Title: Life and Honor
Author: NoOneo_o
Rating: Mature
Genre: General
Status: WIP
Pairings: N/A
Summary:
After killing the Mad King, Jaime Lannister is forced to take the black. He expects a life of tedium and misery, but upon finding an unlikely friend in Mance Rayder, realizes the world doesn’t end at the Wall—while discovering it’s possible to question common perceptions of honor without rejecting morality entirely.

As Jaime finds a place in the Night’s Watch, he grapples with evidence of an impossible threat mounting far to the north.

Link: AO3

So, this fic has been doing the rounds in the ASOIAF-thread for a little while and after today's update I thought it was time to put it up for the library.

The authors summary of the story is quite excellent at conveying exactly what the story is about, so not much for me to add there. The fic is almost entirely from Jamies PoV which saves us from the all to common disjointedness that can be found in many ASOIAF-fics.

What do I like about this story?
The characterisation of Jamie feels really on point. He arrives at the wall a somewhat spoiled young man who only wants to be an honourable knight but now the entire realm scorns him. Throughout his adventures he learns to build a new form of self-respect and becomes a well-rounded character after a few chapters.

The supporting cast, in particular Mance, is also well-crafted. They have distinct personalities, distinct goals and remain consistent throughout the story. It feels like the characters end up where they are due to the way they are, and not due to plotdevices (most of the time anyway).

Life at the wall (and beyond) is fleshed out in an interesting way that seems to make sense in the world.

The writing is good, but I've waded through to much bad fanfiction for my alarm-bells to stop functioning, so perhaps someone of our writers could chime in on this?

Things I don't like?
Sometimes the overarching story can feel a little bit like it's on rails, we kinda know where Jamie will end up. Not always a bad thing, but it does remove some suspense. In the last chapters there's also been some questionable developments where it seems like they are mainly doing it to mirror canon!Jamie which seemed unnecessary for the story.

So, go enjoy 144000 words of the best ASOIAF fanfic we've had since Lion in the north (is this a theme?). I'll rate this 4/5 but will easily bump that up to 5/5 if the author can keep up the quality in the future. We've only recently seen Jamie have much of an impact on someone else than himself, so we'll see how the author handles a "bigger" story.

EDIT: cleared up some confused sentences.

 

My favourite currently updating ASOIAF story. I like the exploration of the Watch and the society and environment beyond the Wall, particularly as Jaime's developing perspective gives a fresh look. I agree that the supporting cast is good. Mance is virtually the second main character but one aspect I like is the portrayal of Denys Mallister, Maester Aemon, the wildlings on the Frozen Shore, amongst others. I really feel that the supporting characters add depth to the story in all the right ways, they're all unique and believable. It's effectively a 4.5/5 for me but I rounded up because I just like the story.

 

I'd give it a 4/5 since its still relatively early in thr story. It's definitely one of the better asoiaf fics and neatly avoided lots of the annoying usual tropes.

One thing that bugged me about it is that he's still so hung up over Cersei, though I actually really enjoy that there's no shipping so far.

The characters are a high point of this fic as the authour hasnt made anyone oc and characterization has just been excellent in general. This is one of my favourite Jaime fics.

Spoiler

tbh, even if it goes down in a wildly different direction like what happened with his hand being chopped off I would still enjoy it unless it went down some shaynet route and deteriorated badly

 

This story is really good. As others have said, the supporting cast is really where this fic shines.

4/5 from me

 

This is a bloody good fic. Very character driven. 4.5/5. I'll edit in my thoughts once they've settled.

 

Great fic. Characterization is it's strongest point and it does it very well. World-building is great too. Not the biggest fan of Beyond the Wall fics but this one does it pretty well.

5/5

 

Love the way Jaime has grown at the Wall, and thoroughly enjoy the supporting cast. Writing is of good quality, though it doesn't stand out in of itself. Only problem is that

Spoiler

I don't love the way they're handling the magic side of things, especially in regards to the visions from the future. Let us get there naturally damnit.

Some people dislike the hand thing, but I kind of like the way it's been played. Yes he's struggling, but he didn't break down and is getting back on his feet in good time.

But apart from that have no major complaints.

4/5

 

Looks promising, will take a look.

 

This updated.

 

Spoiler

I really liked this latest chapter. Feels like we're going to have a Jamie much more involved with the politics of the watch now and from what we've seen so far it looks like the author can handle it.
The author said in his AN that this was the ending of the first arc and introduction to the second. I'm very hyped to keep following this and a few more chapters of the same quality and I'll raise my rating to 5/5.

 

Fun update. I enjoyed the glimpse at the Starks. Hope there's a bit more scenes outside of just the Watch-- never found that part of GOT all that interesting. But the author is good enough that I'll read regardless.

 

I haven't been reading ASoIaF fics very long, but this is by far my favorite. Everyone just feels so alive in it, and the feel of all the lands beyond the wall is just top-notch. I'm not sure what other stories there are in the ASoIaF that are considered the best of them, but if this isn't up there I'd like to know what is. Easy 5/5 from me, even with how irritated I was with the inevitable happening earlier.

 

Lost the review I'd typed up due to keyboard fuckery. Can't be fucked to write it again.

This is some top shelf shit.

Strong 4/5, bordering on 5/5

 

This is an easy 5/5 for me. Beyond the wall was never my favorite setting in ASOIAF, but this kept me engrossed from the beginning. There's not much to gripe about either. Probably the best new story I've read in 2019.

 

We have a new update.

A short reunion between Jamie and the South.

 

Good chapter. Had a hard time following what happened at dinner. Did Jaime spill wine on purpose?

 

It appears that he spilled it to stop Benjen from pointing out that Robert really didn’t know Lyanna at all apart from his idealized version of her. Jamie’s ruse allowed him to defuse the situation and get Stark away from the King, at the expense of staying himself to humor him.

 

Ahh. The great thing about this fic is how well dialogue and social interactions are done. unfortunately, it's minimalist approach to describing those events sometimes makes it hard to understand precisely what happened.

 

I've had high expectations of this story, and certainly some of them are met in the case of the supporting cast and the feel of the Watch in general, but as it continues I grow more and more disappointed. Mainly with the handling of Jaime.

Is it that difficult to write Jaime with both his hands? Or do writers start to think that letting Jaime keep his hands is somehow cheating or unfair, that they create these wildly unlikely scenarios in which the only loss is his hand? You've created a massively different timeline than canon- why follow this one stubborn staple? Sure, having the best swordsman as your MC can be challenging, but hell that's what Jaime actually legitimately was. Giving people OP powers our of nowhere is about as insulting as arbitrarily taking it away.

Also the giant totally-not-a-direwolf-you-guys that follows him around. Because of course he needs one. All the cool toys!

And speaking of cool toys, Dark Sister is not as eye-catching, but definitely eye-rolling.

I suppose I expected better of this.