lunabee34 | Entries tagged with recs: lotr

anagrrl
SGA
Sheppard/Lorne
Summary: "Yeah," John hears as he starts down the hallway, "they are definitely dating."

wear the circle in my sleep by

gloss
Greek mythology AU
Gen
Ariadne, Pasiphae, Daedalus
Archive Restricted
Summary: The Knossos Project overleaps the tired boundaries of knowledge and discipline in its passionate pursuit of innovation in weapons systems.

Corrupture by

kat_lair
LotR
Frodo/Sam, Merry/Pippin, Frodo/Merry/Pippin
Summary: The ring whispers to him.

Hagstone by

gloss
OW, featuring Hot Single Gay Dad Who Is Also a Shifter
Summary: Two moments early in a new flirtation.

sholio is hosting a great discussion about leaving comments on fic that you might find interesting.

2. Every couple years, I stumble across a fic, and I think, "This! This is it! This is the best thing I have ever read in fandom." Well, it's happened again (except this time, I think it's going to take a lot longer for me to stumble across something I think is better than this story.)

Sansukh by

determanfidd
Lord of the Rings/Hobbit
Bilbo/Thorin, Legolas/Gimli, canon pairings
WIP 200,000+

This fic is brilliantly written, beautifully characterized, and something I am going to be dreadfully sad to say goodbye to when it is finished. I think this fic would appeal to book purists as well as people who are coming to Middle Earth via the movies. This writer has done her research and the world-building is magnificent. She creates a fully realized and complex culture for the Dwarves. She makes characters who are barely mentioned in the book canon and who remain one dimensional in the movies into richly nuanced and fascinating people. I cannot stress enough how interesting this plot is, how real these characters feel, and the wonderful things this writer is doing with language and tone.

I know that extreme length is often a worrying aspect of fics because it often means a story is repetitive, goes on tangents, or ends every chapter with a lengthy sex scene just because. I can assure this is not the case with this fic. This plot is tightly woven with nothing out of place, nothing belabored, no weird little author rants to pad out the word count. And there's been no sex at all! Bilbo and Thorin haven't even been in the same room. LOL I know for some people, the lack of sex might be an issue, but I haven't missed it one bit. I have been thoroughly satisfied with the story without it.

The fic is fairly angsty; the plot (which is giving nothing away as the reader learns this immediately) is that Thorin can watch the world of the living from the halls of his ancestors (in many ways, this story reminds me of that fantastic Clint/Coulson afterlife fic by PlotDotOh) and so he watches Bilbo age and the company set out and Legolas and Gimli forge an inexplicable friendship. The afterlife itself is a place of activity as well as a site of hope. And that's really what this fic leaves me with: more than the angst and the sorrow, this is a story about hope and love, and it fills my heart to the brimful. :)

I like how heavily the writer incorporates the female Dwarves, and many people have gifted her with fanart of the Dwarrowdams that she links at the beginnings of chapters that is not to be missed.

This story has thousands of kudos and comments and it deserves every single one of them. I sincerely cannot imagine y'all not loving this story as much as I do.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/395755.html

NCIS

Ten NonLinear Moves by

sequitur_fic
Tony-centric gen
This is Tony stepping into Gibbs's shoes and picking up the mantle of leadership in his absence. Really lovely look at Tony and at the team.

The Hobbit

the changed future series by

authoressjean
Bilbo/Thorin + multiple pairings, both het and slash
I have had the most fun reading this series. It hits all my emotional kinks, really really hard. It reworks the LoTR series to make Bilbo responsible for delivering the ring to Mordor rather than Frodo and then follows his relationship with Thorin afterwards. Very angsty and full of moments of joy that shine the more brightly for it.

Homeward Wind series by

LittleBigSpoon
Bilbo/Thorin
The premise of this story is a bit odd (Bilbo lives with and becomes kin to the eagles), but I ended up loving it. I really liked the way the culture of the eagles was depicted, and I liked the changes to canon that were made a result of Bilbo's background.

the Shopping series by

keelywolfe
Bilbo/Thorin
After Erebor, Bilbo comes home to find himself the guardian of a wee Frodo. He doesn't expect Thorin to show up on his doorstep again. I love love love love kidfic, and this is a brilliant one. Nice bit of cluelessness on Bilbo's part as well.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/386509.html

I just read Aranel Took's The Roots of the Ivy, and it was a completely and utterly satisfying story and exactly the kind of commentary on human/hobbit relationships that I was looking for. My only complaint about the story (which really isn't a complaint at all) is that every now and again the story would have one of those typos that just happen even in the best edited fics that are like 100,000 words long. LOL

( MAJOR STORY SPOILERS )

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/363661.html

I have been pondering interspecies relationships, specifically of the human/hobbit variety. I've been wondering how such a relationship might be regarded in Middle Earth and also how a writer might depict the relationship in fic.

First, let's say Aragorn falls in love with Frodo or Merry and Eowyn get married. How would their relationships be viewed (and would there be gender differences)? The hobbits are patronized and underestimated by almost every character in movieverse and book canon. Even the characters who admire their courage and respect their strength attribute those qualities to the hobbits' purity and child-like love and loyalty. Could Gondor accept Frodo, the Halfling Consort to the Heir of Isildur? Could the Riders of Rohan follow Meriadoc Brandybuck, King Consort to Queen Eowyn?

