Reviews for A Bid For Freedom

[09nephilim]

Very nice.

I'm something of a writer myself, but I lack the skill to create anything so subtle. My plots tend to be all master-organisations, ridiculously overambitious plots and devices and larger than life characters. You have a rarer talent in that you can use gentler themes to imply your thoughts on society/certain cultures etc, which is something to be envious of.
Also, the choice of complimenting art and voice acting is excellent and shows that all involved are equally adept. The combined effect is something slightly nostalgic for me, 'cos, god its been a long time since anyone read me a story.
Conclusion... well, anyone who's seen it can guess.

AdamCook responds:

Ridiculous over-ambition never hurt anyone. It's the execution you have to perfect.

Larger-than-life is a huge part of much great entertainment, and indeed whole fields of literature such as magic realism. I'm a major fan of it myself, although my tastes are more eclectic than most.
I would have honestly thought my grandstanding characters in this short piece were pretty LTL, but I'm happy you find the subtlety in them. :)

Characters are maybe the most important through-road into any story; if an audience can relate to the organisms involved in a tale, they tend to wilfully accept the most outlandish circumstances.
Next time you're writing a character, try to step inside their head for a while; empathise with them. It's tricky to do, you may want to give yourself a little space and peace in which to do it, but just act out from their perspective.
Feel how they feel; how will they act and re-act to other characters, to their surroundings, to specific circumstances? How do they live life, on- and off-page?
It's only by understanding why characters are the way they are that you can find the reality in them, the magic glimmer of truth that readers can observe from their own experiences and thus emotionally attach to.
(Understanding is actually the key to solving most crises in life; ignorance sucks.)

I hope you endeavour to write in the style that best pleases you; passion trumps all stylistic tics and technical education... if you steer too far from your own interests you'll only hamper your progress and ultimately satisfy no-one. Follow your bliss.

As for the review itself;
Thank you very much for enjoying our hard work! We're very pleased that we've brought back great memories for a lot of people; I used to love this style as a young kid, so it's huge fun to have the opportunity to carry it on and update it for a new group of modern readers. Glad we could read to you once again.

Keep up your own hard work, and if you produce something you're happy with I hope you'll post or publish it and send me a link so I can check it out.
In this era of compromise and scaling down in entertainment, I'd like to be reminded what over-ambition - any kind of ambition - really is.

Cheers for your great review, and much future success to you!

[mondongo123]

Outstanding

Truly admirable, i have no words to describe it, the plot is solid, good concept, great voice actings and incredible illustrations.Very entertaining and i can hardly believe that SOMEONE(briareos)put a 0 rather than a 10, sometimes you just dont review something if its not subjetive.If i could, i would put a 100 rather than a 10.
Masterpice.

AdamCook responds:

Apologies for the late reply; new projects are taking up a lot of my time!

Thank you for your great review and kind praise!

I agree that while people should be able to voice their opinions, an actual review should contain a basic critical appraisal of the work and bias shouldn't hold too much sway - if someone's violently opposed to the subject matter then they shouldn't waste time reviewing it. Luckily the guy who abusively reviewed has had his review properly removed, so no worries!

Glad you enjoyed our hard work to such a great degree!
We appreciate you taking the time to view and review it, and are happy that it made an impact on you!
Hope to further entertain you with our future projects.

Cheers!

[45FACE]

very nice

very nice story. well written, and the ending was surprising.
Very good story as well.

AdamCook responds:

Really glad you liked the story! I had great fun writing it and working with an excellent team to make it come alive!

Cheers for the kind review and your support!

[funnyhomeboy]

What a lovely surprise!

Finally, something intelligent that doesn't involve mindless carnage and kittens!

Really though, have you ever considered getting this published? The story behind it seems well established, and the characters were very much developed in my opinon!

Another positive aspect of this piece is that you managed to use many literary devices that I have rarely seen in other online stories.

It's really well done! You have the illustrations to go along with it, and I think that it would go great as a childrens book!

-Funnyhomeboy

P.S. Throughout this story, Donkey Kong always kept creeping into my mind. Strange...

AdamCook responds:

(Apologies for the late reply; new projects in the works!)

Thank you for being surprised! I'm sure the kittens appreciate the break from mindless carnage, too!

I'll probably self-publish this at some stage as you'll really be able to appreciate the detail in full print. Of course if I got any publisher interest I might spring to do an extended version and make a real deal out of this... all things are possible before they happen.
I'm really glad you like the characters; they were pretty easy to write but I did begin to create back-stories for them that I could develop at some point.

Donkey Kong makes perfect sense, I loved the arcade games - that movie with Naomi Watts and Jack Black in it was pretty good too, don't you think?

Cheers once again for your fantastic review! If you wish, I'll keep you posted on our next project and any future publications!

[crystal1205]

Wonderful!

I truly Enjoyed this. The artwork was amazing and the story line was great! Although I disagree there is such thing as a perfect match. (I only say that because my fiance is the perfect man and match for me) But not a lot of people are that fortunate so there is truth to that as well. I honestly really got into the story, and I thought it was extremely neat that you needed to turn the pages. It made me feel as if I was in a child like euphoria reading a young adult humored book while listening to it on tape. Lol, Very good work to all who made this possible. I hope you continue to make more!!! All in all 5/5 and 10/10. Truly wonderful.

AdamCook responds:

I really love getting spirited reviews like this, they're very interesting to read and respond to.
Thank you so much for bringing your personality into your writing!

It's great that it gave you a nostalgic feel; I used to love reading illustrated books as a kid and I think it's a lost art-form these days. We worked hard to bring it to life and bring our odd mix of personalities to it, and it's just great you're thinking on the same wavelength as we are!

Re: the perfect match thing; I'm not specifically making that statement as a world-view (I think it's clear our Lead Guy would feel that way after such a turn, which is why it worked as an ending for me).
Perhaps the real kernel of truth to get out of it is that the "perfect match" isn't usually what we set ourselves up for. It's very easy to get caught up in certain factors, to build up unrealistically specific expectations of what your match would be, to create an artificial "ideal" that actually emphasises the wrong values - things that seem important in the short term, but don't actually form the basis of a real and enjoyable relationship. To get the "perfect match" in that sense wouldn't be to get perfection at all - you'd be picking up a character, a mental fabrication, and that over-hanging knowledge that they offer no surprises would paradoxically end up boring you to tears.

Humans are imperfect - we do that really well. The delight is when those imperfections create an overlap over your personalities; when one's qualities feed the other, and occasionally when two relating imperfections mesh together in a way that both can touchingly relate to.
True love is accepting people for the whole of what they are, because they're better than a mere fantasy - they're real.
I'm sure your guy has nuances and flaws and quirks that by no means make him Superman, as do you; and I reckon it's your shared recognition of those traits, and your co-dependence on each other to offer your unique perspectives on life, that make this "imperfect" match entirely blissful.
Those are my thoughts anyway... I'm just a writer, huh, what do I know? :)

Thank you once again for your support and your lovely personalised review!
I do hope to see you again on our future projects, as we will certainly continue to create bigger, better and more exciting entertainment; if you're interested, I can keep you posted on the next project when it's ready to meet the world.
I wish both you and your fiancé the greatest life together, and I hope you have much success in your own life and endeavours.

Cheers!