not another hp rec, oh no

[lobelia321]

Yes, I fear so. I have been strangely drawn to that fandom of late, mainly because nearly every one of the fics that people have recced has been absolutely fantastic.

And this one, Friends, is mindblowing:

fearlessdiva, Tissue of Silver.

A number of you have been reccing this for months. I finally finished it this morning. I was rivetted and spellbound and delighted. The characterisation is delicious, the pacing is mostly spot-on, some of the dialogue is nigh perfect, and, most wonderfully of all, there is a mix of text types, there are changes in narrative level, there are changes in focalisor! It's a tight (and oh, it's a deliciously tight) third-person pov, interspersed with first-person letters and reports from a variety of other people who sometimes also feature as characters in the third-person plot. Or, I suppose you could alternatively describe it as a series of letters and reports, written in different prose styles, intercalated with an ongoing past-tense third-person narration.

Anyway, whatever it is, it is an outstanding, and I stand in awe. It's also deliriously long (146 pages in Word, Times New Roman, font size 11). Because I caved in and printed it out. I had to -- I needed to read it everywhere and all the time.

Comments

[lazulus]

*pets you*

You know I was worried in case, for some bizarre and entirely irrational reason, you wouldn't like ToS.

Then I would have had to disown you.

*relieved*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Now: if you were going to disown me, does that now mean that I am *owned*?

And -- ooh -- what does this mean *in practice*??

*grins*

And thank you, thank you, oh Owneress, for reccing this to me and sending it to me as Word doc!

How was the first version different from this one?

[lazulus]

Oh, did I not mentioning the owning thing?

*looks innocent*

heh

Anyway, the main difference in this version is that Catherine Trayce is much more well defined. In the original she hardly appears at all -- only really at the court and then when they walk the wards. As a result her motives and her character are too sketchy to make the ending believable. In this version, you are given an idea of where she is coming from and -- although in both I think you can figure out she is the baddie -- you feel some semblance of sympathy with her. The entire ending of the fic is much cleaner and clearer as a result.

Have you read the sequels yet? Famous for their Discord, is what happens after the end of Tissue and is well worth reading. There is also another short piece that follows that. If you go to Fearless Diva's website you can find all the pieces of the series there. She has also started a Snape piece that follows on from the Tissue series and looks pretty damn interesting so far. Her website is here.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Thank you for pointing out the existence of sequels.

O my heart. *clutches same*

And Snape? Hm. Somehow, the HP is for me all about the boys. I have no interest in the manlies at all. Call me weird. buffonia and blythely claim that H/D is Domlijah and Blythely calls them 'vomit-inducing' -- whether it's due to your reccing powers or sheer flukey luck, but of all the good HP fics I've read, over half have been Harry/Draco so I've been sort of imprinted and now can't get away from them as otp. Also, they sort of hit a nerve in that they right the moral wrongness of JKR's canon-verse. And Draco is so beautiful.

AAAGH. Did I just type that?? What is becoming of me?!!!

*hits head on keyboard*

Draco beautiful and dressed in Armani clothes, Harry tousled and confused -- take me, I'm theirs

[lazulus]

*points and laughs*

Harry/Draco is really my OTP, in particular what is termed post-war Harry/Draco [like Transfigurations and Tissue of Silver]. However, I do have a great affection for the men, especially Lupin. I just love to read well written Lupin and believe me, there is some very good Lupin about. Snape is the same. When I read good Snape, it makes me feel all at one with the fandom.

It's what I keep saying: HP fanfic gives Rowling's characters personality, depth and motivation that she completely bypasses.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Okay: rec the best Lupin you've ever read, ditto Snape, and I'll give them a go.

I'll also read Dobby/squid.


I read the first sequel to Tissue of Silver and was a bit disappointed. But it was a sort of interesting disappointment because I could see *exactly* why she wrote it. We need to talk about this. Don't tell her, though, because the sequel (the discord one) is still about 20 times better than 80 percent of fics.