Title: Iantowood
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto, background side pairings
Categories/Genres: action, angst, casefic
Length: Epic, 300K+
Warnings: canon typical violence, torture (non graphic), consensual semi-graphic sex

Author/Artist on LJ: jovialien
Author/Artist Website: on a03 (http://archiveofourown.org/users/jovialien/profile)

Summary: Jack is a broken waste of a man in the years following Ianto's death in CoE, so John Hart decides to go back and fix it.

Review:
This series is, without a doubt, one of the best fanfics I have ever read. I stayed up way too late every night for a week reading this. And it was sooo worth it.

It starts a few years after the events of Children of Earth, Jack is back in the future and back with John Hart, but he's a shell of the man he used to be; destructive and useless. John decided to do something about it and goes back in time to save Ianto's life. The story that follows is SO much more than just a CoE fixit, it tells an incredibly nuanced and well paced story of how the world recovers after undergoing such a horrific experience. The story is primarily told from Ianto's perspective and we get to see him slowly grow into this badass man who finds himself in charge of Torchwood and having to deal with the political consequences of the world.

Jovialien jumps perspective, which gives the story a real sense of breadth and completeness. All the main people are there, Gwen, Jack, John, Martha but it's the secondary and original characters that the author shows her expertise through. Minor characters from CoE - such as Lois and Johnson - are given backgrounds and have a real role to play in the story, in addition to the original characters plopped in to help tell the story, all of whom you genuinely care for. The Jack/Ianto romance is full of angst and pain and love. The author stays to canon with Jack leaving at the end, and the story explores the pain that Ianto felt at being abandoned. Jack comes back not to the innocent boy he left, but a man who is confident in what he wants from life.

I've reread this story so many times. You can see my disgusting comments on the ao3 pages if you read it. I like gush all over the damn thing its so good. Just go read it.

Iantowood (http://archiveofourown.org/series/24612)


Edited 2014-07-03 02:36 am (UTC)

Title: What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Pairing: Derek/Stiles, various side pairings
Categories/Genres: AU, Supernatural, Slow build
Length: Super-epic 100K+
Warnings: Spoilers up to and including Season 3. Past canon character deaths. Violence and sexual content.

Author/Artist Website: Ao3 (http://archiveofourown.org/users/grimm)

Summary: There's something weird about Beacon Hills that Stiles can't quite put his finger on. The way everyone in town knows his name the day he arrives. The way they insist the melancholic howling that echoes through the forest every night is just a dog. The way his dad denies getting a dog, even though Stiles comes home to find one sprawled across his bed, some big black thing whose eyes gleam red in the right light. The way that massive oak tree out in the woods vibrates under his touch, pulsing with sickly life.

There's something weird going on in this town, and Stiles is determined to get to the bottom of it.

Review: This fanfiction is hands down one of the best stories I've ever read, period. It's a slow-build, but beautifully written novel and every step of the way the author pulls you further into the story.

In this universe, Stiles never grows up in Beacon Hills and his father has recently become the newest Beacon Hills Sheriff when Stiles comes home for the summer from college.

Unlike the show, this story isn't about coming of age and teenage angst, but rather uncovering the past, discovery, making amends and finding forgiveness in yourself.


What I Did On My Summer Vacation (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1881024/chapters/4052355/)

Title: No Yesterdays On the Road
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Pairing: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Categories/Genres: Alternate Universe, Action/Adventure, Friendship
Length: Epic (42,275)
Warnings: Torture (non graphic), Canon Typical Violence, Swearing

Author/Artist on LJ: pocky_slash
Author/Artist Website: pocky_slash on AO3 (http://archiveofourown.org/users/pocky_slash/pseuds/pocky_slash)

Summary: It's been two months since Cuba and things are settling down for Charles, Erik, and the beginnings of their mutant school. Right up until Charles disappears, that is. Faced with the possibility that a bitter Emma Frost has kidnapped Charles, Erik is forced to team up with Moira to hunt down the remainder of the Hellfire Club. From there, they hope to locate Frost and retrieve Charles, without killing each other along the way.

(Or: Erik and Moira Drive Across the Country and Talk About Their Feelings.)

Review:
There are very few stories that I can reread, and that applies to both fanfics and real books. This, though, this is one that I will certainly read over and over.

The story starts just a few months after the film, diverging from canon right away. In this universe, Erik killed Shaw, didn't leave Charles and the kids on the beach, and Charles wasn't injured. The team has opened the mansion to young mutants, and have adopted several young mutants. The original team, Erik, and Charles are all teachers at the school.

After Erik and Charles have an argument, Charles mysteriously disappears in the night. This sets into motion a series of events that has Erik and Moira banding together to travel across the country to save their friend.

This fandom usually focuses on the friendship between Charles and Moira, which is fine. But this story instead addresses the relationship between Erik and Moira, which is, admittedly, more interesting to me. This story managed to blend the jealousy between Moira and Erik that is, in my mind, apparent in the films, with the necessity of working together to find their telepath. It transforms the relationship in a way that I believe is entirely believable.

Anyone who is in the X-Men fandom knows pocky_slash, and knows that she writes quality fanfics. This is certainly no exception. This story is well written, well researched, and just all around well done.

No Yesterdays On the Road (http://archiveofourown.org/works/238558)