Series Rec: The Sustain Stories

[swissmarg]

Title: The Sustain Stories
Author: maybe_amanda
Pairing: Sherlock/Molly, John/Sarah
Length: 147,583 (in three complete parts)
Rating: M
Warnings: Canon character death and off-screen non-con in Part 3
Verse: BBC Sherlock
Author's summaries:
Part One: "So now you're behaving like a six year old 'cause he didn't take you along on his honeymoon?" Lestrade said. "Grow the hell up."
Part Two: He could fix this.
Part Three: The third part.

Reccer's comments: If you ever wondered what would happen if Sherlock and Molly got together, then this is it. What starts out as a very practical (if not entirely ethical) business proposal ends up being much more than either one of them bargained for.

This story not only manages to portray Shelock and Molly as an absolutely believable romantic pairing, it does so while keeping them in character, which cannot have been an easy task. It's never smooth sailing, of course, and they are a far cry from being a typical couple, but the emotions are all there in their complicated, troubling, deep-running glory.

The relationship between Sherlock and John is not left unexplored, either, although it takes second tier to the interactions between Sherlock and Molly, and never goes beyond a deep friendship. However, John's marriage (to Sarah) is one of the catalysts that pushes Sherlock towards Molly, as he finds himself cut loose from his erstwhile anchor.

What made this story particularly interesting for me was seeing Sherlock's family. We meet Mycroft's wife and children, Mummy, and even Sherlock's father, and we come to understand in part how Sherlock ended up the way he is, and how that still affects his emotional health and self-image. The OCs are wonderful, with Mycroft's wife (and cousin) being an even match for Sherlock in terms of bitchiness, and their father being the ultimate bastard who puts both Sherlock and Mycroft to shame.

And of course, what would a Sherlock Holmes story be without cases? Sherlock almost never sits still, running from one end of the globe to another in pursuit of the criminal element, and the third part, which features a reunion with an old 'friend', is an appropriate and highly satisfying climax to the series.

Comments

[allonymity.livejournal.com]

I adore this series - definitely second this rec!

[haikitteh.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of floored that I didn't know there were follow-up parts to the first one. Thank you so much for the rec!

[swissmarg]

You're welcome! I think the third part is my favourite. ;)

[unovis.livejournal.com]

Part III isn't quite complete yet -- there are two more sections to be posted.

I did love the first part of this series. Parts II and III are actually one long casefic story in two sections.

[swissmarg]

Sorry, I assumed it was complete because it says 14/14 chapters posted on AO3 and the author's notes at the beginning say 'This work is complete'.

I know it says there is an epilogue and a 'coda' coming, but I thought those are the next parts in the series, maybe one-shots, and not directly parts of Part III.

[unovis.livejournal.com]

Sustain III has been listed as "complete" in the AO3 headers since its posting began, a chapter at a time, a month ago. I read the note about the epilogue and coda to mean they were the last parts of III, not the whole series. But with any luck, they'll be up by Wednesday.

[iamshadow.livejournal.com]

The series order has been corrected by the author, so you can remove the note for readers about the order being borked from the header. :)

[swissmarg]

Excellent, have now done so. Thanks for the heads-up.

[iamshadow.livejournal.com]

I just skimmed/read the stories over to make sure the tagging was good, and I chose to add a 'noncon' tag to the delicious archive entry, because it's heavily suggested that one of the minor characters is raped towards the end of Sustain III. It's not actually shown, so I don't know whether it's strictly necessary to have it tagged as such over here. Just thought you should know I'd chosen to err on the side of caution.

[swissmarg]

Once again, you are correct. I have added a note about it in the warnings here too. Thank you again. :)

[iamshadow.livejournal.com]

No problem!

Sorry for being such a picky bitch, but that's practically a job requirement for any kind of archivist. :D

[swissmarg]

Oh, no problem at all! I obsess over details like that too. I regularly scroll through my comms just admiring the tagging. :p

[reikokatsura.livejournal.com]

I've been curious about this pairing for a while now but have been reluctant to actually do anything about it for fear of reading something terrible and being put off of it (or them, rather) forever. This series looks really interesting, though, so I'm gonna give it a shot. *Inhales and crosses fingers* Well, here goes nothing.


Thanks for the rec!

[swissmarg]

I am a diehard Johnlock shipper, but this really worked for me. I hope you enjoy it too, even if it's pretty AU by this point. ;)

[reikokatsura.livejournal.com]

Same here, haha. Well, I do delve into Mystrade occasionally, but it's all Johnlock for the most part. I'm trying to branch out.

And I totally don't mind it becoming an AU. Honestly, fics that just recap canon bore the heck out of me. I don't mind canon fics at all but I'd rather not just read the equivalent of a really long synopsis. It's not much fun when you already know every single thing that's going to happen, down to the last detail/word.

Though, to be fair, some authors can really pull it off. Rageprufrock's "The Least of All Possible Mistakes" comes to mind.

And I'm rambling. Sorry! I'm way too tired to be talking to anyone right now. Sorry again.