To be honest, as someone who really likes it and considers it one of the best Mass Effect fanfics, I have to agree about the first book there. The first book does get to be a slog. Things get much better after that as he develops his own worldbuilding, and isn't as stuck on the rails of the first game (which, let's be honest, we've all seen a million times).
The Best Damn Fics You've Ever Read.
- Thread starter Phearo
- Start date
- Discussion
To be honest, as someone who really likes it and considers it one of the best Mass Effect fanfics, I have to agree about the first book there. The first book does get to be a slog. Things get much better after that as he develops his own worldbuilding, and isn't as stuck on the rails of the first game (which, let's be honest, we've all seen a million times).
Oh, yeah. I'd rec several of the Sorrow and Immaculate Hearts works as best damn fics I've ever read. And they're mostly independent (other than sharing characterisation) which is nice.
Bad Publicity and Gotham's Favorite Son are both hilarious and touching social media oneshots, while Anti-Social is possibly my favourite take on the bat-family ever.
e:
Seriously, Anti-Social is great. One of my metrics for good humour in fics is the ability to make me laugh out loud, and it delivers in spades.
Last edited:
Seihai-kun
[Unverified Wish Granting Device]
- Location
- Brasil
Seconding Anti-Social. I'll edit this post when I read the other two to say if I rec them or not.
EDIT: I'm reccing Bad Publicty and Gotham's Favorite Son too.
Last edited:
- Location
- L3 X-18999
Was only able to make it through the first chapter of Anti-Social, was not good, definitely not the best ever.
Reads more like 4chan shit posting.
De-rec.
Reads more like 4chan shit posting.
De-rec.
- Location
- Malaysia
#standbylegion - esama - Marvel Cinematic Universe [Archive of Our Own]
V-day takes out the Avengers. JARVIS copes, one tweet at a time.
I have recommended this fic in the General Rec Thread so I thought why not re-rec it here? Because honestly, this is one of the best damn fics I have ever read.
V-day takes out the Avengers. JARVIS copes, one tweet at a time.
I have recommended this fic in the General Rec Thread so I thought why not re-rec it here? Because honestly, this is one of the best damn fics I have ever read.
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Seconded. Had doubts at the start, but it's very good.
MaHaL
Conductor of the Choir of Death
- Location
- Canada
It get's a fourth from me.
Anything by esama is worth a read.
NemiTheNen
Perpetual Phone Poster
Most things by esama aren't finished
- Location
- Probably Not Behind You
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Fifthed. esama has something of a habit of writing outstanding fiction. Although this does not correspond to this fic in particular, esama is the first, and thus far only, fanfiction author whose writing compelled me to reread slash fics, and definitely not for the slash.
Very true, but those that do get completed are almost always worth reading.
That said, I feel compelled to recommend Blessings and Rituals.
Blessings and Rituals is an excellent piece of writing about the ritual habits of Dwarrows as seen through the eyes of Bilbo Baggins, as well as some of the assumptions about Hobbits made by the big folk. It's rather short, so it doesn't take very much time to work through it, and if you enjoy reading about cultural differences it is an exceptional investment of ones time.
That said, with this being my first rec, well, period, I'll admit that while I find it to be one of the Best Damn Fics I've ever read, I've been a Tolkien fanatic since I was a child and interactions between cultures fascinate me, so I have a bit of bias.
In the same vein, I might as well recommend Ransom.
This story is told through the eyes of Hakim, a man native to the deserts of Harad who hopes to ransom his only son back from the Gondorians after the War of the Ring. While waiting for an audience with the new King Elessar, Hakim thinks back to his childhood when his own family held a Gondorian soldier for ransom, and the events surrounding him.
Ransom is another work I am extremely enamored with, but since it too is set in the world of Tolkien and focuses around a clashing of cultures between different peoples, the same bias I expressed regarding Blessings and Rituals is also present here.
Last edited:
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
Reccing this, Anti Social is great. One of the best bat fics I've read.
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I don't remember if I recced this already? Pretty sure I didn't, and therefore now will.
Sixthed. So fucking good.
- Location
- USA
I was initially hesitant about #standbylegion but it's brilliant, so it gets a recommendation from me (seventhed?). Anti-Social, Gotham's Favorite Son and Bad Publicity do too, great little pieces and done in an engaging style.
- Location
- Somewhere
Not going to step into this argument if someone paid me, but the only part of that post that talked about the author was not directed at you. Judge not...
RoboRenee
Trans of gender
- Location
- FFXIV, probably
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Tail end of segment responding to me.
"And again, you are supposed to rate the STORY, not who made it,"
- Location
- Somewhere
It was a general statement, and you carefully excised the most relevant part of that sentence. Given that he was speaking to multiple people at once and that that was a segue into addressing someone who was specifically complaining about the author, you've got a rather dubious claim. But don't let me keep you from edging as close as you can to flamebaiting without actually stepping over.
