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directorpurry's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Ableism, Racism, War, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Homophobia
Minor: Incest
nick13's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I have been avoiding reviewing this...story for nearly two months now. I just don't even know where to start. Hell, I don't even know what to rate it! This story is truly the definition of an epic, that's the whole point of the story in the first place really. To take apart an epic story and analyze it, see what truly makes it tick while still being enjoyable and funny.
Overall, I think I enjoyed about thirty percent of the whole thing. Most of which was the beginning and end. I don't want to sound mean to the people who love Homestuck, because this entire time of reading it has really made me reflective on internet culture and how I grew up but at the same time...most of Homestuck sucks. Well, I don't really mean that, well, I do, but not in the conventional sense I guess. Because I did not find a lot of the middle and definitely the beginning of the end as it was hundreds of thousands of words of just people talking. Now, don't get me wrong, the dialogue can be pretty funny at times and I actually like how real Andrew Hussy can write characters, I mean seriously I think Hussie knew exactly what he was doing from the start at least when it came to making a fandom. Sure, he didn't know how much it would blow up but I think he had an inkling of how much potential there was in it.
But this means that the actual ideas within the text suffer as a part of appeasing the masses. Which, I think made the fandom thrive in a way I haven't really seen again other than maybe Undertale, it also made it disolve into oblivion pretty damn fast too. Hell, I hadn't even heard of Homestuck by the time I was in high school in 2017, one year after Homestuck ended.
And so now, after the website has barely been maintained, after the fandom has mostly died out, I read Homestuck. I can't say I loved it, hell I barely enjoyed it, it was an epic. An epic that failed to be epic, but an epic none the less. I'm glad people had their fun with it, I commend Andrew Hussie for taking the time and dedication to make Homestuck even once the community began to eat itself, in fact, I even to aspire to be Hussie at least on a technical writing perspective.
Anyways, this was a long, rambling review on a long, rambling story. And no one will read either :)
Overall, I think I enjoyed about thirty percent of the whole thing. Most of which was the beginning and end. I don't want to sound mean to the people who love Homestuck, because this entire time of reading it has really made me reflective on internet culture and how I grew up but at the same time...most of Homestuck sucks. Well, I don't really mean that, well, I do, but not in the conventional sense I guess. Because I did not find a lot of the middle and definitely the beginning of the end as it was hundreds of thousands of words of just people talking. Now, don't get me wrong, the dialogue can be pretty funny at times and I actually like how real Andrew Hussy can write characters, I mean seriously I think Hussie knew exactly what he was doing from the start at least when it came to making a fandom. Sure, he didn't know how much it would blow up but I think he had an inkling of how much potential there was in it.
But this means that the actual ideas within the text suffer as a part of appeasing the masses. Which, I think made the fandom thrive in a way I haven't really seen again other than maybe Undertale, it also made it disolve into oblivion pretty damn fast too. Hell, I hadn't even heard of Homestuck by the time I was in high school in 2017, one year after Homestuck ended.
And so now, after the website has barely been maintained, after the fandom has mostly died out, I read Homestuck. I can't say I loved it, hell I barely enjoyed it, it was an epic. An epic that failed to be epic, but an epic none the less. I'm glad people had their fun with it, I commend Andrew Hussie for taking the time and dedication to make Homestuck even once the community began to eat itself, in fact, I even to aspire to be Hussie at least on a technical writing perspective.
Anyways, this was a long, rambling review on a long, rambling story. And no one will read either :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Incest, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, War, Ableism, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence
brousikrystaly's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Racism, Ableism, Abandonment, Vomit, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Homophobia
colbyjackcheese's review
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Homestuck is, in my opinion, the most important work of fiction so far this century. It's a deeply flawed masterpiece which could never have come to exist in anything other than the exact cultural moment it did. It's a massive work of collaborative fiction, a D&D campaign which the entire internet was playing for seven years. And despite its frequent claims to irony, it's full of earnestness and heart.
I just finished a complete reread of Homestuck, my first in about four years, and I enjoyed almost every one of its 8130 pages more than ever. Visually, many panels are breathtaking, with stunning use of color throughout, and a lot of key plot and worldbuilding taking place exclusively through the images (meaning that a lot of them need to be scrutinized in depth in addition to reading over 800,000 words of text.)
But he true soul of Homestuck is in its characters. The story introduces us to over a hundred characters across at least six different species, and manages to give each one unique interests and a unique style of talking and typing. Even throwaway characters are memorable and have a dedicated fanbase, while the constantly shifting dynamics between the main characters as they grow up together, share interplanetary culture, stabilize reality and build universes, always feel realistic for weird, outcast internet kids. Their character arcs aren't neat and definitely aren't linear, but they're always compelling, with Dave, Vriska, Terezi, Roxy, WV & PM being my personal favorite characters as well as ones that I think are particularly well-written.
Homestuck's conclusion has received a fair amount of criticism, and I'll agree it's underwhelming. I think it'd be hard not to be. To take a work which had spent six years becoming increasingly more sprawling, exploring different timelines, universes, and versions of a character, stable time loops, subtle in-universe retcons, and other parallel storylines, and bring them all to a satisfying conclusion, is near impossible. There isn't a sudden twist or huge revelation at the end which gives a whole new perspective on the story. The threads simply converge, and the story completes - which felt hollow on my first read, but far more satisfying this time knowing what to expect in advance.
