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crack_van2013-08-31 09:36 am
zandperl.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2013-08-31 09:36 am
Entry tags:
From the Darkness We Rise by not_poignant (Explicit)
Subject: From the Darkness We Rise by not_poignant (Explicit)
Fandom: Rise of the Guardians
Pairing: Jack/Pitch
Length: 162,528 words (21 chapters)
Author Website: AO3, Tumblr
Why this must be read:
And here's my absolute last rec for the month, because it's my absolute favorite work! not_poignant aka Pia is an amazing author. This is a very angsty fic, and at more than 150,000 words, it's got even more angst than its fair share. But it's also a recovery fic, and not just of Pitch after the shadows leave him, but more importantly and subtly of Jack as we see what his 300 years of solitude and one night stands have done to him.
Pia does an amazing job with characters' inner turmoil (numerous commenters have said that she brought them to tears). She also writes some of the hottest smut I've ever read, like EVER, not just in fandom, because it's driven by the characters. And it totally breaks your heart at the same time as it brings a grin to your face when she does both (inner turmoil and smut) at once. Her Jack is fragile underneath his tough exterior, but over the course of the book (and the sequel, Into Shadows We Fall, which will be finishing next week, so if you start FtDWR now she'll be done with ISWF before you need to worry about it) he begins to find the inner strength to match his outer. Her Pitch's snark is to hide his own frailties which result from his ages ago training as a Golden Warrior, compounded with his ages of possession by the shadows. Her Nightmare King is even more terrifying than that of the film and the books combined. Her other Guardians slowly come to realize they did wrong by leaving Jack alone so many years, and even more slowly attempt to fix their errors, despite Jack's reluctance to accept their offers of help. Pia plans ahead like few published authors do.
There's Seelie and Unseelie fae. There's a rich world of other spirits. Jack has a new sidekick and she's a friendly nightmare. There's character death. There's discussion of centers, and changing centers. There's fight scenes and conversations. There's magic and hope. There's fear and despair. There's companionship and rivalry. This fic has everything, and it's always the best I've ever read.
Excerpt 1: FtDWR Ch 1, "It's Time"
Twenty two years and one evening under the light of the Man in the Moon, he felt an old, familiar, bell-like pulse in his heart. He looked up immediately, his pulse racing, a cold zing of remembrance moving through him. And with it, love. He could not look up at the Man in the Moon and not feel a strange, alien love like a reaching starburst of light inside of him.
It’s time, the Man in the Moon said inside of his heart.
Excerpt 2: FtDWR Ch 3, "Get Out!"
The bolt of ice and frost that he sent through his staff was a powerful one. Pitch’s eyes widened, his body jerked like he was about to lunge out of the way, and then he was sent flying backwards into wall. Jack winced at the sound of him hitting stone, falling to the ground. He kept his staff up and frowned when Pitch didn’t immediately rally. He had hit the stone hard.
‘You are weaker!’
Mora stamped her hooves in agitation as Pitch slowly drew himself upright, his expressions shifting from surprise, to outrage, to a level of indifference that Jack didn’t believe at all. Pitch was still closest to the exit and Jack felt fear. He expected revenge, retaliation. He steadied his stance and waited for what Pitch would do.
The Nightmare King simply watched Jack. Watched him with cold, dead eyes. Jack resisted the urge to fidget or shift under that gaze. Resisted the urge to look away and then almost wanted to laugh when he realised, is this some kind of staring contest? But eventually that went away too. Chasing it was the absurd feeling that he should apologise for attacking Pitch without warning like that, even if he had good reason to do it, it still felt wrong to send anyone flying full force into a stone wall. And then, on the heels of that, came fear.
From the Darkness We Rise by not_poignant (Explicit)
Fandom: Rise of the Guardians
Pairing: Jack/Pitch
Length: 162,528 words (21 chapters)
Author Website: AO3, Tumblr
Why this must be read:
Author Summary:
Twenty two years have passed since the defeat of Pitch, and Jack lives alone, touch-starved, with only the company of a solitary Nightmare. One evening the Man in the Moon sets him on a path that will lead him to unexpected relationships, draw the attention of the Guardians to a new coalition of villains, and challenge Jack's every notion of what it is to be good, evil, and what it is to live in the shadows.
And here's my absolute last rec for the month, because it's my absolute favorite work! not_poignant aka Pia is an amazing author. This is a very angsty fic, and at more than 150,000 words, it's got even more angst than its fair share. But it's also a recovery fic, and not just of Pitch after the shadows leave him, but more importantly and subtly of Jack as we see what his 300 years of solitude and one night stands have done to him.
