SPN: Fortress and Static by glasslogic (Sam/Dean, NC-17)
Title: Fortress
Author: glasslogic
Artist: silviakundera
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing/Characters: Sam/Dean, very brief mentions of Sam/Ruby
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: dub-con, blood-play, ...bad language? But hey - it has a quest, and a road-trip!
Word Count: 94,242
Summary: Seven years ago Dean Winchester paid his due to the Crossroads Demon and fell into Hell. Grief almost killed Sam, a demon blood addiction came closer, but he rid himself of demonic attachments and spent years building himself a prison where no demon can set foot, determined to take himself out of the apocalyptic game that had crushed his family. But each year on Earth is an eternity in Hell, and now Dean is back. Angry, powerful, and demonic; he has a plan to wreck vengeance on those who destroyed his life. A plan that will shake the foundations of the Pit and send shock-waves into Heaven. Dragging a reluctant Sam in his wake, will Dean manage to pull it off before the combined legions of Hell get their act together enough to stop him?
Link to masterpost: http://glasslogic.livejournal.com/10886.html
Download Report: Eleven parts on LJ. Epub, HTML and PDF versions available on Sendspace.
Title: Static
Author: glasslogic
Artist: ely_wa
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing/Characters: Sam/Dean
Rating: R/NC-17
Warnings: dub-con, blood, language...
Word Count: 62k
Summary: Lilith's plans are in shambles and the door to Lucifer's cage has been well and truly lost, but Dean is still a demon and Sam is still bound to him with a stolen curse of sex and blood. All things considered, though, Sam's life could be worse and he is making peace not just with Dean, but with his own growing psychic gifts and the barrage of seemingly meaningless visions they inflict on him. But strange winds are starting to blow and after a series of disasters strike, Sam discovers that the greatest danger may be in the secrets that still lie between him and Dean. If Sam can't fix things before time runs out it won't be the Apocalypse, but it will still be the end of the world.
Link to masterpost: http://spn-j2-bigbang.livejournal.com/246569.html
Download Report: Eight posts on LJ.
This was initially posted in response to glasslogic posting the second story, "Static," for the spn-j2-bigbang. I never got around to reading "Fortress" the year before, so I sat down and read it and "Static" over that weekend. This became, therefore, a review of both stories at once. Just as well, since it's really hard to read "Static" without reading "Fortress" first anyway. So, the review.
I really liked both of them. I felt that they were plotty, intricate, well-thought-out stories that pushed the envelope of what Sam and Dean were willing to do for each other. I was also very intrigued by the author's world-building of Heaven and Hell and her concept of how the macroverse of Supernatural worked.
I do understand how some feel that demonic Dean is more of an OC than actual!Dean, and I won't argue that that might be a huge turn-off, especially since Dean is still struggling to regain himself even at the end of the second story. I read these stories, though, as Dean trying very hard to hold onto the part of him that *is* Dean, and that he gets closer and closer as the series goes on. I felt a connection with how hard Dean was working to get back to being human Dean, and also that there was character progression, even if it was very, very slow. In the end, everything he does is ultimately motivated by things that are important to Dean Winchester.
Since this has been asked in the thread, I would also say that, even though the story is from Sam's POV, I also found it very satisfying on a Dean-level. It's also very much a story about SamnDean, which is highly satisfying. If you actively dislike Sam, this probably won't be a good story for you, but if you like Dean, don't be put off by this being a Sam-POV story.
[Further discussion with SPOILERS for Fortress and Static by glasslogic]SPOILERS!
After all the gushing praise above, one thing that did bother me about the story was that I felt that the sex-bond was kind of contrived and unnecessary. It honestly didn't serve any purpose to the plot that the blood-sharing didn't fulfill, and seemed to be kind of an aliens-made-them-do-it thing. That said, I liked that Sam never got fully comfortable with it, even when he chose to keep it. I felt the author did a good job of conveying Sam's conflicting feelings, and also of not romanticizing the forced sex. It was a good contrast, Dean's evolving response to the sexual aspect of the curse as he regained more and more of his own personality, and Sam's continued reluctance to accept it.
