Fanfic recs: Torchwood and Doctor Who
Dec. 4th, 2010 12:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyornNote 1: I'm way behind on my reading. Everything I rec here has probably been rec'd all over the internet and back already. But I can live with not being avant-garde.
Note 2: If you want ratings, or warnings for spoilers or anything else, you'll find them on the fic.
Note 3: Spoilers for the stories should be masked out in pale grey. If you see this sentence, it did not work. Highlight to read.
***
Top of the heap
Title: The Rose of Jericho
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: kaydee falls (also on Teaspoon)
Length: 62,000 words
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Fix-it
Jossed by/ignores: As of today, only some rumours.
Notes: This was written for Tardis Big Bang III. 4/5
Martha comes to Gwen with info and an offer: Some of the victims of Thames house are not dead, just in stasis. But to get them out and clean UNIT's house, she needs the help of Torchwood, their new tech Mickey, and the original bad penny, John Hart, who has a job to do for his old partner.
Martha plays a double game and she's not the only one, but she brings it off with a little help from the future. Torchwood manages to save Ianto from stasis and Martha from her superiors and without really intending to, they create the event that later students of history will say changed everything.
In flashbacks, the story of Ianto is told: Torchwood, Lisa, Jack. This thread seems redundant at first, a sheer indulgence of re-visiting beloved scenes, especially as the story's threads to not really come together until nearly half-way in. But after Ianto's re-activation, the plot tightens and the story's theme emerges: Time, wasting it, making the most of it, and finding the right moment.
Ianto finds himself the oldest living Torchwood agent and feels as if he is stuck in time. With nowhere to go, he cannot leave... but can he go on? And then Jack re-appears...
This is a nice, long, plotty fic with good dialogue and good characterisation. It uses most of the ensemble, Mickey and Martha, John, Gwen (in her new role as head of Torchwood) and Lois, and uses them well. The story as a whole makes not only a believable fix-it for CoE, but takes the situation at the end of CoE and runs with it. Once it gets going -- the moment it starts to tie into the wider Whoniverse, and Time Travel gets involved -- it runs well, and the turning of history is beautifully done.
If it would get in gear a tiny bit faster, this one would be among the best of the best. As it is: Four stars out of five.
***
Recommended
Title: Ground Rules
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: JJPOR (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jjpor on LJ)
Length: 3,500
What is it about? Torchwood wants word UNIT about their scientific advisor. The Brigadier is not easily intimidated.
Why read it: Nice spy story pastiche, clever Brigadier, and fills a plot hole about the Doctor, Torchwood and UNIT.
Why not read it: Starts out a little confusing in a spy-vs-spy way.
Title: The Assistant
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: Lurky McLurklurk (ionlylurkhere on LJ)
Length: 4,500 words
What is it about? In Pete's World, 10.5 gets a job as an assistant to UNIT's scientific advisor... who is amnesiac.
Why read it: Weird, nice, good Doctor/s interaction.
Why not read it: A little mind-bendy?
Title: Time Has Set Its Maggot
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:cyus
Length: 1,400 words
What is it about? Ianto vignette, same continuity as "Before the Children Green and Golden". Ianto goes home for Christmas and meets his mates and knows that you can never leave.
Why read it: Sharp, darkish, CoE-consistent characterisation of Ianto's live between his people and the life he creates for himself.
Why not read it: Only a vignette, darkish, the characterisation might not be your cup of tea.
Title: Timeless
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:laytoncolt
Length: 3,600 words
What is it about? There is a pub in Cardiff that appears only every fifty years, and Jack drags Ianto there to recover an artefact and avoid someone who might remember Jack...
Why read it: Clever little idea, nice execution, mysterious!Jack.
Why not read it: It's pretty old (Series 1) and very jossed.
Jossed by: "Fragments"
Title: Conversations With The Dead
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Author:szm
Length: 1,200 words
What is it about? During The Year That Never Was, Jack talks to Lisa's ghost.
Why read it: Good dialogue, cute Lisa.
