Title: Global and Eternal

Fandom: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Pairing: Eugenides/Irene
Categories: angst, political intrigue, romance, drama
Length: medium, 3264 words
Warnings: references to mutilation and torture as per the books

Author on LJ: n/a?
Author Website: tricatular on AO3

Summary (mine): The tale of a coup upon the rulership of Attolia. (I think that the summary attached by the author is actually somewhat spoilery. Jump right into the fic! Be bold!)

Review: “You have had your time,” she said, coldly. “I want you to understand: this was always coming.”

Eugenides choked. He put his head down, shaking his head to try and clear his eye like an animal in a trap. “Irene,” he said again, “no, please. Please.”

“You did not steal me,” she said. “I was never yours.” She withdrew her foot, and fastidiously tapped it against the floor as if knocking off dirt.

I do seem to be failing on the 'epic' part of my recs lately, but here's a story that certainly feels more epic than its ~3000 word wordcount.

Megan Whalen Turner's name could almost be attached to this and I wouldn't be surprised. The author manages to capture the intensity and subtlety of the romance and politicking in the books, the chasm between the public and private faces of the king and queen of Attolia, and the layers of buried intrigue that take multiple readings (or at least the odd double-take) to unravel.

The two leads of this series of novels and their unconventional love story are long favourites of mine, and particularly in this fic I love the absolute composure of the Queen who reveals nothing, holding the threads of the plots while appearing submissive, contrasted with the King whose past trauma is all painted on the surface, and who manages to be awesome in spite of his deficit of dignity.

This is probably a primarily Yuletide fandom in terms of fanfiction production but is pretty energetic in its own right, so if you've read the books but you're not familiar with its presence online I suggest checking out sounis on livejournal. (A bonus free community rec thrown in!)

Global and Eternal