In Review: A Fool's Goddess - Chapter Twenty-Nine

Dear reader, I’m feeling good today. Granblue Fantasy Versus currently has an event called Blitz mode (it’s basically just no-risk Ranked) and I’ve been having a blast playing it—mostly because I have finally found my main.

Just for kicks, I started playing Zeta, but she feels super intuitive to me. I have a lot of bad habits to work out—I keep using L Laser after an auto-combo instead of M Spear or mashed U for some reason—but I’m having way more fun playing her than any of the others I dabbled with. I originally thought I’d have to hope whatever rifle-using character they’d add later would fit me; now I’m not so sure. They’d have to be real special to make me drop my lovely Upsy-Daisy girl.

Ah, but that’s what’s so wonderful about life: it’s unpredictable. Maybe I’ll end up finding some slow-ass sword-user even more enjoyable, maybe something will irk me and I’ll start to hate GBVS, maybe I’ll drop it for GG Strive or another game next year.

Nobody knows, and I wouldn’t want to.

But that’s enough Granblue. Let’s to get into the review.

Chapter Twenty-Nine is the climactic battle between Lior and Asa. The latter caught our protagonist unawares and puts him through an exacerbated style of punishment, a demonstration of Asa’s hunger to prove his beliefs are the Gods' vision. We get a long sequence where the gentlemen throw rhetoric back and forth while Lior becomes crippled, so let’s start there and talk about Asa’s game.

It’s obviously the sort of convoluted mess that you’d expect from a madman, and I had a good deal of sadistic fun deciding on how to play it out. I started it off with a quick assurance that Asa will hurt Lior before moving into his game. Asa then burns the portrait of Tornara as well as the ancient records, but he is denied any joy when Lior states where his love for the Goddess truly resides. This inspires a sense of resistance—a feeling that Asa can actually lose this game where he gave himself an overwhelming advantage.

So, naturally, he cheats. He ignores his own rules and crushes Lior’s wrist anyway.

While I’ve previously stated that I don’t feel I write good villains, I will say that my past self did a solid job of presenting Asa’s villainy. Nothing makes you root for someone’s downfall more than watching them act in defiance of their own terms. It shows that he doesn’t actually care for a moral or ideological victory over his opponent; he simply wants to win. Unjust and cruel acts become even more flavorful when paired with an antagonist that pursues their goals without a care for how others may see them.

You can also see a decent setup at this moment as well. Having the beads of Chen’s bracelet go flying when Asa hits Lior might seem like a sort of second death for Lior’s friend so I don’t feel many people will immediately assume that minor detail will tie into Asa’s defeat.

Finally, after a little more arguing, Asa decides he’s just gonna kill Lior. He then trips on the beads, giving Lior a chance to make a move of his own.

Now, I’m gonna pause a bit before we go over the next section. I released this book over a year ago and passed copies around to friends and family. Many of them gave their opinions (though no one pointed out my laughably amateurish grammar and punctuation errors…), but the one that stuck with me the most was my mom’s, particularly in regards to this chapter.

She’s a big fan of Stephen King so I wasn’t worried about her being disgusted by this chapter or the description of Master Malka’s death. Frankly, I was only concerned she might call me a pervert for taking the time to mention Malka’s big titties—but I digress. I remember her saying something along the lines of “I’m glad this section didn’t drag on.”

I actually thought I went through Asa’s game too quickly, especially since I tend to be more excruciating in traditional novels, but my mom was very clear that she felt that this segment shouldn’t have been drawn out. I suppose that could be reader/character association—i.e. having the protagonist suffer for longer than necessary will cause unease in the reader—so it makes sense that having your lead character sit there in agony might wear on people. Similarly, no one wants to see the villain stay in a position of power for too long, so maybe it was cathartic to bring in the reversal when I did.

Honestly, I still don’t know what the right move was here. Sometimes it feels like my stories’ climaxes should last more than one chapter, but I can’t imagine such a lengthy finale being enjoyable either. Writing in a light novel format has taught me the importance of keeping the story moving, yet I also crave to cram as much feeling in there as I can.

