Reviewer: It Was Me Signed [Report This]
Date: July 13 2023 3:26 AM Title: Epilogue and Afterward

I don't think saying that this is my favorite among your stories that I've read so far does it justice. This story was incredibly well put together, from its seamless blending of genres to the way that it so beautifully yet sneakily set up and built on early plot points and character elements for some great pay offs to just the shear entertainment value of it.

In other words, it was pretty okay, I guess.

But the first thing I want to say about this (other than that stuff above; just pretend that's not there?) is that there was one point in the story that made me feel like an idiot, which is a good thing.

When Griselda proposed to Dirk and it was clear that Hardstone was working with her, I started thinking back to chapters I had read days before. Then I found myself going back and rereading a few passages from those chapters. One came to mind in particular: Dirk's first encounter with Cynthia. As I reread her chastising our hero for not coming to thank her for sending for him after his aunt and uncle's deaths, I saw what I was looking for. The priestess made a big deal about how hard she had to work to pretty much force Lady Griselda and that "little woman" from the bank to send for him instead of just auctioning the land off.

You pretty much told us right there who was responsible for the murders and land snatching scheme. Of course, we had only seen each of the culprits once at the time and they hadn't seemed like major characters as of yet. Also, that particular line of dialog ended with revealing that Tom, our favorite red herring, was responsible for convincing Cynthia to send for Dirk in the first place.

I absolutely love stuff like this! Stuff that takes on a different meaning after you have all the facts. When I review your stories, I usually use the word subtle at least once, and there are usually a bunch of little things I see in your writing that hint at stuff that I don't bother mentioning since I make these reviews long enough as is. But this one I definitely had to mention. Thank you for making me feel stupid!

I also really like how you approached the gender-swapping theme of the story. I'll admit, that's not usually my thing, as most stories I've read with said theme tend to really emphasize the belittlement of males in a way that comes off a little too preachy for my tastes. But your approach was much more nuanced, with a wide range of diversity in terms of how the Amazons viewed Dirk. Their society doesn't necessarily devalue males, but it can certainly breed that feeling in those who probably already feel superior to them due to their size and strength. This is pretty apparent when comparing Cora, who seems pretty open minded for an Amazon, and Cynthia, who may have thought males less capable early on but even then seemed to only want to help them with their troubles, with, say, Griselda and Isabelle, who clearly think of males as lesser (although Griselda seems to rethink this at the end). It's also demonstrated through no-named Amazons (or named but mostly irrelevant characters in some cases) as well.

But what really makes this stand out from other gender-swapping stories is the source of the conflict it creates for Dirk. Usually, that conflict is external, with the main character fighting to maintain whatever shreds of respect and dignity they can. For Dirk, however, he deals with the more hostile efforts of the Amazons pretty well for the most part. For him, the conflict is more of an internal one. It's how the people who care about him make him feel that has him questioning himself. An independent guy who, as he said, was far more used to being relied on than relying on others, doesn't know how to feel about people wanting him to rely on them. Their desire to keep him safe is something that appeals to him on some level, but he struggles to fully accept it because he's not a safe guy. I found this conflict a bit harder to define and much more interesting than the external conflict I mentioned above.

Of course he also has mixed feelings about being dominated in the bedroom, but he doesn't seem to have too much trouble realizing that he likes that more than he doesn't, thankfully!

I also thought the use of the compliance ribbon during the wedding, with Dirk refusing to say "I do" was a pretty neat metaphor for how he was not only able to keep being himself in a society that wanted to "tame" him, but he was only able to do so because of his love for Cora, the only one who he would let tame him, if only a little.

But I also found the relationship between Dirk, Cora, and Cynthia to be pretty interesting as well. Cora and Cynthia have very different but equally strong bonds with Dirk, and we get to see those bonds develop in very different ways throughout the story.

With Cora, her normal awkwardness around men actually works in her favor with Dirk, as he finds her talk of battles and hunts interesting, unlike the men "native" (see husband raid) to the Queendom. Also, while she still has some of the same beliefs about men that her fellow Amazon's have, she's actually pretty open-minded by their standards, at least when it comes to strawheaded Imperial types. And then there's the fact that Dirk isn't afraid to be aggressive when it comes to initiating sex or moving the relationship forward. Those three traits allow the two to share unique experiences herding on the ranch, killing dinosaurs in the jungle, and in the bedroom, bringing them closer together.

