Bertie Wooster and the Force of Will by triedunture
Bertie Wooster and the Force of Will
When Aunt Agatha dies, she leaves a corker of a will, with a long series of codicils to ensure that everyone turns out exactly the way she always wanted them to. Then she adds that everyone has to agree to all the codicils or no one gets any money. Unsurprisingly, this causes a lot of conflict. And angst. Can't forget the angst.
I love triedunture's J&W stories. Heck, I've recced nearly every triedunture J&W story I've read, and she's the author of my favorite J&W story of all time. Thus it pains me that this fic, with such a phenomenal premise and with the inclusion of so many rare characters (Bertie's *sister* even shows up!), fell flat in the end.
The first three-quarters of this fic are brilliant. The third person POV is a bit of a jolt, but as it means you get to see the story from the POV of several J&W characters besides Bertie and Jeeves, the POV actually becomes one of the story's greatest strengths. Mix in some great characterization (I especially loved Bertie's sister, who is technically an OC, but who is intriguingly drawn), a fascinating premise, some unexpected plot twists, and excellent writing and it wasn't at all surprising that I was expecting to rec the story at the three-quarters mark, even if I was curious as to how triedunture was going to get from that point to a realistic happy ending.
Unfortunately the answer was: she wasn't. There is technically a happy ending, but it's so rushed (and, by that point, unexpected) that it isn't very satisfying. Or believable. And after the flaming row that Bertie and Jeeves had (which was really inexplicably nasty) I needed a lot more resolution between them for me to buy into them suddenly having a happily-ever-after.
If you like angsty J&W fics (of which there are more these days, but which are still pretty rare) and you can overlook a rushed ending, you'll probably enjoy this fic. Unfortunately I couldn't get over the ending and thus can't rec the story.
When Aunt Agatha dies, she leaves a corker of a will, with a long series of codicils to ensure that everyone turns out exactly the way she always wanted them to. Then she adds that everyone has to agree to all the codicils or no one gets any money. Unsurprisingly, this causes a lot of conflict. And angst. Can't forget the angst.
I love triedunture's J&W stories. Heck, I've recced nearly every triedunture J&W story I've read, and she's the author of my favorite J&W story of all time. Thus it pains me that this fic, with such a phenomenal premise and with the inclusion of so many rare characters (Bertie's *sister* even shows up!), fell flat in the end.
The first three-quarters of this fic are brilliant. The third person POV is a bit of a jolt, but as it means you get to see the story from the POV of several J&W characters besides Bertie and Jeeves, the POV actually becomes one of the story's greatest strengths. Mix in some great characterization (I especially loved Bertie's sister, who is technically an OC, but who is intriguingly drawn), a fascinating premise, some unexpected plot twists, and excellent writing and it wasn't at all surprising that I was expecting to rec the story at the three-quarters mark, even if I was curious as to how triedunture was going to get from that point to a realistic happy ending.
Unfortunately the answer was: she wasn't. There is technically a happy ending, but it's so rushed (and, by that point, unexpected) that it isn't very satisfying. Or believable. And after the flaming row that Bertie and Jeeves had (which was really inexplicably nasty) I needed a lot more resolution between them for me to buy into them suddenly having a happily-ever-after.
If you like angsty J&W fics (of which there are more these days, but which are still pretty rare) and you can overlook a rushed ending, you'll probably enjoy this fic. Unfortunately I couldn't get over the ending and thus can't rec the story.