For now, I continue to keep my final ‘battles’ short and frantic. I know all too well the dangers of over-explanation so I trust more in what I’ve learned than my own unfounded cravings. Maybe that’ll change down the line and I’ll write a story with an intentionally drawn-out conclusion, but for now, I’ll stick to what my idols (and my mom) attest to.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed it as well.

Righto, getting back to the chapter, we then have our heretic slip away while the zealot slips and falls. Lior then lovingly takes Asa’s other eye, causing his foe to go berserk. With a little more luck and some careful planning, we have an unconscious madman.

Now, the story aspect here isn’t what I’d like to dissect here. After playing so much GBVS lately and feeling my fighting game skills improve, I wanna bring up what used to be—and, perhaps, still is—my weakest attribute when it comes to writing: action sequences.

Years ago, when I was just a carefree dabbler, I wrote a couple pieces. They contained some scenes of action, and every time I reviewed them, I wanted to puke. For whatever reason, I could not describe movement in a way I was satisfied with. Usually I felt like I wasn’t illustrating the scene properly, though sometimes it was more like I couldn’t envision the sequence myself, both in writing and reading it.

I would like to say that’s changed now (ultimately, that is for you to decide), and I feel I’ve improved in that regard through two strategies. The first one is simple: I just studied and practiced until I found methods that worked for me. I took careful note of how the writers I enjoy reading describe action and worked to incorporate that into my own style. I primarily learned from Natsume Akatsuki, author of KonoSuba (or at least the English translations of his novels) as I was simultaneously studying light novel techniques, but I also revisited Eric Nylund’s Halo novels which I loved dearly in my youth (seriously, that man can illustrate a space battle like no other). They were both tremendous helps and I feel much more confident because of them.

My second strategy was just to avoid action sequences where possible by instead focusing on dialogue a la Nisioisin. I’ve talked about my good lord plenty so I won’t extrapolate much more here. I will make an arrogant side note here that I feel he also focuses on dialogue because his actions sequences can feel weak or somewhat confusing, but it’s entirely possible that the fault is in my own comprehension.

I’ve never claimed to be a smart man—though I will argue that I’m a persistent one.

Either way, I feel like I’ve managed to overcome my distaste for action scenes. I’d say the post-bead slip section is a bit bloated and moves slower than I’d like now, but not to a sinful degree. I think Varnipast did reasonably well to describe what Lior was doing while weaving in emotions without stunting the whole thing. Good job, you naive bastard.

Finally, Asa is defeated. Blinded and unconscious, our foolish sculptor drags his ass to the door and finally gets some help. Hed and Niv run in to contain the situation before the first apprentice leaves to get his mama. Lior then speaks with Niv, confirming that Asa did not work alone.

And then the chapter ends because a proper jackass makes sure you don’t get closure until the story concludes.

I feel like this was one of the novel’s strongest sections and I’m still quite happy with how it turned out. I don’t think I’d even alter its pacing if I were to do a second edition simply because I’d prefer to preserve this monument to my inexperience. Part of the reason I did this whole review series was so I could monitor my own growth, so I don’t feel the need to erase all of my early blunders. As they say, those who claim to have never stumbled walk with an unpleasant gait.

That’s bullshit, by the way. No one says that—I just made it up.

Overall, one of the best chapters I have on offer in A Fool’s Goddess. And seeing as there’s only one left, I’d say that’s high praise indeed.

I’ll be back next weekend with our last chapter and follow up with the last chapter review the weekend after. I was thinking about doing a full novel review after that but I might just include those broad topics in the final chapter review instead as I don’t think Thirty has much standalone content worth combing through. If I do roll it all into one, expect a fatass final review on 9/20.

Alright, take it easy, dear reader. I’m gonna go see if my GBVS Blitz rank is still in the top 300. If not, I’ll be grinding; otherwise, I’ve got the latest Katanagatari novel to flip through. Enjoy your Sunday and maybe enjoy a sundae while you’re at it.

Show me your strength!