A Fly On the Wall (Ongoing): Review by Funden

For reference, I am reviewing A Fly on the Wall, by AmeliaTanaka.

I like this blog. The atmosphere about it is... hard to describe, but I like it. I like how it started as someone who already knew the Fears, but wasn't some pretentious jerk who thought they could discover exactly what they are or how to beat them. Silent just wanted to research them and see if he could help. This is one of the major selling points of this blog, for me, anyways. Too many blogs have been made recently with people attempting to study the Fears and have all the answers.

The plot progression went pretty well, though I think the plot with the Quiet and Silent's friend committing suicide were kind of... abrupt, is the only word I can think of. The Quiet plot was dropped a little to quickly, in my opinion, and the question of why his blog was never affected was never really answered.

Secondly, I saw a lot of relationship tease between Silent and Tallie, so the sudden death was sort of jarring. I feel like a lot more could have been done between the two.

But I digress. The rest of the plot has been moving at a good pace, and very smoothly. Yuki was a nice addition, as well. The character has some interesting motivations, most of which I'm sure haven't come to light yet. I'm looking forward to the next act as well. I'm sure that all of the questions being asked, plus is eye (the hell is with that, anyways) lead to a significant plot point.

Anyways, I'd definitely recommend this to others, though. A great blog, all in all.

*Note that I recognize this blog is ongoing and the contents of this review are subject to change

This Could Be Heaven: DJay's review

For reference, This Could Be Heaven was written by RedRockingHood and can be found here.

RedRockingHood wrote another short blogpasta, this time it's eight-post This Could Be Heaven. It tells the story of The Captive, a homeless woman who wakes up in an empty and surreal copy of the city she's used to. She observes life in this strange city, noting shadows wandering around, hearing a distinct breathing-esque rhythm under the ground, sees streets change and weather behave as temper tantrums. She eventually sees a younger girl and murders her, content in living alone. The blog ends with her declaring her happiness and refusing to leave the city.

Throughout the story, The Captive refers to the city as a "She," often using metaphors to personify the city's actions (a cafe floor is compared to a scarf, for instance). This gives the story a sort of surreal love feel as the narrator grows more and more content with her location, which I find was a nice touch.

The blog can be much commended for its brevity; eight posts is more than enough time to convey the characterization of The Captive and the city. It can also be commended for its layout, very simple with a black and yellow colour scheme, with a cityscape background being appropriate to the content.

Really, the only thing I wasn't sure of was how quickly and lightly the murder of the girl was played, but even that isn't a legitimate criticism; it's characterization of The Captive, helping to foreshadow her being content to stay at the end.

With a fascinatingly surreal story, a simple length and blog display, and no actual criticisms of mine, This Could Be Heaven was well-written and speaks highly for RedRockingHood's writing talent. This is definitely a story I'd recommend reading; it can be read in a matter of ten minutes or less.

(Edit: Turns out the gender of The Captive was actually never given within the context of the story. Or out of it. My bad, I suppose I assumed Captive was a female.)