Makoyi's Fanfic Recs and Other Stuff

Title: the small
Author: dirgewithoutmusic
Fandom: Tortall
Genre: Minor Character POV
Pairing: Lalasa Isran/Tianine Plowman
Length: Short (7,086 words)

Author's Summary:
Bandits came for Lalasa’s family and burned the whole farm out, except for her, because she had been at the river washing clothes. Lalasa did not miss her father or her brothers for all the long years of her life, which should tell you something about her.
She cried for them anyway, and that should tell you something too.
--
Retelling of Page and Squire from Lalasa's POV.

Review:
Does a great job capturing Lalasa's character which is an interesting one in terms of her own character arc and how it runs parallel to and independently of Kel's.

the small (on AO3)

Title: The Best Years of Our Lives
Author: CharleyFoxtrot
Fandom: Supernatural
Genre: Time Travel (sort of), Romance, a little bit of a casefic
Pairing: Castiel/Dean, Sam/OFC
Length: Very Long (110,801 words)

Author's Summary:
AU after Season 8, episode 6, "Southern Comfort." Dean goes to sleep in a motel room in Texarkana, and he wakes up 17 years old, in his childhood bedroom in Lawrence, Kansas, 1996. He has no idea how he got there, why his parents are still alive, why his brother is an adorable freshman with no memory of his adult life, and why the only ally he has in this place is the angel he left behind in Purgatory – somehow also 17 years old. They have to get out, that's the important thing. Only, falling in love with his angel wasn't a part of the plan....

Review:
Set immediately post-Purgatory, this is a good fic for people who used to love Supernatural and lost interest recently (like me). This fic is very well-written, has great characterizations of canon characters and OCs, and has some strong plotting too. Dean wakes up to a world where he's out as bi in his 90s midwestern high school which is really tough (warning for a seriously violent hate crime at one point) but it also leads to some really touching moments where Dean gets support from his dad. And then when it looks like everything has finally worked out well, you get a bonus second happy ending on top of that. Lovely story.

The Best Years of Our Lives (on AO3)

Title: Rewrite
Author: Dreaming-Of-A-Nightmare
Fandom: Glee
Genre: Time Travel (redo type - serial and uncontrolled), Soulmates
Pairing: Kurt/Dave Karofsky
Length: Very Long (130,934 words)

Author's Summary:
A web of time-travel, do-overs, romance, friendship, humor, angst, and death after death to bring Dave to new chances and new life, because all he wants is Kurt and to set things right, to undo his regrets. .:. Kurtofsky, mostly AU, multi-chap, complete.

Review:
Interesting premise, a little heavy on Fate as plot device but I thought the characterizations were pretty well-written - I particularly enjoyed the characterizations in the timeline where Dave comes out as a freshman and deals with homophobic bullying while Kurt is the closet case - plus I thought the complicated plotting between the intersecting time travelers personal timelines was done very well. I thought the ending was a little abrupt - it swung so rapidly from intense grief to happily ever after that I felt a little left in the dust, but it was an enjoyable read nevertheless.

Rewrite (on ff.net)

Title: Need To Know
Author: ellen_fremedon
Fandom: Torchwood, Star Trek
Genre: Crossover, PWP
Pairing: Jack/Naraht
Length: Medium (10,523 words)

Author's Summary:
Jack loves working the Federation timezone. You meet the most interesting people.

Review:
Found this rec'd on fancake as the best truly-omnisexual!Jack fic and decided I had to read it.  It is that, and also a fantastic sci fi. I usually avoid food kink as a personal squick but I didn't pay attention to what I was getting into and then this appeared and I had to keep reading:

I so rarely read straight PWP (I'm gray-ace so not really my thing) but that part actually really speaks to me (in some ways better than things written by other aces) and I almost never see that kind of thing represented so I had to come and share it here, and the story is so well written and wonderfully science fictiony, even the food part, that I didn't even mind the food kink.

