![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
It's Family Week here at Epic Recs -- making a family, being a family, and finding a family. And for an example of the latter:
Title: Fellow Travelers by J. Brooks
Fandom: Magnificent 7
Pairing: gen
Categories: kid!fic, AU, drama, adventure, h/c, humor, friendship
Length: Long (~30,000 words)
Warnings: n/a
Author on LJ: n/a
Website: n/a
Review:
When seven-year-old Ezra's uncle threatens to kill Nathan (his slave) Nathan and Ezra go on the run. Soon they meet up with a bounty hunter with a price on his head and a four soldiers who are the only survivors of a typhus epidemic at a Kansas fort.
This is, by far, my favorite Magnificent Seven fic. Not only do you have great plotting, solid writing, and plenty of humor, you also have some of the best characterizations in the fandom.
Kid!Ezra is exceptionally well done: undoubtedly a child, but already molded by his unusual childhood to be more cautious and self-reliant than any child should have to be. Much of my love of this fic comes from Ezra's gradual acceptance and trust of the new adults in his life.
Even better is the characterization of Nathan: beaten but not broken, a bit of a mother hen, and an all-around amazing father to Ezra. To me this is far closer to the canon character than the endless fics in which Nathan is portrayed as irrational and judgmental.
My favorite characterization, however, might just be Vin, with his quiet competence and sly sense of humor. After reading a few hundred fics that define Vin entirely by a lack of education and/or turn him into a(n overly emotional) damsel in distress, I was thrilled to find a fic in which he proves himself to be just as calm, confident, and canny as he was in canon.
All in all a great fic populated by captivating characters. Even if you aren't a fan of Mag7 fic in general, I recommend you give this fic a try.
Fellow Travellers
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Title: Fellow Travelers by J. Brooks
Fandom: Magnificent 7
Pairing: gen
Categories: kid!fic, AU, drama, adventure, h/c, humor, friendship
Length: Long (~30,000 words)
Warnings: n/a
Author on LJ: n/a
Website: n/a
Review:
When seven-year-old Ezra's uncle threatens to kill Nathan (his slave) Nathan and Ezra go on the run. Soon they meet up with a bounty hunter with a price on his head and a four soldiers who are the only survivors of a typhus epidemic at a Kansas fort.
This is, by far, my favorite Magnificent Seven fic. Not only do you have great plotting, solid writing, and plenty of humor, you also have some of the best characterizations in the fandom.
Kid!Ezra is exceptionally well done: undoubtedly a child, but already molded by his unusual childhood to be more cautious and self-reliant than any child should have to be. Much of my love of this fic comes from Ezra's gradual acceptance and trust of the new adults in his life.
Even better is the characterization of Nathan: beaten but not broken, a bit of a mother hen, and an all-around amazing father to Ezra. To me this is far closer to the canon character than the endless fics in which Nathan is portrayed as irrational and judgmental.
My favorite characterization, however, might just be Vin, with his quiet competence and sly sense of humor. After reading a few hundred fics that define Vin entirely by a lack of education and/or turn him into a(n overly emotional) damsel in distress, I was thrilled to find a fic in which he proves himself to be just as calm, confident, and canny as he was in canon.
All in all a great fic populated by captivating characters. Even if you aren't a fan of Mag7 fic in general, I recommend you give this fic a try.
Fellow Travellers
Designed by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chasethestars
chasethestars
Comments
i agree with everything you've said about this fic, and it really does make a good read.
-bs
I think the problem isn't so much pickiness (though I definitely am picky) as it's the fact that the M7 fandom as a whole wants different things in their fics than I do. I remember reading an author's note that pretty much says it all: (paraphrased) 'I tried to take everyone's suggestions and hurt my characters more.' Which is pretty much the philosophy of the M7 fandom as a whole (though there are obvious exceptions): hurt is good. Comfort is not necessary. Angst is king (and placed well above characterization). Which is pretty much the exact opposite of what I personally enjoy reading:)
IDIC, yah?
-bs
-bs
The fic told entirely in telegrams, though, is pure comedy gold. I think it's one of my favorite Mag7 fics of all time. As is "The Explorer," especially the part where Nathan threatens to stake the previously-bitten-by-a-gila-monster bad guy out in the desert and "let the lizards have their way with him." (That one's also got a good and non-damsel-in-distress Vin).
Other J. Brooks fics might possibly be in my to-rec folder. Maybe. *cough*