ancientsgate wrote:

Oh, goody, a long one. I'll start this later today. Thanks so much for the rec, I can do some reading and ignore allllll the Christmas stuff I'm supposed to be doing this week.
 

Haha, glad I could help with your procastination. Hope you enjoy it! 

I finished the Todesfuge 2-story arc and enjoyed it a lot. Over 40 chapters altogether of romance, angst and H/C, well-laced with A/A (action/adventure). Even the medical details and the combat scenarios worked for me. I wonder if she's a professional writer, writer of movie screenplays, etc, since she tells a really good tale from all aspects. I can recommend those stories 100%, for anyone who hasn't read them. Yes, she handled her characters in ways I wouldn't have here and there, but all in all, it worked. Thanks to everyone for the rec.

Vhanja wrote:

Be Here Now was amazing, one of the better reads.

I want to share another amazing story to you guys, one I just finished:

Breakable by MissDavishn is seriously injured, Sherlock struggles to figure out how to help him, keep himself sane, and maybe, just maybe, get their life back to the way it's supposed to be.
This is a 34 chapter long (and completed) hurt/comfort fic where John - after a fall from a ladder during a crime chase - becomes paralyzed from the waist down and how Sherlock and John try to cope with the new situation and re-build their lives again.

I read 18 chapters of this and then gave up. I got to the point where I honestly didn't care if they lived or died, either one of them. I couldn't take the weeping on each others shoulders, throwing hissy fits like 11-year-old badly behaved little girls (dishes smashed into the walls, doors slammed, pouting with hurt feelings and taking off for parts unknown without a word), and endlessly repetitive emotional ground covered so many times, I wanted to holler, "All right!  I got it already!  Move on!"  I appreciate that others might have thought this was great, but alas, it just didn't do it for me.

Vhanja wrote:

I didn't view it like that at all. To each their own, I guess.

Right, exactly, which is (I think) what I tried to say. Not everything can be everyone's cuppa, for sure.

I felt bad for the author in this case, because I felt she had a great idea, a great premise, for a good angsty H/C story, and her grammar and spelling were first rate. She just badly needed a skilled editor or beta reader to get her to a) pare down everything by about half and b) get the heck on with the story already and not get mired down in tiny details that were also highly repetitive. 34 chapters that could have been told in about 20.  And c) macho up both guys a whole lot.

But I also could see how lots of people would eat the whole thing up with a spoon--  as you say, to each their own. That's what makes the world go 'round!

Last edited by ancientsgate (December 29, 2015 1:14 pm)

Well, I spent New Year's Eve with a bottle of cava, finally starting to read "Performance in a Leading Role".  

The story wasn't quite what I was expecting. Even though I love me some fluff, I felt that some of the dialouge between Sherlock and John belonged in one of those made-fun-of rom-coms John had played in. It became a bit too unicorn sweet and fluffy sometimes, to be honest. 

Having that said, it was a very original and interesting story, and a very well-written fic. Right now I'm enjoying myself with "Ask John & Sherlock", where they answer Tumblr questions. Highly entertaining!

Yeah, my review was written after I finished the main story. 

I do seem to recall a crying scene in Performance. However, I don't view men crying as "fem up". I don't see anything "weak" or "feminine" about a man who cries.

How S4 should start.  

Green Carnation by Glenien
http://archiveofourown.org/works/5633104/chapters/12973954?show_comments=true&view_full_work=false#comment_48783373

Seems I've been spending Christmas and the new year reading the classics. I've spent the last few days reading, and now completing, the main story of theNature and Nurture series. I've never wanted to read this, as Parentlock isn't really my thing. And especially not when you start adding sci-fi stuff like a clone. But then I got curious - it IS the highest ranking Johnlock fic, after all. It must be for a reason. So I gave it a go.

It didn't take me many chapters to be quite hooked. Not in the "I'-have-to-read-all-of-it-right-now"-type, as it doesn't have that kind of narrative. The slow pace and lack of drama, clear narrative and angst made me able to enjoy it in a much more leasure-y way. It was toe-curlingly entertaining, and something that I enjoyed a few chapters a day. 

I have one major criticism, which I will put in spoiler tags as it's very spoiler-y:

I found the quarrel between Sherlock and John when Ollie is kidnapped very forced and unreal. Yes, it is natural for couples to fight in such extreme situations, but John would never yell at Sherlock for sleeping, for not solving the case immediately and telling him that it was Sherlock's fault. Especially not the mushy, sweet John we get in this story. It felt very OOC, and as if she wrote it just to "force" some more drama into an already tense situation.

Having gotten that out of my way, let me tell you that Sherlock's way with the baby must be the most adorable thing I've ever read. I'm not really a baby-person myself (Yes, I'm a Grinch), and I don't find children that cute and cuddly in real life, to be honest. (Part of why I don't want to read Parentlock, it's not a dynamic I'm interested in at all). However, the entire story was worth it for Sherlock alone, I almost died from cuteness overload!

Sounds interesting Vhanja, and similar in AU theme to this one:

A Visit To The Doctor[/url] (28318 words) by [url=http://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst]flawedamythyst
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock (TV), [url=http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Sherlock%20Holmes%20*a*%20Related%20Fandoms]Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms[/url]
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Holmes/Watson, Sherlock/John - Relationship
Additional Tags: ACD/BBC crossover, Time Travel, Bad Hollywood Physics, Hopefully The Medical Science Will Be Okay Though
Summary:
When Watson gets ill, Holmes goes to extraordinary lengths to get him well again.

This one was discussed on the latest Three Patch Podcast, and it's rather good

Just started reading the last one, I adore it. Hopefully I'll have finished by tonight. Or tomorrow.
Thanks for the rec!