6.5 KiB
[RT] [FF] Si Vis Pacem
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Author: u/Draconomial Sunshine Regiment*
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URL: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6910987/chapters/15764590
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Score: 11
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Created: 2017-02-11T17:03:04
Post:
Comments:
u/None [+14] (9 hours later)
Read 15 chapters so far.
I really wouldn't call it rational. Taylor holds big and blatant idiot ball - just to preserve the stations of canon. Fighting Lung alone and joining the Undersiders in situations like this are so non-optimal, the vast majority of worm fanfics try to avoid it these days. And that's not even taking under consideration that Taylor here apparently is superintelligent and mostly clear of bias. In the comments, the author blames Simurgh, Entities mind control and the story "not being a wish-fullfillment fic", whatever that means...
I mean, it's not bad, but it's also not really what it advertises at the beginning.
u/Krozart [+8] (12 hours later)
I had similar issues early on in the story, but I think it gets much better later on. The author actually has a decent explanation for the idiot ball Taylor has early on in the story but it takes a while for it to come up and the foreshadowing/reveal is a bit luckluster. The saving grace of the reveal though is it is totally possible to come up with the reason very early on.
Honestly the story is more rationalist than rational, especially later on. But there are definitely issues with its execution that I didn't mind too much but YMMV. The author is definitely attempting to write a rational fiction though.
My recommendation is to keep reading if you don't mind the beginning too much as it definitely gets better later own. I ended up really liking the story but I totally see others not liking it. Especially as someone else mentioned it's tone is a lot like a fix it fic. Things in general sort of work out instead of horribly backfiring.
u/None [+3] (a day later)
Alright. I kept going - I'm on 40 chapter now.
The fact that I didn't force myself to do this after being discouraged so much at the beginning should say enough about quality of the fic.
It really isn't bad and it keeps getting better, but... It still doesn't seem very "rationalist", you know? Taylor's intelligence doesn't feel like intelligence, more like someone supplying her with answers, or something.
u/Krozart [+1] (a day later)
Yeah I basically agree. There are a couple of developments later on that make me say its more "rationalist", but it's not strong enough to argue the point, though I will say that a lot of the reasons that it doesn't qualify boil down to execution related. A lot of the ideas are there, and an attempt has been made to bring it all togeather in a rational way, but it doesn't quite get there. All in all, I like the story, but I acknowledge its flaws.
u/Chronophilia [+12] sci-fi ≠ futurology (7 hours later)
A bit too fix-fic for me. I'm up to chapter 12, and so far "enhanced intelligence" seems to mean "everything goes well for Taylor". Which is nice for her, but not especially Rational. Maybe it changes later on, but I don't read Worm fanfic to read about things going well.
This line in particular:
While I lacked wisdom, I was sure to pick it up quickly. My principles of humility and forgiveness already served me well.
is quite ironically funny. If there's one quality this Taylor hasn't demonstrated yet, it's humility.
u/Zeikos [+8] Communist Transhumanism (23 hours later)
As somebody that went further I want to point out that you are reading a biased POV.
Yes it's a bit fixy, but not so much as the beginning leads people to assume.
u/Chronophilia [+3] sci-fi ≠ futurology (23 hours later)
Noted. How much further should I read to get to the good bit?
u/Zeikos [+6] Communist Transhumanism (23 hours later)
I haven't a good recollection of it honestly , last time i read it was months ago (i wait for a bunch of updates before going back).
I think if you're not satisfied by chapter 35 you can definetly drop it.
u/Charlie___ [+6] (a day later)
(Entire comment of spoilers)
I agree that it genuinely looks like Taylor's self-modification was always intended to be not that great. I think there are two reasons why this is communicated poorly.
Reason one is that her weird decisions often lead to her repeating the plot of Worm, rather than going too far off the rails, at least early on. She joins the Undersiders. She wants Brian. She robs a bank. Even if there is a reason for her decisions being bad, once readers notice that the author has a specific goal, it will feel like there's an idiot ball.
The second is that unreliable viewpoint characters are a lot harder to read than they are to write. Check out Umberto Eco's Baudolino. Practically every time the frame narrative appears we are reminded that Baudolino is an untrustworthy source. Frankly it gets repetitive. And yet it's almost not enough reminders. Readers will tend to try to believe the viewpoint character unless there are intrusive cues to disbelive.
u/Draconomial [+3] Sunshine Regiment (4 minutes later)
First by manually manipulating her own brain chemistry, the main character discards her emotional bias to achieve her goals.
u/Draconomial [+5] Sunshine Regiment (a day later)
This was her first mistake.
u/World_Theory [+1] (3 days later)
I kept reading because I think it's fun to see where it eventually goes. Although, I think I would have used Taylor's powers differently. She's underutilizing her powers, in my opinion, but I guess she has different interests in subject matter than me. (And I've gorged myself on diverse fiction and Wikipedia articles for years; so I'm probably a wee bit more savvy than she is.)
I think I would have probably had way too much fun playing around with biology, and taken a long time to venture out and try any "cape activities". For example, I would have liked to see if I could create an organ like a specialized brain, that could act as a dedicated calculator, or something that lets me sense and interpret radio (at least analog) signals.
u/vaegrim [+1] (5 days later)
Yeah, I had a similar complaint. Not enough internal alchemy. I'd have been far more interesting in manufacturing exotic compounds and spending time researching organic chemistry.