Fandom: SHAKESPEARE -- RICHARD II
Pairing: Richard II/Bolingbroke
Length: 1790 words
Author on LJ:
shayheyredAuthor Website: Today's Menu at Chez ShayWhy this must be read: Richard II is one of the Histories that doesn't get a whole lot of love. That's understandable; Richard II is sort of in the middle of the pack as far as colorful English royalty goes, and the play has a complicated plot that involves the niceties of feudal politics, and you have to know not only who the major characters are, but also how they're related to each other, who they're descended from, and a little something about the laws of medieval French succession. For people four hundred years from now, following the plot of
Enron: The Smartest People In The Room will be like this.
Shayheyred neatly sidesteps all of this. She gives us two men caught up in a relationship as complicated personally as it is politically. They wrestle with love, jealousy, their own insecurities and weaknesses, and the bitterness of the way that they finally part. Richard and Bolingbroke are real, flesh-and-blood people whose attraction is almost palpable. It's also one of the very few stories written in the second person that I've ever really enjoyed. That's how good it is.
( Richard is late )