In terms of writing about a hobbit/human relationship, how do you handle the extreme size differential? Hobbits are not children, and while their bodies are smaller, they are proportionate. They might be the height of children, but they don't have the bodies of children. How do you write a hobbit/human sex scene, though, without fetishizing that size differential in an icky way or straying too close to kiddie porn territory? Is there a way to write an explicit hobbit/human sex scene that doesn't create those uncomfortable associations? Some obvious things like word choice come to mind (clearly, "Sam wrapped his tiny, tiny legs around Galadriel's waist, and she held him like a wee babe as they made sweet, sweet love" would not be the way to go), but how do you write an explicit sex scene that ignores such a great size differential?

I went through

crack_van and found four human/hobbit recs:

Not In Vain by Lucy Hale
Boromir/Merry/Pippin, Merry/Pippin (Gorgeous canon-compliant character study of Boromir and of Merry. I was weeping by the end of this.)

The Last Night in the World by

mollyringwraith
Eowyn/Merry (I love the parallels drawn between Eowyn and Merry here and the comfort they find as they ride toward Mordor.)

In the Wings of the Shadow by

aprilkat
Frodo/Faramir (Frodo and Faramir carry so much guilt and loss between them. I love the OFC in this story.

one of which I haven't yet had time to read (The Roots of the Ivy by Aranel Took
Eowyn/Merry).

From what I can tell so far from this small sample, it looks like authors have chosen to mostly elide the sex, focusing on kissing with fades to black.

Anybody have any thoughts on this topic or any human/hobbit recs?

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/363438.html

Vids

Help by

lightningmix
Glee, Kurt character study
Brilliant editing, tightly focused

Echo by Tomoyofanel
Avengers; Tony/Steve
This is a constructed reality vid, so the ending uses clips from other sources the actors have been in. I love the parallels the vid draws between the Tony and Steve's experiences. Powerful stuff.

My Body is a Cage by

nel_ani
Avengers; Bruce, Tony, Wolverine character study
Wow. I love this vidder, and I love the comparisons she makes among these characters.

Remember the Name by gabygal17
Avengers; ensemble
Short, catchy, makes me smile

A Different Kind of Love Song by

giandujakiss
Multi-fandom
All hail the geek! What a great shout out to the geek love when it appears in our favorite shows.

Fic

All the Anger that They Eat by

BeatriceEagle
Avengers; Tony character study
This fic is an insightful look at the PTSD Tony experiences when he comes back from Afghanistan.

On the Road Home by

rubynye
LotR; Sam/Merry/Pippin, implied past Sam/Frodo and future Sam/Rosie; Adult
Y'all, it kills me when Frodo sails off with the elves, like hurt that makes your breath hitch in your chest. Even if I wasn't convinced that they are romantically in love with each other, which I am LOL, the thought of being separated from your heart's friend equally slays me. This is Sam and Merry and Pippin on the way home from the harbor trying to deal with Frodo's absence (and all their other wounds) as best they can.

Never More than Dreaming by Adrienne
LoTR; Sam/Frodo, Sam/Rosier
And this is why I hate the thought of them separated so badly. This is the story of Sam staying behind, of how much it hurts both him and Frodo to be apart. (I have to admit I find the narrative structure of this story a teensy bit confusing, but YMMV)

Mind Games by

tea_with
LotR; Merry/Pippin; Adult
This is what Merry sees when Galadriel pierces him with her gaze. This is what he sacrifices--the bitter and the sweet and the desperate that might have been. Seriously awesome.

Dust by

melina123
LotR; Eowyn/Faramir, Aragorn/Arwen, Eowyn/Faramir/Aragorn/Arwen, short
I really like this look at what it would be like to age while those dear to your heart do not. Eowyn is 50 something years old and though Aragorn is so many years her senior, she looks older than he does. It worries at her, her looming death. Very nicely done.

Many Aspects by Gillian
LotR; Sam/Frodo; mpreg; long; adult
So, here it is, the obligatory MPREG rec. :) I eat it up with a spoon, y'all.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/362830.html

So, I am a Lord of the Rings fan. I've read the books multiple times since childhood, loved the animated Hobbit and watched all the movies including deleted scenes multiple times. But I've never wanted to read fanfic for the series. I may have read a short piece or two at some point, but I don't think so. I've only got one LoTR rec in my tags, and that's a quick crossover

executrix did with Firefly.

I was talking with someone on AO3 a couple days ago who linked me to a LoTR fic that I've just spent all yesterday and last night and little bit this morning reading and bawling my eyes out over.

Price of Pride by Ariel Tachna
Legolas/Arwen, Legolas/Aragorn, Arwen/Aragorn; adult; long

( SPOILERS AHOY )

I'm a go put some ice on my face now.

Crossposts: http://lunabee34.livejournal.com/361931.html

Decorum by

executrix Mal/Simon NC-17 A short ficlet about how different Mal and Simon are and how they manage to find moments of something like peace together even so.

Mordor She Wrote by

executrix A wee Firefly/LoTR Xover. Jayne was a little disappointed, figured that a place called “The Prancing Pony” might could have some pretty chicks with dicks in spangly long gowns.

My Body and Your Brain by

executrix Simon and Jayne This is Exec's Brains in a Jar entry, and it features a Jayne who has been downloaded into a spaceship. Trekgirl said it reminded her of Ender and his Jane and I think that's a very accurate description.