Title: Kill them all
Author: ShayneT
Genre: Action/Crossover
Status: WIP
Library Category: Other Fandoms - Worm
Pairings: None
Summary: Taylor Hebert has the powers of the Gamer...but the aftermath of a tragedy sends her on a path to revenge.
Link: SpaceBattles

Some spoilers ahead, but can't explain what's good about it without them.

To be honest the beginning of this fic is rather weak in my opinion. It's only when Taylor gets powers to travel to different universes and it becomes a crossover that it proves its full potential. Her visit to Independence Day world to fight an alien invasion is something I didn't expect, but it works. That she doesn't overstays her visits makes her a sort of the Doctor character, only with more killing. She even has sometimes Companions who are there basically there to react to her actions and provide a more normal perspective about them.

Even at 200k words you can't say that the author is dragging things. The speed of updates is probably the fastest you can write something that people can actually like to read.

Only probably I have with it is that all focus on killing villains can get tiresome, but fortunately some of recent chapters allowed Taylor to try do something more than just that.

I will give it 3.5/5 rounded to 4/5.

 

I’ve been following this, and it follows the typical Shayne T model. I would say unfortunately that the plane shifting is the point that this fic jumps the shark.

No character, including Taylor, is in character. In any universe that I’ve recognised them. The dialogue is some of the worst that I’ve seen in his stories, and the game power + dimensional shifting means that there’s never any real danger to her that feels visceral. At most she can think the situation has turned against her and so go cheese an AU till she’s got a new power and been an OCP to the

Spoiler

MCU or Independence Day or Silent Hill, or etc.

It’s riddled with easy to avoid spelling mistakes. And all non-Taylor worm characters are carrying exaggerated idiot balls. The plot is completely ad hoc, and there’s no real depth to anything.

It’s a fun romp, but I can’t say it’s a good story. It’s a jumpchain without an SI. It’s an almost rec for some specific people who I think enjoy the specific type of progression this has, and it updates every day. I’d give it 2.5/5 rounded down.

 

This is one of the main stories I follow. ShayneT has improved since writing his HP fic. It never drags, is written well and keeps me coming back. Good humor recently as well.

4/5 for the fic, +.5 for near daily updates of 3k chapters, +.5 for an actual good progression/gamer fanfic.

Don't take it too seriously and enjoy the ride.

 

I think it's one of his worst fics. This isn't me shitting on him, because I liked some of his earlier stuff... at least the premise of his earlier stuff. It's his endings that kill me. They suck. Anyway, props have to be given to him for writing a good portion of this from his recovery bed, on a tablet, directly after having a kidney transplant. I can't imagine the drugs he was on. I think I can forgive him his typos.

What I can't forgive is blitzing though chapters without any thought to characterization. More and faster doesn't equal better. At least he seems to take criticism well, and ups his quality after the it's pointed out what he's doing wrong (the latest MCU chapter is the perfect example).

Still, I follow this every day. It's definitely a guilty pleasure fic for me. 2/5

 

I tried to read this about a week ago. I've read a couple gamer fics, and without exception, I always end up asking "Why the fuck am I reading this?" I made it about ten chapters before I decided I'd rather read anything else. There was nothing inherently wrong with it, but I just can't get into the gamer concept at all. I preferred the ridiculousness of greg veder vs the world than this, and I can't stand greg as a character at all.

 

I commented it in a different thread, but what's good about this fic is that it doesn't really become full gamer RPG fic with countless statistic and leveling up. It's more of an action game like God of War or Devil May Cry where you get new powers as you defeat bosses.

More gamer fics should try doing it that way in my opinion. It's quicker and forces the main character to early engage with his enemies instead of getting countless chapters of preparing for it without any resolution because the author got tired of writing it.

 

Oh wow. I didn’t know this. If this was ten times worse than it was I could forgive him a lot for that.

 

This is the definition of Almost Rec'd. It's not a good fic, but yet it's still better than the average dross. I read it for the same reason you eat junk food at a movie. If someone could give the author some lessons on narrative, they'd be a pretty good author. As it is, this fic is 2/5.

I think they biggest issue of this fic is that it changes genre so many times. It starts as a low level roaring rampage of revenge, but now it's on a decidedly different stage.

 

Average ShayneT fare/5, which translates to 2/5. Props to him for not being significantly worse just after a major surgery, but it's not any better either. As always, his premise has some draw factor, but a few chapters in it gets bogged down by the awkward writing. In this case it also turns to pure power-wank, though why I was expecting anything different from a Gamer cross I don't even know.

 

This is a murderhobo fic. Honestly it's a 2/5, the time skips, planes walking, devolving of the plot from get revenge to ultimate power is a guilty pleasure.

 

I am not a fan of multicrosses. It gets too wacky for me. Gamer fics too are a guilty pleasure, and it would be difficult for any of them to be interesting, mainly because the character can, nomen est omen, powerlevel/grind like a gamer. Both of them make not for a good combination. I tried to read it because I liked "A Wand for Skitter". I coud not keep reading after the Hellsing universe. I do not see how all these universes add to anything. Taylor is already levelling up to unbeatable power levels, and this planeswalking is making her more unbeatable.

I would not normally bring up another story here, but since it has been already compared and the author's other works seem to be taken into consideration: I think it is worse than "A Wand for Skitter" - by far.

While the HP crossover is engaging, a gamer fic is not easily. It is in my view interesting to see one character, even if not perfectly done, transplanted into a different setting, and watch the fallout. The gamer-multicross with random other fictional universes is just an absurd power wank.

As harshly as his, in my view, better work has been judged here, and applying the same standards, I cannot give more than 2/5. I did not read his work before his HP crossover, but if there is a development, it got worse. This includes the mitigating difficult circumstances this was apparently written under (and I do wish ShayneT all the best for the recovery).

 

2.5-3/5 There's nothing much here except maybe some of kind of cathartic release?

 

This is an interesting beast. For those who enjoy the sort of power development that Taylor goes through, here, I'd say it's a 2.5/5 rounded up to a three. Worthy of the Almost Rec section, but not any more. If you decidedly aren't a fan of the sort of power development that Taylor has, then it's at best a 2/5 for you.

Personally, I really enjoy it. It has much the same charm that the Cradle series has at least to me, though obviously Cradle is much, much better.

3/5

 

I have to say, the quality of this fic has gone downhill as Taylor got more and more powers. Once she was able to planeswalk and blink away from danger, there was no longer anything that could seriously harm her. Once she gained proper telepathy and Jack Slash's power, she stopped actually talking to people and just started talking at them. Together the story went from a revenge fic to shenanigans where each chapter goes "this happened, then this happened, then thishappenedthenthishappenedthenthishappened--" It moves at such a breakneck pace without consequences or real dialogue that it's getting kind of unreadable for me.

But with 1k+ likes on every chapter, I'm clearly in the minority over there.

 

Unwashed masses, something something, peasants and pulp fiction, something. SB creative writing is just a big game of king of the hill, and despite everything else, you can't say anything bad about ShayneT's productivity.