I've finally finished ODA- 17/11 to 18/12. Just over a month.

This fic has blown me away. What a roller coaster of a story. Your grasp of plot writing and technical elements to bring the sci fi setting to life is flawless, but your greatest skill without a doubt is the characterisation. They're all so real and in depth- my heart is broken for Fara's death and Gage's loss. Throughout the story I thought I was seeing flaws, such as how James managed to sabotage Papetoon without anyone stopping him, where Wolf comes into it after he was mentioned, why the Paladin was presented only to sit on the sidelines, and at first I didn't think three chapters taking place in the same time period for Lylat's Stand was a good idea. But you turned all these things around before I even realised it, and the end of Lylat's Stand with Fara's death was stunning.

(At one point I had this idea that maybe Wolf was gonna turn out to be James in disguise, lol)

I'm also glad to see that though you created a fine OC in Gage you didn't neglect the main Star Fox cast, as some such writers are known to do.

There's only three thing's I could wish for from the fic. 1. A happy ending. 2. A sequel, where Gage can at least partly come to terms with what's happened. 3. For Nintendo to create some new games with Gage and Dagger in it & publish this story as a companion to them.

Hope to read more from you again Foxmerc.

SPG

I'm in the middle of reading this fic- this is where I'm up to at the moment. You know, its been a long time since I've read a story that's got me as hooked as this. Characterisation is clearly your strongest writing skill. Can't wait to read the rest of this.

Mannnnnn. Such a strong story! I don't know if you still pop your head on this site anymore. However, if you ever decide one day that it's Gage's time to return, Im gonna be shitting bricks in excitement. Would also love to read some of your original works! I can't find a link on your bio. Anyways, this is a new favorite. Take care. ~MS

Hey, second time through on this one. Oh yeah, I remember this chapter. Beautiful tragedy. I love this stuff.

Beyond blown away at how amazing this story was. Ive read so many fanfics this past year that it gets hard to remember some. A good man once told me that a story needs three things; action, an adventure with a mission, and a romance. This is one story I wont be forgetting. The final encounter and goodbye between Fox and his father had me on the edge of my chair, and Gage's final appearance blew me away. Thanks man, keep on writing!

Wow, this was an interesting story. Well-written, especially towards the end, and you wrapped enough things up that I don't feel cheated. You've done Starfox fanfiction a great service.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Why did you have to DO that? You heartless, heartless author! Is there to be no lasting happiness for Gage?!

Heartlessness aside, this was a very well-written chapter. A fitting end for Fara if there ever was one.

Wow. And thus, Dianus comes to an end. I would not have expected it to have ended like that.

Incredible. The tension is really mounting.

One word-choice error, though: you confused "recant" and "recount". Fox did not take back his plan, he went over it in detail.

Silver Krystal? Hmmm...I think that I can get used to that. I wonder if there's already fanart of it; I'd like to see how well the look would work.

But that aside, great work capturing all the emotions involved in this chapter.

Talk about heavy. How will Fox deal with the hand that he's been dealt? Aside from the occasional SPaG error, your writing is impeccable.

I've been reading your fic for days now, and I have to say that this development was well-written. Even though I was partially spoiled by one of the reviews, I did not see it coming this way. So far, a well-written work.

hmm...room for a sequel, long chapters, interesting and involved characters...

yeah, I'd give this thing an A easy.

I loved your merc wars story, but it's been years since I last looked you up, mostly cause I'd thought you'd left the site years ago...as it turns out, I was quite wrong.

I sometimes pop in to check out merc wars again, since it's to date the only star Fox story in my fanfiction sub-index.

plus it's just a damn good story.

there's not much for me to say about this story, and trust me, i usually have a lot to say about a story (check out the reviews for a kingdom hearts story called the diary of namine, I wrote a nearly 2k review for it at one point), but this one is good in it's simplicity, and though I can't say I understand all of the military speak, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Wold I read it again though? probably not for a long time.

it's not due to a lack of interest, but more that long stories tend to wipe me out for a while, which considering I spent two days just to read this, I'll be sticking to shorter stories for a couple months now.

still faved, bookmarked, I will be back to read this again sometime in the future, when the interest comes up.

thanks for the awesome story Gage, Fox, and everyone, I'll be around.

later

This was a fabulous read~ :) And I don't say that lightly. I admire your writing and the determination you had to go through and finish this piece of fanfiction.

As a fanfiction, the characters were kept up well and it provided a fun read into the StarFox universe (one of my favorite universes at that) and I loved how it went more on the 64 version than the more recent releases. You also did one of the few things fanfic authors can do to me: You made me like and care for some of your OCs. :)

As a piece of writing in general, I can't get over how well thought out and well planned this fic is! You don't come across those very often, and it's such a treat when we get 'em. Even I, a planning nut, have trouble with such detailed and depthful plots. This was truely an inspiring fic for any author such as myself!

Thanks for the plesant read and I'll be sure to check out more of your fics in the future~ ;)

~Sparrow

So Fox's mom is the main villian? The irony of it all