A list of all unfinished hr fics I'm reading (part 2)
let's hope I remember enough details about the ones I read a while ago.
6. Soulmate marks that feel like a violation: win and bear it by Anonymous
I am not a huge fan of soulmate AU's, because I am not a fan of the idea of one true love in general, and these stories usually require a lot of suspense of disbelief. But this one is interesting, maybe because there is so much of emotional torment. In this case, their soulmarks are like a physical manifestation of their attraction, like a tangible metaphor of homosexuality. The way they feel is undeniable, but it is forbidden, and knowing and confronting it is painful.
The narration is from Ilya's perspective, and he is very unwell and doesn't know how to deal with anything - which is fair, you know, no judgement. I like his deliberations about his parents' lives, the parallels are interesting. He is never saying it as it is, because he is so repressed, and it is exiting, having to pierce what he thinks together. And the yearning is very good)
I do wish his tattoo was not a bear though. I have nothing against bears in general, but you have to understand, I'm trying to forget that he is russian to enjoy the story. You might as well have made his mark a balalaika (or a tank, am I right? haha....ha..)
7. Scott Hunter derails the narrative, a fic: we cannot waste time (—only ourselves.) by llamallamaduck
One of my favourite fics overall. It is one of those forced coming out stories, except it's only Ilya who's affected, and with a notable change that Scott Hunter arrives at his doorstep immediately, to offer help.
Extremely interesting both character-wise, because it is a strange situation to find yourself in (and I love it when people are friends), and narratively, because you can never guess what is going to happen next.
Includes a lot of discussion of the meanings of sex and access to one's body, consent, assumptions, and heteronormativity in sports circles and wider society. Ilya is quite severely depressed and dealing with it with mixed results. Shane is haunting the narrative. He's not there that much, but I like how their connection is handled a lot, it is so tender and genuine. There are volatile emotions, but at the core they just want to be nice to each other, and they are curious. 10/10
8. Textual analysis fic: Halt and Catch Fire by mashawisotsky
Composed almost entirely of news articles, reddit threads, podcast transcriptions, and internal emails, this fanfic paints a picture of the public reaction and private consequences of a data leak involving thousands of athletes across the Americas. What do you think about that review-worthy sentence, huh?))
I actually found this one through tumblr, and it is very satisfying to read. The amount of attention to detail is impressive. There are not that many character scenes, but seeing the reactions, speculation, meeting minutes, while knowing the secret, is very sweet, in an anticipatory way. 10/10
9. Disability, depression, and desperately clinging to a life you can't get back to in order to feel something again: Route 96 Kanata by Anonymous
What can I say. Horrifying, heart-breaking. Relatable if you ever dealt with a life-changing injury, probably, but also extremely hard to read. There is Shane living a normal life, after hockey becomes impossible for him, early in his career. There is a feeling that, even though he is afloat now, he could sink and drown at any point. The balance is fragile, he is fighting for his life at all times. He has friends, his studies, but also a real sense that he left his life behind with hockey. Then, inevitably, he meets Rozanov.
I honestly can't guess where the story is going. Is there a way for him to stop feeling like this? Can he ever recover from losing the most important thing in his life since he was 6? Is he using Ilya just to feel closer to the world that is not his? Could he deal with loving a person who has what he so desperately wants? It is very important to me that he can, but it seems so far away. 10/10
10. Almost lesbian, tragic o/o fic: To Be Boring With You by ZoinksSc00b
Almost lesbian, because although they are both omegas, they can actually get each other pregnant. So this is a homosexual ship, except in this universe those two are like snails, apparently))
It is very fun, actually, to imagine a world with such a confused sex distribution - even if thinking about it for too long breaks the immersion, because what is the difference between male omegas and female alphas then? Noone knows and noone cares.
What is important, is that they are, for almost all intents and purposes, female in this scenario. They have to deal with so much misogyny, and they do it together. It's kind of heart-warming, because they are alike. I appreciate this aspect of m/m ships in general - the fact that they are on equal standing sexually, they have the same to lose - and when in abo fanfic writers make them different sexes, this is lost. But not here, which is nice) There is an unusually, for abo, thoughtful discussion of what being a certain sex means or feels like. Entertaining also. Ah, and there are extremely tragic things also happening. Many tragic things. Very interesting story. 10/10
origamiaround
janainaart
theartofmadeline
areudirty
dededos
