I'll Gladly Smut You Tuesday: Fic Recs!

[themostepotente]

Two from hp_rarities!

On Being, In the Company of Others (With Annotations and Accurate Biography as Written by S. Snape, Himself) - Snape/Regulus, Snape/Lupin [PG-13] by Mystery Author.

A gorgeous, sleek telling of Severus's schoolboy encounters with Regulus and Remus. I admire the author's experimental bravery, choosing a narrative both lyrical and smartly stream of conscious in styling. I love Severus's characterisation in this, and his voice is dead on. This concludes beautifully, too, at a critical point and time in his life.

Maelstrom - Harry/Teddy [NC-17] by Mystery Author.

I really seem to gravitate to these kinds of stories about pressuring mid-life crises and sexual discovery. This story is no exception, and the author genuinely seems to transcend that line of believability for me. This is a story about real people with real problems, and part of me is sorry the author needed Rowling's universe as a vehicle to convey what could possibly be a very compelling, original piece of fiction about personal growth and self-exploration.

In Maelstrom, the Potters, the Weasleys and Teddy Lupin take a holiday in Greece. Paradise becomes Harry's personal Hell, though, exacerbated by gloomy temperaments and gloomier weather. Honestly, I wonder if I wasn't supposed to interpret the rain as some sort of biblical omen, but then I can totally relate having been on what can only be described as a 'very wet holiday.'

Harry's troubled marriage to Ginny reaches crisis-level. They've been to see a Marriage Healer, and no amount of advice seems to be helping either party. To worsen matters, Harry's relationships with his children are tenuous at best, and Al proves to be a bit of an enigma for Harry. Al's quiet and bookish and more than a bit miserable, and Harry has yet to find a way to relate to his middle son.

Enter Teddy, equally conflicted and utterly unlikeable at this point. To further compound Harry's troubles, Harry catches Teddy in a very compromising position, and from there matters become uncomfortably complicated. And this is probably the appropriate point to mention that the sex in this fic is UNGODLY hot without being overmuch. The wank scene? Just GUH!

I went from liking to sympathising to hating Harry and Teddy so much that I gave up settling on one feeling. There is a turning point, however, when Teddy proclaims himself as 'war trash', and my heart just bleeds when Harry realises that he too, is the product of war-torn times. Kleenex, please!

In conclusion, a few other reviewers have mentioned some niggling points; minor canon errors and some exposition dump. I can't say I was too bothered by any of this, because this is really just a FUCKING AMAZING fic. I'm six paragraphs deep in this review, and I still don't feel as though I'm doing this any amount of justice. My only complaint is that I'm still a little unsure about the ending. Saturday, I walked away feeling one way, Sunday another. I will say this, though; sometimes you're with the wrong person for all the right reasons, and sometimes you're with the right person for all wrong reasons. And the beauty of this statement? It's aimed at everyone involved.

Enjoy all!

--P

Comments

[snegurochka_lee]

It's interesting to me to see readers' critiques of this one as well as squee. I for one found the opening segment rough and off-putting; I see from her review that Beth found part 2 the bit that nearly threw her out; and here you have questions about the ending, which I didn't. :) I think part of the reason it's so good is that it's not formulaic or "perfect" in a fanfic sense; there are flaws but also areas that will appeal to different readers in different ways. And because the story is focused to such a large extent on emotional journeys for the characters, I think it's perfectly reasonable that readers will react to different aspects of that journey in different ways, probably informed by the own experiences.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Now see, I agree with bethbethbeth. It was actually the last part for me that I had some concerns about. I absolutely LOVED the first two parts and was not at all fussed by the eye colour or the fact that Teddy was not a Metamorphmagus. The latter may be because I just wrote Teddy as a werewolf, and I think I prefer him taking after Remus and not Tonks. Yeah, that's probably bad of me, I know :P

Mel and I were just discussing some trigger words (I should really do a discussion post about this), and I know that no matter how fucking good a fic is, 'cum' will pull me out every time. I am adamant about that. No exceptions.