Review by TerryLarka
Review for Tomcat Disposables:
This is the chapter that made me realize all these are named after song titles lol. I was wondering why they all sounded so catchy.
Can I hire you to write all my environmental descriptions please? You’re so good at it. Those opening bits describing the town hall leave such a strong impression with how vivid they are. The grey hues of overcast light shining through, the dust covering the oversized floor, all of it paints this picture of grey that perfectly captures both the dreary winter outside and the dull existence the human slaves in Woodshelm are forced to live. This perfectly set the tone for this dreary chapter and got me hooked on a chapter I was admittedly dreading to read (I’m a total softie, so knowing this flashback was detailing Eloise’s tragic encounter with Steph scared me going in lol, but this story’s so good that I’ll be damned if a little tragedy stops me from reading).
It was interesting getting a glimpse of giant society and how humans were treated in it before they were all sentenced to becoming rations for the starving giants. You do a good job of painting a tragic picture with Agatha, giving her a sorrow filled background and showing how monotonous and unjust her life as a slave is with all the minor cruelties the giants force upon her (assigning her tiny self rooms on opposite ends of the gigantic town hall for example) that further amplify the major cruelties (the indentured servitude, the torturous punishments, and everything regarding Steph’s entire existence).
Eloise is such a loveable dork in the first half. She was always a loveable dork, but seeing her younger self get all flustered around Sandy (and seeing her get all mushy around the dire wolf pup) really dialed her wholesome charms up to eleven.
Seeing Sandy in her day-to-day before she became a rampaging monster was fun, and Agatha helping Eloise sort out her feelings for her was so sweet. Almost makes me sympathize with the would-be Clara eater, and in an alternative timeline, I’d love to see it work out between her and Eloise, but the Ellie x Clara x Mary OTP is too strong lol. Still, I’m a sucker for that “will they won’t they” gushy stuff, so I really enjoyed watching Agatha advise the shy nerd on how to woo her brawny, beefheaded crush.
Back to tragic backstories, why’d you name her daughter Rosemary lol? In the same chapter that I learn Sandy’s full name is Elisande no less. I think I saw somewhere you clarifying Agatha’s not related to Mary, and I’m glad you did because, yeah, any sane person who can’t remember this story’s timeline (namely me, I’m the dunce who can’t keep years and ages straight) is gonna think those two are connected lmao, especially with how much you hammer home Agatha never seeing her daughter again.
And then that bitch Steph has to show up and ruin everything. I knew she was coming because, well, Eloise told us the truncated version of this, but I wasn’t sure exactly when. Once Agatha convinced Ellie to smuggle her out of town, I was wondering if we;d jump ahead to her doing that and Steph catching them in the act. But nope, Steph doesn’t even have the grounds of punishing an escapee to justify her cruelty, she’s just flat out fucking evil lol.
I love how this scene, where Steph commands Agatha to clean Eloise’s teeth serves as a callback to Clara volunteering to pick the bone out of Ellie’s teeth so many chapters ago. It shows here why Ellie was so hesitant to let Clara into her mouth, as the similarities between the events obviously brought up the trauma of this moment in her head. It’s cool seeing the other side of that now in retrospect.
In my notes for this review, I have written: “Description of mouth good.” Now, why did I …? Oh yeah, that description of Ellie’s mouth was excellent. Both harrowing and hot! (ok, mostly harrowing, it’s only hot because I’m a weirdo). But yeah, despite the inherent appeal mouths have over my heart, your word choice worked wonders in selling how unsettling that “cavern of dripping humid flesh” is to a human small enough to fit inside.
I love how you detailed Eloise’s tongue squirming under Agatha as she crawled onto it. That’s something I’ve noticed you’re really good at: describing the weight of tinies and how they impact a giant’s body. Tinies often feel weightless in stories (I am very guilty of this myself), but you show the impact of how holding a smaller life actually feels to someone (both in this scene and in past when Ellie’s holding Mary and/or Clara in her hands), and that never ceases to impress me.
“She tried to ignore the *hot* natural scent of Eloise’s breath as she did so.” Yeah, I bet her breath was hot. Oh, you meant the temperature. Right, my bad. I think you mentioned Ellie’s breath three or four times in that scene and I adored every utterance of it.
