Title: Burn Them All
Author: KnightsRook
Rating: M
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Status: Work in Progress
Fandom: ASOIAF/Game of Thrones

Summary: When Tywin Lannister’s armies are delayed and arrive at King’s Landing far closer to the arrival of the rebels, King Aerys II becomes far more paranoid and successfully triggers the wildfire beneath the city. They call it the Desolation of King’s Landing.

Links:
Archive of Our Own
AlternateHistory

My rating: 4/5

Finally an ASOIAF story that doesn't just rehash old ideas and plotlines! A lot of main canon characters from the books are dead and those left alive must pick up the pieces. I think the author does a good job portraying these characters and sucessfully shows the alternate Westeros which developed as an effect of the Desolation.

 

Hmm. I've somewhat mixed feelings on this one.

It's well written enough. And as Andrela said it is very original and goes off the beaten path.

So considering that, I had to think why this story didn't fully sit well with me (one of the biggest ASOIAF fanatics you'll ever meet).

If I had to put my finger on what annoyed me with it though, is that it doesn't seem true to the *world*. In that. Ok im all for not retreading canon for the enth time. But the way the world and characters evolve doesn't seem natural or believable in a *westeros* setting. Not that it is ridiculous, in another setting it would be normal. But their reactions to events dont strike me as just different, but as "this isn't what would happen in Westeros or how they would react to that." It's subtle but it is everywhere. From the sort of proto parliament style debates, to the way Jon (a defacto bastard) is treated, to the way the pseudo chivalry is portrayed, and on and on. The 'voice' and 'thoughts' of the characters.

To give an example, it's like when you read one of those LOTR fanfics that while written fine, the just... tone... doesn't seem to mesh right. You read it and go "this doesn't *feel* like tolkien's world even though all the character names are right." Then you read something like steelbadgers work and you go "this feels like the world of tolkien." Even though it deals with things largely not in the books.

This fic doesn't feel like the world of Westeros.

I suspect if you aren't like, a SUPER obsessed fan of the books you won't notice or care with this fic. Fans of the tv show or more casual book fans will be fine with it and enjoy a good fic. But I wonder if other major book fans will feel like i did.

And for the record, I don't feel the above due to the plot careening off. I've read plenty of books diverging in plot that still felt like the right world (Stranger Bloke's Red Robb springs to mind).

I fully get this is a vauge and imprecise criticism, but that was my take away. It's not a bad story at all.

But... yeah.

 

Can't stand either Catelyn or Jorah as characters and the first scene with them both in it did nothing to endear me at all. I won't rate this for that reason.

Otherwise, the writing is decent if you manage to ignore some weird wording, missing words in sentences, mixed up cases and some other relatively sparse grammar mistakes attributable to someone who writes in English as a non-native.

 

I really really like this, and it's updating at a furious pace. It's completely AU, but in a good way, and somehow a fic called 'Burn Them All' has me rooting for Viserys. Go figure.

Anyway, 5/5

 

The story is fine so far, but I do have trouble liking it.

The characterization and some of the plotlines didn't sit well with me.

Spoiler

I didn't expect Viserys to turn out unpleasant, given his mother survived.

Aemon turns out to be an angrier Jon Snow despite being raised in a more supportive environment alongside a different cast.

I wish we had not gotten Stranger PoVs so early. A key part of ASOIAF is mystery. This is best served by having the PoVs of the characters affected and switching to Stranger PoVs later on (à la Jaime/Cersei Lannister).

Its a bit more magical than canon as well.

I did find it difficult to get a hang of the story at the start as most familiar characters are killed rather abruptly and earlier PoVs feel outlandish. Perhaps a better option would have been to start with an Arthur PoV from earlier?

I'll give it a 3/5 but this story is definitely not for me.

 

I enjoy it but the story is far too scatterbrained. It could afford to cut a few characters and gain some focus instead of being so much of a timeline ensemble cast. Rounding up to 4/5 for now because it's still fun and interesting even if the events feel far too forced.

 

0/5

Shit premise, quite literally so, as Robert would not kill himself by plunging a dagger into his chest.

Riding off into a fight against Arthur Dayne and dying in combat while still too weak from his wounds? Sure. This shit? Fuck off.

 

I'll bite. You can hardly judge a story solely by that detail. It's a bit overdramatic in the story, granted.
Imagine that he succumbed to his wounds instead. That small change would have literally no impact on the plot.

In case you're just being dramatic for the lulz: whatevs.



On the story itself:
It's nice, but it's a bit scattered in its POVs.
Probably a 3,5/5 right now for me, could turn into a 4/5, if it keeps updating and grows the plot branches.

 

I think its a 2.5/5 for me rounded up to a 3.

Spoiler

I got bored once Aemon/Jon lost his title and became Aemon Sand of the tower of Joy, and I stopped once Dany got raped by Viserys. It just.... I don’t know. Its not one of those fics thats good enough that I want to roll with the shitty punches, you know?

Like it was good enough that I was hoping it’d be a guilty pleasure fic but it eventually got to the point where I just didn’t care enough to continue.

If it gets better from there maybe I’ll give it a try.

 

But it sets the tone for the rest of the story and like CrackedMind&Destiny said, there is a whole lot of other issues. The story does not grab the tone of GoT/the books, the plot points are not very good either. Author also slips up from time to time and uses 'modern speech' ('He was not a fan of XY behaviour').


1.5/5 from me.