221B Recs

Title: A Study in Midnight
Author: M_Leigh
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: 41,500 words
Rating: M
Warnings: none
Verse: ACD books, also a crossover with Neil Gaiman's "A Study in Emerald," which is itself playing within the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
Author's summary: In a world dominated by an alien monarchy, criminals Sherlock Holmes and John Watson work to take down the royal establishment while detective James Moriarty and his associate Sebastian Moran try to track them down. Also featuring Irene Adler, and Roderick Maclean, who did in fact exist. AU based on Neil Gaiman's phenomenal short story "A Study in Emerald."

Reccer's comments: I have never read Lovecraft or Gaiman, but this nightmarish dystopia drew me in immediately and the story, though darker and more violent than my usual fic tastes, kept me constantly absorbed, intrigued, and excited, and occasionally it completely pulled the rug from under me. It was darkly operatic in the best sense, theatrical and unashamedly Victorian but grounded in truly complex characterizations with delightful touches of dry wit. Throughout this story, we slowly learn that no one is quite what they seem.

It has one of the best Watson narrative voices I have ever encountered; the story at times switches to other POV characters in clearly marked sections, but the majority of the story is Watson's. He and Holmes are more broken, more desperate, more afraid and more bloody than I am used to seeing them, but they live in a horror show of a world, and despite it all they are deeply recognizable: Holmes fights for justice, and Watson fights for Holmes.

The story is beautifully written and paced, and the main secondary characters -- Irene and Moran -- are particularly interesting. A truly engrossing read.

( Excerpt... )