Cynthia's development as a character, let alone as a love interest for Dirk, had a different feel from Cora's. While Cora was likeable from the first time we see her, Cynthia initially comes off as a snooty, anti-man religious zealot. From there, however, as we see some her cuter, almost childish ways and her, uh, quirks, get highlighted, kind of worms her way into likeability, to the point where she ended up being one of my favorite characters in the story.

As for her relationship with Dirk, she seems grateful from pretty early on for how respectful and appreciative he generally is and the fact that he's cool with her using him to fulfill her domination fantasies but frustrated when he doesn't fit the mold of what she feels is a proper man in the eyes of the goddess. This changes with the dream sequence with the elven bandits. She sees a side of him that no one will ever see, mostly because its in the deep recesses of his subconscious. That seemed to be the point where Cynthia stopped worrying about Dirk's behavior and truly accepted him for how he is. Seeing something that real has a way of doing that, I think. But between that and her being able to use Dirk's dreams to live her true giantess fantasies, their relationship takes a quite different shape than Dirk and Cora's.

I see what you're getting at when you say that Griselda was meant to be the gender-swapped version of a Disney villain stealing the female lead, and I guess that's what she did (as Dirk pretty much made the comparison himself when we first find him in that tower), but honestly, that's not what I took away from her at all. To me, she was more of a Machiavellian villain, an example of how we need to be careful when it comes to working toward "the greater good."

Griselda's goal was a worthwhile one: to modernize the Queendom with better weaponry to protect her homeland from the lizard people and the Imperials, should the realm of men ever decide to invade. Everything she does to get her hands on the Northstar ranch she does for the safety and betterment of her people. That's about as noble an aim as one can have, I think.

Of course, the things she does (or is able to accept, anyway) in an effort to reach that goal are anything but, however. Although most of the dirty work is undertaken by her incredibly shady associates without her direct consent, she keeps working with them nonetheless, knowing full well what they're capable of.

What makes this more interesting to me the fact that when Griselda has chances to do unsavory things to help her plan directly, she almost always chooses not to. She would rather have Cora serve as a guard to keep Dirk in check rather than just use a compliance ribbon to steal his free will. She not only made sure Cynthia, who she kept complaining about, was safely with her when she passed out during the lizardman invasion, but she rejected her cousin's idea to kill her once it looked like the battle was over. She even saved Dirk when he was going all Captain Rhodes against the undead when it surely would have been much easier for her to just let him die and buy the property that way.

The only evil thing Griselda is directly involved in is trying to force Dirk to marry her in order to steal his land. Even that, at first, while seeming cruel, was probably justifiable to her, as he would be well off living a pampered life and she would train him to be a "proper" man (something she probably believes is actually doing him a favor, as she seems to have a pretty low opinion of men). And after Dirk's heroics during the invasion, she seems to gain a new respect for him. Ironically, while this made her sound more like a decent person doing a terrible thing, in a way going forward with the wedding anyway almost seems more evil, as she acknowledged the love between Dirk and Cora by giving them that time together but still planned to ultimately ruin it anyway in order to stop the next invasion.

I say all of that just to say that Griselda, to me, was a very complex villain, and I really enjoyed what she added to the story.

Her cousin, Isabelle, on the other hand, was a very simple villain. Not that there's anything wrong with that. On the contrary, evil for the sake of itself can be a good thing when done well, which I think it was with her. Her cutthroat nature was perfect to earn the disdain of the readers: "Oh, someone doesn't agree with the way we do things? Why not just kill them, or at least take their free will from them?" And then to have her meet her grizzly yet just end at the feet of maybe the most lovable character in the whole story was a happy helping of karmic goodness!

And then there's Ms. Samantha Hardstone. Heartless and clever. We only saw her one time before it became pretty clear that she was in on land snatching scheme, and during that one time, she did a masterful job of steering Dirk toward Tom in his search for his aunt and uncle's killer. The subtle way she hid behind confidentiality but "let slip" that the supposed prospective buyer of the property was a he was smart enough, but to then have apparently "let slip again" to Tom that Dirk was going to not only stay but catch up on the loan payments was a brilliant way to pit the two against each other without doing so directly. Of course, she was also the only one smart enough to go get the mage killer when the lizard mages were fucking up Rain's End (even though hey weren't there, I doubt Griselda or Isabelle would have even considered that).

And it was nice to see the western-themed villain meet a proper pasta-styled western end, outdrawn by an antihero of sorts.

