What are you reading?

[Dracos]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10225608/16/A-Demon-Among-Devils

Updated.

Inhaled.

Enjoyed.

Well, the cliffhanger isn't as bad as the other ones, so the wait's more bearable this time.

Mmm, read.  Kind of hardcore villain squad there, which is fine, but they really have an enormous personnel it seems.

[lolipettanko]

I'm not really familiar with DxD past the Akeno-arc, so I really couldn't say if it was accurate or not. Chances are it isn't given the overall tone of the series.

Only thing I'm worried about is the escalation game the author's playing. Things just keep getting bigger and bigger, and I'm not sure if he'll be able to maintain that gimmick for long.

[Rukatin]

I should toss up some of what I've been reading lately.  I've been lazy there.

Most recently looked at: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10673186/2/Harry-Potter-and-the-Endless-Night

Which is Sage of Toad's latest...something.  I dunno, I'm done.  It feels like a cross between Harry Potter and Hellsing Abridged.  No one feels the least bit serious in the first 1.5 chapters, so I'm done.

That's because it is a crossover between Harry Potter and Hellsing Ultimite Abridged. You're not supposed to take it seriously.

[Anastasia]

DK:A updated

Oh wow, finally.

The dwarves have trains. Well everyone's good and properly screwed now!

[Dracos]

I should toss up some of what I've been reading lately.  I've been lazy there.

Most recently looked at: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10673186/2/Harry-Potter-and-the-Endless-Night

Which is Sage of Toad's latest...something.  I dunno, I'm done.  It feels like a cross between Harry Potter and Hellsing Abridged.  No one feels the least bit serious in the first 1.5 chapters, so I'm done.

That's because it is a crossover between Harry Potter and Hellsing Ultimite Abridged. You're not supposed to take it seriously.

You're right and... I still don't care.  I dunno, Sage of Toad's comedy style has rarely done a thing for me, so a fic intended to do it the whole time is just not something I'm going to follow.  I did miss that, since I was linked to it as a Hellsing cross, but doesn't really change it as a piece.  His stuff is far more interesting when it's 'Setting Gone Big' then when folks break out the swearing and the dick punching.

[Dracos]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9287872/1/The-Champion-s-Tale - So read this recently.  It's a pretty decent long yarn, following Ms Hawke as she tries to protect her family.  A vastly better tale than usual as how a mage character is keeping free within the city of "Imprison and kill all mages" chains.

It's unfinished and tries to stick a lot to the actual plot.  My main 'something is missing here' is that the family has Future Viewing as an ability.  Uncontrolled and whatnot, but they're told in no uncertain terms that's what they're seeing.

And they don't as of yet do anything about it.  None of the visions are reacted to with action, even with proof of coming true.    It seems like such a waste as a plot point (and a large and reiterated one) since it hasn't been paired with action by an intelligent and over-protective big sis style lead character.

[Dracos]

Finished its prequel:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7383205/51/The-Wardens-Tale The tale of two Mary Sues, and their journey to conquer the blight.  Excessive all around, and yet I bothered to finish it.  Both characters are basically superhumans from beginning to end, which works less well than: Wardens get superpowers that many take.

[Jason_Miao]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9834391/1/Legacy-Undone

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10730002/1/Lost-Days
Ranma SAO xover.  Feels choppy.  No ending, even though it is marked as complete.  Despite that, I still think it is interesting enough to post.

[Arakawa]

Been on a Five Nights at Freddy's kick recently.

Spoiler: ShowHide

I'm not sure what is so relaxing about watching Youtube letsplayers getting adorable demonic muppets screaming in their faces, but it is relaxing after long and frustrating days. (Why is it that Freddy is supposed to be the worst and most scary of them, but his "I'm going to be a'killing you" animation with the empty black eyes is the most adorable to me? I mean, look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5H7HqayshM (Warning: this is a compilation of heartattack-inducing jump scares, happening in a row. The fact that the freakiness of it strikes me as cute is obviously a subjective thing.)

The only one that I find disturbing is Golden Freddy, mostly because of a strong suggestion that the rotting corpse of the previous security guard has been stuffed in there. That's just an... unsanitary thing to have randomly teleporting into someone's office.

And apparently there is fanfiction of it involving the inane creepypasta backstory.

Lo and behold, what do I find. In the vein of the Internet maxim, or it should be an Internet maxim: if it's on the Internet, there are ponies of it.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10656238/1/Rainbow-Dash-s-Five-Nights-at-Freddy-s

Note, this is not actually good, or in the least good. It is just... a thing. Rather nearer the bottom of the barrel than the top. But I somehow gained inordinate amusement from how much of the nonsensical original backstory they managed to make some sense out of, while simultaneously causing a dozen other things to stop making sense entirely, because of being forcefully rammed into the sugar bowl pony universe.

[Dracos]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9834391/1/Legacy-Undone

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10730002/1/Lost-Days
Ranma SAO xover.  Feels choppy.  No ending, even though it is marked as complete.  Despite that, I still think it is interesting enough to post.

