What are you reading?

[Dracos]

Man, we've got a drought here kinda.

[thepanda]

Been reading stuff, just not sure if they're anything anyone here wants to read. Mostly, Buffy/SG-1 crossovers.

[Anastasia]

Man, we've got a drought here kinda.

Not much is updating right now. I'd link Dungeon Keeper Ami but I think I'm the only one with any interest in it. Odd since it's an amazing fic, but no one else here seems to be interested.

[Arakawa]

I'm following it.

Although I'm not going to trust the chapter titles anymore, for this fic. Sure, it leaves unanswered just how bad the catastrophic failure (for everyone involved) ended up being, but I went into this one bracing myself for something really grim and disastrous.

Instead:

Spoiler: ShowHide

"I think even the water is on fire," the first one muttered in a voice that bordered on religious rapture.

"Don't be silly," Tiger interrupted. "The water is too busy exploding to be on fire!"

That about sums it up, no?

EDIT: in general, there were surprisingly few chapters in between them discovering the evil underwater temple and them blowing it to smithereens. I assume that there's negative consequences from what happened that just haven't been touched on yet amid the mayhem.

[Anastasia]

Hah, I thought it was well named. Someone pointed out that -everyone's- plans fucked up badly, and he hit in on the head. It was a catastrophic failure for Ami and Crowned Death, just in different ways.

[Jason_Miao]

Not much is updating right now. I'd link Dungeon Keeper Ami but I think I'm the only one with any interest in it.

To tell the truth, I just wait for you to post about new chapters. :p


I read this a few days ago: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3430516/1/Lost_soul. 

It's not the best writing, and while it does improve to adequate, it never quite makes it to a polished state.  Also, main character has Godlike powers, and with correspondingly less tension because of it.  However, the writer does actually pull this off as an empire-building story.  It's rare to see a "story of an empire" that's almost finished, so, kudos to the writer for that.

Pretty much, I think this is a case where, had the writer started with how he writes now, and improved as much as he did over the last five years (when, according to the dates, he started writing the story), this might have been pretty good.  So, while I wouldn't recommend reading this fic in particular, I am rather curious to see if this writer will keep writing, and what he might do in the future.

[thepanda]

Renegade

A Command & Conquer and Mass Effect cross-fusion. What would happen to Mass Effect if you replaced that Earth with the one from the C&C series? I like it.

[Anastasia]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4869171/1/Grand_Tour

One of those grand crossover fics, starring Ryouga as he stumbles through the multiverse. It's a rough fic early on, but it becomes out right fun later on. The last dozen chapters are all good stuff, especially once Ranma gets involved.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Also, I like how the author balanced out the benefits for Ranma and Ryouga. Ryouga gets rid of his getting lost curse and learns the Soul of Ice+Hiryu Shoten Ha (The scene where he uses it on Ranma made me laugh out loud. I can just imagine the smirk Ryouga would have on his face for that.) and Ranma figures out the basics of flying and how to throw fire. There's a few parts that are weak, like the DBZ segment, but it works on the whole.

8/10? It has flaws and a fair few of them, but it manages an enjoyable narrative. Good enough for me.

Edit: Oh and it has sequels. There goes the rest of my night.

[thepanda]

Eh, first sequel was decent enough. Didn't care for the second sequel enough to finish it. The third sequel starts in a way that make it feel like I need to read the second sequel to understand (plus what appears to be Genma bashing) so never got through chapter one of that.

[Anastasia]

First sequel was a 7/10. Still fun. Not as fun as before, but solid enough. The second one was a bad mess of series I didn't know, ended up a 3/10 or so. The last one descended into Genma bashing hard. Now I'll be the first one to admit that Genma's a son of a bitch, but the fic had been otherwise forgiving of character' flaws. Going after Genma felt damned odd, not to mention that he WANTS Ranma to settle down with the dojo. Why would he object to Ranma starting to teach, let alone Akane and Nabiki? The entire situation there felt forced.

I think the main problem is character drift and change later on. So much is going on and so much is happening, to the point where the focus isn't sharp enough to handle it.

[Dracos]

Not much is updating right now. I'd link Dungeon Keeper Ami but I think I'm the only one with any interest in it.

To tell the truth, I just wait for you to post about new chapters. :p


I read this a few days ago: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3430516/1/Lost_soul. 

It's not the best writing, and while it does improve to adequate, it never quite makes it to a polished state.  Also, main character has Godlike powers, and with correspondingly less tension because of it.  However, the writer does actually pull this off as an empire-building story.  It's rare to see a "story of an empire" that's almost finished, so, kudos to the writer for that.

Pretty much, I think this is a case where, had the writer started with how he writes now, and improved as much as he did over the last five years (when, according to the dates, he started writing the story), this might have been pretty good.  So, while I wouldn't recommend reading this fic in particular, I am rather curious to see if this writer will keep writing, and what he might do in the future.

I glanced over the beginning, and I suppose.  Unfortunately, I still don't see something new from the fellow, and reading Super Naruto Weapon fics just isn't interesting.

Now, SuperNaruto Nakama fics?  That's always fun :P

[Jason_Miao]

I glanced over the beginning, and I suppose.  Unfortunately, I still don't see something new from the fellow, and reading Super Naruto Weapon fics just isn't interesting.

Well, given that he's still finishing up the linked fic (latest chapter was only posted last week or so), there isn't going to be anything new for awhile.

Also, agreed, SuperWeaponNaruto isn't interesting.  Once he misinterprets his final orders as "go take over the world", usurps the Council when they won't play along and turned into Emperor Naruto the Conqueror, the fic turns into an Imperial story, which I did find more interesting.  Hilariously, shortly after that point and subsequent civil war, there *is* an element of nakama ... amongst the rookies who were part of the refugees who fled to Suna, and who decided to oppose the empire.  The ninja who stay with him serve as his generals.  I think that aspect was handled pretty well - at least, it's not worse than what you'll find in the translations of the Trojan War, the Three Kingdoms, or the like.  I also think he did pull off the moral neutrality that's needed to write this kind of story (Some characters may call the empire evil, but that's up to interpretation).

The thing is, while it doesn't come up as often after the civil war, there are still elements of SuperWeaponNaruto.  Given the way the fic started, that was probably unavoidable, but it still drags down the story as a whole.  Also, I get the feeling that the writer was caught up in the middle of developments and war strategy of the grand empire, and let Naruto's character development for quite a bit in the iddle.  He never turns all the way into a plot coupon, but it gets pretty close at times.

Still, that's the kind of mistake writers have to make before they learn how to not make it.  Which is why I said don't bother with this fic per se, but I want to see what he's done in a year or two.

[Anastasia]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2926771/1/No_Need_for_Destiny

Hacked at this. As a matter of fact, I think I read some of this before. The basic premise isn't horrible, but everything goes bad from there.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Ranma knocking up everyone from Nabiki to Washu to Queen Serenity to Hild is just a biiiit much. Just a bit. Really.

[Jason_Miao]

I've read that a year ago.  It was readable, and amusing because the fanservice is completely over the top without being utterly pointless and stupid about it, but ... well, there's a reason why I didn't post it here.

Also, in contrast to the last fic I posted about, that's a Story of an Empire fic that wasn't done right.  At all. :)

[Anastasia]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4618653/1/Final_Fantasy_IV_One_Half

Someone has no idea how to write Cecil, or for that matter avoid huge hunks of badly spiced in exposition.