A Review - Gospel of Malachel, by Douglass Weeks

Ah, the seemingly overlooked Gospel of Malachel, by Douglass Weeks. It's wonderful to find another great series of reading material now and then, isn't it? Reading this series is a good learning lesson for any aspiring fanfiction writer, primarily because of two things - it's writing style and it's Author Created Character (ACC). That is correct -- the ACC in this fic is good and exemplary. Let it be known that there will be some spoilers in this review, but only in hope of prompting the reader to read the fic.

Gospel of Malachel is another continuation fic of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The feeling of continuity will vary from reader to reader, depending on the lasting emotions one received from the end of the series. If the reader found the ending dark because the last thing in his/her mind were the last few episodes, then this fic's mood and tone should fit perfectly. However, if the audience decided to linger upon the glimmer of hope that was left at the end of episode 26, then something might not be fitting.

The introduction of a new character -- Terrence St. John, will probably begin to make the readers skeptical. It definitely made me feel that way. Eventually, however, Terry fits well into the story and is given nothing more than the other children or Misato in terms of screen time. Even better, Terry (as he is often called in the series) is not a random character out of the blue nor does he seem to be a self-insertion character. He has a past that deals with Asuka Soryu Langley, and the fact that it is a troubled past only makes things more feasible and better.

Asuka fans rejoice (except for the ones who despise Shinji)! There is no question as to whether or not Shinji and Asuka share feelings for each other, and even more beautifully, it seems that the author took great care not to rush things and decided to drag the romance through multiple chapters and though some pretty bad situations. This is how it's done people, at least when you're dealing with characters like those from Evangelion.

As for Rei fans, there may be some pretty mixed thoughts. Being a Rei fan myself, I have no trouble with the romantic angle she receives. To some, it may seem that the author himself is Asuka oriented and does not understand Ayanami Rei enough to characterize her "fairly." It may seem, in fact, that Rei is portrayed the way most Asuka fans portray her when trying their best to be "fair" -- like a mechanical being who is a bit too straight and narrow minded, even for Rei. Here is an example of what I mean (not taken from Gospel of Malachel):

-anonymous-: Are you happy, Miss Ayanami?
Ayanami Rei: What is happiness?

Now that is a more outrageous exaggeration of how the fic goes about Rei, but the idea will be apparent. On the other hand, if one were to look past the bland details and give a grander gander at Rei's situation (which, as stated in my essay A Personal Essay: Rei's Beauty, a person has to do in order to fully appreciate Rei's person), then the romance angle that is given to Miss Ayanami could easily be appreciated. Here are some words from Douglass Weeks himself:

"When I try to portray Rei, I find that something of a problem (as a character I always found her slightly intimidating and a little frightening). If Rei II was the one I was portraying, it would be different. She had obvious development during the course of the series. Rei III gets very little screen time during the last few episodes (even including 25 & 26) and it was obvious that for whatever reasons, she knew very little of what Rei II had gained (a point I tried to explain with Ritsuko & Maya's work on the 'memory transferal system').
    The way I write her may seem 'straight and narrow minded' because that is how I believe she would be. Rei I might have been six (depending on how soon after Yui's disaperence she was 'created'), Rei II would've been five when she died, but comparitvly, at the point that the 'Gospel of Malachel's' story starts, Rei III's life can still be measured in terms of weeks. Too, she the knowledge that she posses about herself and her place in things would seriously affect her presentation. With such bare knowledge about society and its interworkings, remaining quiet, aloof, and straight forward would seem the best way to get by without calling undue attention to one's self."

I previously stated that the writer has an exemplary writing style. This is what I mean: More often than not in a paragraph, certain subjects will have to be repeated. What Douglass Weeks does is use a generous amount of understandable vocabulary and perspectives in order to keep each paragraph readable rather than threatening. Isn't it often that a large paragraph is skimmed through by the reader? Somehow, I did not find myself doing that (as often) with Gospel of Malachel. Here is an excerpt from Gospel of Malachel:

The core of her problem lay in the horrible tangle of behaviors that humans insisted in wrapping around the fairly simple task of reproduction. She understood the mechanical concepts behind sex, attraction, and even romance, but it was deeper subtleties that she had so much trouble comprehending. Popular culture seemed to be the accepted means for collecting information on relations to the opposite sex, but Rei disdained watching television. She despised the so-called "girls" programs for the vapidity of their stories and the artificiality of their romances. Programs intended for boys were even worse, where the women were all delicate, shrinking damsels and what the men engaged in was more suitably labeled 'conquest' than 'love.'

Now I orginally wanted to add this excerpt to the above mentioned essay, but decided that it would be better used here instead (oh yeah, and I chose this excerpt because it reflected my views on popular culture and its definition of "romance" wonderfully). At any rate, the excerpt was meant to show this: that the writing of Gospel of Malachel is like the writing of a short story or poem -- that is to say, tight, with little if any waste of verbal resources. The result is that although each chapter is by no means short, they will seem just right to the reader, if not too short because we want to find out what happens next.

Now, being a cynic, there were some scenes in Gospel of Malachel that I found corny, cheesy, or sappy. However, I believe it is upon bias that I place my judgement. For example, a scene that readily comes to mind is Asuka's near suicide (*gasp* spoiler!). Somehow, I just found myself thinking how convenient the situation was and how obvious the resolution of that particular problem would be. But let not my pessimistic attitude darken the ink with which this writing is displayed, since scenes like that one are few and probably won't be considered by most readers to be as corny as I found it to be. Just read the fic, and when you get there, judge for yourself. In the end, no matter how sappy things get, there are many fics out there that are far worse, and within that thought is the praise that even what seems to be the weakest elements in Gospel of Malachel can be praised.

All in all, we have an example of how a continuation should be, and though some may deem it an EVA: R rip-off, if I didn't know which came first, I'd say it was the other way around. Highly recommended.

http://www.oocities.org/Tokyo/Gulf/4127/Writing/Gospel/TheGospel.html