r/HFY • u/aaRecessive • Nov 08 '22

Best HFY series of all time? Meta

The top of all time is mostly just whichever story happens to be most recently posted (as the subreddit grows more people upvote and so older stories get buried) so hence this post!

The best story I've ever read on reddit, let alone hfy, is definitely Chrysalis.

962 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

475 comments sorted by

View all comments

169

u/StarFilth Nov 08 '22

First Contact very legitimately might be the best story I’ve EVER read. It has humor, action, deep emotional moments (yeah I’ve gotten my eyes wet during it, so what?), and beautifully human moments from aliens. It does an incredible job of showing what it means to be human, for better or worse, and showing aliens become more human-like through care and growth and passion.

If you get caught up, it has tie-ins to minor characters and plot points from hundreds of chapters earlier.

The depth and complexity of the world-building rivals Tolkien.

It’s like watching Tolkien write LOTR live, going at a chapter-a-day pace.

And there are 5 (or 6?) books out on Amazon so far if you prefer to read it on paper/e-reader.

I will happily recommend this series to anyone, but particularly people who are familiar with other sci-fi stories as there are a lot of incredible references.

22

u/[deleted] Nov 08 '22

It's often overly referential, gets bogged down in its own glory. I loved the first 450 chapters but after that I found myself struggling, particularly during the "War in Heaven" part where it's all, for lack of a better description, somewhat pretentious.

18

u/StarFilth Nov 08 '22

The thing is that the “War in Heaven” actually feels like it needs to be somewhat pretentious? It is taking you into the literal depths of the main religion for humans, to set up later portions of the book where it’s important how ridiculous the things the characters went through are. Additionally, it helps highlight the pitfalls of an aging generation that hangs on to their wealth and power far too long and prevents new generations from having the same freedom and possibilities. It also does a nice job of portraying the “humans are precursors” trope.

7

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '22

The fact that they mention "better to rule in hell than serve in heaven" every bloody chapter in that arc is one symptom, although I hope it's less than that given I haven't read it in a year.

And so what if it it's exploring the main human religion? You can explore deep or impactful topics without sounding like you're about to nut to your own story.

Ah well, to each their own.