The Sahara Experiment Affair by Jazline (NC-17)

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Pairing: None (gen)
WARNING: Graphic Adult Scenes
Author on LJ: jazline
Author Website: http://mysite.verizon.net/jazline/
Why this must be read:

My purpose being to show all the aspects of the MFU fanfiction (except the het stuff; sorry, I never got the courage to read anything of it till the end), I feel compelled to present now a real, dyed-in-the wool, hard-core H/C story. This one appears as a perfect example of the genre, neatly written, masterfully plotted to produce the maximum suspense, thrill and emotion.

However beware: This is not for the most sensitive souls. Some readers could even find there is more hurt than comfort here (but everything is mended at the end, of course) and the author herself describes her work in those terms: A badly damaged Illya is retrieved after a devastating captivity. Will he ever be the same man again?

Poor Illya, always the doomed victim! But the topic itself doesn't lack interest or originality; the question is: how deep can a mind manipulation go through? Is a brainwashing able to completely and permanently erase a man's memory, personality, loyalty and feelings?

The harshness of the situation is somehow alleviated in the reader's mind by a slight impression of unreality or, rather, by a modified sense of reality, like in a vivid nightmare. From nightmares, the narrative gets its power of suggestion, its blind desperation, its angst driven and breathless motion, but from nightmares as well comes the confused certainty that "it's not for good", that sooner or later you will awake from the dark depths of the night.

I sincerely hope I didn't deterred the potential readers from the trip, instead of encouraging them! Try the reading first, you have time to tremble afterward (it's not the darkest story in Jazline's universe).

The Sahara Experiment Affair

Comments

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Yes! Of the two of them, Napoleon definitely has the more "feminine" traits -- his mannerisms, even the way he runs, are less than macho. That's not a complaint or a put-down -- it makes him fascinating. But it is always astonishing to me when writers "girly up" Illya -- the more butch and ruthless of the two, just because he's short and blond.