Pia does an amazing job with characters' inner turmoil (numerous commenters have said that she brought them to tears). She also writes some of the hottest smut I've ever read, like EVER, not just in fandom, because it's driven by the characters. And it totally breaks your heart at the same time as it brings a grin to your face when she does both (inner turmoil and smut) at once. Her Jack is fragile underneath his tough exterior, but over the course of the book (and the sequel, Into Shadows We Fall, which will be finishing next week, so if you start FtDWR now she'll be done with ISWF before you need to worry about it) he begins to find the inner strength to match his outer. Her Pitch's snark is to hide his own frailties which result from his ages ago training as a Golden Warrior, compounded with his ages of possession by the shadows. Her Nightmare King is even more terrifying than that of the film and the books combined. Her other Guardians slowly come to realize they did wrong by leaving Jack alone so many years, and even more slowly attempt to fix their errors, despite Jack's reluctance to accept their offers of help. Pia plans ahead like few published authors do.
There's Seelie and Unseelie fae. There's a rich world of other spirits. Jack has a new sidekick and she's a friendly nightmare. There's character death. There's discussion of centers, and changing centers. There's fight scenes and conversations. There's magic and hope. There's fear and despair. There's companionship and rivalry. This fic has everything, and it's always the best I've ever read.
Excerpt 1: FtDWR Ch 1, "It's Time"
Twenty two years and one evening under the light of the Man in the Moon, he felt an old, familiar, bell-like pulse in his heart. He looked up immediately, his pulse racing, a cold zing of remembrance moving through him. And with it, love. He could not look up at the Man in the Moon and not feel a strange, alien love like a reaching starburst of light inside of him.
It’s time, the Man in the Moon said inside of his heart.
Excerpt 2: FtDWR Ch 3, "Get Out!"
The bolt of ice and frost that he sent through his staff was a powerful one. Pitch’s eyes widened, his body jerked like he was about to lunge out of the way, and then he was sent flying backwards into wall. Jack winced at the sound of him hitting stone, falling to the ground. He kept his staff up and frowned when Pitch didn’t immediately rally. He had hit the stone hard.
‘You are weaker!’
Mora stamped her hooves in agitation as Pitch slowly drew himself upright, his expressions shifting from surprise, to outrage, to a level of indifference that Jack didn’t believe at all. Pitch was still closest to the exit and Jack felt fear. He expected revenge, retaliation. He steadied his stance and waited for what Pitch would do.
The Nightmare King simply watched Jack. Watched him with cold, dead eyes. Jack resisted the urge to fidget or shift under that gaze. Resisted the urge to look away and then almost wanted to laugh when he realised, is this some kind of staring contest? But eventually that went away too. Chasing it was the absurd feeling that he should apologise for attacking Pitch without warning like that, even if he had good reason to do it, it still felt wrong to send anyone flying full force into a stone wall. And then, on the heels of that, came fear.
From the Darkness We Rise by not_poignant (Explicit)
no subject
Laurie
no subject
no subject
I really have to
blamethank you for dragging me headlong into a new fandom. I did actually watch the movie the other night, so now I have a better grasp on that canon, and I've been reading nothing else since you started reccing fics over here. That rarely happens, and yet now I'm hooked. If you have any WIPs or other recs, I'm all ears.no subject
Anyway, I eventually remembered the reason I decided to finally watch it and checked out the fic you rec'd... and holy crap, dude. HOLY CRAP. It took me a little while to get into, but once I did was completely hooked. I'm already halfway into the second part of the story and I'm already sad that it's been completed.
Seriously, the fic is so riveting. I should be studying for midterms and yet I find that I can't tear myself away from the fic (of from thinking about the fic) long enough to do any actual studying.
I both love and hate you for this.
Thanks so much for the rec!
no subject
Pia / not-poignant has another mostly original in-progress work on AO3, "Game Theory" - it's about Gwyn and Augus post-ISWF. If you can handle really dark non-con torture porn, it's also amazing. It's porn with more plot that most people's pornless works. Even though the Nightmare King is not an on-screen character at all in that work, we learn huge things about him and he's even more terrifying than we thought in the Shadows and Light series.
Good luck on your midterms, and sorry! :) I'm in the same boat myself, what with Game Theory ongoing and all the amazing character reveals in it making me want to go back and reread all of FtDWR and ISWF.