Review Index

Resolution

References

Description

The Joining.

Adagio had heard the ritual’s name spoken in hushed tones ever since she was a little girl, but what did it mean, exactly? Now that she’s come of age, she’s about to find out.

But knowledge begets more knowledge, and not all truths are comforting. In the swirling coastal fog, pathways aren’t always clear, and sometimes it’s hard to tell friend from foe…

Rating

Teen

Genre(s)

Adventure, Dark

Character(s)

Chapter(s)

Word Count

16,709

Plot

With a battle between hippocampi and human at its breakage, Adagio and Dazzle converse in the interior of Adagio's mind on an adventure that will decide the future fate of which Adagio may bare.

Synopsis

The synopsis will be skipped for this review due to the trouble of writing it.Things will hopefully go back to normal in the next review. I'll eventually write the synopsis somewhere in the future, but it's troublesome enough as of now.

Interview

I found that there were some things in the story that I didn't quiet understand (even the simplist). So I got an interview with the author and asked him a series of questions.

This story doesn't seem very cannon, yet you refuse to label it as "Alternative Universe." What's the reason to this? Does it take place before or after *Rainbow Rocks?*

This story takes place long before Rainbow Rocks. Adagio has just turned twelve, but is late for this rite of passage because her mother has basically shielded her from it. Most of the viable candidates go through it at age ten. Starswirl send the Sirens through the portal, so it must have happened in Equestria’s distant past, and since this story predates that encounter, it’s older than that.

I haven’t labeled this as “Alternate Universe” because I feel like Rainbow Rocks offered us contradictory information. We are told that the sirens are beasts that ravaged Equestria before they were sent to whatever land that Canterlot High is in. However, during the finally, we don’t see the Sirens transform into the hippocampus forms. They summon them. They also don’t seem to be closely linked to the forms. They don’t react when the hippocampi get attacked. They don’t seem to feel the deathblow that the gigantic unicorn thing dealt to them. The Sirens call up the hippocampi and then just seem to let them do their thing while singing.

These two things don’t really reconcile all that well. Starswirl’s book says one thing while the onscreen seems to say another. To me, it seems logical that the more accurate of the two things is what we actually get to see. It looks like three girls summoning three monsters, and then directing them, rather than three monsters shedding their disguises as girls to do battle in their true forms.

As for anything else, well, this story is about the history of Adagio, and the movie doesn’t give us any other history, so there’s really no canon to compare it against.

Most throughout the story we get introduced to a lot of dialogue. This would crown the fic to be labeled "boring" to a lower stabled audience. What were you expecting to get out of the fic before you published the first chapter?

I’m a very dialogue heavy writer, in general, so most of the people that follow me are ready for that. I did expect that this story would be considered boring by a lot of people and that it would have a limited audience. It’s what happens when you write a dark story about a niche character. When you go in knowing that the story isn’t very likely to find a wide readership, it frees you from that concern. I just wrote it in a way that felt comfortable for me.

Is there anything in the fic that you wanted your audience to notice, but no one caught on to it?

I’m not really sure if people caught it or not, but there wasn’t a lot of discussion about how Dazzle made his arguments. I wanted him to be instructing Adagio on how to be this cunning, conniving person, but also to be doing the exact things to her that he suggested that she adopt. That would make him an unreliable character. You’d never know if he was using her or helping her or what. He makes logical arguments and shows her all kinds of persuasive things, but who’s to say any of it is truth, no matter how hard he stresses that it is.

Additionally, I made Dazzle a logical character. His whole character is about conceiving and executing efficient plans, but in the end, I forced him to use emotion rather than logic to win Adagio over. She resists his attempts until he finally offers her the thing she’s always lacked: love. I wanted it to be the last ditch attempt that Dazzle secretly despises using. It’s a loss for him. For all of his cleverness, he has to fall back on something so basic.

Was there a different/original plan for the story?

The original plan for the story was just the battle between Adagio and Dazzle on the cliff. I wrote that scene with the thought that it would just be this two thousand word mini-fic about something interesting. Then I decided that we needed to know why she was at the cliff, so I added her dad. Then I thought we needed to know that this creature was a bigger threat than just a physical powerhouse, and that maybe Adagio hadn’t really won on that cliff at all. That stretched the story out for a long time. I needed Dazzle to move Adagio from a headstrong, idealistic girl into the rather Machiavellian character we see in Rainbow Rocks.

What was the biggest struggle when writing this?

Time and scope. This story just kind of kept going. I would think I was about to wrap things up, and then figure out that I needed several thousand more words to properly explain this or that. As the world unfolded, I just had to keep up with it. At the time (and still), I just didn’t have a whole lot of spare time to write, so it felt like the story just dragged on and on.

As a fanfiction writer myself, I spent six months writing the first chapter of my most recent fic. Suffice to say, it was the hardest thing I've ever written. The point to this is: Along with your biggest struggle, how hard and how long did it take to write this? Do you have any solutions to fixing problems like this/these?