And what a nice little redemption arc we got for Tom. A former outlaw who used his masculine charms to manipulate himself to the top of the social food chain in Amazon country, he started out sounding like a pretty shitty guy (he may not have killed Amaya and Markus, but he certainly wasn't above hinting that he did to try to intimidate Dirk). But the more we see of Tom, the more likeable and reasonable he seems to become. His "forbidden" romance with Cassidy not only served to add to the intrigue and mystery that the stories early chapters provided, but also really humanized Tom as well. Then, during the invasion and his dealing with Hardstone, we got to see that build up pay off with him fighting bravely, killing a murderer, and sacrificing a beautiful shirt!

And finally, the action sequences in this story were really good, but that chapter where Dirk takes on the Lizardfolk mages was on a different level. Your descriptions generally aren't super detailed, but the details you choose to include always seem to put a clear image in my head. And your short, crisp paragraph style really lends itself to the pacing of an action scene (and makes it easier to read, too). But what really set that chapter apart for me was Dirk's thoughts throughout. As he's killing the mages, he's not just recalling his training, nor is his thought process relegated to the narrative. Instead, we get to read actual memories, quotes from the people who trained him even, giving us insight into how he's going to handle a given situation. That gave the action a really personal feel, as those memories were masterfully crafted and felt real. It really raised my investment in the scene, and it was already pretty high before that point.

This is already ridiculously long, so I won't go into too much detail on this, but all the usual rants I have about your character work (I guess I got into that one a little bit) and world building definitely apply to this story as well.

Also, a quick question: Where does this story fall on a timeline of your fantasy world? Granted, I'm only familiar with The Elf is Innocent and Tyrael's Quest, but I'm curious where this falls, especially since it seems like Dirk has some experience fighting elves (albeit rebel elves, at least in theory). I just didn't know if this story took place at about the same time or if young Amaya is out running around at the time of those other stories (or maybe they've all been dead for a thousand years at this point, who knows?).

You know, I don't think I've read enough of your work to definitively say that this is your best, but if you've written something that you think is better than this, please point me in that direction. This was that good.

Author's Response:

I'm glad it was "pretty okay" lol. Anyways to go over a few points, I think you nailed what I wanted to do with a lot of the characters. Griselda is basically a symbol of the old order of things, and so while she's the villain I wanted her to have a certain nobility to her even if her plans are ultimately pretty evil. As Cora herself says a resurgent Queendom built on the back of murder and rape wouldn't be worth it, no matter how noble the ideals are.

As far as where this falls on the timeline, Dirk and Cora's daughter leaves home for the first time roughly around the period of The Elf is Innocent, and Tyrael's Quest is the "last" entry in the total timeline so far. For some other ones that take place around the same time Bee Happy takes place fairly shortly after Dirk left the army, as bandit elves are still a problem for the characters therein. If you're looking to read more of the Fantasy universe Diplomatic Mission and Saving the Kingdom for Dummies are both there but they're a bit rougher since they're my early work. I'm pretty proud of all the one shots in the fantasy universe, so you can check those out at the series page. Diplomatic Mission and Saving the Kingdom for Dummies are also there if you want longer stories, although they're rougher as they're my earlier work.

Aside from the fantasy stuff if you're asking about the long form novel length stories I'm pretty proud of Reunion, which is another character driven piece. Back to Normal? deals with your typical shrinking scenario after the fact, basically following several "former tinies" who will return to small size if they are separated from a wristwatch that keeps them full size. There are some other long form ones, and while I'm happy with them all I think that the ones mentioned are probably the best. If you want episodic sci-fi adventure stuff you might check out Conquest of Earth or Rise of a Supervillain. If you want comedy I think Welcome to Hell is probably my funniest one, it involves a guy who dies and gets sent to Hell by mistake, luckily his assigned giant demon tormentor realizes he's innocent, but it's really just the start of their problems.

Anyways thanks for the review!

Reviewer: Musukaiser Signed [Report This]
Date: April 10 2023 11:03 AM Title: Epilogue and Afterward

Man loved the story and world building hope for more Amazon related stories in this world you built 

Author's Response:

Thanks! I'd like to do some shorts or one shots in this world at some point when I have time.

Reviewer: memesRlife Signed [Report This]
Date: March 10 2023 6:58 PM Title: Epilogue and Afterward

To say that I'm impressed with this story would be an understatement.

You say in your bio that you write "gentle stories", however typically gentle means one dimensional characters and relationships with no sort of tension however,
You're one few GTS writers who consistently write gentle that's interesting for more than a few chapters by making the characters multi faceted and it actually having a plot that also happens to be pretty good.

CHARACTERS.
Now this is the most important part, a lot of GTS have generic One note characters who are typically just cruel,
when you're writing pure erotica this is fine, however over the period of an actual narrative, that shit becomes boring or tinies you could care less about.

