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By Strength and Virtue by Casspeach (NC-17)

  • Dec. 1st, 2010 at 11:59 AM
Title: By Strength and Virtue by Casspeach
Fandom: Merlin
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Categories: angst
Length: Medium (~10,000 words)
Warnings: aliens magical creatures made them do it aka dubcon; also, Arthur Doesn't Find Out

Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] casspeach 
Website: n/a

Review:
When Arthur runs afoul of a water creature that lures men to their deaths, Merlin intervenes. Unfortunately, this does not work quite as well as planned.

In most Aliens Made Them Do It type stories, the dubcon nature of the sex is usually smoothed over or completely ignored, because either the characters were already secretly in love, powerful aphrodisiacs were used, and/or because they were already being intimate. And that's fine -- given a choice between dubcon or not having dubcon, I'll usually pick the latter. That said, it's nice to occasionally read a fic that really considers what it means to have two people forced to have sex. It's not all roses and rainbows.

I do have to say that the ending to this fic is a bit rushed, but that's a minor quibble next to the fascinating exploration of Arthur's psyche as he is betrayed by his own body. An excellent fic for anyone interested in the darker side of Aliens Made Them Do It fic.

By Strength and Virtue

Comments

[identity profile] tres_mechante.livejournal.com wrote:
Dec. 1st, 2010 07:02 pm (UTC)
link?
Great to see you back!

Um...the link goes to a Trek fic...
[identity profile] jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:
Dec. 1st, 2010 07:16 pm (UTC)
Re: link?
*headdesk* And that would be the *other* casspeach story I'm reccing in this marathon. I'll get it fixed. Thanks!
[identity profile] of-fkilter.livejournal.com wrote:
Aug. 21st, 2011 09:43 pm (UTC)
I really liked this story for the reasons you did, and I liked this Arthur hating feeling out of control and willing to consider the unthinkable to keep himself from dishonorable behavior and hurting his friend more. I too thought the ending was sort of flat, but the concept and execution till then was well done.

It would have been nice to see the bondage issue fleshed out a bit more though, as most reasons for bondage bother me a bit usually but this felt very natural. I do rather wonder why "must have sex" fics tend to have very strict ideas about sex meaning penetration and that only one of the pair is usually ever the catcher.

Ah well, as you say, small quibbles and perhaps just personal preference in the last bit.
[identity profile] jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:
Aug. 23rd, 2011 01:40 am (UTC)
Glad you liked it!

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