Gods above, Mystery Author, you hit every kink and then some. I can't even begin to put into words how amazing, brilliant, sublime this fic is! You melded characters, sex, kink, and sense of place seamlessly in a way that each element augmented the others.
You managed to get Snape, Kingsley, and Aberforth so perfect. Their personalities are so unique and undeniably them. That you chose Kingsley as the narrator is beautiful. He doesn't get enough love in fandom.
And all the details! The hovel and the sound of the wind, the burlap curtain and the fire heating Kingsley's left side--it's hypnotic and gentle and rough all at once. And to be honest, the "Canadian Shack fic" trope is perfect in this situation. I love a good trope--especially when it's used to heighten the wartime sense.
And, oh, the War. You wove it into the fic so that it was present and important--a shadow lingering behind all the actions and dialogue--but not overwhelming. The repetition of phrases and whispering language enhanced the dread of wartime. And how you captured the War…it feels so right in a way that other representations fail to achieve. You capture the utter desperation and sickness, the apathy and hatred swirling and mixing, how the unexpected always seems to happen. You capture the realities: the pain and suffering, the torture and knowing that these things happen and will keep happening. The mass graves and executions, digging up bodies, never knowing who you will find--it hearkens back to civil wars and communal violence such as what happened (and still happens to a certain degree) in Sri Lanka. You made war real. This is exactly how I imagined the first War to be, with the disappearing bodies and uncertainty. It's unspeakable, and yet it needs to be spoken of. Yet you still managed to add a bit of humour with the goat meat. (Gods, the goat!)
The sex. The sex. What can I say? That you managed to infuse each character, each action, with conviction? That you created something that is rough, that hurts, that heals (although inadequately)? Sublime.
And Snape. My favourite character in the HP verse. You twisted him and placed him in an untenable situation, but a situation in which he thrives. The sheer amount of emotion you conveyed through him is heart-wrenching. He is so Snape. Even the little details about his life with the Death Eaters fulfill my kinks (the unknowable punishment, the implied dub-con/non-con situation he finds himself in, the bruises and slow breakdown). Lovely.
Mystery Author, I adore you. You managed to give me a fic that had everything I wanted, and more. It seems as if you knew my wish better than I knew it. Thank you. Thank you.
You managed to get Snape, Kingsley, and Aberforth so perfect. Their personalities are so unique and undeniably them. That you chose Kingsley as the narrator is beautiful. He doesn't get enough love in fandom.
And all the details! The hovel and the sound of the wind, the burlap curtain and the fire heating Kingsley's left side--it's hypnotic and gentle and rough all at once. And to be honest, the "Canadian Shack fic" trope is perfect in this situation. I love a good trope--especially when it's used to heighten the wartime sense.
And, oh, the War. You wove it into the fic so that it was present and important--a shadow lingering behind all the actions and dialogue--but not overwhelming. The repetition of phrases and whispering language enhanced the dread of wartime. And how you captured the War…it feels so right in a way that other representations fail to achieve. You capture the utter desperation and sickness, the apathy and hatred swirling and mixing, how the unexpected always seems to happen. You capture the realities: the pain and suffering, the torture and knowing that these things happen and will keep happening. The mass graves and executions, digging up bodies, never knowing who you will find--it hearkens back to civil wars and communal violence such as what happened (and still happens to a certain degree) in Sri Lanka. You made war real. This is exactly how I imagined the first War to be, with the disappearing bodies and uncertainty. It's unspeakable, and yet it needs to be spoken of. Yet you still managed to add a bit of humour with the goat meat. (Gods, the goat!)
The sex. The sex. What can I say? That you managed to infuse each character, each action, with conviction? That you created something that is rough, that hurts, that heals (although inadequately)? Sublime.
And Snape. My favourite character in the HP verse. You twisted him and placed him in an untenable situation, but a situation in which he thrives. The sheer amount of emotion you conveyed through him is heart-wrenching. He is so Snape. Even the little details about his life with the Death Eaters fulfill my kinks (the unknowable punishment, the implied dub-con/non-con situation he finds himself in, the bruises and slow breakdown). Lovely.
Mystery Author, I adore you. You managed to give me a fic that had everything I wanted, and more. It seems as if you knew my wish better than I knew it. Thank you. Thank you.