Title: Third Game: Lelouch of the Empire
Author: Evanescent.Jasmine
Rating: T
Genre: Sci-fi/Drama (/AU)
Pairing: TBA
Status: WiP
Summary: In the wake of his mother's death, Lelouch was persuaded by his siblings to reconsider his declaration of self-disownment. Years later he is a capable prince, formidable in royalty politics, yet ever-harboring his own private ambitions against his father's empire. Sent to Area 11 as sub-viceroy to Clovis, Lelouch discovers the opportunity to advance his private chess agenda as he pits himself against himself, Lelouch vs. Zero, in an intricate third game against the empire.
Link: Third Game: Lelouch of the Empire (ff.net)

The single best Code Geass novel-length fanfic that I've found, in my opinion. To compare, Cal Reflector's style can be heavy-handed and overbearing, his shifts in character perspective awkward. In this respect, Lelouch of Brittania rates a mere passable on my scale, though moments can and do rise above.

Third Game, though not as grandiose, deftly handles the different perspectives and smooth characterization while weaving a more intricate plotweb. The two stories are equally rich in different ways, but this one has far better storytelling. It's well-written, not impeccably and not always consistently, but well enough with the occasional error here and there, and fleshes out the characters admirably. I give Third Game a 4/5.

The author's favorites list reveals her to be a fan of slash, but she has assured us that Third Game will stay true to canon continuity and, appropriately, out of slash fandom. She favors Lelouch/Kallen as well, but has left pairings up in the air. As of chapter 15, Lelouch secures a political marriage contract (Lelouch being written to a faithful characterization, there's only one reasonable guess who) but, in his own words, "on the off-chance I do [find someone], well, my father has over a hundred consorts. Polygamy is hardly an issue."

 

I read this a few months back. I agree with you that it one of the better Code Geass fics. However, the last few chapters I felt were kind of...wordy? It's not too big of a deal, and it's better than the tiny chapters some authors post. -_- It's a good fic. It kind of gives off an 'epic' feel; the author gives screen time to a larger cast of characters than you usually find in fanfiction, at least in my experience. I look forward in seeing where the author plans to take the story. For rating purposes I give it a 4/5.

 

Painfully average.

Writing style is average and dry. Imagination is average. Description is average. The would-be clever/dramatic one-liners are average. The power games are a little below average.

It's very different from Cal Reflector's fic. At the beginning, the writing was heavy-handed, and it was pretentious, referencing Turandot and lifting pseudo-literary quotes like "it is necessary that I regard them as Venus and Aphrodite", and trying to do the chess-game scene where Lelouch "forced a draw with the move he set up ten turns previous" without actually being able to describe the maneuver.

But the sweep is epic, from Lelouch choosing the insignia to put on his mother's grave alone and fighting for every scrap of power. So the story-telling is vastly superior as far as Lelouch's tale of vengeance goes.

I guess I'd be more inclined to rate it highly if I was more familiar with this fandom's low median quality, but if you're used to good fics, this is merely mediocre.

3/5. Pale imitation of Prince of Britannia.

 

I guess my vote would fall somewhere between Andro's and Inferis', true the writing style is dry at best and painful to read at its worst but given the lack of credible fanfiction in this particular category I would rate it a 3.5 for simply writing something tangible.

However, I do like the whole vengeance angle the author is going for, because if nothing else I would like to see where this Lelouch ends up when all the chips are down. To quote Count Dooku "twice the pride, twice the downfall."