Makoyi's Fanfic Recs and Other Stuff

Title: Sum of Its Parts series
Author: KouriArashi
Fandom: Teen Wolf, (and 1 Veronica Mars crossover, but just the very basic knowledge of Veronica Mars is enough to still enjoy that story)
Genre: AU (Human!Pack-Alpha!Stiles)
Pairing: Scott/Allison, Stiles/Derek (Ace relationship), Stiles/Erica (friends with benefits),
Length: Seriously Epic!!! (790,639 words & counting)
Warnings: Gay-bashing, Extreme Violence, Psychological Trauma, Abuse (canon Isaac) and Bullying (teens vs teens, and adult vs. teen)

Author's Summary:
Stiles deals with the aftermath of being abducted by Peter Hale and left for dead. It's harder than he would have thought to accept his place in the pack when he's convinced that he's the 'weak one' and can't protect himself. Fortunately, Scott and Sheriff Stilinski are there to help, and to nag Derek until he helps, too.

Review:
Okay, so I know I rec'd this series more than a year ago, but a lot more has been added to it since then, including a fantastic Veronica Mars crossover so I think it bears rec'ing again. I've only just finished that crossover and hopped on to rec it.  KouriArashi has made my list of reliably amazing authors so I trust the rest of her work to be well worth reading already. Do be aware what you're getting yourself into though... this series is a (somewhat sprawling) epic and its very hard to put down. Do not start reading when you should be sleeping, working, or otherwise engaged... or when you anticipate needing to do any of those things within the hour.

But about the story itself, and the crossover specifically... I love the characterizations. Stiles can be a little overbearing sometimes, and Derek more submissive in proportion, which can be a bad thing to some (and usually me as well) but I think that's part of what sold me on Stiles as a Human!Pack-Alpha. The Veronica Mars characters are --- from what I can remember, at least --- well characterized too.  It assumes basic knowledge of season 1 and then rewrites season 2 with some but not all of the canon plot points (no knowledge of season 2 needed).  Another thing I like in this fic is the immense care and respect taken with mental health issues. In fiction, you often find that characters are put through horrible things and then expected to just get on with hero-ing when most people would be curled up in a corner sobbing. This fic takes just as much care with the healing as it does with the adventures and gets some really exciting plots and a lot of great character development out of it too.

Sum of Its Parts series (on AO3)
Now with gorgeous podfics (on AO3 and audiofic archive) by opalsong 

Title:  Hold The Door
Author: Hatteress and Maichan 
Fandom:  Teen Wolf, Supernatural
Genre: Crossover, Purgatory fic, Fantasy, Horror
Pairing: Stiles/Derek
Length: Medium (16,700 words)

Author's Summary:
When Derek is killed by a rival alpha, the pack will stop at nothing to get him back. Even if that means blackmailing the most dangerous hunter duo this side of hell. Whatever. That whole devil thing was probably totally exaggerated, anyway.

Review:
I let this one sit bookmarked but unread for months, I think mostly because of the title and how these two fandoms don't mesh easily, but this fic did a really good job with the latter.  One of the ways that is accomplished is summed up by Sam: "The Argents are to werewolves what we are to demons, Dean."  The "hold the door" thing refers to Lydia and what she can apparently do with the doors between the realms of the dead and the world of the living as a result of Peter's curse (this is from before Teen Wolf canon decided she was anything but human).  This fic starts out with BAMF!pack, which is great, and quickly goes to dark and scary places literally and figuratively.  The events in Purgatory are properly horrifying while at the same time getting some feels in both when Benny's return and as Laura meets Derek and explains how Purgatory works as a place good monsters pass through to get to heaven where the rest of their family is waiting for them.  Overall, this is a good fic and Maichan's cover art is lovely too.

Hold The Door (on AO3)

Title: The Strength of the Wolf
Author: tolieawake
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Genre: Time Travel - Redo type, Pack/Chosen Family Relationships
Length: Medium (22,406 words and counting)

Author's Summary:
In the end, it's only Lydia and Stiles left. Alone and desperate, oh so desperate. Desperate times and desperate measures and all that, but emphasis on the times.

With nothing else left to lose, they find a way to change it all. And Stiles may just figure out the key to stopping everything that ever went wrong - well, from Peter onwards.

Because he's older and wiser (sort-of) and beginning to understand in a way that he never did before.

After all, the strength of the wolf is the pack, right?

Review:
While I tend to be a sucker for redo time travel fics in general, I especially like this one because of the focus on family relationships and what Stiles tries to do for the people he cares about - especially Peter, who may not be Stiles favorite person, but certainly needs help the most at that point.

The Strength of the Wolf (on AO3)

Now with cover art:

Title: Friends of Early Theory
Author: Nanoochka
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Genre: Friendships&Relationships, Total AU (No Werewolves, Office/Corporate AU), Angst
Pairing: Stiles/Male Character
Length: Medium (23,934 words)

Author's Summary:
In which Derek is a gruff, struggling executive for his family's sprawling, wealthy company in New York, and Stiles is his quirky, offbeat intern who brings him cold coffee each morning and wears stupid T-shirts to work and generally succeeds at being a thousand times more charming than Derek could ever hope to be. To the outside observer, their relationship is combative but fond, although in private Stiles and Derek have a great deal more secrets, anger, and painful history between them than Derek is prepared to acknowledge or reveal. In retrospect, that might be half of the problem.

