What are you reading?

[JonBob]

Edit: Promises of a Wandering Hero chapter 6 is up, too.

Just started this; it's intriguing so far. Granted, I've only gotten about 1/2 way through the Love Hina manga.

[Jason_Miao]

It's an original story, Miao. Brian just let slip fanfic because I'd made a comparison to fanfics regarding time taken to start a loop in this sort of stories.

Blew through it this morning.  Looks pretty good, and its in an actual storytelling style than an attempt to translate Groundhog's Day short-repeat-clip style to writing (most of the ones I've found on fanfic.net do this at some point.  Perfect Moments, Time Braid, and that set of Loops vignettes.  I don't recall if Chuunin Exam Day does, but that's Skysaber levels of bad so I don't feel like going back to find out).  Not that there is anything wrong with original style in the movie (hell, people who write more of these, and fewer so-called "time travel" stories which sound like they ought to be Chrono-Trigger instead of lame "second chance" setups), but seeing a writer do his or her own thing rather than just blindly copy setting features is always nice.

Sister jumping on brother to take up feels like something out of an anime.  It's not something I mind in anime/manga fanfic since it's one of their typical patterns, but it's weird to see it in a story like this.  Since magic is so prolific, the fact that the protagonist is taking a train in the beginning is ridiculous, but given that there's this really popular series of books about kids going to magic school starts out with the kids taking the train, I suspect this writer won't be the last to use it.

Also, to anyone else interested in reading this, Merc linked to the latest chapter, not the earliest chapter.  Due to the nature of GD fics, this has horrible potential to spoil if you read through a few paragraphs before you realized that.

-edit-
Almost forgot...how to tell that I've been spending too much time around Bri in IRC.

"Their teacher was an ex battlemage named Kyron. " 

I swear I read that as "Kyon."  It took a few minutes for the image to get out of my head.

[Kt3]

(snip)I don't recall if Chuunin Exam Day does, but that's Skysaber levels of bad so I don't feel like going back to find out).

That's probably because the author *is* Skysaber.  Saying it's Skysaber quality of work is rather redundant.

Sister jumping on brother to take up feels like something out of an anime.  It's not something I mind in anime/manga fanfic since it's one of their typical patterns, but it's weird to see it in a story like this.

Yeah, feels like something out of an anime, but I saw it being a bit strange as a hint, as one of those things that was purposely put in there for later use.  The story also feels like a loving satire of previous groundhog day fics, what with all those thematic similarities, but also in how it reverses things by having Zach... well, you get the point.  It plays on those thematic similarities purposely, and it's something I really enjoyed about it.

Since magic is so prolific, the fact that the protagonist is taking a train in the beginning is ridiculous, but given that there's this really popular series of books about kids going to magic school starts out with the kids taking the train, I suspect this writer won't be the last to use it.

I'm also chalking that up to the previous things I said before, but adding in that, in particular, I can't think of an efficient way to get a bunch of kids gathered in one place and transported, especially when most of them can't use magic.  So it makes sense to me to have a train.

-edit-
Almost forgot...how to tell that I've been spending too much time around Bri in IRC.

"Their teacher was an ex battlemage named Kyron. " 

I swear I read that as "Kyon."  It took a few minutes for the image to get out of my head.

You're not the only one.  :d

[Brian]

-edit-
Almost forgot...how to tell that I've been spending too much time around Bri in IRC.

"Their teacher was an ex battlemage named Kyron. " 

I swear I read that as "Kyon."  It took a few minutes for the image to get out of my head.

You're not the only one.  :d

* Brian adjusts hat.

My work here is done.

* Brian slouches west and diminishes.

[Brian]

So I thought since the Haruhi scene was really quiet except for me, that I'd find something to read.  Something bland and uninspired, but, maybe if my expectations are low enough, I'll be pleasantly surprised.  Right?

...and then this happened:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7981990/1/

If I still reviewed on ff.net, I think this is what I'd say:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Wow.  I am amazed.

The grammar, the spelling, the characterization, the plotting, the very theme, every single part of this fic is just bad.  Not so awful you can laugh at it, but just generically bad, like you're not willing to put effort into any single part of the work.  I don't think I've ever read a story that worked so hard to be so blandly mediocre without any redeeming qualities whatsoever.

It's really hard to find a single part of the story to point to and say, "This is where it's awful," because the entire thing sucks straight through.  This is a commendably awful experience.  I hope it is preserved for later generations, so they can see just _how_ lousy-without-being-truly-awful a thing can _be_.  The spires of lousiness that this fic climbs to avoid the towering and rage-inducing peaks of terrible, and also don't sink to the low depths of 'so bad it's funny'.  It's just all around in the middle and generic _bad_.

Impressive effort, Sir.  I somehow expect it'll never be topped.

If you haven't read the fic in question ... don't.

[Brian]

Ko linked this one:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7668586/1/

Surprisingly tolerable, though it feels a bit meandering.  Could get worse -- or better.  Isn't offensive, at least!

Premise:  Ranma turns into a bear.  Not a panda, just a normal bear.  Doesn't go so far yet, but amusing in places.

[Jason_Miao]

Materia-Blade updated this story: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6880685/8/Well_in_Hand

[Dracos]

huh.

Kinda...losing some focus on that one.  Not sure where it's going with things.

[thepanda]

This was actually pretty fun. Too bad it hasn't updated since 2010. ;_;

[thepanda]

A new story by Gabriel Blessing is up.

Amazing how much better the pacing is when he doesn't feel the need to infodump. *cough*InFlight*cough*

[alethiophile]

Yeah, that one originated as an omake series on his forum, so doesn't have quite the same requirements vis-a-vis transmission of information to the reader. Quite liked it.

[thepanda]

Devil Bringer of Zero

It has honestly been a while since the last time I read some Tenchi fic.

[Anastasia]

Devil Bringer of Zero

It has honestly been a while since the last time I read some Tenchi fic.

Read that one a few days ago and liked it. Lots of potential for fun times there, though really I think the entire duel should've been avoided.

[Anastasia]

http://z13.invisionfree.com/TFF_Archive/index.php?showtopic=21

That will be one full order of what the fuck, roger that.

[Dracos]

Devil Bringer of Zero

It has honestly been a while since the last time I read some Tenchi fic.

Read that one a few days ago and liked it. Lots of potential for fun times there, though really I think the entire duel should've been avoided.

...

That was quite possibly the stupidest Gramont duel scene I have yet read.  There are some amusing parts of that story, but that Gramont duel just throws me highly off.  It was entirely nonsense.  It doesn't even work as a tone setter or reveal because she's already fought with the much more experienced Colbert.

It was just nonsense to see.