I also enjoyed the way the author worked the elements of canon into the alternate universe. She didn't feel the need to bring in everyone who was central to the original storyline, but instead allowed characters to play smaller or lesser roles as the new story demanded. Castiel ended up playing a much smaller role, for instance, but I felt that he was still true to his character and true to what he would have realistically been allowed to do by Heaven. Crowley, on the other hand, was very little changed, and his role slipped perfectly into the new plot.
The concept of the Entropic Demons and the Angels of Hell was well-thought, and I liked how she tweaked her world from the Supernatural mythology. I also felt that the plot was sufficiently complex to be interesting, but not so convoluted that it was incomprehensible. I was genuinely interested in what was going on and how it was going to be accomplished.
A word about Dean, and his demonic nature. I know this is a deal-breaker for a lot of readers, so I thought I would add that the demon!Dean issue is different in this story. It's hard to explain, but he's been deeper into Hell than most souls go, and found things there that almost no-one else has encountered. He's also been sent back with everything that makes him Dean Winchester still there, which I feel makes him different from what's described as happening to demons in canon. He's still having to integrate his self back into, well, himself, but it's not quite the same as the regular canon demons.
Again, I really enjoyed this story, and I look forward to any future stories in the series.
Bottom line: I really liked both of them. I felt that they were plotty, intricate, well-thought-out stories that pushed the envelope of what Sam and Dean were willing to do for each other. I was also very intrigued by the author's world-building of Heaven and Hell and her concept of how the macroverse of Supernatural worked.
That said, I also think that this is one of those "love or hate" series. My advice is to give the series a solid chance. If none of the issues I mention in the reivew is an absolute deal-breaker, I say give yourself at least the first two chapters of "Fortress" to see if you fall in the love camp.
This review was originally posted to the spnanonhaven Fiction Discuss post
Author: glasslogic
Artist: silviakundera
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing/Characters: Sam/Dean, very brief mentions of Sam/Ruby
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: dub-con, blood-play, ...bad language? But hey - it has a quest, and a road-trip!
Word Count: 94,242
Summary: Seven years ago Dean Winchester paid his due to the Crossroads Demon and fell into Hell. Grief almost killed Sam, a demon blood addiction came closer, but he rid himself of demonic attachments and spent years building himself a prison where no demon can set foot, determined to take himself out of the apocalyptic game that had crushed his family. But each year on Earth is an eternity in Hell, and now Dean is back. Angry, powerful, and demonic; he has a plan to wreck vengeance on those who destroyed his life. A plan that will shake the foundations of the Pit and send shock-waves into Heaven. Dragging a reluctant Sam in his wake, will Dean manage to pull it off before the combined legions of Hell get their act together enough to stop him?
Link to masterpost: http://glasslogic.livejournal.com/10886.html
Download Report: Eleven parts on LJ. Epub, HTML and PDF versions available on Sendspace.
Title: Static
Author: glasslogic
Artist: ely_wa
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing/Characters: Sam/Dean
Rating: R/NC-17
Warnings: dub-con, blood, language...
Word Count: 62k
Summary: Lilith's plans are in shambles and the door to Lucifer's cage has been well and truly lost, but Dean is still a demon and Sam is still bound to him with a stolen curse of sex and blood. All things considered, though, Sam's life could be worse and he is making peace not just with Dean, but with his own growing psychic gifts and the barrage of seemingly meaningless visions they inflict on him. But strange winds are starting to blow and after a series of disasters strike, Sam discovers that the greatest danger may be in the secrets that still lie between him and Dean. If Sam can't fix things before time runs out it won't be the Apocalypse, but it will still be the end of the world.
Link to masterpost: http://spn-j2-bigbang.livejournal.com/246569.html
Download Report: Eight posts on LJ.
