Love the lore you put into this story. It's really good. Feel like I'm reading a history text.

This story was good, buuuuut I woudn't call it great.

Sometimes I felt that story was less focues on being a story and more being excuse for every plothole in a games. I like that you explain what happened to Emerl, but come one, your explanations for Shadow name were forced (how on earth Maria called him EXACTLY after theproject). Mookie's character is forced or the fact that Black Doom was stupid enough to talk to Gizoid how he enslaves humans. And you still didn't fixed all the plotholes, with the biggest one being: why GUN attacked. Why would they shoot a little girl, why kill people working for them, why sabotage their own project. Other question: If Shadow fough Artifical Chaoses, why he didn't fought GUN? I always assumed he was pacyfist back then, but in your story he clearly know how to use his powers to fight.

My second problem is that while everyone is in character, it didn't gave me new perspective on characters. Geald is good smart man with tragic end, Maria is goodie gooder, I already knew that. It isn't WRONG by any means, it's just stops this story from being great (in my opinion anyway).

I reread this now for the third time, and feel that only now do I truly see what it is.
It is a fanfic so good it could carry its weight as a book (It is only 3K Words shorter than "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer") ... and yet is a perfect cover for the GIGANTIC plothole left by SA2 and STH, or the rest of the series (I meen, have they even tried to explain how Emerl just happenned to be in Robotniks junkyard, or HOW Robktnik got the money for his robot ARMIE, or HOWCOMES SONIIC AND CO CAN TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD IN UNLEASHED WITHOUT SEEMING ANY STRANGER THAN SOME FORIENERS AND NOT SOME ALIENS WITH UNKNOWN ORGIN FUUUUUUU! (Sorry, this part always bothered me and it was the only thin SonicX got right.)), without streching like a rubber band just to be squezed into the hole it left. The science parts were as acurate as they get, the characters are realistic, and Gerald is for once not just a "plot device", but a living, breazhing Person. But above all, it did something special for the Sonic Universe, namely make it a world, and not just Sonics playground. So for this, I say, Thank you very much.

...My God. That was one of the best stories I have ever read, fanfic or otherwise. Wow...

Wow! This is much better than other fanfics I have read, it could have been a real book. Its also new that somebody went ahead and did a story about Gerald, and that somebody could use all given information, solve all inkonsistenzies and still keep the story fresh.
Good work.

good start

Another megachapter down! Wonderful as usual. Gerald's proposal scene was very sweet, and I've always liked Mary's idea about the opal. Perhaps especially because it's my birthstone too? ;)

On the other side, the Gizoid plot is very intriguing. You know, I'm not sure whether Battle ever gave a definitive answer to the whole ancient civilization thing, but I like how the research aspect of it was presented here.

Perhaps I should look into the plot of Chronicles? I'm not particularly interested in playing it. I'd much rather read this story instead. ;)

I decided to read through this fic again after so many years, and goodness! I'd forgotten how wonderful it was!

I may post a review after each megachapter as I go through them. We'll see.

Anyways, I love this opening with Gerald examining the ruins of the Echdinas. Gets a nice sort of backdrop and continuity with the classics going. There's some quotation marks missing here and there, but given how still eats random things even today, that's understandable. Other than that, awesome job.

And I may be one of the only ones who've noticed possible relatives of the series' beloved main duo... ;)

Wonderful. This is truely how you write tradety. I'm amazed at how you got all that backstory to fit into a coherent and wondderful story. I came into the Sonic franchise with Adventure 2 and have seen Shadow as a key member of the cast since and you just made his backstory even better. Thank you for the story, I will be reading more of your stories soon.

This was truly an amazing fic! Once started I had to read it till the end. You described the characters and the scenes so well I could picture them in my head. The way you worked in all the information from the different games as well with this interesting plot left no wishes unfulfilled. I can only repeat myself: an absolutely amazing fic.

Do I spy some Sonic-Next-Gen-esque power-glasses on Gerald’s nose, here? Wonder who ended up getting THOSE in the will. ;)

Enjoying the vocab in this chapter, too. Talk of delineations, colonnades, and cloisters; it’s keeping me on my toes, which is great! :D

Not sure I can credit kindly old (young?) Gerald Robotnik with the MASSIVE ARCHAELOGICAL VANDALISM that throwing rocks at the Emerald shrine and nicking one of the stones entails. It’s a bit harsh. At least his grandson had a master plan that required them. Gerald just seems to have swiped a gem like some sort of wayward magpie. :S

Author notes much appreciated. :D

I raise a quizzical eyebrow at Gerald’s rather blasé reaction to working four-thousand-year-old echidna antigravity. And the other quizzical (but also amused) eyebrow at his somewhat miscegenetic reaction to Misty Breeze (PhD). ;)

Ah, Pachacamac. You do so amuse me, with your megalomania, and that whole business about kerbstomping one’s own daughter.

This chapter ended rather abruptly… although I do recall you saying they were going to be subdivided.

(And with respect to the footnote: Those cra-a-a-azy Minoans. THAT’S why you don’t build a city there.)

Ah, I was wondering about that word ‘dokan’ in Soul Of A Weapon. Your solution is indeed much more sensible-sounding than just calling them ‘furred ones’. I may have to steal it. ;)

The description of Rafe was great, and I also liked your take on Gerald’s speech mannerisms; a mixture of Victorian-English gentlemanly formality, and general friendly jollity. That’s IC to the letter, that is. You also managed to introduce Rafe in such a way that I didn’t instantly want to hit him, which is pretty much unprecedented when it comes to OCs.

With regard to the second footnote: I presume you’re using the map from GUN Command in Shadow, then? And this Australia – South America atoll chain is the much-loved South Island Archipelago?

Can’t tell you how nice it is to see someone actually take the time to link everything to canon like this. And that’s above and beyond any consideration of the prose itself, which is also ace.

Wow... how totally amazing! The way you linked all the facts from the Sonic games, your writing style, the unique character of Gerhald... this was truly an amazing story. I'll be sure to check out more of your stories!

Easily the greatest story I've ever read.

In fact, since I liked this retelling of Gerald's story so much, I've decided to do the same, but with the story of the Metarex instead.