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221b_recs2018-07-08 08:19 pm
rachelindeed) wrote in 221b_recs2018-07-08 08:19 pm
Fic Rec: Private Friends
Title: Private Friends
Author: orchid314
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: 7,000 words
Rating: T
Warnings: none
Verse: ACD Books
Author's summary: John Watson tries to make sense of words and desire. Sometimes, he finds, that’s not such a simple task.
Reccer's comments: This is an exceptionally beautiful and tender love story. At times it has an almost dreamlike tone, perhaps aided by its non-linear structure as Watson drifts in and out of different precious and private memories. At moments it is imaginatively and delicately sensual, at other times it's bickering and delightfully funny - the rhyming dictionary! - and at still other times it can be shyly romantic or quietly sad. It offers up a gentle kaleidoscope of emotion and character insight as we trace the shift from friendship to romance, and the way that shift must bridge the painful gap of Reichenbach.
The dialogue is often elegantly simple and understated. The settings are vivid, etched in period detail but never cluttered. The portrait of love at the story's heart feels genuine - at times courtly, at times frustrated, at times peaceful - and on a meta level the fic deliberately plays with words. It's a gently and pleasantly ironic twist that, even as Watson comes to see the value in leaving the most private parts of their shared life unwritten, the fic itself writes these very moments with grace and power.
It's a lovely story that I hope will move you as it did me.
Author: orchid314
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: 7,000 words
Rating: T
Warnings: none
Verse: ACD Books
Author's summary: John Watson tries to make sense of words and desire. Sometimes, he finds, that’s not such a simple task.
Reccer's comments: This is an exceptionally beautiful and tender love story. At times it has an almost dreamlike tone, perhaps aided by its non-linear structure as Watson drifts in and out of different precious and private memories. At moments it is imaginatively and delicately sensual, at other times it's bickering and delightfully funny - the rhyming dictionary! - and at still other times it can be shyly romantic or quietly sad. It offers up a gentle kaleidoscope of emotion and character insight as we trace the shift from friendship to romance, and the way that shift must bridge the painful gap of Reichenbach.
The dialogue is often elegantly simple and understated. The settings are vivid, etched in period detail but never cluttered. The portrait of love at the story's heart feels genuine - at times courtly, at times frustrated, at times peaceful - and on a meta level the fic deliberately plays with words. It's a gently and pleasantly ironic twist that, even as Watson comes to see the value in leaving the most private parts of their shared life unwritten, the fic itself writes these very moments with grace and power.
It's a lovely story that I hope will move you as it did me.