Hope Springs Eternal: A Subterranean Romance by Quantum Witch (NC-17)
Title: Hope Springs Eternal: A Subterranean Romance
Fandom: Hercules (Disney Animated Film)
Pairing: Hades/ Persephone
Categories: Romance, Drama, Comedy
Length: Super-Epic (126 000 words)
Warnings: Incest, Age difference, Consent Issues Around Love Potions, Dysfunctional Family Relationships, Reference To Suicidal Thoughts
Author on LJ: quantum_witch
Author Website: Quantum Witch on Deviant Art
Author’s Summary:
A "Disney's Hercules" sequel - In which Hades' kingdom is in danger, an immortal witch wants control, the Fates predict a miracle & Hades falls flaming-head-over-smoking-heels in love. The usual stuff of myth.
Review:
This is a retelling of the Taking of Persephone myth, in the Hercules universe with a quite a few gestures towards reconciling Greek myth canon with Hercules. It is set shortly after the film and is not in continuity with the TV series.
Hope Springs Eternal is very much in Disney style which is fairly endearing. This fic focuses heavily on the hero and heroine, but has a wide cast of Gods and mythological figures all with their own (often silly) agenda. People express themselves very openly, sometimes in song and monologues with plenty of alliteration, even if the events they're describing were highly traumatising. Nothing is ever truly private - there is always a villain with a spying device. Occasionally, the third person point of view shifts between limited and omniscient or characters display a ridiculous level of awareness of how they are perceived. There is even a feeling of innocence to the portrayal of social politics; the treatment of gender, romance and hierarchy are apparently free any but the most simplistic of moral considerations. These things aren't what I look for in fic generally, but I like how they evoke the source material.
The romance between Hades and Persephone is fairly sweet. While Hades keeps the used car salesman sleaze that makes his character so memorable, the effect of his crush is to make him more eager to please. Persephone is the pro-active one of the two, despite being much younger. She is a self-confident Goddess with a love of danger and little patience for being mistreated, but she's also immature enough to easily lose her emotional equilibrium. There's a lot of subtle binaries set up and then challenged or interwoven.
This fic is entirely accessible to people who aren't conversant with Greek mythology. People who haven't seen the film may struggle a little with the characters, but figuring out what is going on is generally easy enough. Hades is Persephone's uncle and Persephone is sixteen in the fic (though legally an adult). The messed-up familial relationships of the Greek Gods are background.
Hope Springs Eternal: A Subterranean Romance on Dreamwidth (Illustrated), on AO3 (Text Only) and on ff.net (Text Only)
Fandom: Hercules (Disney Animated Film)
Pairing: Hades/ Persephone
Categories: Romance, Drama, Comedy
Length: Super-Epic (126 000 words)
Warnings: Incest, Age difference, Consent Issues Around Love Potions, Dysfunctional Family Relationships, Reference To Suicidal Thoughts
Author on LJ: quantum_witch
Author Website: Quantum Witch on Deviant Art
Author’s Summary:
A "Disney's Hercules" sequel - In which Hades' kingdom is in danger, an immortal witch wants control, the Fates predict a miracle & Hades falls flaming-head-over-smoking-heels in love. The usual stuff of myth.
Review:
This is a retelling of the Taking of Persephone myth, in the Hercules universe with a quite a few gestures towards reconciling Greek myth canon with Hercules. It is set shortly after the film and is not in continuity with the TV series.
Hope Springs Eternal is very much in Disney style which is fairly endearing. This fic focuses heavily on the hero and heroine, but has a wide cast of Gods and mythological figures all with their own (often silly) agenda. People express themselves very openly, sometimes in song and monologues with plenty of alliteration, even if the events they're describing were highly traumatising. Nothing is ever truly private - there is always a villain with a spying device. Occasionally, the third person point of view shifts between limited and omniscient or characters display a ridiculous level of awareness of how they are perceived. There is even a feeling of innocence to the portrayal of social politics; the treatment of gender, romance and hierarchy are apparently free any but the most simplistic of moral considerations. These things aren't what I look for in fic generally, but I like how they evoke the source material.
The romance between Hades and Persephone is fairly sweet. While Hades keeps the used car salesman sleaze that makes his character so memorable, the effect of his crush is to make him more eager to please. Persephone is the pro-active one of the two, despite being much younger. She is a self-confident Goddess with a love of danger and little patience for being mistreated, but she's also immature enough to easily lose her emotional equilibrium. There's a lot of subtle binaries set up and then challenged or interwoven.
This fic is entirely accessible to people who aren't conversant with Greek mythology. People who haven't seen the film may struggle a little with the characters, but figuring out what is going on is generally easy enough. Hades is Persephone's uncle and Persephone is sixteen in the fic (though legally an adult). The messed-up familial relationships of the Greek Gods are background.
Hope Springs Eternal: A Subterranean Romance on Dreamwidth (Illustrated), on AO3 (Text Only) and on ff.net (Text Only)