by Ariel (link)
Genre het, drama, romance
Pairings Isaac/OFC, Taylor/OFC
Length 21 chapters
Status Unfinished
I’m a picky reader in a few ways. One of those ways is where grammar and formatting are concerned. I’m immediately bothered by how poorly Ariel has formatted this story; aside from some minor typos, there’s the glaring issue of paragraphs. When the writing is otherwise good and the plot is engaging, I can almost overlook these things, but The Feet of Orion doesn’t quite redeem itself.
Like so many older stories, The Feet of Orion has tons of eye-rollingly overblown drama. Drugs and juvenile delinquency abound, all written in such a callous but over the top way that I can’t help thinking that the author has never experienced the things she’s writing about. It’s hard to take any of it seriously, even if the basic ideas aren’t horrible.
The most interesting ideas in this story hinge upon the contrast between Taylor’s fame (which he tries to keep a secret) and Sidney’s bad behavior that puts her in his path to begin with, but these issues are never truly dealt with. Even the few tense scenes involving Sidney’s abusive ex-boyfriend don’t lead to much drama, with the story instead devolving into teen pregnancy drama. At that point, it isn’t altogether disappointing that it was left unfinished.
Even if you can muddle through Ariel’s poor formatting, endless paragraphs and short chapters, the few good ideas and nice turns of phrase here aren’t enough for me to recommend this story to anyone. There are the barest hints of potential talent shining through here, but The Feet of Orion still falls flat.
Review by Bethany (website)