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Yuletide Recs
I received not one, but two wonderful gifts in fandoms written by one of my favorite authors, Ilona Andrews! (The Kate Daniels series and The Breach Wars series.) And I'm including one more Ilona Andrews fic that I loved, as well as fic for the Singing Hills Cycle book series by Nghi Vo. I especially wanted to rec The Breach Wars fics because they're the first for that series, which is still uncategorized and not showing up in the Fandoms list, so I want to make sure they get some attention and hopefully a few more readers!
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My gifts:
Progress (1283 words) by sadlikeknives
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews, The Iron Covenant - Ilona Andrews
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Hugh d'Ambray, Elara Harper
Summary: The problem with everyone in the surrounding area knowing that there was now an army, and quite a competent one at that, at Berry Hill was that, well, everyone now knew that there was a competent army at Berry Hill.
In which Hugh and Elara, more's the pity, do not get to fight magic bears.
I love the Kate Daniels urban fantasy series, and especially The Iron Covenant spin-off series, which redeems former villain Hugh d'Ambray, who enters into a marriage of convenience with sorceress Elara Harper to ensure the survival of both his people and hers. They hate each other on sight, but as one might expect in a fantasy/romance, they are attracted to each other in spite of that. It's a standard trope, but the authors (Ilona Andrews is a husband/wife writing team) do great things with it.
In this story, their marriage is not quite a real one yet, but there is a bit of affection in their sniping and sarcastic banter, which is very true to canon and made me laugh. I love the way that they work together well in spite of their personality clash, and that hint at the end that Elara's castle is truly becoming "home" to Hugh.
I also received a Yuletide Madness gift!
Big Ball of Fur (452 words) by misura
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Breach Wars - Ilona Andrews
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Elias McFeron/Adaline Moore
Additional Tags: Pre-Relationship
Summary: “I'm really not a cat person,” Elias said.
Another Ilona Andrews fic! This time for The Breach Wars series, which technically only consists of one novel so far (The Inheritance), but the authors are promising a second to come later. This story won't really make sense if you haven't read the book, which is a fairly short and quick read, so please check it out!
It takes place in a Solo Leveling type world where portals (or Breaches) randomly open up, allowing strange monsters to emerge and attack people. Simultaneously, certain humans have developed special powers enabling them to fight said monsters, or in Ada's case, the power to detect and evaluate the valuable minerals and materials that can be found inside the Breach. When she is trapped and left for dead inside the Breach during a mission, she must find her way out, with the help of special powers (the "inheritance" of the title) she receives from a dying alien in the Breach that she tried to help. Meanwhile on the outside, Elias is the leader of a team planning to enter the Breach to find out what went wrong and to rescue any survivors.
This fic takes place post-canon, with a meeting between Ada and Elias. A possible romance between the two was foreshadowed in the book, but as they don't meet till near the end, nothing has happened on that front...yet. So I enjoyed getting to see them interact here, with Ada perhaps not quite trusting him yet, but being willing to work together with him. And I enjoyed the glimpse of the pet "cat" (more like a jaguar type creature) that Elias rescued from the Breach!
Not my gift, but another Breach Wars fic by the same author:
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Breach Wars - Ilona Andrews
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Elias McFeron/Adaline Moore
Characters: Elias McFeron, Leo Martinez
Additional Tags: Pre-Het
Summary: Leo comes bearing (almost) foolproof solutions. Elias is less than thrilled.
A hilarious fic in which Leo, Elias's second-in-command, suggests that Elias propose marriage to Ada for, y'know, totally practical reasons! I love the "taco incident" in which a past attempt to get closer to Ada was sabotaged by her pet cat! And Turtle Pecan Cluster Blizzards (which are canonical, if I recall correctly) sound awesomely delicious based on the name alone! That would definitely win me over, though as I noted in my comment, I suspect it will take more to convince Ada! ~_^
The authors are planning to make a cookbook based on dishes described in their books, so here's hoping that they include that one!
And a fic for the Singing Hills Cycle:
Halfway To Sky (3690 words) by bookwyrm
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Singing Hills Cycle - Nghi Vo
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Almost Brilliant (Singing Hills Cycle), Chih (Singing Hills Cycle)
Additional Tags: Original Character(s), Story within a Story
Summary: Up in the hills there was a goatherd, who could spin the dark out of the sky or the soft light of stars.
The Singing Hills books are about a wandering nonbinary cleric named Chih, who wanders from place to place collecting stories and histories, accompanied by their talking bird Almost Brilliant, who has perfect memory and serves as a kind of living recorder. The author here creates a beautiful, dreamlike story that reads like a fairy tale and really feels like it could be an actual book from the series. I can't say too much without spoiling how it ends, but it was so beautiful, and had a unique and very satisfying ending.