Floatation Device

I had a very productive day today, I'm so proud of myself. ^_^ I did three fanfiction covers, wrote three articles, folded all the guest towels and put them away, and completely fried my brain. Never fear! I do have a little something not-boring for you today. It's a review of the newly finished section of Adrift In a Room of Mirrors by Princess Alexandria! Which will come right after I post some pictures for you...

Fanfiction Covers

HTML Tables

So there's those... I did the first two yesterday and the other three today. Photo manipulation is a lot more complicated than I remember... You can find these fanfictions, and my others, by clicking the "My Fanfiction" button up in the navigation bar.

Adrift - Floatation Device by Princess Alexandria

Okay so... this story was/is originally from Princess Alexandria's Adrift In a Room of Mirrors. It's set in an alternate Twilight Saga universe and stars Alexandria's OC Christy Taylor. Also taking starring roles in this fanfiction are Bella Swan and Tanya Denali of Stephanie Meyer's The Twilight Saga. If I were you, I'd take a look at Alexandria's other fanfiction, particulary Not Myself, before reading this fanfic. It'll give you a good idea of her characters and how she tends to write. Ya know, assuming you haven't already, since I've recommended that before.

Anyway... I have to start out by saying that I'm not a giant fan of Twilight fanfiction to begin with. Firstly, because the characters just seem too bland to do anything with or don't have enough personality to really create fanfiction out of. Secondly, no one seems to be doing anything really interesting with them. Thirdly, most Twilight fanfiction is horrible. Fourthly, Stephanie did a pretty good job wrapping things up at the end of Breaking Dawn; at least, I think so. That said, I quite liked this particular Twilight fanfic. Part of it has to do with Christy and how attached to her I am and part of it has to do with how Alexandria handled the other characters.

The story starts at some point during New Moon after Bella was left by the Cullens. Christy shows up due to the events in the prologue and takes Bella under her wing. She essentially trains Bella to be a vampire while helping her grow a spine. Along the way, Christy manages to create her own little Vampire/Shapeshifter coven and then merge it with the Denali Coven. Of course, there is some romance and some tasteful and well deserved Edward bashing. Thought I wouldn't call is bashing exactly... it fits with the way Alexandria has written this story and, as I said, is very well deserved. Toward the end, I thought the story dragged a bit... but considering how things were going at that point, I think the dragging was justified.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Floatation Device. I think that anyone who enjoys Christy and, on some level, the side characters of The Twilight Saga will enjoy it too. If you're a fan mostly of the main cast of The Twilight Saga, I'm not sure you'll like this, but you should at least give it a try. Luckily, the story is finished now so you don't have to wait for weeks between updates.

Housekeeping

The links to both Floatation Device and Princess Alexandria's fanfiction.net page comprise the heading of that section. There are also a few links scattered through the first paragraph of that section to relevant pages.

Love ya, Jessie.

The Problems With Commitments and Hiatuses

So...I said a really long time ago (last year at some point, I think) that I needed to review both Not Myself and 500 Miles before I went to to review Adrift in a Room of Mirrors by Princess Alexandria. Well... life happened, I fell off the blogging bandwagon, and I'm honestly not in any sort of mood to finish my reviews *cough* summaries *cough* of 500 Miles. I'm not even in the mood to finish re-reading it just for me... But anyway, I still highly recommend you go and read the rest of it. It's awesome. I enjoyed it. I just have to be in the right mindset to read it.

That said, I am going to go ahead and review some, not all, of Adrift in a Room of Mirrors. I'm going to start with the prologue and jump around with the rest. Jumping just a tad off-topic, Adrift in a Room of Mirrors is really better enjoyed if you know a few things about the various universes Christy (yup, there's a connection to the other two fics and she's it) travels to. That said, I'm going to be completely leaving out of my reviews the True Blood and Star Trek: Voyager sections. I've never had any interest in these series *cough* Lies *cough* and so I don't feel I can properly speak about the fanfictions pertaining to them. I have been reading and for the most part enjoying these sections, but... my reviews of them essentially end there.

Henceforth, I will be writing a simple acronym (ARM) for Adrift in a Room of Mirrors because the stories contained within have their own titles and I'm sure I'll get tired of typing it out... Just a heads-up for later.

Adrift in a Room of Mirrors: Prologue - Princess Alexandria

     This essentially lays out the how and why of the story. Ms. Christy Taylor, not the same as in Not Myself and 500 Miles but a very similar version, has gotten herself into some trouble with the X-Men. Instead of stay in that universe and cause more trouble for herself and her loved ones, Christy has decided to jump ship and start new elsewhere. With the aid of Annie (see Not Myself) and Doug Ramsey, Christy is able to hop through Scythe (see 500 Miles) with some degree of, well, good luck.
     As I told Princess Alexandria in my initial review: I can't wait to see what happens next. Doug having a new and slightly more interesting power and that Christy could end up somewhere fairly nice for her was awesome. Her mostly blind jumping in 500 Miles got tedious after a while. Anyway, this chapter was a great first chapter and gives a nice introduction/re-introduction to Christy.

ARM: Not so Black and White (Once Upon a Time) - Princess Alexandria

     This chapter appeared in my inbox yesterday and I'd for some reason forgotten I was even reading Adrift in a Room of Mirrors. Imagine my surprise when I ended up there instead of in a chapter of Against the Moon. I quickly realized my mistake and settled in to giggle at Christy... which I do often.

     Another mistake I made was mistaking Henry for his grandfather... That was embarrassing. Henry is not Prince Charming and his castle is definitely NOT in story-book land. Christy lands in front of Henry, at his castle, in the Once Upon a Time Universe. Their little exchange amused me greatly and I'm wondering how Christy is going to cope so out of her element...

     But anyway... I really enjoyed the start to this story. If the earlier chapters and previous fanfictions are any indication, Christy's time in Storybrooke will be awesome. Christy did remind me a bit of Emma (not Emma Frost) but that's okay considering how similar they are in temperament once you think about it.

Housekeeping

As usual, the links to the fanfictions reviewed are in the headings of their respective review. Although Adrift in a Room of Mirrors is posted all as one story, I've linked to the beginning of the story-lines reviewed. Also, Alexandria's fanfiction.net page is linked in three places, for your convenience.

Love ya, Jessie.