RoboRenee
Trans of gender
- Location
- FFXIV, probably
- Pronouns
- She/Her
There is literally a full on "#####" line break in between the segment addressed at me and the bits addressed at other posters.
Also not sure how leaving out " not the "dumb and toxic fanon" surrounding it or whatever." is carefully excising the most relevant part of that sentence. Cutting off a part of it, yes, but that was a segment I addressed elsewhere in my original post and also not what you were saying they hadn't said, so I did not see the relevance.
But you know what? I really don't fucking care, and this is totally irrelevant. So sure. I guess I was totally flamebaiting or something. Whatever. Let's all get back on topic and stop talking about how you don't want to get involved in the argument but you do want to nitpick me.
Last edited:
Dark Abstraction
Infrequent Participant
- Location
- United States
Having just read Blessings and Rituals, I am perfectly comfortable seconding the rec for it. That was easily one of the best LOTR fanfics I've ever read. It took the nuances of faith and the idiosyncrasies of having and not having it and handles them masterfully, while still managing to maintain a light enough tone that it was no burden at all to immerse one's self in the topic.
I haven't read Ransom yet though, and so do not yet have an opinion on it.
I haven't read Ransom yet though, and so do not yet have an opinion on it.
- Location
- The INTERNET!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Gotta support Ransom, it felt perfect for Tolkien's world, and the culture and religion of Hard were fleshed out beautifully.
I enjoyed Blessings and Rituals, but the additions to Dwarven culture were significant and jarring, so I can't recommend it for this list. It's good, but the author got carried away.
Thirding Ransom, it is beautiful, heartbreaking, and uplifting all at once.
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
Tossing in vote number eight.
- Location
- Tennessee
Damn! Didn't receive thread updates, thought that the thread went dark as it had before. Turns out I ended up missing more "well, it's the best damn fic I've read" vs "but my subjective objectivity!" pissing matches. Oh well, there are more practically guaranteed to occur.
Really sad to see Deja Vu no Jutsu get removed. It's one of the handful of fics in my extensive library that I'll probably end up rereading due to how much I enjoyed it.
Bumping
Ran a search and there is my one rec and a subsequent derec that was "didn't read but I read reviews by people who did so derec".
Also, reccing
Sudden Supremacy » by A Very Thirsty Megalomaniac The UED is here. Magnificent and relentless, they march forward in defiance of the watching darkness. On the edges, the only person with both the knowledge and means to stop what's coming remains wracked with doubt, at war with her nature. Jim Raynor, meanwhile, struggles onward in a galaxy that has outgrown him. Sequel to Sudden Contact. Complete.
T, English, Sci-Fi, chapters: 67, words: 453k+, favs: 368, follows: 329, updated: Oct 27, 2017 published: Nov 4, 2015, Samir D., Tychus F., D. Anderson, Mordin S.
It's the sequel to Sudden Contact which is listed in the OP. The sequel (and final entry of the trilogy) Sudden Terminus is still ongoing.
@Ronan O'Brien Vaster than Empires has 4+ recs I believe, didn't see it on the OP though.
I have a bunch more fics that have been rec'd to go through; also need to finish a recently completed TES x Dragon Age fic to determine if it gets a rec or not.
Really sad to see Deja Vu no Jutsu get removed. It's one of the handful of fics in my extensive library that I'll probably end up rereading due to how much I enjoyed it.
Bumping
Ran a search and there is my one rec and a subsequent derec that was "didn't read but I read reviews by people who did so derec".
Also, reccing
Sudden Supremacy » by A Very Thirsty Megalomaniac The UED is here. Magnificent and relentless, they march forward in defiance of the watching darkness. On the edges, the only person with both the knowledge and means to stop what's coming remains wracked with doubt, at war with her nature. Jim Raynor, meanwhile, struggles onward in a galaxy that has outgrown him. Sequel to Sudden Contact. Complete.
T, English, Sci-Fi, chapters: 67, words: 453k+, favs: 368, follows: 329, updated: Oct 27, 2017 published: Nov 4, 2015, Samir D., Tychus F., D. Anderson, Mordin S.
It's the sequel to Sudden Contact which is listed in the OP. The sequel (and final entry of the trilogy) Sudden Terminus is still ongoing.
@Ronan O'Brien Vaster than Empires has 4+ recs I believe, didn't see it on the OP though.
I have a bunch more fics that have been rec'd to go through; also need to finish a recently completed TES x Dragon Age fic to determine if it gets a rec or not.
Last edited:
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
Pretty sure *nominal* already got enough upvotes to make the list when i proposed it a few pages back