Title: Act of Nature Series
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: Giles/Xander, Xander/OMC
Categories: angst, Christmas, drama, post-canon, romance, sad stories, first time male/male
Length: Epic (~78,000 words)
Warnings: jealousy, hints of partner betrayal, character death (the character is a canon character, but is dead for the whole of this series)

Author on LJ: wesleysgirl, janedavitt
Author Website: WesleysGirl’s Fanfic, Jane’s Stories

Review:
Xander is renovating a large property for the Council on a small island in Scotland. When Giles shows up early for his Christmas visit, Xander isn’t prepared for the terrible news he’s come to share.

For a Christmas story, this is one long walk in angst-ville. Luckily it is well-written, considering it’s missing some of the best elements of most stories in Buffy’verse. Sadly, the series is completely lacking in anything remotely supernatural. Also, there are none of the fantastic canon characters that always add so much to any stories in the Buffy fandom, just Xander and Giles alone on an under-populated island.

Luckily there are a couple OCs that are a good deal of fun, most notably John. Because John is such a well-written character, though, it’s hard to feel anything but pity for him. The last story, particularly, leaves me with a bitter taste in the mouth.

The amazing thing about this series, though, is that it’s written so seamlessly. Usually when there are two authors it’s fairly easy to tell each author’s voice apart from the other, but there is none of that in this series. Also, despite the fact that this is a fairly depressing story, the romance between the boys is quite sweet. All in all, a very nice read, although I wouldn’t read it if already depressed by the holiday season.

Master Post:
Act of Nature series