   kuromai
2009-07-10 . chapter 1I... well, how to begin.
I have heard many a wonderful thing about you and your stories, Nilah, through a very good friend of mine. It was only very recently that I was introduced to Death Note formally (though it has littered my mind for years with distinctive characters with no attached names), and to commemorate it, my friend made me a list. The list contained comics and art, but was mostly filled with fanfiction recommendations. A solid half of them were yours.
So don't expect this to be the last time you hear from me, my dear, even if it does seem I am a bit late after your falling off the face of the earth a year ago. Because, when a story makes me feel something, anything, I will review it and reiterate to the author those feelings.
And my dear, there are many things I have to say to you.
Now, it is normally a requirement, in order to keep my blissful life of joy and rainbows afloat, to stay away from stories with character death. Unfortunately, I had gotten 1/5 of the way through The Scream before I thought to check the authors notes at the end, and by then it was far, far too late for me to stop reading.
Captivating. More than anything, that is how I should describe your literary style, the type of writing that... you could be write from anything from ponies to oblivion and it would draw any educated mind in as long as you yourself held an interest in the subject. How much you care for the series- when you wrote it at least. Should I assume you don't really like Misa?- and how much time and effort you put into this, which I'm sure is displayed in all 31 of your stories, it just... shows. It shows so well, which is similar to having a good teacher teaching and conveying the subject that they adore and find absolutely fascinating. You have displayed the same sort of passion simply with the way you write, and that is what draws others in and gets you 145+ reviews for a single oneshot.
This combined with your natural ways of description, location, hinting at the smallest details and drawing these absurd and deep meanings with the allusions, metaphors, symbolism... again, the amount of time and devotion put into this single oneshot is fantastic, and makes this story- the tragic story, with what was so close to a happy ending- so brilliant. I felt depressed in the rain, clenched my fist at Kira, and the interaction between L and Raito... completely flawless, I loved every word of it.
It is sad, yes. But the bare fact of Death Note is that it is sad, that people die, how lives and happiness are delegated by someone who should not have that sort of power. Therefore, as sad and terrible and heartbreaking as it was, I... couldn't cry as Raito flew. Because he was free, as he deserved to be, and L... he grew in a sort of way that I was completely touched and broken by. A beautiful thing, to be inspired by the only friend you ever had that died after hardly a month of meeting. It impacted me in a way that I did not anticipate, which I have to thank you for. I'm always glad when writing moves me, even if it's not over a truly happy thing. However, I will admit that the three boys made me smile and giggle a lot. They don't act like they're preteens, which is wonderful and balances the darker themes of the overall piece with just enough Light to not make it completely dismal to read.
I feel you captivated another one of the true essences of Death Note here in the way plot was developed. The anticipation and effects of the evil, the cunning scheming and value of luck that is put forth, and the ever-essential vague coasting over of a long period of time while the plans are carried out. It really did capture that Death Note vibe, even if Raito didn't die at the end, even though that was sadly necessary in order for L to grow and have a moral and human feelings and blah blah I think I said that before.
Ah, but one note of small constructive criticism. The typos, grammatically or otherwise, were more casual mistakes from typing too fast and not reviewing it. I'm aware of the length of this (oh so very aware) and can understand the magical power of lazy, but just a note. Those were the only times that the flow would stop and I'd have to double-back and reread because Word didn't seem to understand what word you wanted, so.
Overall, you did so much with so few words (take that phrasing with a grain of salt), and created a truly powerful piece of writing. You pulled off the complex concepts of justice and freedom and good v. evil and embedded it all into a swirl of colorful tragedy. Beautiful, terrible, wonderful overall. I... can only thank you for writing it and putting it up, in the end. This is a very, very good story, Nilah, and it gives me high hopes for the other stories that I have waiting for me on that list.
I wish you the best of luck in whatever future writing endeavors you may take on, wish you good health in that ever troublesome reality, and honestly hope that you can find a way back to these stories at some point, because you have immense talent in writing what you enjoy. Until next time.
-Kuromai |
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