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Aah, the bane of bio-life, AI even if it a copy of brainwaves.
I like where this is going, subtle Lafiel and Jinto romance interaction, or just very good friends?

I like where this is heading.

AAh, I enjoy this too much, well written

I can't say more than that.

This is very well done.

I'm at a loss as to how to approach this review. Given that I read Furlough first, I'll just say how amazing it is that you covered every offhand comment here in Evolution in the sequel. From Lafiel fully confiding in Jinto to Spoor resolving to be present at the next trolling opportunity, I can't point out any small little tidbit that didn't get addressed in Furlough. This astounding attention to detail makes your stories quite the joy to read. And, to my limited knowledge of the Seikai universe, it barely even conflicts with canon! The threat is off chilling in the galactic core and can be brought back if/after the series ends as the last big bad.

This review should have been done months ago, but I confess to shelving Evolution like a child saving the last piece of candy for a rainy day. One rainy day later and you're going to write a resolution to the Mimics, right? I mean you'd actually have to diverge from canon to do it at this point, but it would be glorious!

Once again thanks for taking the time to write a story of this caliber. It was a pleasure to read and hopefully you'll find it in yourself to write one more epic for Seikai.

Nicely written and well thought out plot.
The only negative concern that I could find was that even with self-replication, there simply is no way for a single star system to be able to produce such a large force by itself within such a short span of time and without completely dismantling entire planets for minerals, but that is just an applied phlebotinum that needs to be taken into account on the readers part.

Wonderful! You portray the characters very well, they feel like they did in the anime and the novels. I especially appreciate Lafiel ;) I really enjoyed the humour and dialogue too! It can only get better from here on. And funnier.

Thoroughly enjoyed. Wish there was a non-tokyopop version of the novels to read

Well, I'm very glad to see this excellent work by my friend and collaborator Ken Wolfe make it to this forum. And I'm very glad to see the critical acclaim it has received. You deserve every bit of it. It was my pleasure being one of your prereaders for this work and very satisfied it turned out as well as it did. But then again, my own work wouldn't nearly have been as good and I wouldn't have been as happy with it were not for our collaborations before and after this work (for the rest of you, one was set in the El Hazard OVA and the other in Gurren Lagann.)

Going back to my notes from February, 2008 after I'd reviewed an early draft of this story, I found a few thoughts perhaps the rest of the fan community might enjoy reading. For those of you wondering, Ken and I have been friends and collaborators for well over a decade now: I post the following after receiving his express permission to share the contents of our email correspondence.

Hello there Ken. Just finished reading Evolution. Really, really
enjoyed it! I will admit, I was thinking maybe you'd gone off course
having Lafiel & Jinto venture planetside once again. While I do
think Camin and Kathryn were enjoyable characters who interacted well
with L&J, I was wondering for a short moment "is there more to this?"
Well I'm very glad I hung in there, for Lafiel's action in Thracia
had me thinking "now THIS is the Lafiel we know and love!" Lafiel's
interaction with Larych helped demonstrate just how far she has grown
professionally and personally, though I think she'd rather swallow
flaming oil than admit how much Jinto had to do with that.

The Warward was a very likeable and enjoyable character, as were
Camin and Kathryn. More on Kat in a moment. (Isn't that a very lander-ish
name? Terran-ish especially. Then again, she's first generation Abh
so that might have been on purpose.)

The imagination wanders just what happened after Lafiel pulled Jinto
close to her while she was recovering from her ordeal at Vensath.
Must've been pretty racy given how elated Spoor was to have something
huge to tease Lafiel about.

I really don't recall Seelnay being THAT annoying as she dotes over
Lafiel. Reminded me of two characters from Johji Manabe's Drakuun graphic
novel-Princess Rosalia and her consort Rua. Now THAT's doting; Rua
over Rosalia, that is.

Ekuryua impressed me in BotS of being aloof, but certainly not cold
or condescending. Maybe she was just having a bad day when she
dressed down Jinto over the Passion fruit. I think it was more about
the fact she picked up on Lafiel's frame of mind. Jinto reacted in
his usual clueless way, but I would have thought those two would have
had a better working relationship after having served together now
for several years. Of course, as I recall Ekuryua was unconcerned
about Samson's describing the eating habits of he and other Midgrat
residents "you're not my friend, you're just someone I work with!" And
maybe so it goes with her. I got the impression during BotS she
was somewhat fond of Jinto; maybe her attitude toward him has become
indifferent now that she knows full well Jinto's heart has only room
for Lafiel.

I recall "maps" being referred to extensively. Parallels within the
Abh Star Forces to naval terms abound; I would suggest Star Forces
personnel would use "charts" instead of "maps." I made that mistake
ONCE aboard ship when I worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers.
All my coworkers aboard ship were former Coast Guard!

For some reason, I half-expected this to turn into an El Hazard OVA/BotS
crossover. I do believe such a story would have merit, but Evolution
didn't go there. In retrospect, I'm glad. I couldn't help but think
of Ifurita as you gave Kathryn's physical description or her penchant
for ancient Japanese relics. And, of course, the more I learned
about Miriam the more I though of Ifurita also. From what you
describe, Ifurita herself could have been described as a Mimic
(especially given her sister was a carbon copy of her, or maybe vice
versa?)

Again, an enjoyable story. I will admit I like Earth and Reunited
slightly more given your storyline gave closure to the open-ended
question of how Makoto and Ifurita would resolve the differences
between their lifespans. A similiar quandary would exist between
Lafiel and Jinto, of course, although not nearly such a large order
of magnitude. I haven't lately checked in with to see
if another author had taken a whack at that yet, although truth be
told from what I did find there no other author would be able to do
it justice like you could.

And, it's been a long, long time since I've reviewed any BotS/CotS work on this forum. I plan to rectify the above and will make sure to give credit where it is due for any other stellar work. But this is your review for your work, which I think is every bit as good as the others here have given you credit for and then some. I'm humbled you called upon me to help you make it as good a story as it turned out to be.

MJE

Than you for this story.

Brilliant story. There are few Seikai fanfics which is a crying shame for it is a wonderful universe with so much potential. Anyway, your characters and the story are so well fleshed out that for a while I forgot that it wasn't coming out of the pen of Mr. Morioka. I salute you.

Excellent chapter from an incredible story. If I have to pick on anything it is that the chapters are very long and might have benefited from being split up.

Wow. This is just like reading one of Morioka's novels. Wonderful stuff.

So far an astonishingly good story with believable characters and plot. Shame so few people have watched Crest of the Stars.

Loving the story so far, this is the first Seikai story I've seen on the net. Well done!