 The Never Minder 2009-10-09 . chapter 17Well.
About a week ago I started digging through the Transformers section on a lark, thinking to myself, 'oh, haha, there will be fanfiction about that giant robots movie. How funny.' I didn't think there would be anything to catch my interest other than some funny badfic. But I had liked the movie (not the second one, mind you), and had even sparked a bit of an interest in the cartoons, so I figured I'd see how the fandom measured up.
I found this.
The story is believable and well fleshed out, the characterization is wonderful, the plot is intriguing...I was not in a million years expecting to find something as good as this. The level of humor and angst blend together well, making the protagonist believably anxious without being a weepy, uninteresting mess--despite the situation and constant fear, Bumblebee never gives into despair, fighting tooth and nail to keep 'his' secret from friends and enemies alike, even when it seems that the inevitable is on the brink. 'He' is always resourceful and looking for a way out, and 'he' is remarkably competent at it. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for what is going to happen next.
If there's one weakness in this story, it would have to be the writing itself. Not the quantity--you have put a very obvious amount of time and effort into the work and it shows, with lengthy, satisfying chapters that avoid filler and leave the reader clamoring for more.
However, you do have some obvious grammar and spelling issues--for example, in the average chapter I see quite a few unnecessary apostrophes and mix-ups with words like 'bear' and 'bare', which can make a second reading a bit of a letdown. There were also some places where the intent the message you wanted to convey was clear, but you had to fight through a mess of words to get to it, almost like someone translating through a foreign language. Especially in the earlier chapters, I would suggest that you ask someone to go through and correct these mistakes (the grammar is easy enough, but make sure you get someone competent to handle the awkward phrasings in a way that fixes the paragraph without changing its meaning). It would make the story so much better, and it's already very good as is.
I hope that none of the criticisms deterred you--I actually enjoy the story very much and I can't wait for the next chapter. Have fun writing it! I really admire your dedication to the work. |