Review of "The Eve Before Judgement" by Deona Lindholm

Xenogears, almost anyone who has ever picked up a RPG has atleast heard of this Squaresoft masterpiece. But as is the case for most fanfiction, readers cannot truly appreciate a skilled author in this genre unless they have played the game in its entirety and remotely understand its concepts. This definitely applies to Deona Lindholm's "The Eve Before Judgment". Although I don't recommend reading it unless you've beat Xenogears, "The Eve Before Judgment" is destined to endure as a classic and will always be one of my personal favorites.
"The Eve Before Judgment" is the story of the cast of Xenogears when they say their good-byes shortly before they begin their final battle at the end of the game. Deona begins her tale with Zephyr reflecting on the recent events that had occurred in the game, giving the story a subtle beginning for its rather depressing underlying tone. But don't let this discourage you from reading the story, for those of you who have played the game up until this point know that it is rather dark anyway.
Deona is great about staying with the theme and tone of the end of the game without giving too much away as well as answering a few of those questions with her own touch of originality that Squaresoft decided to leave unanswered in the second disc.
Having the reputation of being an avid Citan fan (visit her Citan Shrine sometime ^_~), she does an excellent job with his characterization, giving her readers a new light to his rather controversial personality that most fanfiction authors have yet to do. Along this note, her portrayal of all of the characters, major and minor, was great, adding to her already rich storyline.
The storyline itself is pretty self-explanatory, but in no means cliched. Instead of focusing on some "evil", although they are about to go fight the final battle, it instead focuses on human emotion, the loss of loved ones and the regaining of the hope and determination to endure.
Deona's style is wonderful, especially if you're familiar with her other work. The rare typo, grammar mistake, etc. doesn't take away from the story because you don't notice one unless you're really looking for it. Being a person who's more concerned with the flow of the story than anything, I don't go over these things extensively unless its atrocious or the author specifically asks me to, but I'm by no means an expert on it anyway.
I have yet to find a problem with any of her work, her style and plot is always rich with her own touch of originality, making it almost impossible for the dedicated reader to stop scrolling down the screen. In short, I'd recommend her work to anyone who truly enjoys reading fanfiction and appreciates a good author. I always look forward to her next piece of work.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5. As I previously stated, this story ranks up there as one of my personal favorites and could hold its own against the best of Xenogears fanfiction.

~Melissa "Dei" McClendon