Our cast here avoids that trap, Firstly with Dirk. I don't hate the submissive mc trope but
it's really refreshing to read about an Underdog like Dirk Who instead of becoming meek in a world of giants, rises up to challenge and stands up for himself.

He's really witty, empathetic and a joy to witness on page.
Cora, We were first introduced to her I was worried that the he was going to stay as the meek but strong warrior trope but since characters are mutlit-faceted she has areas she excels in such as battle and strength.
but fails in other areas like talking to the opposite sex,

but the way she plays off of Dirk are incredibly enjoyable because he brings out that tougher side of her that she represses in front of men meaning that their dynamic can
be cordial without a lack of tension.
(In other words they are allowed to actually buttheads and don't just get along with no argument at all too many gentle stories have to mcs never have any issues with each other and it gets boring).

Her dynamic with Dirk is contrasted by the way she acts with Other Amazons where we can see the more tough or often vicious side of her come out more often and it's great.

Cassandra.
I like Cassidy's practical viewpoint that she brings into the fray, She plays off of dirk's confidence really well

I like Cynthia I thought she was just going to be a weird religious nut but she has more character than that and I admire how she fought for justice and the right thing in terms of Dirk owning the farm
even the antagonists such as Tom and Griselda surprised me, The former ended up not being a villain like I had initially expected and seeing his relationship with.

Dirk develop was a good addition to series. I like Hardstone because she actually attempts to mas her malicious nature and it's cool seeing a small weasel of a fish in this big pond.

Griselda while being shitty isn't just for the sake of it, she's opportunistic and will stop at nothing to get what
she wants, all her misdeeds are calculated and don't feel like cruelty for the sake of it(She comes off like if you don't have something she wants then she won't act cruelly towards you, Unlike her cousin who was generic trash and I didn't enjoy her character).

The cast all in all was pretty good and feel well utilised in terms of the major players which is an issue I had with the conquest of Earth where Isstvell and Lyrei felt heavily underused(at least where I stopped reading)


Plot.

Even having one in a GTS story is a sign of triumph it feels. This one is pretty good I like the premise of the farm and how it affects the narrative it gives reasoning for dirk ton come to such a foreign place
and why Cora, Cassidy would be confidants with as well as the platform to launch any other relationships dirk has within cast and the topic that springboards the plot in several ways.

Especially in the stories second half when Griselda is gunning for it and and Dirk. I also enjoy the pivot with the reptiles and that whole battle seeing our protagonists sacrifice their wants for the betterment of a
regime that was oppressing them was a great show of their character.

The leeeewd stuff.

Ok, i Don't enjoy your erotica in other works such as abducted and it's pretty much the main reason I dropped Conquest for earth but here the use of Amazon Giantess's save the day.
There's something more appealing about a GTS that's Amazon sized expressing her dominance on an individual as opposed to a Giantess that like 100 feet tall.

(Although a giantess that's Giga sized expressing her dominance over a massive areas kike a city or country majorly appealing and i'm rally hoping for a Greenanon Giga story or one that included a Giga gts)

Another benefit of Amazons is that any damage they do their partner or the environment around them is more impressive(unless it's giga were talking about). It's better seeing someone dominated by a a collosus twice their size as opposed to a couple stories taller.

Despite all that being said however one small complaint I do have is that I wish you were a but less conservative with the sizes of the GTS's.

It would've been nice to see ladies that range from 13-20 feet(It would've been nniiiice if Cora and Griselda where like the two of the tallest Amazons, it would've made Cass's skepticism of her hold more water) fearture prominently especially since it would've opened the door for quite possibly one of if not my favourite GTS trope which is what I like to call

There's always a bigger fish.

Thisnis when we have mutiple tiers of GTS heights Which is somehting you've briefly dabbled in here and there like in AC where Cynthia would be a giant to yu me and you but she's a shorty in AC who gets bullied by Cora.

Or in Conquest for Earth where Clara was the big Alpha dog and threat, until the Androids come in and put her in ther shadow metaphorically and literally, It was especially satisfying seeing her able to manhandle Jim just
for Lyrei to be able to completly dominate her and basic sparring the rext chapter. I've always had a love for this trope of "You thought that was big well here's even bigger!" and it'd be cool of you could include it in your stories.

Lore and world building.