Why not read it: Short.
Title: All Things In Time
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:poisontaster
Length: 1,600 words
What is it about? Jack and Tosh don't make it back in "Captain Jack Harkness". Except that time can be looped, and they do.
Why read it: Common topic, better solved than usual, because it has all the years of Jack and Tosh and waiting, and a nice, mind-bendy solution that makes it not AU.
Why not read it: No idea.
Title: In Geneva
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author:sam_storyteller
Length: 9,400 words
What is it about? Eleven/Brigadier domestic fic, starting in a slightly AU (see below) 1978.
Why read it: It's sweet but not sappy, and Eleven is so very much himself.
Why not read it: It's domestic!fic.
Jossed by/ignores: "Mawdryn Undead", according to Author's Notes.
Title: Power Struggle
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:prochytes
Length: 1,400 words
What is it about? Gwen/Tosh naked wrestling. Torchwood dynamics. Characterisation.
Why read it: This should not be good, but prochytes uses an out-there set-up to create a silly situation which is both fun and clever and has interesting observations.
Why not read it: This really should not be good.
Kinks/Squicks: See summary.
Title: Comes the Rain
Fandom: Doctor Who (Old School)
Author: eponymous rose (eponymous_rose on LJ)
Length: 800 words
What is it about? Susan wants a linear life
Why read it: Nice little character vignette about Susan and her grandfather.
Why not read it: Not into Old School
Title: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Surviving a Dalek Invasion
Fandom: Doctor Who/Sarah Jane Adventures/The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Author: athraphoenix (atraphoenix on LJ)
Length: 1,000 words
What is it about? Around "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End" some characters from THGttG are hanging out on Earth.
Why read it: Fun.
Why not read it: Silly.
Title: The Rest of the Story
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author:sahiya
Length: 3,600 words
What is it about? The Doctor came back for seven-year-old Amelia, and on some alien market they pick up Jack a year or two (?) after CoE. Some domesticity happens.
Why read it: Sweet, and good Amelia.
Why not read it: It's domestic!fic.
Jossed by/ignores: Second half of "Eleventh Hour"
Note 2: If you want ratings, or warnings for spoilers or anything else, you'll find them on the fic.
Note 3: Spoilers for the stories should be masked out in pale grey. If you see this sentence, it did not work. Highlight to read.
Top of the heap
Title: The Rose of Jericho
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: kaydee falls (also on Teaspoon)
Length: 62,000 words
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Fix-it
Jossed by/ignores: As of today, only some rumours.
Notes: This was written for Tardis Big Bang III. 4/5
Martha comes to Gwen with info and an offer: Some of the victims of Thames house are not dead, just in stasis. But to get them out and clean UNIT's house, she needs the help of Torchwood, their new tech Mickey, and the original bad penny, John Hart, who has a job to do for his old partner.
Martha plays a double game and she's not the only one, but she brings it off with a little help from the future. Torchwood manages to save Ianto from stasis and Martha from her superiors and without really intending to, they create the event that later students of history will say changed everything.
In flashbacks, the story of Ianto is told: Torchwood, Lisa, Jack. This thread seems redundant at first, a sheer indulgence of re-visiting beloved scenes, especially as the story's threads to not really come together until nearly half-way in. But after Ianto's re-activation, the plot tightens and the story's theme emerges: Time, wasting it, making the most of it, and finding the right moment.
Ianto finds himself the oldest living Torchwood agent and feels as if he is stuck in time. With nowhere to go, he cannot leave... but can he go on? And then Jack re-appears...
This is a nice, long, plotty fic with good dialogue and good characterisation. It uses most of the ensemble, Mickey and Martha, John, Gwen (in her new role as head of Torchwood) and Lois, and uses them well. The story as a whole makes not only a believable fix-it for CoE, but takes the situation at the end of CoE and runs with it. Once it gets going -- the moment it starts to tie into the wider Whoniverse, and Time Travel gets involved -- it runs well, and the turning of history is beautifully done.