Another often-criticized aspect of Homestuck is its pacing - many readers feel it has a slow beginning and an overly complex and meandering second half (with pages ~1000-4000 being the most universally loved). This is fair - it's not a polished product, it was written in real time, begun without even a clear idea of how Act 1 was going to finish, with plotlines invented on the fly and causality reverse engineered. For me, the weird pacing adds to the charm of the story, I like the spontaneity of it all, and the rough, on-the-fly aspects of the story only make it more impressive how SO many story threads end up linking together and having meaningful resolutions. There are so many aspects of this story that end up fitting together so perfectly that it blows my mind that they weren't planned out in advance; the attention to detail is masterful.
Homestuck is a thoughtful exploration of what the 'true self' is, the extent to which we can make different decisions and still be ourselves, what it means to have free will in a reality where linear time doesn't exist, what happens if we do or don't follow the narrative path set out for us and, even more importantly, what isn't included in that path but is still crucial to growing up and developing as a person. It's the most impossibly high stakes coming of age story I can imagine.
And, of course, it's completely ridiculous. It constantly flips back and forth between acknowledging the deeply emotional and fulfilling nature of the story it's trying to tell, and being painfully self-aware and derisive towards itself and its readers from behind a fourth, fifth, or sixth wall. More often than not, it somehow works.
I would give Homestuck more than five stars if I could. Highly recommended to anyone who grew up on the 2000s internet and/or who is really willing to commit themselves.
I just finished a complete reread of Homestuck, my first in about four years, and I enjoyed almost every one of its 8130 pages more than ever. Visually, many panels are breathtaking, with stunning use of color throughout, and a lot of key plot and worldbuilding taking place exclusively through the images (meaning that a lot of them need to be scrutinized in depth in addition to reading over 800,000 words of text.)
But he true soul of Homestuck is in its characters. The story introduces us to over a hundred characters across at least six different species, and manages to give each one unique interests and a unique style of talking and typing. Even throwaway characters are memorable and have a dedicated fanbase, while the constantly shifting dynamics between the main characters as they grow up together, share interplanetary culture, stabilize reality and build universes, always feel realistic for weird, outcast internet kids. Their character arcs aren't neat and definitely aren't linear, but they're always compelling, with Dave, Vriska, Terezi, Roxy, WV & PM being my personal favorite characters as well as ones that I think are particularly well-written.
Homestuck's conclusion has received a fair amount of criticism, and I'll agree it's underwhelming. I think it'd be hard not to be. To take a work which had spent six years becoming increasingly more sprawling, exploring different timelines, universes, and versions of a character, stable time loops, subtle in-universe retcons, and other parallel storylines, and bring them all to a satisfying conclusion, is near impossible. There isn't a sudden twist or huge revelation at the end which gives a whole new perspective on the story. The threads simply converge, and the story completes - which felt hollow on my first read, but far more satisfying this time knowing what to expect in advance.
Another often-criticized aspect of Homestuck is its pacing - many readers feel it has a slow beginning and an overly complex and meandering second half (with pages ~1000-4000 being the most universally loved). This is fair - it's not a polished product, it was written in real time, begun without even a clear idea of how Act 1 was going to finish, with plotlines invented on the fly and causality reverse engineered. For me, the weird pacing adds to the charm of the story, I like the spontaneity of it all, and the rough, on-the-fly aspects of the story only make it more impressive how SO many story threads end up linking together and having meaningful resolutions. There are so many aspects of this story that end up fitting together so perfectly that it blows my mind that they weren't planned out in advance; the attention to detail is masterful.
Homestuck is a thoughtful exploration of what the 'true self' is, the extent to which we can make different decisions and still be ourselves, what it means to have free will in a reality where linear time doesn't exist, what happens if we do or don't follow the narrative path set out for us and, even more importantly, what isn't included in that path but is still crucial to growing up and developing as a person. It's the most impossibly high stakes coming of age story I can imagine.
And, of course, it's completely ridiculous. It constantly flips back and forth between acknowledging the deeply emotional and fulfilling nature of the story it's trying to tell, and being painfully self-aware and derisive towards itself and its readers from behind a fourth, fifth, or sixth wall. More often than not, it somehow works.
I would give Homestuck more than five stars if I could. Highly recommended to anyone who grew up on the 2000s internet and/or who is really willing to commit themselves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Murder, Cursing, Blood, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Grief
Minor: Fatphobia
highkingmargo's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
the world building is kind of nice. please don't bother, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Suicide attempt
rattlesnake_acrobatics's review
challenging
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
look man say what you will (especially about the epilogue and sequel stuff which i am choosing to ignore the existence of) it's a damn funny webcomic. it's long, like obviously it's really really fucking long, but somehow the pacing always feels good and doesn't really drag anywhere. the characters and dialogue are written with a kind of, um, almost hyper-realism that is probably going to be burned into my own writing style for the rest of my life. serious, heavy subjects like child abuse and alcoholism are handled gracefully and with enough nuance and lightheartedness to feel mainly realistic and relatable as opposed to overly dark or edgy.
there are plenty of valid criticisms to be had - there are a lot of jokes and story elements throughout (but mainly in the first half or so) that are kind of bigoted. ableism is sort of a big problem in this comic.
overall, though, it's entertaining and compelling and it's been seared into my fucking soul for the past seven years
there are plenty of valid criticisms to be had - there are a lot of jokes and story elements throughout (but mainly in the first half or so) that are kind of bigoted. ableism is sort of a big problem in this comic.
overall, though, it's entertaining and compelling and it's been seared into my fucking soul for the past seven years
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Cursing
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
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