Reviews for For Evergreen
ladyqueerfoot chapter 26 . 8/30/2022
ummm 344 reviews is an ugly number

anyway... justice for emrys skinny legend trash child supreme
Fitzphieistrash chapter 13 . 8/4/2020
Hmm...I like Landen...
Fitzphieistrash chapter 3 . 8/4/2020
I want Aneira
Acereader55 chapter 27 . 7/16/2020
Just realized I never reviewed the epilogue so here I am giving you what I owe you!

I thought the time jumping here was a great stylistic and narrative choice so we can get a wide range of what she has been up to since we saw her win. Going from being stuck in the hospital where she couldn't do anything and being constantly monitored to going home and realizing she can't have her life the way it once was really struck home and was such a great transition. I also loved how one of the first things she did when she woke up was tell her mentor to never talk to her again and let him have it, she never needed him and she will never need him again, good riddance to him honestly. Such a great full circle moment.

In the end I loved that you included the orders from the President that she must become a mentor for the tributes in the upcoming Games. I love how it was forced on her and she knew what the words meant even if she so desperately denied wanting to do it. The closing line from her dad was so powerful and really shows just how hard it is for the mentors to get into the right frame of mind when they need to start mentoring. He was totally right and I think deep down she knows this and I wonder how this will affect her mentoring style in the future and if maybe, just maybe, she takes her dads advice she can bring home one of those kids so she doesn't have to face all of this alone anymore.

Great story overall Olive, honestly I am so happy you came back to write more stories even if it is only temporary with everything going on in the world right now. Your writing has always been standout to me as one of my favorites on this site and thank you for accepting and writing Orienne the way you did! It's been a pleasure reading this story and I hope you write a couple more even after TWW!
sock-feet-and-stirring-sand chapter 27 . 7/8/2020
epilogue.
yeah FUCK aubin! that’s the last person madina deserves to see after she wakes up from being in the arena. honestly love that response from her. she’s so allowed to feel furious at him!
a month and a half. jesus. she’s really not doing so hot.
it’s good she’s got someone on her side, even if she still doesn’t fully trust him. I loved the detail of how the wind outside her window reminds her of the arena and how, even a month out, she’s still completely on edge. yes, the mind heals slower than the body. that was a really nice line as well.
ugh, yeah. she wants d8 to feel like home but nowhere will anymore. poor girl. she’s stuck.
oh my gosh, that’s right. she and milan had that bond where they always seemed to find each other. good thing his wasn’t the first speech she had to do or she never would have gotten through it.
you know how I feel about shitty mentors and i’m gonna try to not make an exception for madina but I kind of get it? it’s her first time back. I just hope she can help them more going forward, because ignoring them won’t help her mental state at all. she’s cursed to be unhappy for life, but maybe having other victors around might help her feel a little less lonely.

and that’s a wrap on FE! I just remembered my favorite part of this story: when you made goose mutts that were literally just geese. I think about this at least twice a day. probably the funniest shit i’ve ever seen.

alright go team! off to TTW, but before I dip- excellent job with this story. I loved my d7 kids so much. rest in peace everyone!
sock-feet-and-stirring-sand chapter 26 . 7/8/2020
I am HERE as promised

night 8- finale! ooooOOo
I remember really pulling for airla here because careers always get taken out by the others and I honestly saw her as the underdog in this fight.
I love the complexity though of emrys/madina teaming up (sort of) and then emrys stepping back like… why would he risk his neck for her. that’s totally legitimate.
then when they have to turn back on each other! I love the energy here— how quickly they’re both forced to flip the switch. there’s no lingering loyalty, which is smart. it could have been anyone’s game but i’m pleased with the victor. I would have liked any of these 3!
i’d answer the questions but i’d have to go back and reread parts to remember which parts I loved best and that’s really gonna slow my roll especially if i’m getting through all your reviews today so- when i’m caught up i’ll be answering questions! hehe
and yes you know I love them epilogues might go back and reread some and cry? idk
symphorophilia chapter 26 . 7/2/2020
i'm SO LATE to the party on this one dxcfgvhbj omg i'm sorry xD but again, better late than never. this finale was, without exaggeration, wholly epic; having madina and emrys team up to take on airla made sense, but the immediate flip/change in madina's attitude when she realizes emrys is close to getting our pseudo-career out is also quite realistic and speaks to the development that madina's undergone with his games plotline; she's become far more opportunistic and is rooted in a survivalist mentality, so as soon as she's confronted with the opportunity to attack (and not have it be detrimental) she takes it. very nice. also, emrys continually lapsing into periods of doubt while fighting against airla (because of the way that madina impacted koda's death earlier, in part - there's still a tension between them, even with the truce), but ultimately keeping pragmatic about working with madina because he sees her as less of a threat made total sense... unfortunately, his judgment was thrown a bit. madina's one of the characters who played the game hardest, and that's what led her to become a victor; she wasn't an obvious threat, but she was gritty, smart, and utterly determined to survive.

