Title: The Great American Novel
Fandom: Bandom + Boy Band (N’Sync)
Pairing:
Relationships - Frank/Mikey, Brendon/Ryan, Bob/Spencer, Jon/Pete, Gerard/JC, Frank/Gerard, Mikey/Pete, JC/Lance, Brian/Matt/Joe
Just Sex - Brendon/Ryan/Jon, Ryan/Pete, Bredon/Ryan/Frank/Mikey, Gerard/JC/Justin, Gerard/Matt, Gerard/OMCs, Mikey/OMCs, Brendon/OFC, Pete/OFCs
Categories: angst, AU, BDSM, dark, drama, family, hurt/comfort, prostitute, romance, virgin, different established relationships in every fic
Length: Super Epic (~200,000 words!)
Warnings: graphic non-con, graphic non-penetrative rape by boyfriend, rape recovery, graphic dub-con, partner betrayal, violence, BDSM, alcoholism, drug abuse, blackmail, prostitution, exhibitionism, underage (Spencer 17/Bob 25), gore, threesomes

Author on LJ: arsenicjade
Author Website: stories by arsenicjade

Review:
Frank stalks My Chemical Romance. Brendon gives Ryan headaches. Spencer lies. Jon calms Pete down. Gerard has kind of a thing with JC.

Since I’m willing to admit this is one of the worst summaries in the history of summaries, I’m going to mention the fact that the best thing to do in order to decide if you really want to read this fic or not is read Arsenic’s Author’s Notes. This fic is kind of a huge investment. Especially since: each story has a wildly different genre, and each story occurs concurrently and, due to the friendships in this series, reveals the relationships in the other stories as established relationships.

Each story is about a different relationship. There’s really no feel of overlap, which is especially unbelievable considering that “Good Boys” and “42” take place over the same period of time on the same bus. Some of the fics are extremely angsty. Some deal with some pretty unsavory topics. Luckily they’re dealt with in such a stark way they cause a kind of catharsis.

Now for the negatives. If you read the first story, you’re really signing yourself up for all of them, as none of them really makes complete sense on its own. The characters are a bit OOC, probably due to the fact this was Arsenic’s first story in Bandom. Finally there’s the ending of the stories. The endings are all (other than “Scenes from a Bus” which has just one scene after that ending, which is even more awkward than the rest) set at the same time period in the same place and really do feel like an add-on, especially considering this series has no real beginning. Heck, none of the stories has a real beginning.

On the extremely positive side, the relationships are each totally unique. The friendships are well-built, especially cross-band friendships. The writing in general is impeccable. Every character is full of flaws (which can be hard to find in fandom). And the title “Good Boys” is so perfect that when I got where it came from I gasped. This is a really fantastic read, but not an enterprise to be taken on lightly.

Master Post: The Great American Novel
Scenes from a Bus
Good Boys
42
The 3%
Eight Times