Nice to have a breather every once in a while, though given the scars he'll receive in Termina, both physical and mental, it makes their story all the more tragic.

I wonder if that orphanage lady will return. Probably not. The whole chapter was quite scary, though I figured even the Kokiri would know about rupees being currency.

It surprises me greatly that this story doesn't get more attention. It deserves it.

A change in plans, featuring:

Link liking Goron Rocks.
I just noticed that so far Link doesn't eat very much and when he does eat, he doesn't seem to mind the contents of the food.

Link thinking about... bosoms... again
He's going to find out one of these days, and it won't be from Navi.

Chocolate
10/10. That's all I need to say

A cameo of the original Zora designs.
I do have to ask what inspired you to feature Alttp's Zora designs in Link's reoccurring nightmares?

"I'm Dampe the GraveKeeper! my face may be scary but I'm not a bad guy!"
Yet, that stupid luck based minigame saps my wallet, and forces me to reset without saving if I don't get the Piece of Heart.

Redeads...
On my very first playthrough so many years ago, I was way too terrified of getting through that tomb. I'm just glad they never lunged at Link in a similar manner as what you showcased.

A surprise visit from Zelda and Impa
In the games, not many people would go back to visit Zelda after getting the Ruby and see her unique dialogue. I do like how you (intentionally or not) found a way to simulate Link going through Hyrule Castle to talk to Zelda again. Impa, on the other hand, worries too much about business than seeing a child in need of rest.

"I'm your Guardian Fairy!"
That stings Navi's heart, yet she keep using it as her arguments. Worst part about it is that it'll make the inevitable ten times worse each time she says it.

It's sad to see situational irony of Link and Navi thinking their quest is almost over. After whatever happens in Jabu-Jabu's belly is when things take a dark turn...

Rylek196
If you dislike Zelda so much, why did you read this?

to rylek196:
If all your here to do is trash the series, please leave. You aren't helping anyone.

Great job!

Go to hell Impa, he's just a kid. And if him resting bothers you that much, go get the stone yourself. Or go and teach Zelda some ninjitsu, so she can do something.

This is looking good. I like everything you put down so far and made it a bit more of a story than a video game. Keep it up.

...Fuck it, might as well drop my two cents in here. I’m going to preface this review by saying this, and hopefully this will add context for why I might come off as a little abrasive here: I... really don’t like OOT. Or Zelda in general, for that matter. While I pledge allegiance to no console manufacturer (honestly, they’re all kinda scummy and each have MANY executives that should be all be lined up against the wall and summarily shot in the head), I DO pledge allegiance to Shadow of the Colossus and Pokemon Black and White, IMO, better games than Zelda could ever hope to be. The stuff people were praising Botw to high heavens for? Yeah, SotC was already doin’ a lot of that back in 2005, and Black and White basically pulled Zelda’s panties down in terms of how masterfully it subverted the tropes the Zelda series metaphorical pussy gets wet over. With. All. That. Said...

Yeah, credit where credit is due, this is really fuckin’ good. The writing is very detailed and descriptive, the dialogue VASTLY improves on the awkward, poorly-written dialogue of the actual game, and you so far have fleshed out the characters in a way that Nintendo just won’t (or outright can’t, the writers they have on staff for the Zelda series are pretty bad, I’ve noticed). On top of that, there has not been one single misspelled word or punctuation error I’ve seen, which tells me you’re putting a TON of effort into this.

I have to admit, I kinda skimmed over chapter 2, mostly because I wanted to get to the meat and potatoes of any Zelda novelization: the dungeons, and I shouldn’t have to tell you those make or break a story like this. I’m pleased to say... you hit it outta the park. Everything was damn near perfect in terms of descriptions and progression through the dungeon. I’m of two minds, though, about Link’s pacifist nature. On one hand, yeah, he’s a ten-year-old kid, and becoming more hardened and cold will undoubtedly be the main crux of his character arc, but I still can’t help but be somewhat annoyed by it, maybe because I’m FAR from adverse to violence and extreme measures myself, and the characters I write tend to be take-no-shit types or will gradually turn into them, but... meh. This is just a ‘me’ thing. Ignore it if you want.

One thing you shouldn’t ignore, though, is the following piece of advice: Zelda seeming to recognize Link and vice versa in this chapter makes it look like you’re trying to tie this into the wider ‘timeline’ bullshit. DON’T. I cannot stress that enough. After Skyward Sword bent the series’ lore over the table without a safe word and raped it up the ass, treating this as ANYTHING other than a stand-alone is a bad idea. It’s quite clear to me that Zelda’s writers have no clue what in the blue fuck they’re doing and have no plan or outline, and that is NO WAY to write a story. You may as well take their mistake and treat it as a ‘what NOT to do under any fucking circumstances’ lest you end up falling into the same hole they’re currently stuck in- a hole, mind you, that they dug for themselves with their ham-fisted retconning.