some quick eulogies for the two that passed this chapter:

airla - never one of my favorites, but such a well-crafted character that i always appreciated her. as an early version of the careers we know from THG canon, she absolutely seems like a forebearer for the way career training will shape up in your universe moving forward; and as a person, her mindset coupled with her training helped mold her into an archetype that i've always appreciated but don't see nearly as often as i'd like to. honorable, even stalwart, a trained tribute and a proven killer in the games, but one who was composed and humane. while she was self-sufficient, she didn't seem to act out of self-interest through a lot of the games; she took into account the feelings of other tributes based on what she gleaned from them, effectively marking her as a merciful killer who did what she did out of necessity, never personal interest/desire. i ended up liking her a lot by the end of the games.

emrys - oh man... my favorite tribute in FE honestly? like i'm not even gonna try and pretend otherwise... his cynicism, his snark, his semi-callousness and refusal to display vulnerability or openly feel his emotions early on was intriguing, but once we saw him extend that alliance offer to sena, subsequently lose her in the bloodbath, and then later lose colm and koda to the very bombs he'd been encouraging them to make, he really started to flourish further. sure, he was still cynical and a bit abrasive, and he definitely continued to act in line with self-interests, but there was a path of internalized guilt and deep remorse built up there that you just characterized so well. he was struggling by the end, mentally if not as much physically, taking responsibility for the acts he was involved with in the arena and letting them really define his view of himself. some really powerful shit here.

okayyyyy and now we have... the victor! madina! i'm SHOOK but i'm honestly grinning like mad i'm so glad that this girl powered through all the obstacles set in her path to emerge victorious from a games where the odds were definitely stacked against her. from aubin's awful treatment of her as a person, not to mention turning all his attention to harland and doing nothing for madina's benefit, to harland's betrayal of her during training, starting the games as a loner without sponsors who was generally somewhat unliked because of her attitude through the pregames, madina was an underdog going into the games, and so i think having her win is deeply satisfying. she's a testament to the fact that personal strength and hardiness outweigh the judgment, scrutiny and opinions of others; she went through the games acting on her own terms (shooting harland, trucing with milan, her interactions with orienne/eleni and koda/emrys) and it WORKED. she'll have a lot of demons to contend with once she's out, but she'll make it work. she's proven that she's resilient and capable of bouncing back from pain once already.

side note... one of the only times i've seen a loner (from the very beginning) actually win the games? way to flip the usual tropes on their head. lone wolf win is something i'm HERE for.

okay, questions time!

favorite tribute - hasn't changed since the last time i reviewed, when we still had thirteen left! gotta be emrys, with madina as a close second. loved the both of them so much. notable mentions to airla, zaid and milan, all of whom grew on me as time went on.

most memorable death - laurent. not because his death was the most standout or shocking, and not because the fight was even the most intense... it was just SO SATISFYING to see him go; he was truly this story's games antagonist, and it's always neat to watch them get taken down or meet their end. i'm a fan of antagonists so i appreciate what he brought to the story, and honestly? like him for how utterly detestable he was. love to hate character for me.

which scene was the most memorable - okay i'm biased but THE SNOWBALL FIGHT DCFVGBHJYT? with ainsley and vervain. it brought some much needed levity and lightheartedness into a games that was otherwise quite dark. but bias aside, i have to say that zaid's death and airla's reaction to it was painful as hell and so bittersweet afterward... that reunion and subsequent loss... an emotional moment for sure and one of the hardest-hitting ones.

who would i have chosen as victor? honestly madina's an awesome choice. no disagreement here. i might've gone for emrys when we hit the final three but that's just personal preference. tbh i also think madina deserved it more though... again, we love seeing that underdog victory arc.

this story's been amazing. and the word count! the speed! the intensity and depth put into each chapter! the emotional weight of so many moments throughout! you are prolific! thanks so much for writing, and i'm glad i was able to be a part of this story in some small way as well. it's been a wild ride and it's sad to see it over, but all good things must come to an end eventually. i'm excited for TTW! shall be working my way through reviews on that one soon.
Cosmic Corsair chapter 26 . 6/30/2020
I'm having a review catch-up today — I really need one since I've been MIA for the past two weeks. Let's see how long I can go before my procrastination hits me...

It would be best to give my thoughts on the Victor — Madina. Yep, I predicted and really agree with this choice of victor. You'll see no complaints from me. No one else in this story has had quite the development or endured the struggle that Madina has went through. Honestly, I'd go as far as to say Madina had the only real development aside from Malachi. It felt like the other tributes were so stuck in their old ways and refused to change, whereas Madina quickly adapted to this world and thrived in it from the beginning.

