![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ljwritesThe orderofthelotus's 2012 fic exchange concluded in October. I've just read through them all, and here are my favorites:
Best Served Cold byloopy777 for angel2606
An Azula/Sokka AU fic. I think it's one of the most sensitive and nuanced treatments of Azula's character ever. Partly it's the AU premise that enables her to be much more complex than her canon counterpart (Ozai is killed for his treason and Ursa raises Azula and Zuko in a refugee village). Mostly, though, what carries the story is Loopy's skill at portraying the interplay of cruelty and tenderness, withdrawal and warmth, destructiveness and yearning for life that is Azula.
Since this is a Loopy story there is a good mix of romance and plot, and also because this is Loopy there is great, wry humor throughout. It's a solidly enjoyable tale, fun and well-plotted with wrenching drama at its center, but above all I think it's the dazzling characterization of Azula that will stay with me.
Caribou by liafic for profoundly-grey
This one was... puzzling. I mean, I've read plenty of good fanfiction, and I love fics with solid plots, characterization, and ideas. I expect worksmanship from fanfic rather than artistry, because God knows worksmanship is rare enough.
So reading Caribou was like netting for garden-variety butterflies in my back yard, hoping I don't catch moths, and then watching a Blue Morpho land on my nose. It's just one of those nearly impossible things.
How to describe Caribou? Well, it's a Zutara modern-day AU for starters, but that's misleading. It's not inaccurate, but it creates associations with other modern AU fics that will give you an inaccurate idea of what it's like.
In fact, calling it fanfic is misleading because the word usually does not call to mind delicately inflected, wonderfully complex, yet beautifully simple pieces of professional-grade fiction. And that is what Caribou is, an exploration of identity, belonging, and family in less than 2,000 words.
That's why my puzzlement threatened to override my amazement with this story. It's the Blue Morpho in my backyard. It doesn't fit. I don't know why the author chose to publish it online as derivative fiction rather than an original story (and I hope she expands it into an original story, maybe a novel), but I feel lucky to have read it.
This lonely world without you by kaberett for attackfish
OH THE EMOTIONS with this one. It was one of those quiet stories that grabbed hold of my heart and wouldn't let go. What got me about this AU, where a single decision changed everything, was Iroh's constant and patient affection for Zuko. Even better, it was all understated and left me room to feel for myself--and feel I did, so much, all the way to the sad and uplifting ending.
This lonely world without you is the kind of story that makes you want to go hug the person in your life who watched over you all your days, through heartbreaks and sacrifices you never even cared enough to notice, you ingrate. *sobs*
Best Served Cold by
loopy777 for angel2606An Azula/Sokka AU fic. I think it's one of the most sensitive and nuanced treatments of Azula's character ever. Partly it's the AU premise that enables her to be much more complex than her canon counterpart (Ozai is killed for his treason and Ursa raises Azula and Zuko in a refugee village). Mostly, though, what carries the story is Loopy's skill at portraying the interplay of cruelty and tenderness, withdrawal and warmth, destructiveness and yearning for life that is Azula.
Since this is a Loopy story there is a good mix of romance and plot, and also because this is Loopy there is great, wry humor throughout. It's a solidly enjoyable tale, fun and well-plotted with wrenching drama at its center, but above all I think it's the dazzling characterization of Azula that will stay with me.
Caribou by liafic for profoundly-grey
This one was... puzzling. I mean, I've read plenty of good fanfiction, and I love fics with solid plots, characterization, and ideas. I expect worksmanship from fanfic rather than artistry, because God knows worksmanship is rare enough.
So reading Caribou was like netting for garden-variety butterflies in my back yard, hoping I don't catch moths, and then watching a Blue Morpho land on my nose. It's just one of those nearly impossible things.
How to describe Caribou? Well, it's a Zutara modern-day AU for starters, but that's misleading. It's not inaccurate, but it creates associations with other modern AU fics that will give you an inaccurate idea of what it's like.
In fact, calling it fanfic is misleading because the word usually does not call to mind delicately inflected, wonderfully complex, yet beautifully simple pieces of professional-grade fiction. And that is what Caribou is, an exploration of identity, belonging, and family in less than 2,000 words.
That's why my puzzlement threatened to override my amazement with this story. It's the Blue Morpho in my backyard. It doesn't fit. I don't know why the author chose to publish it online as derivative fiction rather than an original story (and I hope she expands it into an original story, maybe a novel), but I feel lucky to have read it.
This lonely world without you by kaberett for attackfish
OH THE EMOTIONS with this one. It was one of those quiet stories that grabbed hold of my heart and wouldn't let go. What got me about this AU, where a single decision changed everything, was Iroh's constant and patient affection for Zuko. Even better, it was all understated and left me room to feel for myself--and feel I did, so much, all the way to the sad and uplifting ending.
This lonely world without you is the kind of story that makes you want to go hug the person in your life who watched over you all your days, through heartbreaks and sacrifices you never even cared enough to notice, you ingrate. *sobs*
