Talk:The Gorgon's Smile/@comment-4849011-20150122010031

Much of my review is copied from my review on the WW too. First off, this opened with a sense of mystery. Events unfold that make you wonder, "What is going on here?" and I don't mean that in a bad way. There were one or two things early on (like the Lontaqas attack) that initially made me think, "Things are happening too quickly," but then as I read further I felt that they were just part of the overall nature. It has the quality of a nightmare or a fairy tale, in which strange things happen suddenly and mysteriously. I should note that I now realize that some of it should make more sense after I read the first story, but I still feel the beginning has a nightmarish or fairy tale quality.

I liked how descriptive this was, and the interactions between the characters brought to mind various folktales and fantasy novels. It's interesting to see the everyday lives of what we would call monsters. Who knew that some monsters were so uptight about cake? I also liked the expression "pale as a toad's belly," as well as the humorous touches. The part with Kes briefly considering making soup from the bones was gallows humor, but I thought it was amusing. I bet Bernie's glad she decided on something else! I also thought it was interesting how a couple parts were humorously misleading. You're expecting the awful smell to be a corpse or evil spirit, but, no, it's mothballs! You expect the tentacle-headed monster in the tunnel to be a horrible monster, but, no, it's cousin Bernie! I also like the idea that eating the right diet can help you recover from being undead. I've caught a couple episodes of an anime called Space Dandy, and one of them had zombies who were relatively healthy because they ate yogurt instead of raw meat.

Upon reading it again I've noticed a pair of potential pop culture references. Is the "snoopy, adolescent reporter with that little white cur" a Tin-Tin reference, and is Bernie a Weekend at Bernie's reference? In any case, it's a good story and I'm interested in seeing what happens next.