Dude, even though this thing has a lot of words that I admit I don't totally understand and that I'm too lazy to go check up, I love it. It has the same apathetic, cold feel throughout the whole thing, and it still makes me shiver.

Oh, wow. I can't beleive I've never chanced upon this before- it's delightfully elegant and sophisticated. So refreshing. And any fic with both philosophy and South Park in it rules, by definition. Because both are just awesome.

Your writing is very beautiful, and you pulled off an unusually successfull stream-of-consciousness. I mean, I really felt the intensity, the focus. These quick impressions make up your story and paint it and the result is really, really nice.

Now, on to your AN: I know! I thought the same thing! Kyle always seems to be the bastion of secularism- kind of the spokesperson for rationality in an insane, backwards town- and yet he's always the one defending his religion. I tend to agree with you that his 'beliefs' are not really that: they're just labels that he equates with his identity and thus has to defend. And with an asshole friend like Cartman, who can blame him ;)

I'm just curious: I wasn't really sure about Kyle's final conclusion about god. Was he acknowledging the Greek model of belief- i.e deism? Or was he being atheistic? It's funny, usually these subjects come second nature to me, but in this fic I couldn't be completely sure of what you were implying.

Anyway, love love love your story! I don't really expect you to answer, as I see this was published a while ago.. but I hope you do! If you don't just know that I really enjoyed your fic and I hope you keep on writnig :)

I like this, because you're basically going far deeper into Kyle's mind than even his creators ever did. And it's CANON, which boosts even more points from me. No Style, no Bunny, no slash/hentai in general.

I feel you should know this: Matt Stone, whom Kyle is based on, is actually agnostic, meaning he's not quite sure what the universe is made of and such. He's Jewish from his mother's side, but I have a feeling that he sees hus own Judiasm as more of an ethnic background than a religion he follows. That seems to work out on Kyle, since is IS the rational one of the four. So yeah, you did a good job on the character, and I honestly think Matt Stone would be proud.

Four brilliant stars, my friend.

Da-ayum. (Now I feel really bad about this after those two left their more-intelligent-by-far reviews ;P)

It feels pretty complete to me (referring to the author's note) :). Annd, I liked the concept and the voice you wrote it in; it's like I'm reading some real, professional philosophy-type of story, not random bullshit. Interesting concept for a story, one that's rarely shown up here and hard to pull off... but you did it, I should think! xD. The word-use was cool too, better than what limited vocabulary most of this fandom possesses xD.

And wow, powerful last sentences :O. I think I might quote you someday xD.

I'd love to see more of your writing :)

- Beth M.

(Dude, I do not feel comfortable leaving a review after seeing Foodstamp's intelligent one :P)

I loved this! It really took an in-depth look at Kyle's spirituality. I love the psychologicial analysis of him on your part, I think it's extremely accurate and well thought-out. I appreciate your unique writing. It is so mature and different from all the other (terrible) stories on this site at the moment. And your rhetoric maintained my interest in the story, it was like entertainment for the verbal part of my brain (as like most great language use is). I really hope to see more from you! We need more great authors on here!

DUDE. This is phenomenal writing, truly! I adore the technicality of the subject matter and how consistent the symbolism is. Your vocabulary is such a treat! There are a lot of specialized terms; you’ve clearly done your research. I’m in love with the balance you have between these two sciences-philosophy being a more introspective discipline, complementing the astronomy, which is a little more tangible and emotionally grounding. What’s you’ve written is very concrete. It’s not spelled out in any conventional way-fantastic! This is exactly the kind of prose that I love to read out loud. It’s lovely. And thank you for taking the time to understand these characters on a psychological level. I agree that Kyle’s identification of his religion tends to be habitual rather than spiritual. It’s like he’s the one person (I mean, if you had to attribute this tendency to a single character) who prefers his faith to be relative to his environment. I imagine he’d have to reevaluate himself if he weren’t constantly under attack. But wouldn’t we all? It’s his defense mechanism; he’s worked hard to deserve it. Poor guy.

I don’t think this is unfinished. It definitely feels complete to me. The only suggestions I have are some structural changes, maybe? All four sections end the same way, with sort of a one-sentence summary, so the formatting loses some effectiveness in its predictability. Also, some of the punctuation protracts the writing for too long. I see semicolons where I expect colons, and dashes where periods would be better. This piece is complicated and would be easier to digest if there were more solid stops. Look at this line:

“There was no need for that much attachment to the past- he felt his insides recoil, and it left him wondering why he knew the rituals, but not the dogma.”

To me, that dash ascribes two divisible ideas to each other, stalling them both. This happens many times throughout the story. I think you underplay a lot of your concepts with sentences that are too lengthy. I’m a huge advocate of impact points, and because this is so stream-of-consciousness, I tend to only get strong statements at the end of the passages. Oh, and since I’m always reading for that conclusive thesis, it’s that much easier for me to miss important steps in the lead-up. I would break this up a little bit more so that each part has the proper room to breathe. The complexity doesn’t have to be sustained to be impressive; you’re underestimating the weight of your language. It stands on its own. Boy, does it.

I’m sorry, that sounded like a lot of criticism, but I love this so much! It’s mature, it’s literate, it’s captivating. Thank you for gifting this fandom with such a gorgeous product. I’d say I hope to see more from you if I thought I could come to terms with the huge inferiority complex that it would give me. Actually-what the hell. I HOPE TO SEE MORE FROM YOU!