![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I foolishly started rereading La Belle Dame Sans Merci and couldn't stop until I was done...really late at night. And I'm too wired to sleep now, so I figure I'll just blather on about it some more.
My initial reaction? Really wrong in one respect. This is one HUGE angst-fest. On par with the best of the FF7 "life sucks, you either deal or die" epic. (One thing it has going for it is that it's actually done! FF7 has too many probably never will be finished WIPs for its own good...;_;) It even has powerful people inflicting massive damage to enemies and to each other! Totally satisfied my love for the grim survivor type angst. (How many times can I use the word "angst" in this post? XD)
I can't believe how much I missed in that first mad reading. So, SO much. I was bothered more by the writing style this time. I did notice the first time around how--what is the word for it...I think the nice way to put it is "stream of consciousness"--stream of consciousness it is. Put is not so nicely, how sloppy the writing is at times. It bleeds from one thought to another, mixing objective narrative with fantasy and flashback and thoughts and emotions. Basically works once the author settled down a few chapters in, a bit awkward and disconcerting at first. Some of the attempts at a more formal style failed and stuck out like a sore thumb. Just a phrase here or there, not too much. I love that she didn't go for fangirl Japanese. Those tend to throw me out of the fic and her stylistic oddnesses were enough of a problem.
In any case, about the story. Holy crap does virtually everyone have crappy lives (or have really crappy things happen to them). The parts about the various other characters whom I presume are from the manga/anime were really good. (I want to find pics of these people just to know what the hell they look like. Especially the Hyuuga and their freaky eyes.) Angsty, yes, but that's par for the course. It's sad seeing all the people who can't have what (who) they want the most and have to settle because that's the way life works. And the people who just get crap thrown at them. Gaara was beyond sad. Was he an enemy in canon or something else? I can't imagine him having much agency thanks to this fic...Hanabi's story in particular just sucked. I wish the author would write a story about how she and Itachi get along together. I don't know if they'd be "happily ever after," but I think they'd be content. I wonder what kind of parents they'd make? Itachi's somewhat well-adjusted and Hanabi's had life experience and hasn't become embittered or uncaring, so maybe they'll be decent?
I have to say again, I really like Itachi POV. He's sweet in that mildly emotionally stunted way of his. I love how he panics about having to learn to lie, how much he comes to hate Naruto because Naruto beats his mom up all the time, how he turns into a good older brother...
The story that really got to me was Naruto on his year-long mission helping the Sand, tho. Holy crap he was a total bastard! And the sad thing is he didn't mean to be! He kind of tries to make things right but totally can't...I don't know how I missed it, but man...Fucking and fucking up that girl so badly that her uncle has to put her out of her misery? It's a good way to show just how out-of-control Naruto-melding-with-kyuubi is becoming, and makes me marvel at how Sasuke can become used to such insane brutality dished out on a regular basis.
I think I'll be obsessing on this fic for a while. It's very meaty. And angsty.
My initial reaction? Really wrong in one respect. This is one HUGE angst-fest. On par with the best of the FF7 "life sucks, you either deal or die" epic. (One thing it has going for it is that it's actually done! FF7 has too many probably never will be finished WIPs for its own good...;_;) It even has powerful people inflicting massive damage to enemies and to each other! Totally satisfied my love for the grim survivor type angst. (How many times can I use the word "angst" in this post? XD)
I can't believe how much I missed in that first mad reading. So, SO much. I was bothered more by the writing style this time. I did notice the first time around how--what is the word for it...I think the nice way to put it is "stream of consciousness"--stream of consciousness it is. Put is not so nicely, how sloppy the writing is at times. It bleeds from one thought to another, mixing objective narrative with fantasy and flashback and thoughts and emotions. Basically works once the author settled down a few chapters in, a bit awkward and disconcerting at first. Some of the attempts at a more formal style failed and stuck out like a sore thumb. Just a phrase here or there, not too much. I love that she didn't go for fangirl Japanese. Those tend to throw me out of the fic and her stylistic oddnesses were enough of a problem.
In any case, about the story. Holy crap does virtually everyone have crappy lives (or have really crappy things happen to them). The parts about the various other characters whom I presume are from the manga/anime were really good. (I want to find pics of these people just to know what the hell they look like. Especially the Hyuuga and their freaky eyes.) Angsty, yes, but that's par for the course. It's sad seeing all the people who can't have what (who) they want the most and have to settle because that's the way life works. And the people who just get crap thrown at them. Gaara was beyond sad. Was he an enemy in canon or something else? I can't imagine him having much agency thanks to this fic...Hanabi's story in particular just sucked. I wish the author would write a story about how she and Itachi get along together. I don't know if they'd be "happily ever after," but I think they'd be content. I wonder what kind of parents they'd make? Itachi's somewhat well-adjusted and Hanabi's had life experience and hasn't become embittered or uncaring, so maybe they'll be decent?
I have to say again, I really like Itachi POV. He's sweet in that mildly emotionally stunted way of his. I love how he panics about having to learn to lie, how much he comes to hate Naruto because Naruto beats his mom up all the time, how he turns into a good older brother...
The story that really got to me was Naruto on his year-long mission helping the Sand, tho. Holy crap he was a total bastard! And the sad thing is he didn't mean to be! He kind of tries to make things right but totally can't...I don't know how I missed it, but man...Fucking and fucking up that girl so badly that her uncle has to put her out of her misery? It's a good way to show just how out-of-control Naruto-melding-with-kyuubi is becoming, and makes me marvel at how Sasuke can become used to such insane brutality dished out on a regular basis.
I think I'll be obsessing on this fic for a while. It's very meaty. And angsty.
