Oh thank god. That would have been a fucking crime.

 

Is the FF.Net version of Knees complete? Or is it lagging behind the AH update schedule, kinda like how authors in the DLP WBA often don't update their story on FF.Net until much later?

 

It's pretty far behind, since he only started posting it on FF.net a couple weeks ago and doesn't want to simply post the whole thing in a single chunk.

 

If Knees Falling isn't the pinnacle of ASoIaF fanfiction I don't know what is.

 

It isn't imo. As masterfully written as it is, huge chunks are left behind and rely on book developments and a lot of actual plot advancement is done off screen. It's amazing, but as story I think it lacks independence to be really the pinnacle.

Also, I can't help but think that he made his Rwnly quite a lot more competent than in canon.

 

Without the Red God shenanigans, Stannis would have absolutely no chance of winning against Renly.

And he had enough swords to invade KL. Also, no Tywin saving the day at the last moment.

 

More competent? How? Seems about what one could expect from Renly as far as competence goes. If the Reach didn't have so large an army he would've failed. Horribly.

 

Not like his decision to fight Stannis the way he did was smart in any way. Renly still has flaws, but in this story he's in his element in the last chapter. Makes him look better, which is only logical and just fine with me.

---------- Post automerged at 22:22 ---------- Previous post was at 22:20 ----------

But the thread is moving away from recommending fics into a Knees Falling discussion thread. Prolly not the best way to go.

 

Not military wise, more personality wise. Renly, I feel, has a much better idea of how ruling and leading works, instead of just how politics work.

 

Renly has an idea of how holding court works. That's not the same as ruling or leading.

 

Finished what's available of Knees on FF.Net, now waiting for my AH registration to be approved. Anyone here has an idea on how long that takes (if indeed they allow random strangers to just sign up like that)?

 

It took less than 10 hours mine to be approved. But that was back in 2014, things may have changed since then.

 

Just got done reading Thrown into the Frey. It's still in progress with the last update on Christmas Eve.

It initially looks like a standard SI in Westeros, replete with all the standard cliches of canals and uplifting technologies. However, the author redeems the piece by allowing the plot to flow fairly naturally into the shitstorms that ASOIAF is known for. The, frankly fascinating, trainwreck of a world that Smarkand has created is only made more entertaining by the internal and external monologue and dialogue of the main characters.

Enjoy.

Spoiler

Why do we suffer him to stay?" Tywin says. "If he is so cowardly as to fly into frenzy at a mere dream--"

"Oh, blow me, kid," I snap. "You have no idea what the hell I'm going through. I don't care if you're the one most likely to be nominated to rule from the throne of skulls you'll make from the heads of your enemies, the utter shitstorm that has consumed my life is beyond your comprehension. "

 

I've tried reading that a couple of times, but there is a specific spot where I just roll my eyes and x out of it.

Might be the bit where the ASB actually shows up and has a conversation with the SI, as I can't recall anything past it.

Might give it another go on the train to see if I can get past it.

 

That fic is pure shit. It's a self-aggrandizing writing exercise and nothing more.

By all rights, the SI should be dead a dozen times over by now.

 

Knees is excellent. Anyone who hasn't read it is missing out.

Edit: Any other fics on AH worth reading, aside from the ones already mentioned?

 

True enough. Still funny though.

Not really. I think some stuff was posted a page or two back.

 

Pretty much just Knees and The Falcon has Flown in my opinion. The rest are pretty standard fare.

 

Are there any stories where Catelyn is essentially right and keeping a bastard around only causes trouble?

I found an old plot bunny of mine. With the premise of Ned being raised in the south, taking a southerner for a wife and building a sept in Winterfell raises a lot of hackles in the north. I was looking in the direction of someone talking Ben out of joining the wall with the intention of placing him as the Lord of Winterfell instead of Ned, but it can also work with Jon.

Or perhaps Roose, or someone else, just gets his claws into Jon. Think of someone telling Jon that Ned actually loved his mother and would have married her and had him as a true son, just for old whoremonger Hoster Tully to force Catelyn on him under the threat of siding with the Targ's.

Surely someone has written a story with that premise.

 

That's an interesting thought. But, really, why make Jon or Ben the bad guy?

Let's have a Southern!Ned married to Catelyn and Jon as the trueborn son of Brandon and Ashara (whirlwind romance and married with enough Northern witnesses but without Rickard's approval). Then you'd have the -- perhaps reluctantly -- usurping second son in Ned with a wife from a powerful Riverlander family, who obviously won't want to give up the whole North to baby Jon.