012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Phong Nguyen's Fanfic Review #1 Hello and welcome to my first fanfic review. As stated before this will not be a humorous fanfic like Lt. HIT-MAN's review, and will judge fics more harshly than he does (though at times he will refuse to give one a higher score due to personal bias, ie good guys winning). Generally fanfics that are released in relatively small sections tend to be better written then those that are released in large sections. Why I do not know, but most of the fanfics released in the newsgroup tend to follow this rule. Feel free to debate this, flame me, open up with heavy weapons or correct me if I've made an error. Score Chart: A Excellent You'll need a damn good fanfic to get this, and I don't award this score lightly. B Above Average A good fanfic, but isn't quite good enough to recieve a score of 'A' Most fanfics will probably be rated in this range. C Average Nothing special about this fanfic. It's not bad, but it isn't very good either. D Below Average Glaring flaws keep it from being considered for a higher score. For instance, poor spelling and grammar may drop a 'C' to a 'D'. F Poor Exactly as the name says. I won't give out this score lightly. This may change to the 4.0 grading system, as it allows for more permutations than simply adding a '+' or '-'. Information Key: Title Author Parts reviewed, if applicable. Star Trek Time Era Star Wars Time Era Score. And now to the reviews! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Conquest by Michael Wong Chapters 1 - 17 DS9 Era Second Empire Alternate Universe Era. Rating: A A very well written piece of fanfiction by The Great Old One himself, Mike Wong. Conquest is rife with numerous subplots as well as the obligatory space battles. This is the standard to which all other SWvST fanfics are judged. It isn't perfect - he takes entirely too much time to release new sections, which aren't that large. He also has a tendancy to end each chapter with a cliffhanger, driving many to repeatedly access the site in hopes of a new chapter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - The Outpost by Ryan Crierie TNG/DS9 Era? Galactic Empire Era Rating: B+ The Outpost is a well-written tale of a battle between a small, remote Imperial space station and a Cardassian fleet. It is an improvement from Crierie's earlier work, Imperial Phoenix (still in progress). Written before the arguement with Ian Samuel, it shows an obvious bias towards him (the commander of the station) over Elim Garak, who plays the Cardassian commander, and especially Timothy Jones, who is branded as an incompetent to be killed by Vader. This does not reach the coveted 'A' score due to the rather glaring lack of plot - the work revolves mostly around an extended space battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Blitzkreig by Kyle Prologue Post-TNG/DS9 Era? Galactic Empire Era, circa Battle of Yavin Rating: C This fanfic appeared virtually out of nowhere in September, but no additional parts have been posted. The writing style is somewhat bland, and needs to be proofread, as glaring spelling are grammar errors are present. At the moment it appears to be the standard opening sequence of a wormhole being discovered. It appears promising, but needs some more work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Little Red Riding Hood by Robbie Rhoades Post-DS9 Era? Unknown SW Era Rating: B A cute little fanfic involving one of the classic children's tales with a twist. Written fairly well, though could of used more flesching out. It also would of been better if it could have had more background information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Osiris by Michael O'Shea Chapters 1 - 3 DS9 Era New Republic Era Rating: B+ Another well-written fanfic. The story of a few Imperials encounters with the Federation, powered in part by the supercomputer Osiris. However, it just misses entering the 'A' range. It tends to be overly verbose in some areas. At the moment the plot isn't well formed, but it is only in the opening phases, introducing everything at first. Also, the fleet size and power seems rather large, and the construction times seemed remarkably low. I look forward to seeing future chapters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Rasputin by Michael O'Shea Chapters 1-6 DS9 Era Wong's Altiverse Era Rating: A Another damned good fanfic, and interestingly enough is set in Wong's universe - and currently is the only other fanfic to recieve an 'A' rating. The tale of a certain Star Destroyer and her exploits during the Imperial invasion of the Alpha Quadrant. No obvious flaws are apparent, and has interesting characterization. An excellent read and reccomended to everyone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Worlds Without End by Charles Sonnenburg Chapters 1-35 VOY Era ROTJ Era Rating: B Good fanfic that has a dizzying array of subplots (far more than ever Conquest). A rather interesting approach to the conquest of the Alpha Quadrant, as the Federation is slowly manipulated to the Empire's will. Was somewhat weak in Act I, and reached it's peak in Act II. Unfortionately the story quality has dropped in Act III, but still remains fairly high at the moment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Well, this is all for my fanfic review. Yes, it's only a few fanfics, but I'll get another one out soon, perhaps only a few days. Later ones might be longer. Any requests for reviews?