Paperlegend Rec #5 or A Must!Read Newbie Rec
OK... Told you there was a new Modern AU distracting me from my Canon Era responsibilities over at paperlegends right? Well I don't regret one second having been distracted. And I hope you are going to distract yourself from what you're doing and go read it NOW!!!
Near-Mint Condition, by paragraphs ; R ; Twenty Chapters ; 82k words
A/S : Merlin owns a small comic shop on Cardiff Bay. Life's been a struggle for Merlin lately; he's had to downsize the shop he inherited, half the bills are overdue, his boyfriend has left him for a more exciting life in London, something's been frightening the tourists, and now there are rumours of a new comic mega-store moving into Cardiff. His life is surely over. There are a few things that keep Merlin going though; the support of his friends, an agent is interested in his online serial, and the hot bloke on the comic forums likes him. At least he thinks it's a bloke. If only he could be sure, and if only he could figure out how to save his shop. Oh, and there's one more thing. Just like his favorite comic book heroes, he can move objects, control the wind, and can even make his dog Kilgharrah do the most amazing tricks. He doesn't know whether to don a cape or check himself into a psych hospital. But he's no superman, just an average guy with a lot of problems, and the biggest one of all is named Arthur Pendragon.
The summary is kind of long, I know. And you don't have to read it, because you are just going to drop what you're doing and read this NOW! And beside, who doesn't love a good surprise? Anyway. This fic is utter gorgeousness. I think I used the word "amazing" twenty times in my review. This story is amazing because it has so many side to itself, and yet it stands firmly and wonderfully as one whole. There's the comic book side of the thing, which, even if I'm not a connaisseur, is amazing. There's the magic kind of the thing, which is treated in a very interesting way (cause seriously, if you had magic in our modern world, how would you react?). There's the Pendragon thingy (which is more the Uther thingy) which is an amazing adaptation of the Canon situation over to a Modern AU. There's the mystery/murder plot, which isn't taking too much place, but just enough so that it doesn't look like the vampires who arrivein page 356. There's the whole Ellie thingy (Ellie is an amazing OC). And talking about that, the characters are WONDERFUL. All of them. There's a marvelous impersonnation of Percival (and I'm happy because I think Percival is not loved enough), there are amazing OCs, there is Alice (\o/), Gwen and Lance and Gwaine of course, and an amazing Morgana (but Morgana is always amazing isn't she?). And last but not least, there's the whole complicated and amazing (see?) Arthur/Merlin thingy, which is probably the best of them all. All of them are treated wonderfully and all of them are so closely entwined that it makes the story some kind of big multi-faced thingy of awesomeness. (And yes, I know, my rec is longer than the summary... but wait, you're not already reading it? What are you waiting for? GO! NOW!)
Near-Mint Condition, by paragraphs ; R ; Twenty Chapters ; 82k words
A/S : Merlin owns a small comic shop on Cardiff Bay. Life's been a struggle for Merlin lately; he's had to downsize the shop he inherited, half the bills are overdue, his boyfriend has left him for a more exciting life in London, something's been frightening the tourists, and now there are rumours of a new comic mega-store moving into Cardiff. His life is surely over. There are a few things that keep Merlin going though; the support of his friends, an agent is interested in his online serial, and the hot bloke on the comic forums likes him. At least he thinks it's a bloke. If only he could be sure, and if only he could figure out how to save his shop. Oh, and there's one more thing. Just like his favorite comic book heroes, he can move objects, control the wind, and can even make his dog Kilgharrah do the most amazing tricks. He doesn't know whether to don a cape or check himself into a psych hospital. But he's no superman, just an average guy with a lot of problems, and the biggest one of all is named Arthur Pendragon.
The summary is kind of long, I know. And you don't have to read it, because you are just going to drop what you're doing and read this NOW! And beside, who doesn't love a good surprise? Anyway. This fic is utter gorgeousness. I think I used the word "amazing" twenty times in my review. This story is amazing because it has so many side to itself, and yet it stands firmly and wonderfully as one whole. There's the comic book side of the thing, which, even if I'm not a connaisseur, is amazing. There's the magic kind of the thing, which is treated in a very interesting way (cause seriously, if you had magic in our modern world, how would you react?). There's the Pendragon thingy (which is more the Uther thingy) which is an amazing adaptation of the Canon situation over to a Modern AU. There's the mystery/murder plot, which isn't taking too much place, but just enough so that it doesn't look like the vampires who arrivein page 356. There's the whole Ellie thingy (Ellie is an amazing OC). And talking about that, the characters are WONDERFUL. All of them. There's a marvelous impersonnation of Percival (and I'm happy because I think Percival is not loved enough), there are amazing OCs, there is Alice (\o/), Gwen and Lance and Gwaine of course, and an amazing Morgana (but Morgana is always amazing isn't she?). And last but not least, there's the whole complicated and amazing (see?) Arthur/Merlin thingy, which is probably the best of them all. All of them are treated wonderfully and all of them are so closely entwined that it makes the story some kind of big multi-faced thingy of awesomeness. (And yes, I know, my rec is longer than the summary... but wait, you're not already reading it? What are you waiting for? GO! NOW!)