Need To Know (on AO3)

Title: Session Transcripts
Author: lastcrazyhorn
Fandom: Harry Potter
Genre: AU - Diverse characters, Epistolary, Psych issues
Length: Very Long (118,844 words)
Warnings: contains discussion of abuse and its lasting effects

Author's Summary:
What happens when a brain damaged Harry and a transgender Hermione both get sorted into Slytherin? Snape's not sure, but he thinks it's likely to be an interesting term. This story follows various first years through the trials of their first year.

Review:
This fic deals with a lot of heavy issues, mostly really well. This story is mostly about characters with a variety of psych issues, with a Harry with TBI and/or autism and FTM Hermione and a lot of other students in counseling too after active screening of all students for abuse. But it's also a story about Snape as a mentor to these characters and it really develops his character well in service of that. Finally, I think this is the best use of epistolary that I've ever found. Lots of good reasons to read this fic.

Session Transcripts (on AO3)

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: Steak (and No Blowjobs) Day
Author: threewalls
Fandom: Person of Interest
Genre: Casefic
Pairing: Root/Shaw
Length: Very Short (1506 words)

Author's Summary:
A year after they saved the world at Cartagena, Root is still tapping Shaw for side-missions.

Review:
This one is another brand new Trope Bingo fic. It's short, but it captures the craziness of working with Root and how amazingly Shaw manages it and gets on with being BAMF really well.

Steak (and No Blowjobs) Day [on AO3]

Title: The Master of Latham Hall
Author: Kryptaria
Fandom: Sherlock BBC
Genre: Casefic, Paranormal, Historical Romance, Asexual Romance
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, OMC/OMC, OMC/OFC
Length: Medium (47,679 words)
Warnings: historical homophobia, historical imperial attitudes, suicide, violent hauntings
note: rec'd on fancake

Author's Summary:
Ten years after meeting Sherlock Holmes, John Watson has successfully kept only one secret from the world's only consulting detective: the most important secret he's ever had.

Now, drawn into an impossible web of murders at Latham Hall, John learns the terrible price a man must pay for keeping certain things secret.

Review:
I'm a huge fan of paranormal casefic/Urban Fantasy in general, so naturally I really liked that element of this one.  I also enjoyed the combination with a historical gay romance and the contemporary ace romance in this fic, plus the ghost character is really interesting.  But what I liked most is that this fic speaks to that element of ACD's Sherlock that is that whole "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" which is something that the BBC Sherlock doesn't usually get to be (probably in an effort to maintain his fairly abrasive BBC canon personality) so it was really nice to see that come up in this fic.

The Master of Latham Hall (on AO3)

Title: On Being Female
Author: nomadicwriter
Fandom: Discworld
Genre: General, LGBT, Character Study
Length: Short (Words: 1,141)

Author's Summary:
It began, as did so many bewilderments small and large, with a declaration by Captain Carrot.

Review:
In this fic, Carrot tells Commander Vimes about joining the Dwarf Women's Guild which requires its members identify as female, so basically it's Carrot saying he identifies as female. Vimes finds this understandably confusing. Carrot, well, sometimes I think the best thing about Captain Carrot's character is how totally uncomplicated he finds things. It's a very interesting look at Carrot as a character and gender as the dwarves of Discworld see it (though fyi, the fic won't make sense if you're not already familiar with canon dwarfish ideas about gender).

On Being Female (on AO3)

Title: The Not Your Teaching Tool Job
Author: BlackEyedGirl
Fandom: Leverage
Pairings: Parker/Eliot Spencer/Alec Hardison
Genre: Romance, Coming Out, Asexual Relationships
Length: Short (Words: 3,750)

Author's Summary:
Parker doesn't understand why it has to be more complicated than: "I want to be with you, I just don't want to sleep with you." It's everyone else who has the problem. (Parker as a biromantic asexual)

Review:
LGBT fest fic from a few years ago. I've just found Leverage and I really like some of the quirky characters, especially Parker, Eliot, and Hardison. I think this fic does a good job with Parker's characterization and manages to be a good portrayal of romantic asexuality and coming out as ace too.

The Not Your Teaching Tool Job (on AO3)