This story took me approximately six months to write. However, that wasn’t six months of three hours a day or anything like that. It was six months of finding a spare hour sometime within a week and using it. It was the most grueling story that I’ve written because it just would not end. I’d think I was on the verge of finishing it just to figure out that I needed a whole bunch more to adequately flesh something out. In the end, I still didn’t put all the detail/plot that I wanted to have in there. I started to get nervous that A) it would never get done, and B) it would get bloated because I’d get too attached to the things that I’d worked so hard to get into the story. After reading it more times than I care to remember, I figured that I had enough there to tell the story. I’ve never been totally satisfied with Resolution. It was an interesting idea that came along at an inconvenient time. To really make it sparkle, I think I’d need to double its length. There is just so much detail that could be added to enrich the story and make that bond/relationship work between the characters. I wanted it to seem both predatory and necessary for them both, but I don’t think I totally pulled that off. They are both needy and neither of them is trustworthy. No one in this story is trustworthy. In the end, I think the flavor of that is there, but Adagio is a flatter character than I’d like her to be. I like where she ends up in the last chapter, but I didn’t give her enough character before that. Dazzle is better, but the point of the story is to move Adagio to where we see her in Rainbow Rocks. Dazzle spends all of his time doing that. It would have been better to have them take it at a slower pace. No one changes beliefs and personality so quickly. I just didn’t have the time to write that story.

I had a hard time keeping up with some of the plot. From my perspective, it seemed that the humans were at war with the hippocampi. Can you explain what was really happening?

If by humans you mean the siren race,

(I forgot the story didn't have a human tag XD)

then yes, that’s what was going on. The sirens and the hippocampi were engaged in a war that was at a stalemate, so it was dragging on forever and causing endless casualties. Both Adagio and Dazzle wanted something better for their people, but the leaders of their races wanted to keep things as they were, both out of fear of what is different and because it afforded them opportunities. They preferred the devil that they knew.

What would you like to say to people who disliked this story? What would you like to say to people who plan on reading it?

What we like or dislike is subjective. If most of the people who read this story disliked it, then I would pick their brains and find out what I’d done wrong. I have my own ideas of where I think this story could be improved, so there is value in knowing if I’m good at diagnosing my own fiction or if I’m way off. If most of the readers love the story, then that’s an easier problem to deal with. Getting critical feedback about a story that everyone loves is a challenge, but it’s a heartwarming challenge, at least. But as far was what I’d like to say to people that disliked it, well, I’m not really sure besides just wanting to know what they didn’t like.

I’m pretty critical. I dislike about 75% of the media that I’m exposed to. I pick everything apart. I fully expect that people are going to do that to my stuff, as well. None of my stories are perfect, so if anyone disliked this, that’s expected. I think it’s flawed, but I do think it also has a level of quality to it. I like this story, and no amount of people disliking it changes that. I don’t love this story. I mean, outside of the fact that I created it. I have affection for it, but I try not to be too blinded by that.

So if you disliked it, I still hope you’ll pick something else that I’ve written up and give that a shot. I’d suggest The New Crop, which is my best story, but I’ve got a good variety of things to choose from. All I’d like in return is a comment letting me know why you feel the way that you feel. Those comments/votes are really the only payment we get as authors. They are appreciated.

To those that are interested in reading this (at least interested enough to read this review), thank you for that interest. I worked very hard on this story. It still has some things I’d like to change about it, but it is the culmination of lots of effort by both me and my pre-readers/editor. It’s not about the Adagio that you know. It’s about a girl who is becoming that character. You’re not going to get wacky high school antics. That’s the uphill battle that this story has to work against. However, I do think it’s a unique look into what might have been.

Opinion(s)

It's titled Resolution because they have to find a resolution, is what goes through my mind when I read this story. Throughout we are given a conversation between Adagio and Dazzle. Most of it is about claiming maturity with her power, as that topic is brought up throughout. Most of all, though, they must be at peace with each other in order to end the war between the hippocampi and sirens.

It's the dialogue that really gets my attention, though. It fits so well with the tone of the story. Most of it is cleverly worded. A+

Overall, this was very neatly written and well thought out. While it is dialogue heavy and tends to get boring at times, it sends good vibes to those with the knowledge to understand. This fanfic isn't for everyone; but it does prove its worth the time all the way from the setting, to its climax, and resolution (no pun intended).

Suggestion(s)

Gosh, I wasn't really expecting to like the story. Let's see... what is there to suggest? Make it less boring? that might be an ability, but it could risk the fine plot. There's nothing to suggest. This was practically a book in my eyes.

How about, for those who happen to read this review and decide to go for a scan of a chapter or two, let me know what you think needs some addition.

Ratings

Quality Rate: 8

Recommended; Must Read; Recommended for Masterpiece

(Great dialogue, well written, great plot, time spent patiently, and not for the average reader)

Fun Fact(s)

You can view the original ending to Resolution among the story xjuggerscrapsx. View the original chapter here.