Aubin and Harland fucked her over and created a no-holds-barred war machine. She was an underdog, but not a typical sort of underdog that just gets beaten down over and over again and somehow pulls off a victory. She was the sort of underdog like Buster Douglas who nobody expected to win but then went on to outbox and lay Tyson the fuck out in front of the entire world. Madina just dominated from start to finish. I've never seen an 'underdog' perform this well in a Games and she really had everything going against her here. I can't say I necessarily felt *strongly* about Madina personality-wise — I really feel like her actions did the talking for her. She was very Lara Croft to me — just a badass survivor who maybe I couldn't relate to or connect with mentally, but admired and respected for her personal development and her incredible display of endurance and willpower.

I'd like to leave my thoughts on some of the other deaths real quick. First, Malachi. Yeah, I was pretty upset when I read this initially, I won't lie. Out of everyone in the story, I really connected with Malachi and I was so sure he was going to survive because of his amazing development. But then, my incredibly smart tribute Valya (we'll get to her in a minute), goes and shoots him AFTER he saves her life. Like...? Okay. You're welcome! If it wasn't gonna be Madina, it was gonna be Malachi. That's what I kept saying, and well, meh. But I loved him, and it's too bad what happened. People just make rash decisions. RIP Malachi.

Now Valya. Sigh. Despite the fact that I made this character, I can honestly say that I grew to really dislike her. I had my own ideas about what should have been done with her, how her story could have been resolved with Laurent. How perhaps she could've saved Malachi from Laurent's wrath or something. But this isn't my story and I have to respect that. Valya to me as a character never developed — she just felt stagnant and to me, regressed into being this sobbing, insecure girl making all the most bizarre, counterproductive decisions. I just could not relate to her at all, which is hilarious. I'm not saying I would have treated her with the utter disrespect that Laurent did, but I probably would have lost my patience with her at some point.

I don't mind that she died at all, like yeah I absolutely anticipated it and had in mind a few ways that could have been achieved earlier in the story. To me it's the *how* and tbh I just don't understand why she'd kill Malachi but then hesitate as Laurent was screaming in her face. Stockholm Syndrome? Panic Attack? Ugh, I think it's just the fact that it was Laurent, the only person I felt she should have shot, and she didn't and just allowed him to bully her *again* like a scared little girl seriously irked me. At that point I just said "well she deserved it!" She had every chance and didn't take it, but then when someone helps her, then she takes it when they turn their back. It's completely asinine.

You wrote her so well, and took her in a direction that was quite different than what I'd originally imagined. I feel like Airla and her were fairly similar in personality, and perhaps that's why Valya faded into the background a lot. Her backstory was not as standout — it was very family-oriented and personal with the aspects of her missing brother and the tough family life and there probably wasn't a lot you could do with that. I was surprised to see her make it this far into the Games, but you definitely saw something in her and took her in an interesting, unseen direction for an early Career.

RIP Val. She can go and find her brother now.

Laurent. Yeah, personally, I felt like maybe Valya and Laurent's deaths could have been switched up here because it seemed like when the flood happened, Airla and Laurent suddenly became agreeable with each other and I was a little confused. I'm so glad he finally died, no offense, but man what a smug prick. He died in the flood but to me he got off easy. He deserved so much worse. rip ya douchebag.

I could never connect with Airla, but she had a purpose in this story and I could see why you took her far. She always felt so serious and uptight to me. Emrys was so underrated — yeah he was an asshole and I felt like he was becoming less of an asshole but still hung onto that which made him realistic. He was manipulative and domineering to an extent, and wasn't seeing the mental anguish he was causing for Koda. Emrys just wanted to win and had the ability to do it with the bombs and never had a plan B for after that. He didn't deserve it as much as the other tributes — he was a very flawed, insecure person but he still had a heart, which I loved. RIP Emrys.

Loved Madina's ending and god that scene where she yelled at Aubin was so sweet. The fucker still had the nerve to smirk at her and I honestly wish she could have spit in his face or bit his nose off or something. Fuck that guy — but then again, if he hadn't had treated Madina as he did, would she still have had the motivation to win in the manner that she did? She wanted to prove him and Harland wrong and she did. I wonder what would have happened if they had initially accepted her like they were supposed to. Something to think about.

This was the perfect ending for Madina — a completely harrowing and realistic take on the moral quandaries a victor would be plagued with after going back home and having to face the families of the tributes she murdered. And then capping it off with her father's callousness towards her tributes and her initial anger, but then slowly realizing he's right. She'll be doing this for the rest of her life and I can't even imagine the hardened person she's going to become. I'm so curious to see her in the next story.

