It's a Yma Rec!
It's not often I find something really, truly good on Fanfiction Net.
I did tonight.
Title: King, Queen, Knave
Auther: Seato
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh
Summery: When Yami challenges him to a game of chess, Seto finds his defence mechanisms shattered.
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1338465/1/
Why It's Good.
Where to start?
I'm not very good at writing recs. I suppose the best way to do this is by breaking down what *I* like in a fic, and then saying if this fic makes it.
1: Plot: Plot is... well... it does what it says on the can. But this is a character piece, so we don't expect too much plot wise. But that's cool, because it doesn't need it.
2: Good characterisation: Yes. Yes. Yes. And YES. The best part about this is, in it's own way, the beautifully handled characterisation. Either I am severely overestimating the auther or this has to be one of the best uses of first person POV handling I've ever seen. The thing that makes it wonderful is that is really captures the essence of Seto, and his view of Yami. Purely as a Seto piece it's utter gold. He is at once the arrogant CEO we all love to hate, and yet also the vulnerable, insecure and bitter boy. There's so much here which isn't said, which is shown purely by the lies he tells HIMSELF it's astounding. But it's the authers handling of Yami which is fantastic. It's written from Seto's POV so we very much get a feeling of his bias. And it's a subtle bias to, in places. Subtly seems to be what underlines this story.
3: Revolation: Revolation means the issues the story covers. Does it make me think of the characters differently? Does it make the characters think of themselves differently? In this case both is true. I've always been facinated by the Yami and Seto dynamic (not as a pair. Have I already said how much I admrire this fic for being Gen? No... then I shall now!) and its' so fantastically handled here. There's all the bad points, the good points, hints of pity of anger... and the best part is that, if you stand away from it as a reader, you understand what's going on. Yami is, I think, giving out some good advice, giving out his perspective, saying the sort of things... (and again with the Characterisation issue)that we hear him say on the show. Many other authors (and I must say I include myself amongst these) would have Seto begrudgingly believe it, or take it in but the auther gives a perfectly characterised reaction from Seto. Which is to ignore or spurn every bit of advice, to deny it, to demean it to... to be SETO! If you read this for no other reason, read it for this!
Technical: Spelling and gramma wise this is, as far as I can tell, pretty good. I couldn't make out any major issues. The only thing I did find was that, in a couple of places, some clearer formatting through use of italics, might have been nice.
Guilty Pleasures: An odd bit, but which needs to be put in. We all have our little guilty pleasures. Oh, we can stand up and say, 'abuse fics? NEVER read those, they're all TOSH! or 'Oh, I don't ever bother with High School AUs!' but, deep down? Come on. You all have something a little bit silly you like. A lot of people do. If they're doen well (see LeDiz for a good example) even the worst of cleche's can be great fun to read. Like chocolaet, a bit addictive, a bit naugty, but hell, if they're not fun.
This brushes on a few of my gulity pleasures. What can I say? I like darkfic. But this never wallows, it never goes OTT, it hints, it's subtle, it's gorgeous.
And the end of it? Bloody brilliant!
All in all, this has to be one of the best fics I've read in ages. Especially coming from an auther I'd never seen before.
My only regret is that it seems to be the only Yu-Gi-Oh fic he/she has ever written.
If you read no other Seto Kaiba fic this month, hell, this YEAR, read this one.
I did tonight.
Title: King, Queen, Knave
Auther: Seato
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh
Summery: When Yami challenges him to a game of chess, Seto finds his defence mechanisms shattered.
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1338465/1/
Why It's Good.
Where to start?
I'm not very good at writing recs. I suppose the best way to do this is by breaking down what *I* like in a fic, and then saying if this fic makes it.
1: Plot: Plot is... well... it does what it says on the can. But this is a character piece, so we don't expect too much plot wise. But that's cool, because it doesn't need it.
2: Good characterisation: Yes. Yes. Yes. And YES. The best part about this is, in it's own way, the beautifully handled characterisation. Either I am severely overestimating the auther or this has to be one of the best uses of first person POV handling I've ever seen. The thing that makes it wonderful is that is really captures the essence of Seto, and his view of Yami. Purely as a Seto piece it's utter gold. He is at once the arrogant CEO we all love to hate, and yet also the vulnerable, insecure and bitter boy. There's so much here which isn't said, which is shown purely by the lies he tells HIMSELF it's astounding. But it's the authers handling of Yami which is fantastic. It's written from Seto's POV so we very much get a feeling of his bias. And it's a subtle bias to, in places. Subtly seems to be what underlines this story.
3: Revolation: Revolation means the issues the story covers. Does it make me think of the characters differently? Does it make the characters think of themselves differently? In this case both is true. I've always been facinated by the Yami and Seto dynamic (not as a pair. Have I already said how much I admrire this fic for being Gen? No... then I shall now!) and its' so fantastically handled here. There's all the bad points, the good points, hints of pity of anger... and the best part is that, if you stand away from it as a reader, you understand what's going on. Yami is, I think, giving out some good advice, giving out his perspective, saying the sort of things... (and again with the Characterisation issue)that we hear him say on the show. Many other authors (and I must say I include myself amongst these) would have Seto begrudgingly believe it, or take it in but the auther gives a perfectly characterised reaction from Seto. Which is to ignore or spurn every bit of advice, to deny it, to demean it to... to be SETO! If you read this for no other reason, read it for this!
Technical: Spelling and gramma wise this is, as far as I can tell, pretty good. I couldn't make out any major issues. The only thing I did find was that, in a couple of places, some clearer formatting through use of italics, might have been nice.
Guilty Pleasures: An odd bit, but which needs to be put in. We all have our little guilty pleasures. Oh, we can stand up and say, 'abuse fics? NEVER read those, they're all TOSH! or 'Oh, I don't ever bother with High School AUs!' but, deep down? Come on. You all have something a little bit silly you like. A lot of people do. If they're doen well (see LeDiz for a good example) even the worst of cleche's can be great fun to read. Like chocolaet, a bit addictive, a bit naugty, but hell, if they're not fun.
This brushes on a few of my gulity pleasures. What can I say? I like darkfic. But this never wallows, it never goes OTT, it hints, it's subtle, it's gorgeous.
And the end of it? Bloody brilliant!
All in all, this has to be one of the best fics I've read in ages. Especially coming from an auther I'd never seen before.
My only regret is that it seems to be the only Yu-Gi-Oh fic he/she has ever written.
If you read no other Seto Kaiba fic this month, hell, this YEAR, read this one.