Reviewer: TerryLarka Signed
Date: January 01 2024
Title: Chapter 12: Chapter 12 - Naughty Girls Need a Firm Hand
For starters, kudos on effectively managing so many moving parts within a single chapter. Everything is segmented and paced really well here, cutting to and from the many different scenes and characters at the perfect times for the perfect durations.
Fucking Stella. Fuck. She's reached the point every good unlikeable character reaches for me where she has become so hateable that I fall in love. This chapter does a great job in painting her as utterly despicable, both through her actions and the narration during her segments, while maintaining her as realistically evil (she doesn't come off as a cartoon character, even with how fucked up some her alleged and seeable crimes are). The introduction of her cruelty in this otherwise gentle story has really spiced things up in a way I'd normally be wary towards, but from everything I've read from you so far, I know I can trust whatever direction you're heading in will be a good one.
Man, for a minute you had me believing Claire was playing 4D chess leaving out those shrinking sugar crystals for Stella to take only to reveal she's playing goddamn checkers by not knowing Tara was in the bathroom (or at least not accounting for her). So, from Claire's insanely risky play here, Titty making an opening in the frosted glass with her honkers, and Olivia ensuring Aidra is capable of not not becoming Skynet, I think Melissa is the only one of the Fab Four that has yet to do something to potentially lead to the group's catastrophic downfall (unless I'm forgetting something).
Now you have me questioning all of Victoria's whole everything, knowing now that she is actively trying to screw over Stella. It has me wondering if her various acts of sabotage are all an act, but with my current understanding of things, that seems farfetched. I'm very curious to see how this dynamic plays out and what twists you have in store.
I think you did great with Kim and Jen this chapter. Kim's reaction feels much more deserved now, and Jen's rant was a punch straight to the gut. (Paraphrasing:) "Normally sex with you is sterile as hell, but not today, today with you has been great because of everybody but you." Goddamn. Cutting out half of Jen's listing off steps to replace it with descriptions of how she's listing them off was really clever. It gives the reader the impression that Kim isn't listening to the words, that she doesn't have to, because she's focused on the intent behind them, and how Jen's body language is hurting her because its showing her true thoughts. There were some really hard hitting lines throughout that section, and I had to step up and walk away to think quite a few times this chapter.
What we get from Dick's initial reaction to being shrunk is incredible. It was so vivid, the idea of Titty essentially existing on another plane of existence she's so big to him, I'm jealous of how well you sold her scale through words alone. It was like I was looking at artwork displaying it. Speaking of jealous, kudos on making me feel bitter envy towards a fictional character (specifically Dick, specifically when he opened his eyes to see the giantess stepping on him while sucking off the tit of the taller giantess with titaness Titty squirming in the background. Phuck!)
As an addendum to my last review: I went back to prior chapters and realized my error in visualizing the space. When the adult store is first shown, there's a scene where Olivia walks into a heavily locked backroom to find Titty testing out her tentacles. This takes place days before the actual presentation, but in my head I had gone forward with the assumption that the backroom was were the demonstration was being held when a chapter or two later clearly describes it taking place in the main room. That's my bad, I have a bad habit of filling in blanks with assumption when there wasn't a blank there in the first place. And in regards to Chae-won peering in, I hadn't put together that the imprint Titty's titties left literally created the opening for her to look through. As I alluded to before, I think it's really clever how the Fab Four are responsible for the cascading failures that I'm getting more and more sure are awaiting them in the future.
Author's Response: It means a lot to read your praise. Balancing so many moving parts has been a fulfilling challenge, and I'm constantly balanced on the edge between thrilled at my success and terrified that I've neglected someone or over-emphasized another and thrown the pacing to shambles.
Fucking Stella. I echo that sentiment. She's been in shadows for so much of the story (Victoria's, Elise's, the Fab Four's) that I'm glad to finally let her off the chain and show you what she's all about. That she's landing well is a huge relief. And thank you for trusting me with where I'm going with this character. Just remember that things are often darkest before the dawn.
Claire is a very intelligent woman, but she is not a schemer. She still hasn't figured out how to get into Titania's pants (and if it somehow isn't clear by now, it's really not that hard). No, Claire is taking the scientific approach. She was presented a hypothesis that Stella is "evil," and she has to test it. Initial results are positive, so she's going to proceed with more targeted tests, so she can draw a conclusion. Her error, along with most of the others, is an inaccurate assumption of the scope of their control. And as for Melissa not having made a mistake, well... As far as I'm concerned, she has contributed the greatest benefit and greatest potential harm of them all. She's the one who opened Pandora's Box, and made the shrinking solution a reality.
Questioning Victoria is an excellent idea. I seriously hope readers are still questioning Victoria's motivations (in a good way) years after this story is concluded. If anyone is playing 4D chess in this story, it is Victoria Vane.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for your help with Jen and Kim's section. I was legitimately floundering in conflicting thoughts over how to deliver this section in a way that was authentic and genuine to the characters. You helped get me out of that mental morass, and guided me to the path forward. (I realized while reading your review that I completely forgot to give you a shoutout for your contribution this chapter, and that has since been rectified. Seriously, thank you!)
This section is the leading edge of why I absolutely love multi-size scenarios. You get the best of so many worlds, with differing levels of interaction and agency for the various players, depending on who is interacting with whom at any given time. I'm glad the descriptions landed well. I'm always concerned about going over the top, but if there was any time for my adjectives to go big or go home, this was it. (And you're not the only one jealous of our boy Richard. Lucky little bastard, *grumble grumble*)
Again, thank you so much for the feedback, and fon't feel bad if you call me out for a mistake I didn't quite make. You're not the only one who might have missed that key detail, and it shows me where I might do better in the future by further emphasizing important details in the moment, or recalling prior events to help the reader stay engaged. If someone is willing to take the time to give me feedback - be it glowing praise or a roast of titanic proportions - then I can't help but value every word in these reviews.
If I haven't said it enough yet, thank you again for reading and reviewing, and I wish you and yours a Happy New Year!