Favorite tribute? At first it was Zaid, and then I really grew to love Malachi and Emrys. I think of all the female tributes, my favorite was Aneira and Madina.

Most memorable death was Colm falling into a hole and blowing up. That shit was crazy! But I also loved Aneira's chilling death.

Memorable non-death scene...I really enjoyed the scenes in the Capitol with Zaid assembling his alliance. I also loved when the tributes got attacked by random geese.

My preferred victor was Malachi or Zaid but for shock value I might have gone with Milan or Emrys because not only would nobody have expected it, but neither of them deserved it or wanted it and something about that is so ironic.

I was never a huge fan of "early Games" stories but this story changed my opinion. I'm fascinated with all the world building you're laying out here. This was very dramatic and the implications you laid out here with the rise of Coriolanus and the drama with the arena was so enjoyable to read. I loved how realistic this story was. When you think about what an actual early Hunger Games would read like, this is it. You really laid the groundwork here with For Evergreen.

This was a great comeback story. It had all the realism, drama, and gore that befits this genre. On the subject of an early Games, I don't see how it can get any better than this.

Amazing story!
Remus98 chapter 27 . 6/30/2020
Loved this. Everything about it. Her telling off Aubin (who does he think he is? Strutting into her hospital room like a proud mentor when he’s the shittest mentor there is?! The audacity!), her coming back home to District Eight, and the Victory Tour. It’s interesting to see that the Victors go on tour despite them not having had much of a part in the Games after their own. Especially seeing as most of them doesn’t seem to have done much with the title before the Victor Villages were constructed and they became mentors. You would have though they got home and got on with their lives. But the tour makes sense for closure. I like it nonetheless, every part of your set-up for following stories in this universe is really interesting.

And it was nice to get some closure for the fallen tributes as well. Both the ones mentioned in Medina’s POV and the paragraphs they got in the blog gave For Evergreen a nice ending. It was a wild ride!
Chaos In Her Wake chapter 27 . 6/29/2020
I love the short epilogues! Valya's dad and the kitten was my favorite like AW. I love seeing how the legacies go on in the districts, like how Vervain's family reached out to Ainsley's and how Harland's brother hated seeing Madina everywhere.

Speaking of Madina... thank you so much, I think this was a lovely epilogue! There's a lot of ground to cover to account for all that she went through during the Games. I liked that the Aubin plotline was so quickly and firmly wrapped up, and the time that she spent in the hospital makes sense. Like yeah, we can't forget how long recovery really takes. It's a lifelong thing, really, but the first month or so in the hospital- yeah. She's gotta physically heal! And then dealing with forming relationships again, revisiting districts and families and all of that! The depth of emotion and response that you gave Madina to all these harrowing situations really fits. It's not a normal life by any means. And then using her brother as pawn to get her to mentor... YIKES!

And I really appreciate that the very last scene is a great setup to segue into the mentorship aspect of To The Wolves. It really just flows from that scene right into the reaping chapters, doesn't it?

Well done, Ollie, fantastic job. And happy writing!
AlexFalTon chapter 27 . 6/27/2020
Good ending. Aubin was a ass, and definitely isn't someone Madina would like to see the first thing she wakes up. In any case, Madina is bitter and guilty and it's clear she doesn't want any emotional attachments to others much, and she's a predictably closed off person. It makes sense, and the ending is bittersweet, but that's life - I'd be the same if I had to kill someone and live with it. I'd be surprised if Madina did have a happy ending.

Story closed - Now, Onto the Wolves! Hopefully, we'll see a glimpse of Madina and Venice there.
Axe Smelling God chapter 27 . 6/27/2020
This was a beautiful way to end this story and for her anger towards Aubin was justified in every way and she went through hell but she made it out and now has a duty to make sure to bring honor to her district and bring more children home.
bobothebear chapter 26 . 6/22/2020
ok QUEEEEEEEN MADINAAAA! sorry im so late LOL i be BEHIND behind uwuwuwuwuwu

seeing AS i'm going to be BRIEFi but i really enjoyed this finale! i felt how up in the air your decision was bc i was guessing for a while too as to who would win it wasn't this clear-cut decision yk! anyway big enjoy we luv to see this! aubin boutta GET it when madina gets out of the arena

questions!

fave overall - honestly probably zaid! i really enjoyed his development and the path he went down as well as where he started off. close seconds go to madina and emrys!

death - probably laurent w the flood!
non-death scene - random but madina letting ainsley go it humanized her and set her up for a redeemable murderer story which was a biiiiig plus for her victor odds!
victor - out of these three, madina! out of the whole batch, probably zaid!
final thoughts - u KILLED THIS QUEEN LMAO U ARE NOTHING IF NOT A CONSISTENT LIGHTNING BOLT W WRITING!

luvluvluv see u soon
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