Drawing Lines in the Sand by sprl1199 (Mature)
Title: Drawing Lines in the Sand
Fandom: Alex Verus series - Benedict Jacka
Pairing: gen
Categories: action/adventure, drama, dark (ish), supernatural
Length: medium, 12,940 words
Warnings: rated 'mature' on the blood-and-death level stakes, I think. Author warns for minor character deaths.
Author on Livejournal: n/a?
Author Website: sprl1199 on AO3
Summary: After the events of Veiled, Alex is doing fairly well: he's still not sure what Richard is up to, but he has his friends around him, and in general life is moving along comfortably.
That changes.
Review: “...you don't need luck. You never have. That’s the thing I like best about you, Alex. You’re a survivor. You purport to have lines, but you keep redrawing them. I never know how far you'll go.” He paused at the door, pinning me in place with the clarity of his gaze and a small pleased smile that did nothing to lighten his eyes. “And neither do you.”
Continuing the run of books fandom recs lately with something that's not from an established books fandom -- in fact, it's the only Alex Verus fic on AO3, and I got ridiculously excited this morning when I accidentally found it, having been aware that the fandom was listed in Yuletide this year but then didn't fall into the draw of assignment arrangements and nothing got produced.
I love these books for the challenge of presenting the story through the eyes of a character who can see how events will spiral out in advance of the decisions he makes, so it's definitely the twisty aspects I appreciate best, and this story manages to capture that twistyness, especially in the second half. I was less certain reading the opening stages, because there are some references in there that to my Brit eyes are decidedly non-British, and the first scene feels awkward to me, but I would say it redeems itself thoroughly with its handling of the ending and the central premise, which nail the darker aspects of characterisation and series that are so interesting.
Drawing Lines in the Sand
Fandom: Alex Verus series - Benedict Jacka
Pairing: gen
Categories: action/adventure, drama, dark (ish), supernatural
Length: medium, 12,940 words
Warnings: rated 'mature' on the blood-and-death level stakes, I think. Author warns for minor character deaths.
Author on Livejournal: n/a?
Author Website: sprl1199 on AO3
Summary: After the events of Veiled, Alex is doing fairly well: he's still not sure what Richard is up to, but he has his friends around him, and in general life is moving along comfortably.
That changes.
Review: “...you don't need luck. You never have. That’s the thing I like best about you, Alex. You’re a survivor. You purport to have lines, but you keep redrawing them. I never know how far you'll go.” He paused at the door, pinning me in place with the clarity of his gaze and a small pleased smile that did nothing to lighten his eyes. “And neither do you.”
Continuing the run of books fandom recs lately with something that's not from an established books fandom -- in fact, it's the only Alex Verus fic on AO3, and I got ridiculously excited this morning when I accidentally found it, having been aware that the fandom was listed in Yuletide this year but then didn't fall into the draw of assignment arrangements and nothing got produced.
I love these books for the challenge of presenting the story through the eyes of a character who can see how events will spiral out in advance of the decisions he makes, so it's definitely the twisty aspects I appreciate best, and this story manages to capture that twistyness, especially in the second half. I was less certain reading the opening stages, because there are some references in there that to my Brit eyes are decidedly non-British, and the first scene feels awkward to me, but I would say it redeems itself thoroughly with its handling of the ending and the central premise, which nail the darker aspects of characterisation and series that are so interesting.
Drawing Lines in the Sand