sakura_no_miko

Author: Mijan

Fandom: Star Trek (film, 2009)

Rating: R

Pairing: ambiguously Kirk/Bones

Warnings: graphic character injury, medical drama, some gore, minor character death, trauma, PTSD, paranoia, phobias, triggers, major angst

Other notes: sequel, alternate universe, academy fic, investigation, boys being tortured for the readers’ amusement

Length: 140k

Summary: Jim Kirk and Leonard McCoy are on top of the world at the academy until it all comes crashing down around them. Trapped in their own mystery of politics, sabotage, and possible murder, it quickly becomes impossible to know who to trust. Worse, Jim might still be a target. With a dangerous criminal on the loose and Academy leadership not doing enough, Jim and Bones have to get their lives back together and find out what happened… before it happens again.

This is the first time I’ve done separate entire for a story and it’s sequel. back when I re-read And All The King’s Men, I didn’t even know a sequel had been written. The I promptly binge-read it until I had to go to work–right around chapter 17 or so of 19. I was grumpy at work that day.

First, I have to mention that I may have made a mistake with that previous review–I was under the impression it was pre-slash, or even outright slash. (In my defense, it does list Kirk/Bones in the tags). There was a love confession. Then I got into reading the sequel, and it kept poking at the back of my mind–wait, wait, they’re not together romantically? Not even platonically sharing a bed?

It’s not that I necessarily didn’t want them to “just” be friends. I’m actually pretty enamored of their friendship, and the great development of their relationship. I was just….surprised, I guess? It’s a small thing, but it distracted me the tiniest bit. They’re seriously an old married couple in this world.

Anyway, I’m doing some case fics/investigation fics this week, and this is definitely a well-written one. A good mystery will lay out the clues in a way that the reader could potentially figure it out. There’s a great rant in the satirical film Murder By Death about badly written mystery novels that rely on plot holes or other subterfuge to keep the reader guessing (that I can’t find on youtube, alas, but here’s the text.) I would say this fic is more character-driven than mystery-driven, though it does ultimately offer some good clues to the ending. What I like is that is offers three completely plausible solutions–two of which are later proven wrong, but all of which could have worked. Maybe the remnants of a terrorist organization are after Kirk. Maybe Kirk’s paranoia and head injury are getting the better of him. Maybe it was an accident.

I like that the fic even plays with the possibility that Kirk won’t find an answer, that politics or conspiracy or just plain bad luck will stop him from getting closure. That’s a very real world possibility–not something you’d see in fic (not without reader complaints, at least).

Anyway, I’d say this is a great case fic.

It’s an even better character fic. How sadistic am I, watching my boys slowly fall apart and struggle to get things together? The hits just keep coming–physical, mental, emotional. The boys get battered and flayed right open, and they just have to keep going, keep struggling, despite seemingly the entire world going against them.

I think I like this version of Kirk becoming a captain more than I like the actual XI Kirk. I mean, I get what they were going for with the ending of the movie, setting everything right, making Kirk the captain we all know and love, but–part of me was resistant, thinking, even Kirk can’t be ready this easily, this early. Too soon, too soon. But it is a movie, so I guess I’ll just have to go with Kirk becoming captain after one life-defining, world-saving plot point.

At least this Kirk had two.

(Looking for more fic recs?)

Originally posted on tumblr on 04/04/13