Net-Fic Reviews

What is here

This is a collection of small reviews of fan fiction found on the net, with links to where to find them. Usually what happens with net-fic is that one either sees reviews, but doesn't know where to find them, or one finds the fiction, and has no idea what it is like. I have tried to make these reviews as spoiler-free as possible, so as to sustain your reading pleasure.

The stories reviewed here are gen or, going with a different definition of "gen", the stories are a mix of gen and PG-rated het.

The reviews here are indexed by author, universe, title, series and date so things will be easier to find. There is also a section for stories which have also appeared in Fanzines. If something is in a series, it's listed under that series, in order (where I could determine the order). Sometimes I have had to make up a "series name" for a series where you have stories which are sequels to each other, but no series-name has been given by the author.

The reviews themselves only appear on the Author review page, so as to save space and make listings more compact. The other indexes link to the review for that story on the Author page. This means that the Author pages can end up being quite large, since in order for the cross-referencing to work, all stories for one author need to be on a single page. Otherwise, where a section is very large, it has been split into multiple pages. This may mean that in the universe listings, a particular series is split across more than one page, so do check the listing to see what pages a particular series is reviewed on.

Also note that besides cross-referencing authors, this also links from the author page to the Universe and Series and Fanzine pages.

Note that for older reviews, the story links are usually not links directly to the story, but to the story archive where the story resides. With newer reviews, the story link goes directly to the story.

Disclaimer/Manifesto

These reviews are short because I wouldn't bother doing them otherwise. Some of them are actually long, because I had more to say.

This will include some reviews of things that I didn't care for, and reviews which contain a mixture of positive and negative comments. Mind you, I'm not a masochist, I don't go around reading stories with the intent of hating them. If I actually read a story at all, it sounded intriguing enough from the description to catch my interest.

However, if you can't stand the idea of someone saying anything negative about anyone's work, then leave now. If you can't tell the difference between a criticism and a flame, then I suggest you grow up. There are no flames here. I always give reasons why I don't like something. Sometimes it's simply not to my taste, and my comments should be ignored as such. I am only one person, out of millions of people, and these reviews are only my opinion. Okay? Besides, most of these reviews are positive ones.

There's another thing I need to make clear: there is no such thing as a right not to be reviewed. Not for things which are freely available for the public to read. Remember that thing called "Free Speech"? Speech that has to be vetted isn't free. In other words, as a matter of principle, I will never, ever, ask permission before reviewing something. (My apologies to the majority of you, who already do understand that it's a given that fanfic which is publicly available is publicly reviewable. Unfortunately, this statement is required for that minority who don't.)

And look at this article for some cogent thoughts about feedback in general.

Note, however, that the primary purpose of these reviews is not to give feedback to the authors of these works -- that may be a secondary purpose, but the primary purpose is to give information about these stories to their potential readers: that's you, I assume.

Other helpful things

I have found that some questions are frequently asked, so here is an FAQ with answers.

The Fannish Definitions page will help you understand some of the terms used in these reviews.

Of course, another help to you would be, to actually get some idea of what I do like, since your taste may not be close enough to my taste for these reviews to do you any good, or, at least, for you to be able to figure out how to translate my opinions into something you can use. So here is a ramble about my taste.

Send feedback about these reviews to: <netfic_reviews at katspace⋅org>

Review Posting

New reviews are posted to my dreamwidth journal and cross-posted to my LiveJournal journal under the "netfic" tag. The reviews are also tagged by author and universe.

Other Places To Look

Look here for links to other pages where one may find fan fiction, reviews, recommendations and awards pages

  • Fan-Fiction links
  • Cascade Times Awards lists winners and nominees of these Sentinel fanfic awards and where to find the fiction. Note that I used to try to also put this information into the Net-fic reviews information as well, but I decided it was too prone to error, so just go over to this page and indulge yourself.

Authors You Won't See Here

The Grey List

The following authors asked politely to have their story reviews removed from this collection:
Robyn, Brenda Anders, Jo R, Serendu.

The Black List

The following authors asked rudely to have their story reviews removed from this collection:
Shiloh, L. J. Smith

Footnote:
I know the use of "Free Speech" as a rallying call has a tendency to be abused in these days, but the ability to raise an objective, critical voice is one of the cornerstones of a free society. I'm not trying to play my "Free Speech" card in order to peddle pornography or to say abusive and vile things. I am here trying to hold up an honest mirror to the state of fan fiction as I see it. And some people will say, "Aw, it's only fanfic, what does it matter?" It matters because honesty matters. I will not be bullied into lying, I will not be censored, I will not be dictated to by those who demand that I change the way I do this. I'm stubborn that way. The more they rant and get on their high horse, the more stubborn I will be. Constructive, polite suggestions will always be listened to, however. So long as you don't ask me to be dishonest. 8-)