《Ancient's Smashing Reviews》Mademoiselle Noir by Borbityborb
Advertisement
This story was quite short, so I will pass on rating it.
The idea for the story is an interesting one. Cendre (Rapunzel), instead of being a bringer of life, is a bringer of death that could kill millions. Two kingdoms are at war and Maelle wants to employ her aid in protecting his kingdom, the same one that caged her in the tower.
This works surprisingly well as a concept because it combines a number of things cleverly. It reverses the fairy tales into something quite dark, it turns the knight's story into a 'making a deal with the devil' archtype, and it makes her story and narrative a question of safety and security vs human rights, not merely for herself but for everyone she would affect. Similar to a person with a disease being quarantined, making it relatable to the recent times, and any time period where people have been riddled with plagues and diseases.
However, it is the execution that could use work because you have two very different, yet interconnected story types and narratives.
Maelle's trope: Deal with the Devil (also called a Faustian bargain or Mephistophelian bargain) requires a devil that can grant a wish for someone in need in return for a price. The bargain is a dangerous one, as the price of the devil's service is usually the wagerer's soul or the soul of other victims to take the wager's place.
This is similar to an aladdin wish with Djinns, but has a couple striking differences. 1. Djinn are bound by a higher power to rules. Devils are not. 2. Djinn's can vary between good and trickster, but never evil. Devil's only seek your destruction or control of you. 3. Djinn's dont have a price to pay, its all free. Devil's have a price.
Advertisement
Cendre, in Mademoiselle Noir, is not a devil so far as intent goes but still fills in the role having a dangerous power he wants to make a deal for. She, whether better or worse for the story, is not interested in hurting or controlling people, but still fails to fill in the role because there is no price for her aid. Its glossed over. He just goes "yeah we need help" and she goes "okay sure."
Cendre's trope: Typhoid Mary, is a plague master type that spreads plague easily while being immune to it themselves. Good ones seek a cure for others from the plague they spread themselves and sometimes may be Patient Zero, acting as the cure because they are immune to their own plague. Bad ones revel in the destruction they cause. Exploited ones are used as tools by a villain unknowingly. So when not being the villain themselves they are a bringer of chaos seeking order, acting as a hero journey.
In this we have that from the start as she is quarantined willingly. She has seen the damage she can do and chose quarantine over death to herself and to others. This brings order from her chaos through containment. This is good. It is also a completed storyline.
However, the problem comes in as Maelle's trope intersects with hers. They are both villains and bringers of chaos in practice, while trying to create order, and also ignoring their own narrative needs.
Cendre had already gone through the narrative in her prologue and flashbacks of creating order from chaos, and reverses this for no reason.
Maelle wants order, but goes about it by bringing chaos. Not temporarily as if "yeah lets fix you when its done" and no price like "yeah ill vouch for you, and if you hurt anyone i will personally drag you back here and kill myself." but permanent chaos with "yeah who cares just spread your plague to our enemy, this cant possibly backfire, and when the war is over you are free to to roam about spreading it further because im a dumbass"
Advertisement
If her storyline and goal of creating order from chaos was not already completed in the prologue, and instead was a completely different Typhoid Mary type (like being ignorant or selfish-villain) then it could work. If either one of them was a villain with the intent to bring chaos, then it could work. If Maelle was sent by someone else acting as the villain to retrieve her and thereby bring chaos, as the Exploited Typhoid Mary type, then it could work. If there was a price and conditions to keep chaos contained inside order, and thereby create tension from the balance and delicacy needed on both of their parts, then it could work. But there is none of this. Its just two people whose method of reaching their intended goals is to do the exact opposite.
As characters I did not mind them. They acted random and contrary to their own agenda, to the point of being completely different people from scene to scene, but I take this more as a confused execution of two advanced narratives being interwoven without success. The author doesn't seem to know what he wants, and so the character's dont seem to know how to act to achieve that.
The way the story was written was rather long-winded. It spent almost all of its word-space on exploring her environment and what I see as useless small-talk, and while this exploring the environment could work if we were staying, we aren't staying. And useless small talk is good in slice-of-life, not this. Many chapters happened with nothing happening to push the story forward. You could easily condense these 8-9 chapters into 3 just based on the story beats. And while the prologue succeeds in setting the scene a bit, it is made pointless because basically all of it is just repeated with substantially more word-space and exhausting exploration later. There is a difference between tension because readers know what the characters don't, and a mystery being revealed from the start but we still have to sit and watch the detective figure it out, which is boring as shit. The prologue also completes her storyline before it begins.
Advertisement
- In Serial1363 Chapters
VRMMO: The Unrivaled
Lu Chen used to be a ranker of the most popular VRMMO game, Spirit of Grief. After a car accident turned his dreams into dust, his disability left him incapable of escaping the pit of mediocrity he was thrown into. Helpless and defeated, his story ended.Two years later, the Eternal Moon Corporation launched a new VRMMO called "Heavenblessed", and Lu Chen stumbled into another terrible accident that left him in a complicated situation far beyond his ability to handle. That won't stop him from rising to the top, however. Not again.Come witness the rise of the sword-wielding zombie and the relationships he makes during his journey to the apex! For riches and bi- ahem, for career and love!He wields a demonic sword from Hell, he dons armor shining with Heaven's light. His boots stride across the sky as his helmet devours the souls of his enemies. On his left side sits the Goddess of Death. On the other, the Angel of Beauty.From the land of ice and death, a generation of Asura Kings rises, their roars reverberating throughout the world.Tremble in fear, noobs!
8 8156 - In Serial1353 Chapters
Refining the Mountains and Rivers
A young man's life changes when he stumbles upon a mysterious item. Qin Yu had never been a lucky person. Weak of body, bullied by his peers, and with only his friend as his family, he struggles day-by-day to live. But everything changes when he stumbles upon a little blue lamp. An immortal and demonic cultivating adventure.
8 3345 - In Serial2455 Chapters
Mortal Cultivation Biography
A poor and ordinary boy from a village joins a minor sect in Jiang Hu and becomes an Unofficial Disciple by chance. How will Han Li, a commoner by birth, establish a foothold for himself in in his sect? With his mediocre aptitude, he must successfully traverse the treacherous path of cultivation and avoid the notice of those who may do him harm. This is a story of an ordinary mortal who, against all odds, clashes with devilish demons and ancient celestials in order to find his own path towards immortality.
8 1051 - In Serial1503 Chapters
Dragon Prince Yuan
Destiny stolen at birth, the prince of the once mighty Great Zhou Empire, Zhou Yuan, has been plagued all his life by a fatal poison, forced to suffer powerlessly until one day when fate draws him into a mysterious domain where he meets a beautiful girl in green, a bizarre dog-like creature and an unfathomable old man in black.Join Zhou Yuan as he is thrust into the whirlpool of destiny while he seeks the pinnacle of cultivation.
8 1058 - In Serial677 Chapters
Ranker's Return
In the early days of the virtual reality game, Arena, meleegod was the strongest ranked player! He deleted his character and suddenly left. In order to restore his bankrupt family, he returned to Arena!"Do you want to create a character?"
8 1715 - In Serial1525 Chapters
Monarch of Evernight
Qianye rose from hardship but was felled by betrayal. From then, one man, one gun; he tread the path between Evernight and Daybreak and became a legend. Even if Evernight was destined to be his fate, he still intends to become the ruler who dictates.
8 22865