This was initially posted in response to glasslogic posting the second story, "Static," for the spn-j2-bigbang. I never got around to reading "Fortress" the year before, so I sat down and read it and "Static" over that weekend. This became, therefore, a review of both stories at once. Just as well, since it's really hard to read "Static" without reading "Fortress" first anyway. So, the review.
I really liked both of them. I felt that they were plotty, intricate, well-thought-out stories that pushed the envelope of what Sam and Dean were willing to do for each other. I was also very intrigued by the author's world-building of Heaven and Hell and her concept of how the macroverse of Supernatural worked.
I do understand how some feel that demonic Dean is more of an OC than actual!Dean, and I won't argue that that might be a huge turn-off, especially since Dean is still struggling to regain himself even at the end of the second story. I read these stories, though, as Dean trying very hard to hold onto the part of him that *is* Dean, and that he gets closer and closer as the series goes on. I felt a connection with how hard Dean was working to get back to being human Dean, and also that there was character progression, even if it was very, very slow. In the end, everything he does is ultimately motivated by things that are important to Dean Winchester.
Since this has been asked in the thread, I would also say that, even though the story is from Sam's POV, I also found it very satisfying on a Dean-level. It's also very much a story about SamnDean, which is highly satisfying. If you actively dislike Sam, this probably won't be a good story for you, but if you like Dean, don't be put off by this being a Sam-POV story.
[Further discussion with SPOILERS for Fortress and Static by glasslogic]SPOILERS!
After all the gushing praise above, one thing that did bother me about the story was that I felt that the sex-bond was kind of contrived and unnecessary. It honestly didn't serve any purpose to the plot that the blood-sharing didn't fulfill, and seemed to be kind of an aliens-made-them-do-it thing. That said, I liked that Sam never got fully comfortable with it, even when he chose to keep it. I felt the author did a good job of conveying Sam's conflicting feelings, and also of not romanticizing the forced sex. It was a good contrast, Dean's evolving response to the sexual aspect of the curse as he regained more and more of his own personality, and Sam's continued reluctance to accept it.
I also enjoyed the way the author worked the elements of canon into the alternate universe. She didn't feel the need to bring in everyone who was central to the original storyline, but instead allowed characters to play smaller or lesser roles as the new story demanded. Castiel ended up playing a much smaller role, for instance, but I felt that he was still true to his character and true to what he would have realistically been allowed to do by Heaven. Crowley, on the other hand, was very little changed, and his role slipped perfectly into the new plot.
The concept of the Entropic Demons and the Angels of Hell was well-thought, and I liked how she tweaked her world from the Supernatural mythology. I also felt that the plot was sufficiently complex to be interesting, but not so convoluted that it was incomprehensible. I was genuinely interested in what was going on and how it was going to be accomplished.
A word about Dean, and his demonic nature. I know this is a deal-breaker for a lot of readers, so I thought I would add that the demon!Dean issue is different in this story. It's hard to explain, but he's been deeper into Hell than most souls go, and found things there that almost no-one else has encountered. He's also been sent back with everything that makes him Dean Winchester still there, which I feel makes him different from what's described as happening to demons in canon. He's still having to integrate his self back into, well, himself, but it's not quite the same as the regular canon demons.
Again, I really enjoyed this story, and I look forward to any future stories in the series.
Bottom line: I really liked both of them. I felt that they were plotty, intricate, well-thought-out stories that pushed the envelope of what Sam and Dean were willing to do for each other. I was also very intrigued by the author's world-building of Heaven and Hell and her concept of how the macroverse of Supernatural worked.
That said, I also think that this is one of those "love or hate" series. My advice is to give the series a solid chance. If none of the issues I mention in the reivew is an absolute deal-breaker, I say give yourself at least the first two chapters of "Fortress" to see if you fall in the love camp.
This review was originally posted to the spnanonhaven Fiction Discuss post