Fic Rec: Shadows on the Wall

[lielabell.livejournal.com]

Title: Shadows on the Wall
Author: AraSigyrn
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: 18,160
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: None listed
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: John came back from Afghanistan psychic. Spoilers to The Great Game

Reccer's comments: Oh lord, this fic. It's such epic, good fic. The sort that makes you stay up half the night reading because you just have to know what happens next, damn the consequences. It sucks you in and leaves you hanging on every word. And, dude, it does *not* disappoint. At all. Ever. Ah hell, this review is crap. I don't have words to describe how amazing it is and if I went into all the twists and turns it would just spoil the thing for you and I really, really don't want to do that. Because this is a fic that you should savor. So yeah. Crap review is crap, but go read it anyway.

Snippet: He almost keeps walking but it floods his mind and he's out of habit, can't push it away before he gets two distinct instants of possibility. One John Watson doesn't stop, keeps hobbling away and Mike, who is all blustering good intentions, lets him go and five days later, that John Watson shoots himself in the temple with his illegal service revolver. The other John Watson turns and lets Mike reintroduce himself and five days later, that John Watson is running down a street, fighting a giggle because he's said that they shouldn't giggle at crime scenes and he doesn't have a cane or a limp.

So, at last, John Watson meets Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock, his usual arrogant self, assumes John stutters after the question because he's stunned or offended. John doesn't tell him that it's because he has two distinct revelations crashing down on him. The first is He's not me. Not like me but he's brilliant! because yes, Sherlock is a mad genius who makes his brain do what John's 'it' can do but he controls it.

The second is I'm going to fall in love with you. When Sherlock shows him the flat and smiles that shy, happy smile, John smiles back and wonders if he'll ever even notice.

Comments

[bk7brokemybrain.livejournal.com]

Oh em gee, this looks sooo goooood. Thank you! "I'm going to fall in love with you." SQUEEEEEE

[lielabell.livejournal.com]

You'll have to tell me what you think once you finish it. *grins*

[bk7brokemybrain.livejournal.com]

Hm. I stopped halfway through. I think it's one of those fics whose style you have to be able to tolerate. I was getting frustrated by the constant background info that John wouldn't/couldn't share with Sherlock. And, since it was following Series 1 canon so closely, I was getting very restless to move forward. It does have very cool moments, like Ruth's story, but I"m more of a 'speak and move on' type of reader and writer, and can't stand having every little detail pored over, every spoken sentence dissected. I know many love that kind of thing, but I just can't.
If you tell me to hang in there, that there's an amazing ending, then I'll go back, but I gave it 9K words. Not my style, is all.

[lielabell.livejournal.com]

Ah well... if you don't like the style you won't like the rest. It gets worse before it gets better, and the better is really more just hinted at that fully explored. Sorry it wasn't to your taste. D:

[bk7brokemybrain.livejournal.com]

Not a problem! It's very well written, and a cool idea.
I'm looking at your next rec already. :)

[lielabell.livejournal.com]

*dances* That is a much more straight forward fic, easily predicable and a total bit of fluff, but I love it to pieces.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

I shared a similar frustration, and I will say the ending is quite good, as the author finally breaks away from following every detail of the original story and John acts. So it might be worth it to skip to the pool scene. But if I was beta'ing it, I definitely would have encouraged the writer to allow more changes -- John tries to act on his knowledge or use his gifts more actively within the limits of not revealing anything about himself, and has an effect so it's not following the Great Game canon in lockstep, but Moriarity has sufficient backup plans that they end up in the same place at the pool.

[bk7brokemybrain.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your added info! I'll give it another go. I was enjoying the basic concept. I'll skim if I need to and get to the pool and the payoff. :)

[call-me-ishmael.livejournal.com]

Whoa, I'd assumed somebody recced this ages ago. Excellent fic.

[lielabell.livejournal.com]

Me too! I was super surprised not to see it on the spreadsheet. But that meant that I got to rec it, so I wasn't too broken up about it. :)

[bookflight.livejournal.com]

Holy. Crap. Thank you forever for reccing this. I did not know what my life was missing. I want to read it forever.

[lielabell.livejournal.com]

:D So very, very glad you liked it.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

I find that one frustrating. It's very well written, but the author is so wedded to keeping every event and bit of dialogue exactly the same that I ended up going "wait, you can talk to the dead and see the future but you can't do anything *useful* with it to save anyone's life?"

[lielabell.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it would have been much more satisfying if we had been able to see Sherlock's reaction or if John had gained better control over it. Though I always felt that the author was trying to show that John had absolutely no control at all and that him trying to hide it was slowly driving him crazy... *shrugs* It's one of those fics that is just begging for a sequel because there is still so much left to be said.

[aramuin.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm just dropping in to say thank you for the rec and since this seems to be a common complaint, I figure the least I can do is offer a perspective on why I made the choices I did.

Firstly, a little background: Shadows started as a comment fic - it was originally supposed to be much, much shorter. It's also unbetaed, largely because it was written in short bursts that I didn't think were worth bothering my regular beta with.

Keeping it as close to the canon as possible was deliberate - what I was trying to do was show that while John does indeed have insights we don't expect, he doesn't always guess right based on the input he gets and even when he does, he doesn't move based on that information for a long time because he doesn't trust it. It's not the best decision he could have made but I tried to make it seem like John was making the decision for valid-to-him reasons. He doesn't stop the deaths that happen because he doesn't realise that he can.

The sequel (assuming I ever finish it) is Sherlock' point of view and deviates a lot more from canon.

...and I have rambled far too long on what was supposed to be a simple thank you. I do really appreciate the rec and I am very glad you enjoyed it.

[lielabell.livejournal.com]

The idea of a sequel just me made squeal like a twelve-year-old and now all I can think is yes please! :)

Thank you so much for the input on John's thought process. I'm going to have to do a re-read with that in mind. And, also, thank you for writing such wonderful fic in the first place.

[sylphida.livejournal.com]

My compliments to the author of this wonderful piece of art. Thank you!

[sylphida.livejournal.com]

*breathes* God.. This was absolutely fantastic! I loved loved LOVED the idea behind it! Thank you for recommending it!