Title: Gibraltar May Tumble
Fandom: Merlin
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Categories: Romance, Paranormal, Modern AU, Drama, Reincarnation, Angst, Ghosts
Length: Long (24,601 words)
Warnings: Technically major character death (off-screen) but please don't let that put you off (see summary and review for details).

Author on LJ: shes_gone
Author Website: shes_gone

Author's Summary:
Merlin's life in London is a bit of a mess: his career is trapped somewhere between student and professional, his love life is trapped in a relationship gone sour, and most days he feels physically trapped in the tiny, shared flat he can't afford to move out of—until an unexpected opportunity sends him packing for the coast. There, he meets someone who might be in a even worse fix than he is: Arthur, a Victorian-era sea captain who's trapped, a bit literally, between life and death, and who refuses to leave the house he died in over a hundred years ago.

Review:
Before I start in on the review I want to mention the warning for major character death. I don't normally read stories with major character death, but this one is the exception. The way it is handled in this story is satisfactory even to a Happily Ever After addict such as myself. So without further ado...

How better to begin the month of October than with a ghost story? Gibraltar May Tumble is certainly that -- and a very good one -- but at its heart it is really a love story. Merlin is looking for a fresh start, and he finds one in the charmingly rendered town of Whitecliff. The author gives the town a lovely ambiance that really brings the setting to life to serve as the perfect backdrop for this romance.

The characterizations of Arthur and Merlin are spot on, with delightful banter and just the right amount of that push/pull dynamic that is such an integral part of their relationship. There is an intensity to their feelings for one another that is very engaging; it really draws you in. The author conveys this particularly well in the love scenes, where the depth of feeling Arthur and Merlin have for one another is so clear, and so perfectly hot.

To paraphrase my favorite line in the story (with my apologies to the author): if all I can have is one Merlin ghost story, then I want this one.

Gibraltar May Tumble