Read a bit of Legacy Undone.  Kind of just generally had a problem with:
1)It's extremely AU.  Which sort of invalidates a time travel setup a bit.
2)Naruto doesn't trust anyone, even when there's good reason to and they have good reason to ask.  It gets handwaved particularly easily that he apparently has tons of inappropriate memories that don't match, with lots of trackers, but not lots of effective answer getting.  Having a year pass while this is going on as always feels weird, especially with a missing mystical superweapon.
3)No one sits down and asks questions.  Or even reviews the memories that are wacky and weird.  It's like tremendous resources are thrown at the problem of being ineffective at even putting together details, much less an answer.

Lost Days:
Kind of skippy Ranma/Nabiki story.  The whole Pirating thing seemed to be a dropped plot point.  I'm not   It never had any impact other than people calling names and wasn't part of the original anime I don't think.  Akane basically showed up to be bashed.  While it cut off, the conclusion is fairly clear cut.  From the flow of the story, it's easy to see what happened.

[thepanda]

Dreaming of Sunshine has updated a lot recently.

God Slaying Blade Works sort of updates. Looks like it might get a rewrite soonish, maybe. Yet another wheels spinning chapter, anyway.

I think people were reading Miracle of Zero. That updated.

Been reading a bunch of Mizuki_Stone's SI stuff on spacebattles. A bit like butter cookies; tasty, but lacking substance.

Oh, and I just saw that a chapter of Drunkard's Walk was released back in February. Kind of wish his front page showed that update.

Been reading on my phone a lot lately. I'm sure I've forgotten of few updates.

[Jason_Miao]

Read a bit of Legacy Undone.  Kind of just generally had a problem with:
3)No one sits down and asks questions.  Or even reviews the memories that are wacky and weird.  It's like tremendous resources are thrown at the problem of being ineffective at even putting together details, much less an answer.

Heh.  I have that impression about most shonen action series (except for mystery-based series), so I suppose I didn't notice it as particularly standing out.

Lost Days:
Kind of skippy Ranma/Nabiki story.  The whole Pirating thing seemed to be a dropped plot point.

Probably.  There's a bunch of little points like that ("Oni-hime?").  I don't know the actual circumstances, but I have the impression that this was an outline of important scenes for a fic someone wrote up, rather than a fic itself.

[Dracos]

Mmm.  Some shonen series have that problem, and definitely young characters don't ask, and that's okay...

But here we have the entire top tier of government for the town worried that the super monster has been stolen, but not asking questions.  It's actually generally a problem with naruto time travel and adult characters.  "Okay, you've been a soldier for half your life.  You went back in time to stop a disaster.  You did not tell your commander?  Really?"

[Jason_Miao]

Mmm.  Some shonen series have that problem, and definitely young characters don't ask, and that's okay...

But here we have the entire top tier of government for the town worried that the super monster has been stolen, but not asking questions.  It's actually generally a problem with naruto time travel and adult characters.  "Okay, you've been a soldier for half your life.  You went back in time to stop a disaster.  You did not tell your commander?  Really?"

In terms of realism, I'm with you.  It sure doesn't make much sense.  Plenty of cliches don't.  I mean, why the hell would someone build a fortress that is so brittle that it falls apart when he dies?  I'd wonder what the end-game wizard-boss-villian thinks will happen if he has a heart attack.  Rather than try to heal him, his minions will just try to escape the castle.  Why don't they just execute the Joker rather than locking him up in the jail he keeps escaping?  Does Gotham not have the death penalty?  They need it more than Chicago does.  Why do grand martial arts masters bother to meditate to refine their power for 50 years, since they just end up passing it onto the young hero anyway?  But these are just common features of as swords and sorcery, superhero, and wuxia. 

Plots involving time travel usually involve not telling anyone else about it for a large chunk of the story.  I don't expect fanfic writers to fix where a genre-at-large (let alone series) stretches credibility.  Don't get me wrong here: breaking cliche can make for great stories.  I'd love to read a fic where the time traveler immediately sets out to establish his credibility, does so, and to work the system to produce a beneficial outcome, rather than lone-wolf it (provided that the writer sets up additional conflict as a result).  And sometimes, someone will write a fic that does that.  Still, that's not the standard for time-travel.

That said, I think your first point about being an AU is where this fic is weak.  I feel that the writer is relying on well-trod time travel cliches when he's already genre-shifted away from that at the end of chapter 2.  The main character is treating this like just another time travel plan gone wrong, and ignoring the possibility that the original plan objective may not longer even be relevant.  I think the world the writer is building is interesting, but the way the main character is acting within the world seems not quite right.

[Dracos]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8753582/39/Overlady

Read this recently, a story crossing Overlord with Zero no Tsukaima or whatever.  It was...rather cute.  It kept a lighthearted tone throughout,  being somewhat respectful to the source material of both, feeling like a rather clever blending of the settings.  Louise rather than having the power of the void has the power of Evil.  Much like much of her ancestry, excepting her black sheep Hero parents.