If it would get in gear a tiny bit faster, this one would be among the best of the best. As it is: Four stars out of five.
Recommended
Title: Ground Rules
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: JJPOR (
jjpor on LJ)Length: 3,500
What is it about? Torchwood wants word UNIT about their scientific advisor. The Brigadier is not easily intimidated.
Why read it: Nice spy story pastiche, clever Brigadier, and fills a plot hole about the Doctor, Torchwood and UNIT.
Why not read it: Starts out a little confusing in a spy-vs-spy way.
Title: The Assistant
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: Lurky McLurklurk (
ionlylurkhere on LJ)Length: 4,500 words
What is it about? In Pete's World, 10.5 gets a job as an assistant to UNIT's scientific advisor... who is amnesiac.
Why read it: Weird, nice, good Doctor/s interaction.
Why not read it: A little mind-bendy?
Title: Time Has Set Its Maggot
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:
cyusLength: 1,400 words
What is it about? Ianto vignette, same continuity as "Before the Children Green and Golden". Ianto goes home for Christmas and meets his mates and knows that you can never leave.
Why read it: Sharp, darkish, CoE-consistent characterisation of Ianto's live between his people and the life he creates for himself.
Why not read it: Only a vignette, darkish, the characterisation might not be your cup of tea.
Title: Timeless
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:
laytoncoltLength: 3,600 words
What is it about? There is a pub in Cardiff that appears only every fifty years, and Jack drags Ianto there to recover an artefact and avoid someone who might remember Jack...
Why read it: Clever little idea, nice execution, mysterious!Jack.
Why not read it: It's pretty old (Series 1) and very jossed.
Jossed by: "Fragments"
Title: Conversations With The Dead
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Author:
szmLength: 1,200 words
What is it about? During The Year That Never Was, Jack talks to Lisa's ghost.
Why read it: Good dialogue, cute Lisa.
Why not read it: Short.
Title: All Things In Time
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:
poisontasterLength: 1,600 words
What is it about? Jack and Tosh don't make it back in "Captain Jack Harkness". Except that time can be looped, and they do.
Why read it: Common topic, better solved than usual, because it has all the years of Jack and Tosh and waiting, and a nice, mind-bendy solution that makes it not AU.
Why not read it: No idea.
Title: In Geneva
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author:
sam_storytellerLength: 9,400 words
What is it about? Eleven/Brigadier domestic fic, starting in a slightly AU (see below) 1978.
Why read it: It's sweet but not sappy, and Eleven is so very much himself.
Why not read it: It's domestic!fic.
Jossed by/ignores: "Mawdryn Undead", according to Author's Notes.
Title: Power Struggle
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:
prochytesLength: 1,400 words
What is it about? Gwen/Tosh naked wrestling. Torchwood dynamics. Characterisation.
Why read it: This should not be good, but prochytes uses an out-there set-up to create a silly situation which is both fun and clever and has interesting observations.
Why not read it: This really should not be good.
Kinks/Squicks: See summary.
Title: Comes the Rain
Fandom: Doctor Who (Old School)
Author: eponymous rose (
eponymous_rose on LJ)Length: 800 words
What is it about? Susan wants a linear life
Why read it: Nice little character vignette about Susan and her grandfather.
Why not read it: Not into Old School
Title: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Surviving a Dalek Invasion
Fandom: Doctor Who/Sarah Jane Adventures/The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Author: athraphoenix (
atraphoenix on LJ)Length: 1,000 words
What is it about? Around "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End" some characters from THGttG are hanging out on Earth.
Why read it: Fun.
Why not read it: Silly.
Title: The Rest of the Story
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author:
sahiyaLength: 3,600 words
What is it about? The Doctor came back for seven-year-old Amelia, and on some alien market they pick up Jack a year or two (?) after CoE. Some domesticity happens.
Why read it: Sweet, and good Amelia.
Why not read it: It's domestic!fic.
Jossed by/ignores: Second half of "Eleventh Hour"
