia has never, ever won a fight.  It's amusing enough in that right, though I do wish there had been a little more setup; after discounting the defeat of Nightmare Moon as the Elements' doing, the examples the story romps through are all of the "contrivance" variety, and while there's a nice escalation to them, it would have been nice (and more importantly, would have given some in-story credence to the idea of Celestia's incompetence) to lead with one or two examples of Celestia getting beaten in an actual, something-approaching-fair fight.  The conclusion, meanwhile, was of the painfully-obvious variety, but was amusing enough for all that.

Recommendation:  If you're looking for something silly and one note, and which takes itself exactly as seriously as it ought to, this is for you.  Judging from the comments section on the story, though, this would be a poor choice for the "Celestia is my waifu perfect and wise" crew.