Comments | xf_book_club: Story 64: "The Pact" by Madeleine Partous

wendelah1 in xf_book_club

Story 64: "The Pact" by Madeleine Partous

Nov 09, 2008 22:14

So after much dilly-dallying, I am posting the long story, nominated by kukkaseksi, Madeleine Partous's "The Pact." The link I am giving you is from the Annex, but if you want it in shorter chunks, it is also at her author's page at Gossamer.

Yes, yes -- this is a relationship story. What can I say? It's what I do. It's also an X-File, complete with case ( Read more... )

nc-17, xfile

Comments 7

hlbr November 12 2008, 01:55:52 UTC

Let's see. It was very very entertaining, except in some parts, which I read superficially because otherwise they were a little boring (see philosophical beginning and resolution inside the thing). I took some notes while I read it, to avoid forgetting anything.

More or less as I was reading:

The intro is so creepily good! It took a while for it to grab my interest, but once it did... The most disturbing image of all was:

An ancient, unspoken pact between the Mother and her
children who had lived in the shelter of her bosom for
generations and whom she'd known one day would rape her and
try, inadvertently, to destroy her.

I usually don't like long philosophical intros...

And... I don't particularly like the next parts about the mysterious thing. I get they're needed, but I just read them really quickly, because they bored me. All in all the mystery of the fic didn't really grabbed me ( ... )

Seriously. Muldoon? wendelah1 November 12 2008, 22:47:45 UTC

Well, I am about two thirds of the way through, and so far, I am not happy with this story. For me, the worst part is definitely the MSR. Even though the writer said differently, maybe I needed to read "Floaters" before I tried this, because I am finding the romance between our heroes unconvincing and even cringe-worthy. I think Partous had a real story to tell here, but the silly relationship drama that she kept wanting to emphasize got in the way. Every time I got absorbed in the actual plot, the case, the X-File, Mulder's lustful thoughts about Scully (or vice-versa) broke the spell. This is not good ( ... )

a Muldooner estella_c November 13 2008, 18:40:50 UTC

Wendy has make most of the points I'd make about The Pact, so ditto, mostly. I think I liked the oc's a bit better--especially Miss Sweeny the aged Zeigfeld girl, and there was a great Sondheim musical about them, Follies--but they were sentimentalized far past their point of effectiveness. Juan as a flirtatious, gay undercover agent, or whatever, was a good idea. But as soon as "Mulder patted the clerk on his shoulder and was graced by a wide, slightly teary smile," he kind of lost my vote. Anyway, gays queening it up is a bit problematic for me, which is why I'm not a fan of "Just Say Yes." Lets maintain decorum ( ... )

Re: a Muldooner estella_c November 13 2008, 18:43:08 UTC

Actually, I meant "relationship rift." Very different.

Re: a Muldooner hlbr November 15 2008, 15:27:22 UTC

I thought the relationship rift was caused by the nearness of the 'black cloud'... but now I don't remember why I thought so...

Re: a Muldooner estella_c November 15 2008, 17:55:58 UTC

Yeah, that occurred to me too, but it wasn't made clear. This was a long fic, and if the writer had wanted us to understand something like that there really was no excuse for not making it so.

There seems to be a black cloud of negativity following me today. Maybe it's just the rain turning the leaves to mulch.

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