Blank page series review books 1-3 · 7:35pm Sep 3rd, 2022
New beginning
While it had several boring tropes and had a rushed ending which kind of ruined it a bit since it was like blank and Luna went from strangers to friends to good friends but before you could really let them being good friends run its course you just jumped the shark and jump all the way to lovers although not as bad as some stories where at the mid point they'd already be boning and by the end have or plan on having kids and being married for a slice of life fluff with romance and its one of those rare stories that punches far about its word count managing to feel more complete and convey more information than stories that are at least 100k+
on top of that i think it avoid a major pitfall where authors make their oc scale crazy weird, blank page starts out weak but thorough out the story get better and better and by the end is prob about as skilled as a average unicorn if not a bit moreish (by the second book hes about a little below average guard in training ) even more his cutie mark is really unique as while i find it really cringey that he chose to write starwars first his cutie mark actually plays a role into his life and it does show that unlike like most mlp ocs he actually has a job that isnt just helping apple jack on the farm or bum around the princesses he even keeps him being a writer as a major plot point in the book instead of it being a mostly background maybe il mention it once every thirty chapters. whiile it has its flaws I thinks it's easily a 7.5/10 and pretty good for being a first book in the series
Normal life
Id say the sequel to new beginning starts and stays strong adding more world building and has a actual changeling plot as they actually do something after a treaty rather than be forgotten like most stories do, it expands luna and blank pages relationship fairly organically and on top of that him training to be a war mage and using a fairly unquie weapon a chakram which you pretty much never see and is fairly interesting and overall this sequel just build upon the foundation of the first book almost perfectly not really much to talk about for this story other than the ending beacause this is basically the first book but better
the only issue I have is how rushed (once again) the ending is, it feels like he's putting all the effort into the main oc story but flops when it comes to big moments in cannon but rather than drag it out which isn't necessarily bad, its over before you know it feels as of its a small foot note at the end and isn't important at all, on top of that the basically after credit scene where blank and luna fight is garbage
hes rightly mad at luna for keeping the existence of another human world from him because she "didn't want to lose him" which is pretty selfish but what ever and rather than have it a rift in their relationship so after they are done being angry about it they slowly fix it back to how it use to be for a even stronger more better relationship where they tell each other everything and trust each other more
instead its feels like a Adam Sandler or b movie finale where the mc fights with the main love interest near the end and split up but the child character always goes "why did you break up or fight? that's stupid get back together you are meant for each other" or something along those lines almost immediately after they break up then the mc is like "shit your right why was i angry we are in love so whatever she or I did automatically doesn't matter anymore"
Still really good for a slice of life its a easy 8/10 but if he just sniped the part where blank and luna fight at the end and just have it be blank thinking "i should be mad at luna but this isn't my world and things seem different there must be a good reason on why she didn't tell me i better ask her" and be slightly peeved but quickly getting over it it'd be a 9/10
Consequences
once again just as the book before its starts off strong doesn't unnecessarily explain in detail his trip around the world at the start which for many stories would be where writer block hits hard and just keeps to its strengths the timber wolf pup is kind of a nit pick for me i don't think the pet really added anything to the story it wasn't a problem though . it does go even more into detail about luna lovers backstory and explores a bit more of pages interest into dark magic although dark magic in this story just being normal magic but fueled by "negative emotion" but isnt stronger just addictive make it seem really boring
his dynamic with celestia is interesting and fresh to the mind no chest master celestia that's all knowing playing 4d chest or god celestia that can just use the sun to win any fight and is basically untouchable just a more realistic cannon ish celestia that page talks to and interacts like a older sister kind of , i do find pages continued dream walking great as it makes him have a more diverse skillset since luna really doesn't train him to be a battlemage anymore? i guess he's basically graduated ? guess i missed where he said it
i only had 2 bad things to mention one is how i think it was almost 3 times in this story i think he did it in the other 2 but whenever he wakes up and a character isn't there blank basically panics every single time at first id understand but by the 3rd time you'd think he be slightly concerned not "omg x isn't where they are suppose to be gather the guards time to panic" although once again the final battle against tirek rushed as all the others but its is kind of better than the others i guess i will say him ascending was kind of flat like oh luna sad he will eventually die ok and? I wished he was turned into something different i guess idk maybe have him gain some aspects of tirek where he passively sucks in magic and has spectral wings like the mc from gen 6 whatever her name was rather than oh look another alicorn oc not a bad thing just a nitpick
a little less slice of life but better ending 8/10