FimFiction Link - Short ID: 446354/circles
Published: Aug '19
Circles is, in several ways, a fantastic horrorfic. One especially great aspect of this story is how close it is to the show's setting. It feels like something that could happen in the show's Equestria. Not an AU and there's no gore or unnecessary edge, yet it's still a very well-executed horror story. That's a rare thing indeed, and the fic is worth reading just for that alone.
It's also worth reading for everything else that it does well. The slow buildup of the horror atmosphere has been done expertly, every chapter revealing a new and chilling part of the puzzle as Luna continues her tale. The story sucks you in and doesn't let go until the end.
I've indirectly mentioned it already, but I have to emphasize how good the parts surrounding Luna's story are. Both of the Princesses are nicely written, and their interactions are some of my favorite parts of the fic.
If that sounds interesting, skip the next paragraph and read the fic. I'll be vague, but it will have spoilers.
I didn't like the ending. As is almost always the case, the reveal of this fic's cosmic spaghetti god made it lose a lot of what made it interesting. The earlier chapters showed and terrified much better than the generic "beyond your comprehension" tentacle god. Doubly so after the fight scene, though the finale offers a retroactive justification for why it went the way it did. The main red herring turning out to be exactly that was also somewhat underwhelming. Not that it was bad. It's just that the type of horror present in the first part of the fic was – in my opinion – much more interesting and evocative.
Given the [spoi1er] above, it's hard to come up with a good tl;dr of the review and a grade. (You)r reception to the second part of this fic and its ending will strongly influence how you feel about it as a whole. I do really recommend reading it and coming up with your own conclusions, definitely worth your time. YMMW, but I preferred the first part so I'll have to settle on a really-good-but-not-excellent of a 7+/10.