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Title: No Islands Any More
Fandom: The Sentinel
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Categories: angst, h/c
Length: epic
Warnings: pre-story non-con
Author on LJ: n/a?
Author Website: n/a?
Review:
While investigating a case, Jim and Blair are captured and Blair is brutally gang-raped (fortunately all pre-story, with a few not-too-graphic flashbacks giving us clues as to what happened). It takes Jim and Blair a long time to find their way back to normal.
This has been sitting in my possible recs folder almost from the moment I started Epic Recs and each time I cleaned the folder out, I'd skip this one, not sure what to do with it. Since I managed to *not* delete it several times now, I figured I should go ahead and rec it.
The dilemma I have isn't due to the writing, which is very good (far better than you would expect from someone who only wrote one story ever, which leads myself and others to believe that BTRK is a alias for one or more better known author(s)). Nor is it the characterization, which is spot-on, taking into consideration the constraints of the plot. The issue is with, well, the premise. Namely that after Blair's assault, he has a breakdown that results in a major personality disorder. It seems far-fetched, especially considering how resiliant Blair is in canon and fanon. On the other hand, it's not like the premise is any more outrageous than mystical bonding and meddling ghosts, so maybe I should just get over it already.
Now that I spent all that time on the issues, how about the positives? This story is *very* well written, and the plot (once you get past the premise) is fascinating, chock full of trust issues and lovely, lovely hurt/comfort. Blair's recovery is fascinating, as are Jim's attempts to be supporting. More interesting are the times Jim's control slips -- most h/c stories feature a Jim with endless patience, which is neither canon compliant nor particularly realistic, and this iteration is both more human and more likeable for his flaws. Mix in a bit of mystery regarding the eventual fates of Blair's assailants and a wonderful OC in the form of Blair's therapist and you have one of the best stories in Sentinel fandom.
No Islands Anymore
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Fandom: The Sentinel
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Categories: angst, h/c
Length: epic
Warnings: pre-story non-con
Author on LJ: n/a?
Author Website: n/a?
Review:
While investigating a case, Jim and Blair are captured and Blair is brutally gang-raped (fortunately all pre-story, with a few not-too-graphic flashbacks giving us clues as to what happened). It takes Jim and Blair a long time to find their way back to normal.
This has been sitting in my possible recs folder almost from the moment I started Epic Recs and each time I cleaned the folder out, I'd skip this one, not sure what to do with it. Since I managed to *not* delete it several times now, I figured I should go ahead and rec it.
The dilemma I have isn't due to the writing, which is very good (far better than you would expect from someone who only wrote one story ever, which leads myself and others to believe that BTRK is a alias for one or more better known author(s)). Nor is it the characterization, which is spot-on, taking into consideration the constraints of the plot. The issue is with, well, the premise. Namely that after Blair's assault, he has a breakdown that results in a major personality disorder. It seems far-fetched, especially considering how resiliant Blair is in canon and fanon. On the other hand, it's not like the premise is any more outrageous than mystical bonding and meddling ghosts, so maybe I should just get over it already.
Now that I spent all that time on the issues, how about the positives? This story is *very* well written, and the plot (once you get past the premise) is fascinating, chock full of trust issues and lovely, lovely hurt/comfort. Blair's recovery is fascinating, as are Jim's attempts to be supporting. More interesting are the times Jim's control slips -- most h/c stories feature a Jim with endless patience, which is neither canon compliant nor particularly realistic, and this iteration is both more human and more likeable for his flaws. Mix in a bit of mystery regarding the eventual fates of Blair's assailants and a wonderful OC in the form of Blair's therapist and you have one of the best stories in Sentinel fandom.
No Islands Anymore
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chasethestars
chasethestars
Comments
I read No Islands a couple of years ago and it's just too much hurt for me. But then, I feel that way about a lot of Myrna's stuff, so if the info above is true, then it wouldn't be surprising.
