there's blood on your lies is a well-written, engaging fanfiction with a neat premise, consistent characterization and some tidbits of interesting world-building, but also a major flaw: Cynthia is an Invincible Hero. She arrives in Hisui with her full, champion-level team and steamrolls over every obstacle in her path. There is a severe lack of tension because there is never any doubt that she can overpower anyone who opposes her. Add in that she's more knowledgeable about pokemon than Laventon, knows more about Sinnoh mythology than Volo, and has a team of pokemon to carry her around that make getting the help of the Nobles completely unnecessary, and it can be hard to care about any of the challenges she faces when they never present more than a temporary hindrance. If Cynthia herself never takes her battles seriously because she knows she'll win, why should the reader?
That's not to say it's a bad fanfic: it isn't. Cynthia is a sympathetic protagonist, and seeing her scramble to make the most of her situation without screwing up the timeline even further is fun. The world-building sprinkled in the fic is cool (alphas still existing in modern times, even if the term for them has been forgotten, the nature of modern pokeballs vs the original ones, the "Sinnoh Crisis" being a major historical mystery), and I wish there was more of it. It just seems like the fic missed an opportunity to be much more interesting by not bringing Cynthia's team with her and letting her have God Mode on her entire adventure. Make the battles have stakes, and her have to rely on her wits and know-how as a Sinnoh historian to get by. Make her need to put in effort into raising her only hisuian pokemon, Flint, who otherwise seems an entirely superfluous addition.
All that being said, at the time this is written, the fic is unfinished, having 50 chapters currently. This review is of the fic as it currently exists; maybe future installments will make me eat my words and make me look like Boo Boo the Fool when it addresses all these concerns. At the moment though, I'd give this story a solid 7/10. An above-average fanfic, but not a great one.
A good fanfic, hindered by a too-powerful protagonist
there's blood on your lies is a well-written, engaging fanfiction with a neat premise, consistent characterization and some tidbits of interesting world-building, but also a major flaw: Cynthia is an Invincible Hero. She arrives in Hisui with her full, champion-level team and steamrolls over every obstacle in her path. There is a severe lack of tension because there is never any doubt that she can overpower anyone who opposes her. Add in that she's more knowledgeable about pokemon than Laventon, knows more about Sinnoh mythology than Volo, and has a team of pokemon to carry her around that make getting the help of the Nobles completely unnecessary, and it can be hard to care about any of the challenges she faces when they never present more than a temporary hindrance. If Cynthia herself never takes her battles seriously because she knows she'll win, why should the reader?
That's not to say it's a bad fanfic: it isn't. Cynthia is a sympathetic protagonist, and seeing her scramble to make the most of her situation without screwing up the timeline even further is fun. The world-building sprinkled in the fic is cool (alphas still existing in modern times, even if the term for them has been forgotten, the nature of modern pokeballs vs the original ones, the "Sinnoh Crisis" being a major historical mystery), and I wish there was more of it. It just seems like the fic missed an opportunity to be much more interesting by not bringing Cynthia's team with her and letting her have God Mode on her entire adventure. Make the battles have stakes, and her have to rely on her wits and know-how as a Sinnoh historian to get by. Make her need to put in effort into raising her only hisuian pokemon, Flint, who otherwise seems an entirely superfluous addition.
All that being said, at the time this is written, the fic is unfinished, having 50 chapters currently. This review is of the fic as it currently exists; maybe future installments will make me eat my words and make me look like Boo Boo the Fool when it addresses all these concerns. At the moment though, I'd give this story a solid 7/10. An above-average fanfic, but not a great one.