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Promising
The Edict of Instinct has a Prologue that takes place far into an indistinct future, and a first chapter (comprised of seven parts) which takes place in the not-so-distant past. The Prologue is set in a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas, and a first chapter set in post-Communist Russia.
What this promises is a sweeping story about a poor orphan boy transforming into a super-human anti-hero, and so far, the story is packed with drama, heartache, and blood.
The site design has a flat, gray look which reinforces the bleak desperation of young Dmitri’s life.
I was drawn to read the story because it is a spin-off of “Winter’s Mercenary” — but this has so far been an entirely different story, with a narrative voice that is in a completely different tone from that of WM’s insouciant vampire. I think this is a good thing, as it makes it its own, distinct webnovel and not just a something like fanfic. I’m interested to see where the story of Dmitri’s life goes and how it all leads to the scene depicted in the Prologue.
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An extensive collection
Currently "Shifti" lists 555 stories by 52 different authors. As such it is difficult to write a review based on story content, since with such a large library the quality of the stories will vary wildly. It runs off the wiki software and there is no editorial filter beyond some lists of editor’s favorites.
If you enjoy transformation stories, Shifti offers a lot to choose from. It’s easy to navigate and search. The editor’s picks are a good place to start to get to what is considered the cream of the crop.
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Shining Character Interaction
The biggest problem with this series is that it takes the author awhile to really get into the swing of the web series. The first few chapters of part one come across as forced, difficult to relate to, and include some pretty bad writing cliches – including the heroine who would be too stupid to live in real life. It’s also the only part in the story where the protagonist consistently complains about the mean teacher who picks on the poor student for not doing her homework or paying attention in class. If I were judging this story based on the first four chapters, it would’ve rated much lower than it really deserves.
Thankfully, around the fifth chapter of Part One, the author really starts to shine. The action scenes draw me in, and the true gold of the series, the interaction between the Children of the Apocalypse and Michael, picks up. From there, I was hooked. The way the characters play off of each other is enough to make me read through all of the available content twice, and start a count-down for when the next part starts showing up. There were plenty of times where I winced with the characters, and laughed out loud at some of the quips between Michael and Gen. It’s even enough to make me forget the authors frequent use of dues ex machinas.
If you want something light and fun, with plenty of content and kick-ass female heroines, this is it.
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Not Quite What It Seems
Catharsis turns out to be a different sort of story underneath than it appears to be on the surface.
While it begins feeling a little bit like a conventional horror story, it ends up concentrating on the main character’s attempt to come to grips with events in her past.
I think that I can say that without blowing the story. I’m not going to go into too much detail about it though.
Still, I do feel like I should say a little more than that. The audience that probably goes for situations like (A) a bunch of people who know each other via the internet meet for the first time and end up in a deserted town, making self-aware and amusing comments about what people should and shouldn’t do in horror movies. . . . is different from the audience that goes for (B) character based stories in which the main character comes to an understanding about themselves and their life while experiencing events that the audience doesn’t immediately identify as imagined.
Both audiences can come to this story and enjoy it, but it helps to be at least slightly partial to the other sort to do so.
What makes it possible is a strong narrative focus on the search for the main character’s sister. That can lead a person from one sort of story to another without the reader realizing that they’ve moved.
After making so many general comments on the story’s genre and it’s potential audience, I feel as if I should comment on such issues as character and writing style and so on.
Except . . .
Except I really don’t have anything to say about them. The characterization felt real enough to me that I never questioned it. The writing is skilled enough that I didn’t run across anything that knocked me out of the story.
That’s a good thing.
So overall, the story is worth reading.
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