Excellent and terrible and beautiful. I admire the risks you took in this story. To take what really must be a worst-case scenario outcome for a beloved character, to imply the deaths of most or all of the others, and from that, make the Pyrrhic victory of a slightly deranged, blood-soaked shadow of a hero feel almost (almost) like a bittersweet triumph... amazing.
(Am I imagining a slight allegorical analogy here between the venal IOA, and TPTB eroding the franchise to nothing with their edgy-buzzword-buzzword-gritty-dark pretensions?)
This kind of poetic prose really takes some confidence in mood-building and wordcraft. The style here reminded me of your Green Sea stories. But in the Green Sea 'verse, the characters had put a lot of distance between themselves and their canon existence of plastic water bottles and pudding cups littering the city of the Ancients, and the poetry fit naturally with their relief and freedom and the life together they chose.
This is thoroughly grounded in canon, and in a grim and Hobbesian take on canon to boot. But the beauty of the language and imagery is deft and assured. No matter how ugly and hopeless the events become, the way it's told is gorgeous. And no matter how weighty the references and solemn the tone, it's never portentous. I'm impressed with the writing even as I'm sucked into the story and left broken-hearted.
You've done this to me again and again with your work, and I'm grateful every time.
no subject
(Am I imagining a slight allegorical analogy here between the venal IOA, and TPTB eroding the franchise to nothing with their edgy-buzzword-buzzword-gritty-dark pretensions?)
This kind of poetic prose really takes some confidence in mood-building and wordcraft. The style here reminded me of your Green Sea stories. But in the Green Sea 'verse, the characters had put a lot of distance between themselves and their canon existence of plastic water bottles and pudding cups littering the city of the Ancients, and the poetry fit naturally with their relief and freedom and the life together they chose.
This is thoroughly grounded in canon, and in a grim and Hobbesian take on canon to boot. But the beauty of the language and imagery is deft and assured. No matter how ugly and hopeless the events become, the way it's told is gorgeous. And no matter how weighty the references and solemn the tone, it's never portentous. I'm impressed with the writing even as I'm sucked into the story and left broken-hearted.
You've done this to me again and again with your work, and I'm grateful every time.