Title: The Kings Who Cared
Author: SomeRandomWeirdGuy
Rating: T
Genre: General
Status: ~37K as of 8/5/2019
Fandom: ASoIaF
Pairings: none listed
Summary: A chance meeting in Braavos leads to Young Griff setting his sights on the opposite end of Westeros.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18023759/chapters/42586643

Pretty brief at this point, but I found it this afternoon and read the whole thing in one go which felt enough of a recommendation I should share it.

The fic centres around Aegon (who does not seem to be the false Aegon in this story) and his group (Griff, Rolly etc), as well as a few pointed scenes about Stannis, who seems planned to feature more heavily in the future.

The point of deviation is Rolly encountering Alliser Thorne with the severed wight hand in Braavos, persuading Aegon that the north needs his aid.

The characterisation is solid, and reasonably book consistent from what I recall, the dialogue fits the tone without being overly archaic. I ran through 10 chapters quickly without ever being jarred out by poor grammar or a clumsy passage. The author is playing up the mysticism of GoT to a fair degree, and there are some occasionally implausible character decisions, but enough in story dispute that I'm not too worried about railroading.

TBH I'm just happy to find a GoT story that felt polished and fresh, and I thought I'd chuck this out there. I'd give it a 4/5 for engaging writing consistent with the tone of the original work, that had me reading chapter after chapter.

EDIT: Thought I should make it clear that at least one character has had a bit of a change, Aegon himself is much more of a conscientious figure, earnest and keen to be a good king. No hints of angst which is pretty pleasing though.

 

Huh, definitely a new premise. Competently written, and the characterizations are consistent. We haven't really gotten to where the changes spiral, but I'm looking forward to it.

4/5

 

It's off to a strong -- if slow -- start. I know a lot of people are sour on Aegon because he's a late arrival in the books and they think he's just dragging out the story. But the author really makes the most of him and has found a sensible way to get him to Westeros, particularly The Wall, earlier than he would have gone in the books.

I really like the author's ear for voices.

It's still too early to call it great, but it has a lot of promise. Tentative 4/5 with a chance to move up or down depending on how the rest plays out.

 

This story is also posted to FFN

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I like this fic, but don't love it.

Character voices are all pretty distinct. Aegon is a fun character to follow. A protagonist who "realizes his destiny and takes steps to pursue it" is always a character, I find, is enjoyable to follow.

So far not much Stannis which is disappointing. If anything, this fic seems to be setting up Shireen as a main member of the cast.

There is just something about this fic, though, I don't know what it is. Maybe a lack of focus.

In the original books we follow multiple characters at once, and in doing so, are able to draw parallels between their story lines and characters. (Jaime and Brienne both dealing with honor with their differences and similarities allowing for a good exploration of the concept.) In this fic, though, we'll get a chapter having Aegon go on about it's his destiny to do something great and become a leader - cut to - a story of Shireen being just a kid bumbling about Dragonstone. Her story is well written, but not very interesting for the moment.

Like I said, something is missing from this fic that would make it truly great. So far it's just good.

3/5 from me.

 

I'm a fan. though I'll freely acknowledge the pacing issues. In some sense this fic works better as a series of character-focused oneshots that happen to have a correlating plot running throughout. Aegon is effectively an OC but he's a fun one. Jon is gloriously moody and in character. Shireen is adorable and is also just this... concealed world of thoughtfulness and kindness. Even characters like Slynt and Selyse, who are almost universally reviled in the fandom, are given fair treatment and thought.

But, yes, I do agree. The pacing is glacial. You sit down, you see its well over a 100k, and you think, well, this will go somewhere neat.... and then it doesn't. Nothing "major" happens. Of course, things that are important for the characters happen, but its sort of telling that 100k words in, only a handful of characters are in a different position than they were in in canon.

overall, 4/5. Great potential, but it needs more time. Hasn't updated in several months but as we all know that doesn't mean a lot with Covid going around.