Title: Buy The Stars Fandom: Fallen London (Echo Bazaar) Pairing: Player/Rubbery Man (Main), Player/Quiet Deviless Categories: Â Romance, Horror, Angst, Action/ Adventure Length: Long (36 thousand words) Warnings: Violence, Abusive Relationships, Spoilers Author on LJ: N/A Author Website: Twitter Tumblr Authorâs Summary: Kindness is not a virtue, not in Fallen London. Hester knows this all too well. Sentimentality will cost you everything in this city and only a fool would risk anything for a Rubbery Man stupid enough to let themselves be cornered. But she's a woman who has always learned things the hard way, and this lesson is no exception to that rule. Review: Fallen London is a atmospheric text-based browser game set in a dark (underground) version of Victorian London with several metaphysical elements. Most notable is that people don't stay dead as long as they stay underground (although there are still many permanent fates). I believe the fic is comprehensible without further knowledge of the game. It took me a little while to get my head around having a thief as a heroic protagonist, despite the game being dark (and historically accurate) enough that immoral behaviour is almost impossible to avoid. However the Adroit Sneakthief is fairly endearing in her way, just generous enough to balance out her bone-deep pragmatism. While she selfishly uses people, she also does her best to help them. Rubbery Men are one of the mysterious and inhuman aspects of the setting, with their story-lines only ever giving tantalising hints so it is very interesting to read world-building about their nature and motivations. The cultural differences and communication difficulties also make the romance more interesting. The fic is written much like the game story text; detailed imagery of surroundings, plentiful and fast-moving action. I admit to some dubiousness about the paragraphing, but the grammar and plot is otherwise solid. Buy The Stars