Phantom Pain Series by April Valentine (NC-17)

[jane-elliot.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ: aprilvalentine
Author Website: April Valentine's Sentinel Stories
Why this must be read:

The first two stories in this series are very short and not entirely to my taste (I'm not much of a vignette person), but you have to read them to understand what is going on in Phantom Pain 3, which is one of the absolute best epic TS fics I've ever read (with one caveat, below). Blair (for reasons that will not be explained for spoiler purposes) moves to the east coast to try and recover from a huge personal tragedy. Of course, Jim follows, but even more than the h/c and romance aspects of this story, I love the realistic portrayal of the challenges Blair faces and how he builds a happy and whole life. That said, April attached an epilogue to the story that pretty much invalidates the entire premise of the story *and* all of Blair's personal growth. While I still strongly recommend this fic, I also suggest you stop reading just before the epilogue (don't worry, you'll still get a very satisfying ending).

Phantom Pain
Phantom Pain -- Jim
Phantom Pain -- Miracles

Comments

[m-lasha.livejournal.com]

April is aprilvalentine on LJ.

[gardendoor.livejournal.com]

One of my all-time favorites! I'm in agreement with you; the first two are okay, but the third is really splendid up to the epilogue. Thank you so much for reccing this! *toddles off to fall in love with the story all over again*

[jane-elliot.livejournal.com]

I've updated the entry. Thanks!

[jane-elliot.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I have to admit, I was a little leery of recommending a fic when I had such a significant issue with it, but it really is a good story and it's so easy to stop reading just before the epilogue. I'm glad that the pro/con rec hasn't turned folks off:)

[slipperieslope.livejournal.com]

Isn't this a puzzler? How can you get something so right and then ruin it in an epilogue? I was just stunned and then perplexed. Do you suppose her beta talked her into it? Or she really wanted/needed to write a 'sci/fi' aspect to a story? Or maybe she felt badly about damaging Blair or maybe she got piles of negative feedback along those lines and she added the epilogue? I am not a Blair healer type reader - I cringe at any and all pain - I don't particularly enjoy hurt/comfort as a genre and yet I totally got into this story... till the end. I am so glad you admitted in reccing it that the epilogue threw you because I was just plain stunned.

: O

[jane-elliot.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I hesitated for a long time before deciding to rec this, because I was afraid that folks wouldn't appreciate a rec with such a significant caveat in it. On the other hand, I couldn't honestly suggest people read the story without warning them about the epilogue (which -- yeah, no clue. I'm leaning towards her getting negative feedback from the first two stories and deciding to add the epilogue before she ever wrote the third.) I agree with you re: pain. I'm a huge h/c fan, but I favor emotional hurt and I'm much more interested in the comfort part of the equation anyway.

If you're looking for some good J/B fic with minimal pain, check out the I Still Believe series (I just recced it today). Good stuff:)

Thanks for the feedback!