Reading: From the Ashes (by Estora) 4/?
So here we are again, belatedly diving back into estora 's fabulous fic, available here: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5609369/26/From_The_Ashes. Estora, your comments, as always, are solicited! Sorry this took so long; my analysis cannot possibly do your text full justice, but I tried to hit the high points anyway.
I'm trying something new this time around, indicating quoted material with smaller text. Let me know if that works for you guys, visually.
Today I'm reading the fourth section, so everybody - jump in and hold on!
~~~~~
The thing that I found most interesting about this section as a reader was how skillfully Estora reinterprets Miller's work in Wild Space. The scene we view includes events identical to the novel, but here they are reframed from Obi-Wan's angsty perspective. He's still worried about the Republic, of course, and desperate to do his job well and save Bothawui, but he is also tired and distracted and guilty, and this sense of all-is-not-well pervades the narration through his point of view.
Estora achieves this effect largely by refocusing the scene on Obi-Wan's internal concerns and by subtly altering the dialogue, revealing the small effects of the shift his character has undergone from canon. He's still the same person, but the different way he has experienced life in the past several months has altered his perceptions and therefore his reactions somewhat. And his angst over the situation with Anakin is interwoven with the rest of the text, so that it adds depth rather than intruding. Consider:
"Dex, what's going on?"
"Hello to you too, Obi-Wan."
Immediately Obi-Wan groans. "I'm sorry, Dex. I didn't mean to be rude. I'm a little on edge right now." Well, that's an understatement if he's ever said one.
He's on edge because of what has just happened with Anakin, and what their never-quite-happened kiss caused him to realize; readers will understand this, but the realization plays into the canon events seamlessly, reinterpreting them in light of new possibilities. Estora pulls off a similar move following the conversation with Dex - which sticks very close to Miller's canon - when Obi-Wan flashes back to the starting point for her AU, the moment when Anakin leaps after Padmé on Geonosis:
Sometime strikes him from behind and he's thrown from the vehicle, plummeting down into the darkness below him, he can't see - he throws his hands out, tries to reach for the Force but he can't concentrate, it's swirling around him and all he needs to do is reach out -
I need you -
I don't care -
Anakin, ANAKIN -
Falling…falling…and -
Thus we are brought back out of the Millerverse and integrated seamlessly into the FTAverse, reversing Estora's ploy of integrating FTA into the canon meeting with Dex. It's a neat switch, one that surprises without drawing attention to itself.
More meta ahead ...
I'm trying something new this time around, indicating quoted material with smaller text. Let me know if that works for you guys, visually.
Today I'm reading the fourth section, so everybody - jump in and hold on!
~~~~~
The thing that I found most interesting about this section as a reader was how skillfully Estora reinterprets Miller's work in Wild Space. The scene we view includes events identical to the novel, but here they are reframed from Obi-Wan's angsty perspective. He's still worried about the Republic, of course, and desperate to do his job well and save Bothawui, but he is also tired and distracted and guilty, and this sense of all-is-not-well pervades the narration through his point of view.
Estora achieves this effect largely by refocusing the scene on Obi-Wan's internal concerns and by subtly altering the dialogue, revealing the small effects of the shift his character has undergone from canon. He's still the same person, but the different way he has experienced life in the past several months has altered his perceptions and therefore his reactions somewhat. And his angst over the situation with Anakin is interwoven with the rest of the text, so that it adds depth rather than intruding. Consider:
"Dex, what's going on?"
"Hello to you too, Obi-Wan."
Immediately Obi-Wan groans. "I'm sorry, Dex. I didn't mean to be rude. I'm a little on edge right now." Well, that's an understatement if he's ever said one.
He's on edge because of what has just happened with Anakin, and what their never-quite-happened kiss caused him to realize; readers will understand this, but the realization plays into the canon events seamlessly, reinterpreting them in light of new possibilities. Estora pulls off a similar move following the conversation with Dex - which sticks very close to Miller's canon - when Obi-Wan flashes back to the starting point for her AU, the moment when Anakin leaps after Padmé on Geonosis:
Sometime strikes him from behind and he's thrown from the vehicle, plummeting down into the darkness below him, he can't see - he throws his hands out, tries to reach for the Force but he can't concentrate, it's swirling around him and all he needs to do is reach out -
I need you -
I don't care -
Anakin, ANAKIN -
Falling…falling…and -
Thus we are brought back out of the Millerverse and integrated seamlessly into the FTAverse, reversing Estora's ploy of integrating FTA into the canon meeting with Dex. It's a neat switch, one that surprises without drawing attention to itself.
More meta ahead ...