Review:
This fic is about tough jobs, difficult interpersonal relationships and characters who like each other but just can't get it together. It's well written and certainly handles the tough issues it set out to deal with in a great way and manages to do so in a medium-short one shot. The emotional climax of the story in particular really got me so I had to rec it.

Friends of Early Theory (on AO3)

Title: where thou art, that is home
Author: ShanaStoryteller Fandom: Teen Wolf
Genre: AU/Pre-series Fixit, Magic!Stiles
Pairing: Derek/Stiles
Length: Very Long (Words: 91,179 and counting)

Author's Summary:
Stiles is ten when he saves the Hales from their burning home and Derek from a wolfsbane bullet, and this establishes a pattern that seem to continue indefinitely.

"Then he's facing a burning home, and he wraps the hood of his sweatshirt around his mouth before he pushes the door open and steps inside. There's Mr. Hale asleep - he hopes asleep - on the couch, next to - Stiles thinks that's his brother but there are so many Hales, who can keep track. He rushes over and starts shaking him, can see the rise and fall of the man's chest so he knows he's alive, but he's not waking up.
He shoves away his hood so he can shout, "Mr. Hale! You have to get up, there's a fire! Mr. Hale, get up!" Nothing, he's not even twitching, both of them taking in deep even breaths like they're having the most peaceful of rests, and Stiles is going to cry. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!"
There's a moment, where all Stiles can hear is the blood rushing in his ears and not the roar of the flames or the creak of wood, then with a violent, silent pop it's all back and both of the men are gasping awake, eyes open and jumping to their feet."

Review:
The world-building in this one is really good - all sorts of details go into the magic!Stiles storyline. Also, the characters are compelling and the relationships and friendships are interesting to follow. There are a lot of adventures in this story too, so basically there's a little something for everyone.

where thou art, that is home (on AO3)

Title: Divided We Stand
Author: KouriArashi
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Genre: Family, Mystery
Pairing: Derek/Stiles
Length: Very Long (156,742 words)
Warning: possibly triggery re: bullying?

Author's Summary:
Derek is being pressured by his family to pick a mate, and somehow stumbles into a choice that they didn't expect and aren't sure they approve of....

Review:
I've passed this one by a ton of times before despite the thousands of Kudos because I'm not really a bit fan of soulmate fics and to be honest, I don't particularly like that aspect of this fic either, but there are some very, very good things about this fic that make it worth the read even so. For one, there's a fantastic mystery element that I don't want to spoil and Stiles manages to crack it through a lot of hardwork and skill - and that's awesome and kind of rare in fiction. Also, I absolutely LOVE the characterization of Peter in this one - he's brilliant and complicated and damaged and creepy and loyal and dangerous and it really works fantastically well. There's a lot of nice characterization here (not really Season 3 compliant, but really good in its own right) and some fantastic family and friendship stuff going on. So, even if the whole werewolf mates trope isn't your cup of tea (and most especially if it is your thing), check this fic out.

Divided We Stand (on AO3)

Title: Historically Inaccurate
Author: fuzzytomato 
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Genre: Romance, Complete AU - Reenactment/Museum
Pairing: Derek/Stiles
Length: Medium (20,368 words)

Author's Summary:
Stiles is surprisingly okay with all the weird shit that goes on at Beacon City Historic Ghost Town - ghost lights, howling, pianos playing on their own. Having to work closely with the surly blacksmith is another matter.

Review:
Interesting total AU and not one I've seen before.  A good story, feels pretty short but has distinct style and the romance arc is well done.

Historically Inaccurate (on AO3)

Title: Incantation Ink
Author: otter
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Genre: AU, Magic
Pairing:Derek/Stiles
Length: Medium (Words: 30,042)

Author's Summary:
1. The tattoo parlor didn’t look like much. The apprentice who was supposed to be inking Derek's new magical tattoo wasn't immediately confidence-inspiring either.
2. Stiles wanted Derek to be happy, and he wanted Derek to be safe, and these things were as obvious and visible as the tattoos on Stiles’ skin, the shapes that Derek could trace now with his fingers without even looking.
3. The thing was, as much as Derek believed in Stiles, with every fiber of his being, he didn’t honestly believe that things would turn out as well as Stiles seemed to think they would.
4. Stiles was willing to give anything at all to erase the careful distance that Derek always kept, even from him.

Review:
Cool world-building, especially the descriptions of magic. Contains magic tattoos (and tattoo-artist!Stiles). Also, Stiles does this thing with a fox tattoo that I don't want to spoil but it's pretty cool.

Incantation Ink (on AO3)

Title: The Magic School Bus Stops a Spell
Author: corbae
Fandom: Teen Wolf, Magic School Bus
Genre: Crack, Crossover
Length: Short (Words: 1,838)

Author's Summary:
It all began when Ms. Frizzle got the letter from her niece.

Review:
Unrepentant crack!fic, but kind of awesome for it.

The Magic School Bus Stops a Spell (on AO3)
podfic by Rhea, audiobook by Fire-Juggler (on AO3)