Fic: The War Prayer (3/3)

[ravenclaw42]

Taking a break from thinking about my first speech in Oral Communications tomorrow morning, titled: Three Ways In Which I Am Like A Grapefruit. Maybe I will elaborate on this in a future post, but for now: fic.

Title: The War Prayer (3/3)
Author: ravenclaw42
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Character(s): Scar, Scar's brother, Scar's teacher, OCs
Rating: R

Comments

[yma2]

Well, I finally got round to reading this.

Reviewing it is harder though. You must understand... this is a very difficult piece to work with. It's asemotionally draining to reead as I imagine it was to write. It's... mm...

I'm only going to be able to give you brief feelings as to what my reactions were. Probably not enough but... dammit... this really isn't easy...

Characterisation wise... this is odd. It's not very Scar Like... but then this is a younger Scar, a more uncertain Scar, so it's harder to... to judge.

Mattias was beautifully characterised, his brokenness, his power, fantastically done.

And did I mention how painful this was to read in points. Beautiful, painful... hard.

I liked Gurney a lot, I must say. In tht he was a complete bastard but, as with all good villains, there was a wonderful depth and enigmatic. Almost likable in a dispicable, hateful way. As on OC he stood out an a superior level.

Yes, the last part did have a different tone to the other two, but that wasn't a bad thing. The first two were so beautifully crafted, so intence that it was almost pleaent to have a slightly blander tone for the second. When I say slightly, I do mean slightly, and it was actually a bit of a relief. I find that very detailed, very emotional writing is sometimes best in small doses.

I wish I knew what else to say about this? I can't say this is one of my favorite pieces of your work. Not because it was badly written but because it was very... dark.

I have a problem (and I freely admit this, it's a flaw both as an auther and perhaps as a person,) I am very much a control freak. One who likes to see some measuer of hope, some measure of power. The utter lack of these in this was... devistating to read. It was a dispairing fic, and that's a hard thing to like. In the same way I can appreciate the beauty of an atom bomb... I wouldn't want to be near one.

This story was amazing. One of your best works, but very difficult. Very, very painful and, (I don't think it helps) Scar has never been one of my favorite charcters in FMA.

My favorite part was the last bit, where Scar recieves his final blessings. It sent a thrill through me. Indeed, I almost wish you'd have left it there.

But yes, the thems were wonderful and understated, the questionign of what it is to be human, what happens when that is taken away... devistatingly beautiful.