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maudite_a_deuxRider of the Mark, by ZeeDrippyVessel
I'm not a reader of LOTR fanfic -- in fact, this is the only one I've ever read[1] -- but it's so good I had to share. It's a WIP (regularly updated), a light, semi-humorous romance between Gamling, one of the riders of the Rohirrim, and an original female character (yes, yes, I know, but she's emphatically not a Mary Sue). It's sufficiently well-written to stand up to much of the published fiction I've read. Characterization is excellent, plot is well-constructed and believable, and the pacing is bloody superb. (Oh yeah, and the sex scenes don't suck either.)
There are only two things I don't like about it. One is that the author hops back and forth between POVs within a scene, which is something that always bothers me. The other is that much of the humor is provided by what-he's-really-thinking type thought interjections, most of which are extremely silly -- they're too frequent, and I think they detract from the tone of the story. They do serve a purpose, however, and they are funny.
I stumbled on it this afternoon and read all 34 chapters in one sitting. I can't see it going more than another five, so I expect it will be completed fairly soon, since there seems to be a new chapter about once every ten days or so. Joe-Bob says check it out.
[1] Partly this is because I only got into fanfic because of Harry Potter; for the most part I've found fanfic from pretty much every other fandom both underwhelming and unappealing[2]. Partly it's because none of the main LOTR characters who aren't paired off by the end of the books hold any real interest for me. LOTR is just so grand and epic and serious; I can't imagine taking any of those characters and running with them. But here, a minor character who isn't fully fleshed out in the books is borrowed to good effect, and the major characters who make guest appearances are treated with sufficient respect to meet with my approval.
[2] Writing this made me wonder what the difference is, and I realized it's that the Harry Potter books are books written both for and about children. Potterfic dealing with adult characters, or older, more adult versions of characters, is exploring a different area than that covered by the original author, and isn't directly comparable to the existing works. There's a great deal we don't know about most of the HP characters, and who knows what the Hogwarts alumnae might get up to in the future? It's easier to construct a believable scenario and speculate convincingly on character development in those circumstances -- after all, we know we won't ever see what the Potter characters will be like after Year Seven -- than it is to write, say, an Aragorn/Eowyn romance that doesn't ring false -- because that's a flagrant departure from LOTR canon, as much as we might wish otherwise. Disbelief just can't be suspended from a thread that fine.
I'm not a reader of LOTR fanfic -- in fact, this is the only one I've ever read[1] -- but it's so good I had to share. It's a WIP (regularly updated), a light, semi-humorous romance between Gamling, one of the riders of the Rohirrim, and an original female character (yes, yes, I know, but she's emphatically not a Mary Sue). It's sufficiently well-written to stand up to much of the published fiction I've read. Characterization is excellent, plot is well-constructed and believable, and the pacing is bloody superb. (Oh yeah, and the sex scenes don't suck either.)
There are only two things I don't like about it. One is that the author hops back and forth between POVs within a scene, which is something that always bothers me. The other is that much of the humor is provided by what-he's-really-thinking type thought interjections, most of which are extremely silly -- they're too frequent, and I think they detract from the tone of the story. They do serve a purpose, however, and they are funny.
I stumbled on it this afternoon and read all 34 chapters in one sitting. I can't see it going more than another five, so I expect it will be completed fairly soon, since there seems to be a new chapter about once every ten days or so. Joe-Bob says check it out.
[1] Partly this is because I only got into fanfic because of Harry Potter; for the most part I've found fanfic from pretty much every other fandom both underwhelming and unappealing[2]. Partly it's because none of the main LOTR characters who aren't paired off by the end of the books hold any real interest for me. LOTR is just so grand and epic and serious; I can't imagine taking any of those characters and running with them. But here, a minor character who isn't fully fleshed out in the books is borrowed to good effect, and the major characters who make guest appearances are treated with sufficient respect to meet with my approval.
[2] Writing this made me wonder what the difference is, and I realized it's that the Harry Potter books are books written both for and about children. Potterfic dealing with adult characters, or older, more adult versions of characters, is exploring a different area than that covered by the original author, and isn't directly comparable to the existing works. There's a great deal we don't know about most of the HP characters, and who knows what the Hogwarts alumnae might get up to in the future? It's easier to construct a believable scenario and speculate convincingly on character development in those circumstances -- after all, we know we won't ever see what the Potter characters will be like after Year Seven -- than it is to write, say, an Aragorn/Eowyn romance that doesn't ring false -- because that's a flagrant departure from LOTR canon, as much as we might wish otherwise. Disbelief just can't be suspended from a thread that fine.
