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crack_van2008-03-08 09:58 pm
persephone-kore.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2008-03-08 09:58 pm
Entry tags:
The Slumbering Princess by Elana (PG or T)
Fandom: STAR WARS
Pairing: Shmi Skywalker/OC
Length: Novella
Author on LJ: I don't think she's got one.
Author Website: Profile on TheForce.net JC forums, Profile at Fanfiction.net
Why this must be read:
As much as I love this story, I was expecting to have an easier time explaining why. Doesn't everybody need to read a novel about Shmi Skywalker's love life?
No, that's selling it too short--far too limited a description. This story brings Shmi Skywalker to life in ways far beyond her few minutes of screen time in the movies, but utterly consistent with them. You can hear the rhythms of her canonical lines, though the wisdom, I think, is some time growing. She's still Anakin's mother, yes, but the story reaches back before and beyond that role to focus on her story, without denying her role as part of his--it shows her as a person, as a slave, as a friend, as a lover, as a victim of others' cruelty and scheming, as an agent of her own choices that will eventually affect the course of the galaxy, and as someone developing the core of strength to be live boldly, to love, and to be gentle in a harsh world.
There are three layers of nested narrative: the outermost is set during Anakin's childhood, when the subject of fathers comes up among his friends. The second is the tale of the Slumbering Princess--a GFFA-adapted version of Sleeping Beauty, mingling a few known variations of the fairy tale with some universe-specific changes--that Shmi tells him after dealing with his questions. The third is an extended flashback that actually makes up most of the eighteen-chapter story. Don't worry, though, it's not really confusing to follow at all, though I think I was a little startled by the end of the flashback to remember that I'd started reading in a different time period. The flashback starts with the day she meets Kern Bluesand; it ends the morning after Anakin's conception. As you might guess from her lines in the movie, the relationship between these events is somewhat complicated.
The story includes really lovely characterization (including the OCs), a GFFA equivalent to the Underground Railroad, heartbreaking almosts, a heartstopping vision of the two current Sith, and very skillful use of choice details to convey everything from the glories of love to the horrors of slavery without exceeding the TFN boards' rating limits.
The Slumbering Princess (TFN)
The Slumbering Princess (FFN)
Pairing: Shmi Skywalker/OC
Length: Novella
Author on LJ: I don't think she's got one.
Author Website: Profile on TheForce.net JC forums, Profile at Fanfiction.net
Why this must be read:
As much as I love this story, I was expecting to have an easier time explaining why. Doesn't everybody need to read a novel about Shmi Skywalker's love life?
No, that's selling it too short--far too limited a description. This story brings Shmi Skywalker to life in ways far beyond her few minutes of screen time in the movies, but utterly consistent with them. You can hear the rhythms of her canonical lines, though the wisdom, I think, is some time growing. She's still Anakin's mother, yes, but the story reaches back before and beyond that role to focus on her story, without denying her role as part of his--it shows her as a person, as a slave, as a friend, as a lover, as a victim of others' cruelty and scheming, as an agent of her own choices that will eventually affect the course of the galaxy, and as someone developing the core of strength to be live boldly, to love, and to be gentle in a harsh world.
There are three layers of nested narrative: the outermost is set during Anakin's childhood, when the subject of fathers comes up among his friends. The second is the tale of the Slumbering Princess--a GFFA-adapted version of Sleeping Beauty, mingling a few known variations of the fairy tale with some universe-specific changes--that Shmi tells him after dealing with his questions. The third is an extended flashback that actually makes up most of the eighteen-chapter story. Don't worry, though, it's not really confusing to follow at all, though I think I was a little startled by the end of the flashback to remember that I'd started reading in a different time period. The flashback starts with the day she meets Kern Bluesand; it ends the morning after Anakin's conception. As you might guess from her lines in the movie, the relationship between these events is somewhat complicated.
The story includes really lovely characterization (including the OCs), a GFFA equivalent to the Underground Railroad, heartbreaking almosts, a heartstopping vision of the two current Sith, and very skillful use of choice details to convey everything from the glories of love to the horrors of slavery without exceeding the TFN boards' rating limits.
The Slumbering Princess (TFN)
The Slumbering Princess (FFN)