I can't say whether it's one of the best stories in fandom because if I can't read it more than once (and I couldn't) it's quite hard for me to judge. I'm not sure whether I was just in a different space or whether I just tolerated it better, but I preferred "Letters from Hades" by Demeter, which has Blair suffering from multiple personality disorder, yet coping pretty well until the person responsible comes back into his life. Quite horrifying, yet also fascinating to see the medical information laid out so well (IM uneducated O). If you want to read why I recommended LFH at Crack Van, here's the link:
http://community.livejournal.com/crack_van/3136278.html
How often do you recommend stories here?
I read No Islands a couple of years ago and it's just too much hurt for me.
I suspect this would be true for me if I tried reading it now. I'm getting a lot more picky about what I read, now that I'm reading and reccing in over a hundred fandoms. (Gah.) Frankly, mental illness is one of my squicks, which is yet another reason why I went a bit overboard on this rec (see below.)
I can't say whether it's one of the best stories in fandom
To be honest, I tend to be a bit hyperbolic when reccing a fic that I have doubts about. It's like my brain is going 'there's all of these things I *don't* like about the fic and yet I'm reccing it... thus it must be a spectacular fic to overcome my reservations.' Which... sometimes I look back and think I was stretching it a bit:)
How often do you recommend stories here?
When I started the comm, I was reccing every day. That didn't last long:) Currently I rec at least once a week, sometimes more. I read a *lot* of different fandoms, though, so the Sentinel rarely gets recced more than a couple of times a month (though as a fandom it's hanging in there -- some of my old standbys (Due South, Stargate Atlantis) haven't been recced in ages). I'm not sure what's going to happen in the future with the Sentinel at ER, since most of the new fic entering the fandom is fairly short and as much as I'm making an effort to parcel out my remaining long Sentinel fics, eventually they are going to run out.
Clearly it's time for a Sentinel Big Bang:)
I think there are still a fair number of nice long TS fic out there, old and new, but if you are reading in dozens of fandoms it's going to be hard to find them. Since this comment is buried in a long ago post, I guess it's okay to mention a few for your consideration. Perhaps Pennies for the Jungle by Rentgirl2, anything by Gritkitty but I really like Another Mode of Belonging, Stop Whispering, Just Like Coffee and Words Spoken in Winter. Calling the Beasts by K Ryn, which is gen. Fluterbev's Immersion I think is long, as well as Kith or Kin, which is a nice "what if Blair used his knowledge of Jim's senses against him" story. It's gen too, which I know there are only a few here. Ysone has some "sentinels are known" stories but I don't find most of them objectionable. Mab has some fab AUs, historical, futuristic, etc and she writes beautifully, so she's a joy to read. I haven't been able to get into her vampire fic and i avoid death stories, of which she's written two.
As far as recs and hyperbole, I think part of that also is time and experience in the fandom. At first everything is just wonderful until you've consumed hundreds of stories and then you start to see how some rely on very trope-y premises and you start to appreciate either originality or writing skill. That's why I like to read things more than once. I remember reading "In Another Life" by Saraid and Sinead (which is a pseud for someone else I believe). Very painful and I was so engrossed in it I thought it was great. When I was finally able to re-read it, all I could see were the character flaws. Yet, many people were calling it the best story they ever read. The third time I read it I was able to balance it out and call it a story I could recommend but with definite reservations.
And don't worry whether people agree or not with your recs. Very few people actually are brave enough to recommend stories. I've tried for the past year to get people to sign up for a turn at Crack Van. Most people say they wouldn't know what to recommend to please the populace. Sigh.
The number one reason why I don't rec at crack_van is because so many stories have already been recced -- it's hard to find fics that I legitimately like that haven't been recced. The last couple of times I recced at CV (once for The Sentinel, once for Due South), I ended up reccing fics that I wouldn't consider good enough to rec at ER, and I wasn't very happy with myself at the end of my turn. As the only person reccing the Sentinel at ER, at least I don't have to worry that all of the stories I liked have been recced by someone else:)
A few months back at Sentinel Fan Fiction Finders, I asked people to give me just one or two good stories by any author -- not try to pick their favorites (because you know iconic stories will always make those lists) and I got a surprising variety. I haven't compiled them yet, but you might want to file this link away for future reference:
http://community.livejournal.com/sentinelficfind/285913.html
I'll eventually compile the suggestions into a list and put it on my story tagging LJ. But for now it's in the "to do" pile. Good luck with the reccing!