The “one foot in front of the other” mantra was used really effectively here. I liked how we saw Agatha use it at the start while literally walking and then again in the much grimmer context inside Eloise’s mouth. The phrase did give me a laugh though at no fault of your own because I used it in both the most recent Twin Sizes chapter and the one I’m currently writing, both instances in much more lighthearted contexts lol. I promise I stole that from Santa Claus is Coming to Town and not you, but I apologize for the unwitting theft nonetheless.
The buildup to the big swallow was excellent. Perfectly paced in building up the rising dread until finally she’s forced down the throat. The visual of Eloise’s esophagus closing up around Agatha’s body, starting at her legs and closing in more and more her body until it reaches her neck and eventually swallows her whole was incredibly strong. And in that, Agatha realizing she was making Eloise choke and her motherly instincts taking over was amazing. Amidst the terror that was her facing an inevitable demise, she hesitated out of concern for Ellie, and that led to Ellie actually being able to choke her down. It’s ironic, beautiful, and oh so tragic, and I can’t express enough how much I adored that moment.
The ending hit so fucking hard. Going into this chapter, I expected Eloise’s unwilling victim would be thrashing and screaming inside her stomach once the big moment happened, as that would, in my mind, have the most traumatic effect on the gentle giantess. But this was so much better. Eloise’s emotional suffering at what her body was doing to Agatha once again triggered the human’s motherly instincts and calmed her down. She needed to comfort Ellie, and because of that, she herself took death like a champ to sooth her. I can’t believe how beautiful that moment is. Agatha, in her dying moments, happy to hear Sandy barge into the room, not because she’ll help her at all, but because it means Ellie won’t have to struggle through this alone. What a wonderful show of character from someone we’ll only see in this chapter. It really makes Agatha standout amongst the crowd of human victims.
And I love the irony of her last thoughts regarding Sandy and how she hopes things will work out between her and Ellie. Seeing Sandy earnestly try to comfort Eloise in her moment of need was so sweet and almost (almost!) makes me sad for what becomes of her by chapter one (I won’t sympathize with the Clara eater, goddammit!). It is interesting though, before this chapter, I assumed Sandy had something to do with the human Eloise ate. We know that before the events of chapter 1, Sandy and Eloise had a falling out, so now I’m really curious what their big fight was over. I mean, Sandy punched Ellie ffs (or did Ellie punch Sandy? I don’t remember, but I think Sandy doing the punching sounds more in line with their characters).
But yeah, safe to say, I’m very much looking forward to Steph getting what’s coming to her. I have my theories of what Mary’s cooking (perhaps using Ellie’s magic to give the blue-skinned giantess a "taste" of her own medicine? Hmmmm?). Either way, another great chapter, and looking forward to the next one!
I was wondering when someone would catch on to the song titles thing. I was really starting to push it in chapter five lmao.
I'm afraid I have a lot on my plate, but I'm flattered by your offer. Jokes aside, thank you so much. Often I have to go back and add the environment descriptions after the fact, cause I forget. I'm happy to hear that they work so well, even if I can be sloppy about it haha.
I'm sorry this one was so sad lmao. I really appreciate you sticking with the story in spite of how many sad chapter's there've been lately. The misery will be over soon, I promise <3
Beyond simply shining a light on Eloise's backstory, I wanted to write this chapter to softly introduce Woodshelm a little early, and from a human perspective. Andromedus actually told me to go even more in-depth, but I was worried about how much the chapter would drag lol.
I'm really glad people have liked Agatha. It can be risky asking the audience to care about a completely new character. I did feel it was important to give her perspective, though, for all the reasons you mentioned.
The human's handler is certainly a cruel mistress. And we haven't seen the last of her, I'm afraid.
It was a lot of fun writing Mary and Eloise as their younger selves in these flashback chapters, especially shining light on how they used to be before the events depicted scarred them. I'm glad this chapter only served to make Eloise more likeable <3
I think I've mentioned it before, but Sandy is honestly so fun to write. I sometimes wish I hadn't killed her off lmao. Unfortunately the OTP needed to exist, so she had to go.
