Reviewer: Divediveburners Signed
Date: June 02 2023
Title: Chapter 9: Balm in Gilead
You can't win "It Was Me"! I will be the longest Greenanon reviewer by the end of this day. I'll even make Longman Mauler himself tremble at my impressive length/ So much so, that he'll go back to Rakata prime to feast upon his green milk in shame that he's been outlonged!
Oh right, this is supposed to be a review, not a declaration of war. I have to say, I'm probably a good test for the objective enjoyment of this story, as every single zombie movie reference went over my head. It's never been a genre that has summoned my behind to a theater seat.
Barbra possesses that same enthusiastic nerdy spunk that Kacey has in We Help Each Other Get By. The NEET nerd girl is a very fun character trope, and one that you've mastered. Her goal to become a cringe, katana-wielding zombie slayer was certainly one that kept me invested.
Sorry to say, however, that I didn't find John as interesting as Jake. While his devotion to Barb is admirable, and he possesses technical know-how to resolve the final conflict, I did find him to be a bit bland. I never really could impart defining characteristics he possessed on his own, while I can with Jake. Exacerbating this is that Peter, the initial captive of our villain, then later, Cassie's man, is almost identical in characterization. The fact that both end up as Celia's personal slaves at one point, does not help. To say the least, I had trouble differentiating them.
Speaking of Celia, she's the driver of most of the interest in this story, in that you are interested in seeing how she'll get her just desserts. Underlying a pragmatic need for hierarchy and order, is a neurotic need for dominance and control. I believe Barb's presence brought out her worst (despite her sacrificing the coach before, so it was always there), but a predator like her required a chew toy. This, of course, pushed Barb's development nicely, and allowed her victory over Celia to be all the sweeter.
The second hook for intrigue was the nebulous Rhames, and his need to be on the winning side. Showing no fear, and knowing when to fold, unlike Ceila, he's a nice, morally ambiguous contrast to the sadistic Celia, the soft Cassie, and the heroically ambitious Barb.
Have to admit, I rather liked the smut scenes with Cassie for the ... let's just call it color commentary. Aright, I'll see myself out.
Unfortunately, I neither possess the length, nor the stamina to match "It Was Me", so I'll end the review here. Another entertaining classic of yours. I do think it would have benefitted with a more distinct characterization for John and Peter. The villains are what drive this story and maintain interest, and I think ending on their defeat wraps this up perfectly. Of course, in that hotel, who knows how long they'll last?
Author's Response: Thanks for the review! This one is definitely an out there genre mashup with the zombie angle, so it's definitely got a lot of elements that would only appeal to fans of the genre lol. Anyways glad it was able to pull interest anyways. As far as Peter/John goes I imagined Peter as a more bookish type with John as a more hands on blue collar type, though admittedly you're right they could both use more variation in the characterization.
Anyways yeah the nerdy NEET girl is a fun character archetype I've revisited several times now lol. Not sure she counts as a NEET since at the end of the world everyone's kind of jobless, but she did find a niche and a community at the end I guess.
I like to think that they do all right in the hotel, and probably find a way to live there sustainably until they link up with other survivors, though it might get rough at times. A lot of zombie movies end on a really bleak note, I wanted this one to be a little upbeat, especially after all the characters went through.