221B Recs

Title: The Blog of Eugenia Watson [podfic]
Author: Mad_Lori
Podficcer: lunchee
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: approx. 10 hours in three files
Rating: G (as posted, but due to language and themes this may not be appropriate for all ages)
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: 'The blog of Eugenia Watson' by madlori read aloud. I like to think of this not so much as a blog but as the first draft of my inevitably best-selling memoirs. My Life In an Unconventional Family. How unconventional? Well, I live with my divorced parents and my dad's husband. How's that for starters? Trust me, it gets weirder. My name is Eugenia Watson, but you can call me Genie. I'm sixteen. This is my life.

Reccer's comments: The fic this is based on, The Blog of Eugenia Watson by Mad_Lori, was already recced here, but this podfic deserves a rec all on its own, as I feel it's one of the classic podfics of the fandom.

What I love so much about this podfic is that lunchee's voice matches the character of Eugenia so well. It takes no effort whatsoever to hear the 16-year-old narrator in the accent and intonation. It's not like listening to someone read a story. It's like hearing Eugenia speaking of her first-hand experiences as the youngest member of this unorthodox family.

Even if you've already read the fic, hearing it brought to life like this makes all of the stories and emotions so much more vivid. You can hear her anguish over Sherlock being injured; her matter-of-fact acceptance of her mother bringing 'corpse stench' into the flat, tempered by the obligatory teenage whinging; her starry-eyed indulgence of her father and step-father cuddling; and her occasional mild disgust when glimpsing them doing anything more.

Definitely download this for your next trip, and enjoy the story without eye fatigue or motion sickness. ;)

(P.S. The underage sexuality tag is for a mention only, nothing explicit, which is why I haven't included it as a warning.)

Title: Ava Watson Verse
Author: KeelieThompson1
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 178,318 words (4 parts complete)
Rating: Teen to Mature
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: No series summary available.
Part 1 (When his hour will come): John Watson has been trapped since the moment he left Sherlock's funeral. It just took him a while to realise it. Prequel to "Paved with Love".
Part 2 (Paved with Love): Five year old Ava Watson's life is changed forever when her Daddy's old friend comes calling.
Part 3 (Rocks of Salvation): Moriarty's games and Sherlock's own arrogance have cost him the battle, but the war for Sherlock's soul plays on. Who would have thought that the shattered army doctor and the tiny girl could put up such a fight?
Part 4 (Tea and Coffee): Mycroft and Sherlock have never managed to agree on anything, let alone how to drink tea and coffee. But there are a few rare times when they can put that aside. Side along fic to "Paved with Love" from Mycoft's pov.

Reccer's comments: Full disclosure: I am the beta reader for part 5, which is currently being posted as a WIP. I didn't have anything to do with the four complete parts which are the subject of this rec, though.

All right, it's kid!fic, which I know is not everyone's cup of tea. If you have any sort of affinity for it, though, this is a great one.

First of all, I have to say something about how this series is organized. Part 2 is the main story, told from the point of view of Ava, John's five-year-old daughter. Parts 3 and 5 are the same story, told from Sherlock's point of view. It is not like reading the same story twice, though. In Part 2, you only see part of what is going on, which was actually a great point of attraction for me, because I like stories that don't explain everything, but have lots of stuff going on in the background that you have to figure out for yourself. I also enjoyed seeing Sherlock and John's relationship through the eyes of an outsider, and if you are not into explicit slash, then you will appreciate the Teen rating.

Parts 3 and 5 then explain much of what was happening 'behind the scenes' in Part 2, things that Ava didn't see or didn't understand. You also get some lovely Johnlock smut, if you were dying of curiosity about that in Part 2. ;) I was especially impressed by the way the plot opens up and thickens in Parts 3 and 5, so that you can see how much back story the author created for Part 2, and how much planning and detail has gone into this story.

This series is post-Reichenbach, post-hiatus, and canon-compliant (through the end of series 2). The main focus in Part 2 is the relationships between the three main characters (Sherlock, John, and Ava). They are all wary of each other at first, and the way they figure out how to relate to each other is wonderful to see unfold. There is some homophobia and child abuse (sensitive readers take caution), but the machinations, threats, and violence are for the most part kept to the background.

Parts 3 and 5 also focus heavily on the relationships, but the plot machine is Sherlock's efforts to rid their lives of Moriarty's influence once and for all (yes, he also survived the Fall). The tension and angst keep getting ratcheted up, and the climax is a blockbuster in which no one can win. The development of Sherlock's character in particular is fantastic.

I would actually recommend reading the parts in this order: Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 5 (currently WIP) - Part 1 – Part 4. I realize that this means you may have to wait to read Parts 1 and 4 until Part 5 is completed, but the author is updating frequently so hopefully it won't be that long a wait. The reason is that there are spoilers in parts 1 and 4 for the other parts. It won't ruin the reading experience, but I read them in that order and I preferred not having all of the plot laid out for me before I even began reading it.