--------------------------------------
 Review: Hearts of Ice - by Kapster
--------------------------------------

Rating: F'ing Awesome!

Gee, thanks!...  I don't think my story's ever been rated...
quite like that before. ^_^   I'm flattered!

You've gotta read this one.  Sure, it's really LONG with a large
number of chapters (which bugs me much).  But it's very well written.
The story is addictive, for one thing.  There are several
unknowns--for instance, just how old will Akane _be_ when and if she
gets back to Earth?--that keep you hungry for more.

Thanks!  About the length -- believe it or not, when I originally
planned the outline for this story, I expected it to be only about
maybe 50k.  However... It's taking a bit longer to tell the story than
I originally planned -- and I haven't really changed the outline that
much.  It's just a LONG story. The whole thing now takes up 675k so
far. @_@  I confess I've had lots of fun trying to keep the suspense
up, but I *have* been punished numerous times for my cliffhangers and
loose ends by WebDragon's Kasumi-the-Ax- Murderess...  ^_^

<Kapster breaks out into song> "I... fall... to pieces..." @_@

The characters are drawn in the usual cliched way: Nabiki
the trickster, Shampoo the idiot, Cologne the cunning and evil, Ukyo
the devoted despite the fact that she knows Ranma will never be hers.
Then again, I suppose this is good--it means they're in character,
right?  Ranma and Akane are also in character--and done extremely
well.  Especially Akane.  Her feelings of betrayal at discovering
Yuki-onna's schemes were well painted, at least in my opinion.  

I'm glad you liked that.  I have really tried to keep the
characters as close to the manga (with a little touch of anime)
as possible, in spite of the situations I've put them in.

Oh, another cool part to look out for is when Yuki-
onna is trying to kill Ranma...

Heh heh!  Yeah, that part was fun to write...

Another thing cool about this fic is that it's not drawn up solely to
please the reader.  It's easy to make a big wad of melodrama and drop
it on my face in order to please me in case I'm looking for
fanfiction dealing with the delicate side of Ranma 1/2.  Kapster
seems to be writing this fic for herself first and the rest of us
second.  

Yup.  Selfish of me, ain't it? 

Hey, I figure, as long as *I'm* entertained... ^_^

This is good because it makes for _variety_
in a fanfiction's plot and in the character's behavior.  Hmm...now
that I think of it, I remember her stating in an afterword at one
point that during one chapter, she had actually been jumping out of
her chair, swinging her fists around, and saying "Yeah Nabiki!  Stick
it to that old ghoul!"  Ok, you might label this as lunatic behavior,

Lunatic behaviour?!  Moi?   ;p

Aw, man, you've got me pegged...  ^_^

but it's better than "Hmm.  Would
the people like this?  Or should I change this to get better C&C? 
Hmmm..." (And yes, I know for a fact that quite a few people think
this way.  At least, out of those on IRC.)

If you're looking for in-your-face humor, you won't find much of it
here. What you will find is a fun, addictive, adventurous, and
thoroughly enjoyable fanfiction.

Well, thank you very much for this glowing review.  Now let's see if I
can deflate my ego enough to fit through the door of this
cyber-cafe...   ^_^

Krista
aka: the kapster