I guess I should wrap this up with some praise for how you’re handling Navi, as well as some suggestions on how you should handle Ganondorf.

I don’t really need to say how fucking awful Navi was in the game, but that just means you’ve infinitely improved her here. Far from being a useless little piece of shit that you wish you could make Link squish into pulp in his hand, she’s been really, really helpful so far, and I like the dynamic of her basically having to keep secrets from him. It adds a layer to the story that I haven’t seen before, and considering how done to death OOT novelizations are, THAT’S saying something.

As for Ganondorf, it’s pretty clear you’re going for a straightforward “evil overlord” persona for Ganondorf, and that’s perfectly fine, I think. Despite what many idiotic theory-makers on YouTube would try to make you believe, Ganondorf isn’t meant to be a deep or morally complex character- he’s just meant to be a bad guy that Link can oppose. Zelda’s writers frankly aren’t good enough to explore morally grey situations or characters, and his speech concerning his motives at the end of Wind Waker came right the fuck outta nowhere, so I don’t count it. No, what I think you should do with Ganondorf in this story is just have him DO more, give him more of a physical presence, and not be afraid to get his hands dirty and terrorize Hyrule’s inhabitants PERSONALLY. In the game, let’s face it, he doesn’t do much after he takes over, and that’s just stupid.

And that’s my thoughts on this so far. I may keep reading this, I might not, but chances are I won’t be posting any more reviews for it. I’ve said too much and have been in this section too long with this review already. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go listen to ‘To The Ancient Land’ from Shadow of the Colossus about a million times to wash all this... Zelda off me.

One more to go.

Oh man oh man poor anxious baby boy, he deserves a long break and all the peace in hylia after all this stress and pain :( and the worst has yet to come... oh God and this is literally the worst link to be if he's a gentle pacifist. He's gonna end up in termina too. Jesus christ. I really do like how you write the dungeons though, just enough to feel like the original ones, but cutting enough put that to doesn't feel tedious. And as much as it sucks for Link, having him actually get injured really works the realism. Me likey.

"...and those memories were far from pleasant."

Yeah, um... 'far from pleasant' is not enough to describe the agony Link felt in this cavern. That was just... brutal for a boy like him. And as you told me before, it's only going to get worse.

I predicted that he'd only be wounded from a dodongo's tail attack and possibly a Lizaflos sword cut if you included one (which you did) but... yikes. Bitten by Baby dodongos, cut multiple times by that Lizaflos who was definitely toying with him, hit hard by a dodongo tail attack and even suffering burns from King Dodongo. What's worse is Navi's empty promises. It pains her so much to lie to his face but she has to.

Losing the Deku shield will also hurt Link personally. Now he'll believe that he'll never gain Uldo's trust if he ever returns to the village and it'll all be his fault. I think that will hurt him more than the scars he saw in the cavern, including seeing the Goron corpse because he promised Uldo that he'll return the items. A broken promise won't make him well at all...

Anyways, Now that Dodongo's Cavern is over, the next upcoming area is Zora's Domain. That is a section I'm looking forward to mainly because I want to see how you'll portray Princess Ruto. It'll take time to reach there because I assume that Link will reach Lon Lon Ranch to rest up beforehand. Then there's the Great Fairy on Death Mountain and maybe even near Hyrule Castle...

Each wait for a new chapter is agonizing but it's always worth the wait when the time comes.

I was replaying Ocarina of Time the other day and I encountered Grog and his interesting quote, "People are disgusting. My own father and mother are disgusting. You must be disgusting, too.". Back in the day, I always had a good laugh because it hardly made any sense to my child mind. Now, I think of the deep meaning behind his words and what the developers were thinking when they made that character. Before reading Chapter 8 last week, I was rereading some of the Tales of Termina stories and you used "disgusting" a few times as a verb. Then I immediately saw the notification for Chapter 8 and it all makes sense haha.

Another thing, you were THIS close to having Navi say "HEY! LISTEN!" to Talon to wake him up. I was moaning "Noooo!" to myself when she said "HEY! WAKE UP!" instead lolol

Anyways, those were just my random thoughts that I forgot to post in the previous chapters.

Now then... it's really amusing to see Link learn about the world he lives in (That chocolate scene is 10/10 lol). You've done a really great job in showing his growth, his fragile facade, and just overall tone, atmosphere and the gravity of the situation poor Link is forced into. It's good for Link and Navi that the gorons are much kinder than the Hylians back in the marketplace. Though, crowds are and will always be Link's weakness.

The eventual first meeting with Darunia will be something to look forward to... with no Saria's Song that is...

The very sad thing is, their bond's seems unbreakable
Link even think of Navi as his very kind best friend, also a motherlike figure
But we all know that it won't last long, she will leave him in the end even though she says otherwise
So, I think I just see...
Well, I can't describe it, maybe someone can
I really appreciate your works, it's hurt to read
But I love it