Jokes aside, her and Eloise's relationship is pretty important for character reasons, so I'm glad I managed to do it justice here. Agatha nudging Eloise to confess was fun to write, too. Frankly, it was a lot of fun to write an older character for a change. I should do it more often.
(Also, don't ask Sandy what she ended up naming the wolf lmao).
Ok look, I'm sorry lmao. I really should have thought of that. A lot of other people pointed out the Mary/Rosemary thing, though your note of the Sandy/Elysande thing really sheds light on how poor of a decision that was lmfao. In my defence, I think Rosemary is a cute name, and I blame SuperDuper for making me notice it. But yeah. My bad lol.
Steph definitely has a way of barging into nice things and ruining them in the worst ways possible, huh? And yeah, for all her posturing about humans, she's just a bitch at heart lmao. No justification, just pure asshole.
I love that this chapter enhances chapter 3 for you. I'd been working up to elaborating on Eloise's trauma for a long time, and it's super satisfying to hear those earlier hints landing, even retroactively. I think in part that might've been why Eloise didn't get so much perspective time in those early chapters, cause I wanted to keep things grey a little. Rest assured she'll get plenty more moving forward, though!
You take notes for your reviews?? I gotta step up my game lol. Jokes aside, thank you again. And don't worry, us sickos gotta stick together. I'm really happy that this specific description stood out to you though! I was walking a thin line between keeping enough detail to be hot, while also keeping Agatha's perspective that this was a place of human nightmares lol.
I try my best to really convey the weight of tinies, yeah. I'm really happy you like it <3
I think there's a lot of focus often placed on the sensory experience of being tiny, which makes sense, but not so much on the surreal nature of interacting with tinies. Granted, most of my experience comes from holding like, baby chickens, or something, but I really try to explore that a lot. It's so fascinating.
I can't help myself with the breath stuff lmfao. It's always hot, and I'm always thinking about it xD
I'm glad the mantra landed for you. I wanted it to be a kind of shorthand for how Agatha copes with it all, even when she's about to die. I'm tickled at the coincidence, as well lol. I didn't get a chance to read that latest chapter right away, but now I'm looking forward to it even more!
Thank you so much for your kind words!! <3 Sometimes a scene just clicks into place, and I fly through it in the zone. That swallow was one of them. I knew that the readers knew what was eventually going to happen, so I leaned pretty hard into the rising dread. We know what's coming, it's only a matter of when. It was also fun to write a much more physically strenuous swallow, too. Eloise's throat having to fight tooth and nail for every inch, which of course, only dragged things out for Agatha in the process.
Like the "May I?" scene in Out of Her Shell, Agatha's moment of hesitation there was one of the first scenes locked in at the start, and remained unchanged until the end. I'm really glad you enjoyed it as much as I did, in spite of how sad it is ;-;
The way Agatha spends her final moments was another thing I was dead set on early, and I'm really happy it landed for you. In my mind, the thing that really broke Eloise was feeling Agatha just, give up. No thrashing or screaming, she just stopped moving for the most part. I actually snuck the same thing into chapter four, because I knew Eloise was most traumatized by that part.
I'm glad you think Agatha stands out. It makes me feel proud <3
Sandy and Eloise's relationship was a big thing that helped Eloise not be completely destroyed by this event, I think. Even though things fell apart, having Sandy there over the years helped keep Eloise together, I think. I'll get you to sympathise with Sandy yet >:)
I wont say what their fight was about, since it will come up, but your correct that Sandy was the puncher. I'm afraid the reason may not be as interesting as you may think, but it's vitally important. Though, not for either of them.
Fear not! Steph is getting her just desserts without delay! In fact, by my wordcount, it's already happened >:) You'll just have to wait and see.
Thank you so much for the review, as always <3
Review by CaliTea
You’ve crafted such a fantastic story. The layers of depth in terms of characterisation, world building, and plot development is executed beautifully. Each chapter has only managed to engage us more and I’m sooo excited to see what happens next!
Thank you so much!
This story was a very ambitious step for me, since my previous work only had like, two characters in one place lol. I'm really happy that the risk paid off, cause writing this has been one of the most fun and fulfilling things I've done <3