This shit was really cool, first of all I like the mix or urban fantasy with the modern day for really cool setting where a gunman form the human area has the designation of an antimage,
and people in Amazon are quite supirsed by guns, I like how the "traditioanl" way to view women as damsels who are to be shileded from violence is switched around on men, I like how the normal sized women are called little
sisters.

to sum it up
This story suprised me, it has joined the ranls of other older fantasy greats such as;

Alexandra The Great by Asterisk
A Charmed Life by CoalWhite
BFG Angeland series by The Doctor
Jane Defender of Decura series by lordwolx or deviantart
Terra by lancealot501
Massive Medieval Mayhem by Bananaman1
Trials by MrSirk
Masks of Gods br Dracobrss
Slayers: The three daughters. by Stevie
The Tragedienne by Phantelle
Red haired girl by EX1
From Rags to Riches by Number1928 On deviantart
The Sacrifices by sledehead on deviantart

It was a great tale, The only major narrative based story of yours ov'e finsihed thus far(I want to finish abduction though) and I hope so more stories like this from you especially if they include Amazons.

Holy shit I apologise, because the formatting is about to be horrible, I wrote this in notepad.

Author's Response:

Wow that was a really in depth review! Thanks this kind of feedback and breakdown is what I feel most authors on the site long for. Also don't apologize for the formatting this site always butchers it somehow lol. To comment and respond on a few points:

I often feel like my actual smut scenes are the weakest part of my work, I've been trying to get better at them since I started writing and I think I've improved, but the weakness remains I guess.

I was more conservative with the sizes for this particular tale because I wanted the amazons to be able to mostly use the same structures and infrastructure as the baseline human population. As far as "always a bigger fish" I enjoy that one when it happens too, here I played with it a bit where Cynthia is constantly being bullied for being "only" 7 feet tall, although she got to be big in the end.

I put more thought into the worldbuilding in this one than I do in most of my stories and I'm glad it paid off, the gender reversal thing I thought would be a good source of drama and comedy, particularly with a protagonist like Dirk who is a bit of a hardass and doesn't appreciate being treated like a delicate flower lol.

Anyways thanks for reading!

Reviewer: Omanahan88 Signed [Report This]
Date: January 24 2023 4:45 PM Title: Epilogue and Afterward

Absolutely tremendous story. Probably my favorite one yet. I typically prefer the more extreme size differentials, but I certainly didn’t miss them here. Incredibly written characters and a fun, well encapsulated story. Can’t wait to see what story comes next!!

Author's Response:

Yeah I typically prefer more extreme size difference myself, but I was on a bit of an Amazon kick with this one and wanted to do something a little different. Thanks for reading, it was a fun one to write too!

Reviewer: tinyguy Signed [Report This]
Date: January 23 2023 1:21 AM Title: Stranger in a Strange Land

@Greenanon Both sound like interesting ideas.

If you’re focusing on shorts right now, would love to see another addition to the One Year Lease collection at some point. A chapter exploring Deandra’s backstory  could be really cool.

Author's Response:

My next One Year Lease one shot will probably either be Deandra and Warren's wedding or maybe a little on Laurie and the Tiny Protective Services, but who really knows lol I just kind of go with the flow of inspiration between longer stories

Reviewer: theharper Signed [Report This]
Date: January 22 2023 7:45 PM Title: Epilogue and Afterward

I hope this means you might write another story like this.Tthat would be awesome. Anyways have a good day and thank you for writing the story.

Author's Response:

Your welcome, glad you enjoyed it

Reviewer: Jimbob Signed [Report This]
Date: January 22 2023 3:40 PM Title: Epilogue and Afterward

There’s definite sequel potential in their daughter. Could be a different genre western, like bounty hunter catches their quarry, but it turns out they’re innocent (framed by local noble), so it turns into an adventure of keeping him alive from the noble’s assassins until they can clear his name. 

And of course they start out on each other’s nerves, and by the end are in love/best friends. Gotta embrace all the tropes of that genre.

Author's Response:

There is certainly a lot of sequel and spinoff potential, and all manner of adventures their daughter could get herself into with her mixed Amazon-Imperial heritage. We might see some of her next time I return to this world, haven't decided yet.

Reviewer: Kessler Signed [Report This]
Date: January 22 2023 12:00 PM Title: Home on the Range

Good ending all things considered, however typo

you don’t want to hear what I had to do for Cynthia to get one that works on women.”

“Oh, I absolutely want to hear,” Cynthia giggled, biting her lip.

Author's Response:

Fixed, one of these days I'll go a whole story without one lol.

Reviewer: theharper Signed [Report This]
Date: January 22 2023 1:04 AM Title: Home on the Range

It's still a great story. Thanks for the ending.

Author's Response:

Glad you liked it!

Reviewer: King Offjer Signed [Report This]
Date: January 21 2023 11:27 PM Title: Wedding Bells