Date: 31 Jul 2012 09:42 Title: Chapter 1
That was both disturbing and beautiful. It's really something how you can make these characters recognizable in settings that are completely foreign. It made me wonder how easily things could have ended that way, if one of their roads had veered slightly in another direction. Somehow you took an ugly story and told it beautifully. Amazing work.
Date: 14 Sep 2011 04:31 Title: Chapter 1
Hard to believe that even though this story moved me so much that I ended up writing a certain character into the Awards Night RR, I somehow missed reviewing it.
One of the things that's striking about this piece--though I hope you won't take this the wrong way--is that similar to Trek XI, you really show just how close a personality like Kirk's really is to the edge of complete collapse. He has too much "fight" and too much wildness in him to function without a strong goal and an ideal greater than himself, which he had in Starfleet. This is the path the reckless Trek XI boy could've taken if he'd really had to stew in the consequences of his own behavior.
Of course, this is a different reality than that--one that is even grimmer for all of the characters. It seems like every person in the Enterprise crew met a dismal fate here, but I wonder if this is simply a grim universe or if one character's point of divergence was enough to cause this entire train wreck? I even find myself wondering if this is some other version of the MU, because even the behavior of Starfleet (though granted we've got an unreliable narrator) seems far colder.
When Uhura refers to having "helped" Spock when he was dying...could it be that in this universe, she got him through his pon farr?
The Spock of this AU reminds me of some descriptions I've seen of autistic people, though obviously there are also great differences--and somehow the pain he's suffered, even amidst all of this pain, strikes me as the greatest tragedy of all.
And then we have the ending, played to the tune of "Moonlight Sonata." How creepy...it reminds me of something from A Clockwork Orange, though it seems like at the very end Kirk saw a faint shadow of what his reality should've been.
Impressive work.
Date: 14 Sep 2009 00:29 Title: Chapter 1
Definetly dark and twisted, but you can't stop reading, regardless. And as all the others seem to have said, they were all in character. i like how you portrayed Spock, too. well done!
Date: 04 Aug 2009 04:29 Title: Chapter 1
Despite being about as far from canon reality as I can imagine, this fit. I could see all of them just like that, a small core of identity twisted by circumstance, but still essentially them. Amazing. Truly amazing.
Author's Response: Well, it is AU, so it's supposed to be far from canon reality. ;-) Thank you, I'm glad it read true to you. :)
Date: 02 Aug 2009 05:02 Title: Chapter 1
You promised us it was dark, and you did not lie. However, this disturbed universe you've created and the flawed, walking-wounded characters that inhabit it are infused with such raw emotion and such stunning detail that it's impossible to look away... even though you occasionally wish you could.
Exceptionally well done.
Author's Response: Thank you, Sam. I know, it couldn't have been easy. It wasn't easy to write. Thank you.
Date: 29 Jul 2009 21:24 Title: Chapter 1
Intense, weird and way out there...I loved it!.
Author's Response: Thank you. :)
Date: 29 Jul 2009 00:17 Title: Chapter 1
Wow. Just -- wow. Talk about dark and twisted -- and yet they're all still perfectly in character!
I've read this five times, and I still can't get enough of it. Amazing job.
Author's Response: Oh. ::surprised:: Thank you. I'm glad they are in character, it's vital for AUs. Thanks for reading. :)
Date: 28 Jul 2009 23:52 Title: Chapter 1
That is one dark and twisted reality you've created Anna. Although, it is heartening that the three of them [and a certain special passing appearance of a southern gentleman] find friendship with one another.
Author's Response: Yeah, I know. Warned you, too. Blame the challenger. Whenever someone says 'AU', my mind seems to drift into the darkness. ;-) Thanks, MF.