I usually don't like to do negative review. There are people who can do them better then me and... well... guess I sometimes tend to be too nice. But this one, I just couldn't let it pass.

Haven of the Dolls is a very short fic, that barely covers 2 pages. Had I not been trying to slowly read every fic available on the EvaFiction archive, I may never have noticed it.

Basically, it covers two encounters (at different times) between a little boy and Asuka, the story written under the boy's POV. The first page is actually quite nice. The little boy sees a girl that seems alone (Asuka) and with the innocence of a young child, go sit at her side to keep her company. Only one tiny problem... the boy carries a plush tiger with him (Mr. Tiger) which he considers alive, as young children often do, and Asuka doesn't miss that opportunity to mock our little boy over it. Sohryu Asuka Langley does hate dolls after all... To that point, I find it to be good characterization. I can picture in my head such a scene.

Six months later, our boy meets Asuka again, obviously after Asuka suffered from the 15th Angel trauma. For the first part, it's actually nice. I personally like the description done by the boy of Asuka "But now she seemed lost, not the kind of lost like when I got separated from Mom at the mall, but this seemed worse, like she had lost everything that mattered." Maybe it sound a bit too old for our little boy, but I like it nonetheless. But after the first paragraph, things degenerate. Sohryu Asuka Langley becomes Sohryu Asuka Langley, child molester (which would likely be a more accurate title for this fic). She takes the child with her and make him her doll, her plaything... I don't think I need to add more.

Quite frankly, that's too much to swallow. Sure, it could happen. It happens in real life. But quite frankly, isn't the NGE universe dark enough already? I mean, one of the things that didn't happen in NGE was sexual abuse (rape, child abuse, etc...)

If at least there was a purpose... but there isn't. The story just ends with Asuka playing with some part of the boy's anatomy and telling him "you are my doll..."

An other point that bothers me with this fic is how the dialogue is integrated in the fic. It just basically follows the narrative lines, it's sometime a tiny bit confusing. An example to show you (to make it easier, I've put the dialogue in italic):
 

But when I looked up I saw her smile was even more bad as she began to speak, what a typical kid. This caught me off guard as I looked at her, huh? She still stared at my tiger and laughed for just a bit then looked at him again, only a kid would carry around a doll and think he's alive... That was a mean thing to say, mr. Tiger is and was alive, uh uh. She only smiled and shook her head, oh yeah.

Somehow, I prefer the use of quotes. Can you even put dialogue like that? Blended in the text that way? I'm no English expert, but I don't think you can do that.

So, in the end, my recommendation, if you happen to cross this short fic... just ignore it.

Until Instrumentality is needed again,