I've been reading it off and on, my only major complaint would be the scene with Sophia/Shadow Stalker. It really just doesn't sit well with me. I don't know why. Other than that I can safely say I've enjoyed this fic. 3/5

 

So I'm a huge LotR fan, and despite that obvious bias I really enjoyed this. I haven't read a new Worm fic in a long time, and this was a refreshing dip back into the fandom.

Taylor's characterization is a lot of fun, and you can see how she's going to evolve and progress as the story continues and she expands her powers. The Wards are well done, though the handling of Sophia requires a little bit of suspension of disbelief. Taylor's interactions with the Protectorate are realistic, with them trying to do the best they can with that tempered by her natural distrust of the bureaucracies that failed her prior.

The Lord of the Rings parlance does stand out a fair bit, but I'm a slut for purple prose so some might take issue with it in terms of tone. Otherwise, a fun little romp that looks like it's been updating apace for a while.

Solid 4/5.

 

Let break this down. Post rewrite this became a lot more enjoyable.

Grammar: 3/5 Some typos, run on sentences, etc. etc. It doesn't really get in the way .

Prose: Above average for SB/SV. Very readable, for the most part. I'll give it a 3.5/5, because there more than few clunky sentences sprinkled throughout the piece, and they've abandoned paragraph structure.

Characterization: Surprisingly good. This Taylor is OOC in a way that still rings true to her beliefs in canon. It makes sense that her power influences her in the way that it does. The main issue I've got with this Taylor, is that she's being way too honest with the PRT. It's very bizarre in context- especially in regards to the mind control/influencing parts of her powers. Most of the side characters are handled well enough, although it is nice to see a reasonably unflanderized version of Shadow Stalker. 4/5

Plot: Well... To be fair, this story has three of my pet peeves as major plot points: 1. Danny gets involved, 2. Redeeming Shadow Stalker, and 3. Taylor voluntarily joining the Wards. Given those flaws, the plot is still fairly interesting. However, I can't give this higher than a 3/5 because of how poorly Taylor joining the Wards is handled. There are absolutely ways to make that sort of story work, but here it was particularly grating.The PRT is far, far too laissez-faire with Taylor, once they realize what she can do. They're basically aware of it from the beginning, too. That said, this is one of the few tolerable "Danny gets involved" stories I've seen, and I'm still on the fence with the Redeem Shadow Stalker arc. It isn't far enough along to know if its successful or not. If Taylor fails, it becomes a lot more interesting.

Overall score: 13.5/20, averaged to 3.375/5, rounded to 3/5.

 

I dropped it when Taylor started lectured Shadow Stalker on what it means to be a hero and it wasn't a particularly interesting story before that anyway. Just another alt-power Taylor story and one who uses most of the bad tropes.

2/5