Road Not Travelled
(1) The Road Not Travelled (Sentinel)
By Fidus Amicus
Reviewed by Kathryn A on 13th October 2000 (2)
Tags: Novella
(190K)
This is an alternative universe story which explores the
question of "what if Blair didn't meet Jim in Switchman?". I've read
others on this theme, and this one again does what those others
have done: declare that the bond between Sentinel and Guide is
an instinct that comes into play as soon as they meet. Normally
that's not an idea that I go for at all, but this author has
done things so well, that I don't care. The opening scene where Blair
first sees Jim is simply riveting.
"Who's that?" Blair asked.
Peter followed Blair's forefinger and squinted at the man. He
removed his pipe and tamped down nonexistent tobacco. "Nobody you'd
want to know, Blair, lad."
Startled, Blair swung his head around to meet Peter's unusually
somber eyes. "Why?"
"He's cursed," Peter finally replied, his voice low as if imparting
some horrible knowledge.
"Cursed?" Blair's gaze drifted back to the stranger in spite of
himself.
"Don't go looking at him, Blair. It's said his eyes are colder than
the blackest ocean and can turn a body to stone." Fear flickered in the
man's expression.
Blair is drawn to Jim in spite of the warnings, in spite of Jim's own
hostility -- and it is something wonderful to see. This is full of
Jim angst (and I like Jim angst, I must admit) and is well-written.
I look forward to the next story in the series.
Addendum: nominated for favourite alternate universe story 2001
Cascade Times Awards
(2) Paved With Good Intentions (Sentinel)
By Fidus Amicus
Reviewed by Kathryn A on 13th March 2001
Tags: Novelette
(94K)
This is the next story in the "Road Not Travelled" AU series, and
I've been looking forward to it. Again, this author proves that she can
write Jim and Blair wonderfully and angstily. I wasn't sure at first if
her Simon was in character, but the author managed to retrieve the
situation quite nicely. And there was a great bit with Jim and Blair
where Blair was lying to save face, and Jim caught him on it.
On the downside, this Jim is more prone to zone-outs and sensory spikes
than canon-Jim. We have the fannish cliche that Blair and Jim have to
be joined at the hip or Jim can't function. But I can rationalize
part of that by saying that Jim got worse than he was in Switchman
because Blair wasn't around to teach him how to control it all. Also I
felt a bit as if the visions were happening a bit too soon (and why was
Blair seeing things, too, huh?) But visions are cool, too, and were
decently subtle.
I was a bit thrown by the bit about lie-detectors, because I was thinking
of the kind of lie-detector which measures how much someone is sweating
(the electrical conductivity of the skin changes when a person sweats
more) whereas here the reference was to lie-detectors which measure pulse,
which I wasn't familiar with.
There are three physiological indicators that someone is lying: (a) they
start sweating (b) their heart-rate jumps (c) their pupils dilate. If I
recall correctly, in canon, the first time Jim tried lie-detecting, he
used all three indicators (or at least, the first two) to tell if the
witness was lying. Later it became simpler (or possibly cheaper on the
SFX budget) to just use the heart-rate as the lying-test.
Ah, lovely angst -- where Jim feels he doesn't deserve Blair, and Blair
isn't sure, doesn't want to admit how drawn he is to Jim, that this
could be more than just a temporary arrangement.
"God, Chief, how can I live like this? I mean, I thought I had
gained control and something as simple as a pen clicking throws it all
out the window."
Blair grasped his arms, feeling the rigid muscles beneath the layers
of cloth. "You are gaining control, Jim. Remember when we got back to
Cascade? You couldn't leave your apartment without zoning. Think how
far you've come, Jim."
"But will it ever be far enough?" Jim asked, his voice husky.
The student wanted to reassure him and tell him that total control
would happen in time, but he would be lying. As he had admitted earlier,
he was flying by the seat of his pants -- following some weird intuition
to help the sentinel. "I don't know," Blair finally answered honestly,
and added with more than a hint of reluctance. "Maybe a sentinel will
always need someone to help them with his or her senses."
Jim rubbed his brow, his expression a study in frustration and
despair. "Just because I'm some kind of throwback doesn't mean you or
someone else has to be dragged down with me." He spun around. "Come on.
We have to get to the station."
Oh, yes, there was a plot here too, just in case I'm giving the
impression that it's all just talk and angst. Some parts of it seemed a
little improbable, because there was no hint of it before, but it was
still fine. And I really liked the development at the end; I'm really
looking forward to the next part, seeing how that pans out.
Addendum: nominated for favourite long story in the 2001
Cascade Times Awards.
(3) Blind Intersection (Sentinel)
By Fidus Amicus
Reviewed by Kathryn A on 26th October 2003 (1)
Tags: Novella
(243K)
This is the third story in the AU series where Jim and Blair
meet in a different way. Since it had been a while since the last
part, I went and re-read the previous two parts before I read this one.
Some things I noticed a bit more than I had before, such as that Our Heroes
seem to be seeing the wrong spirit guides! For example, that Blair sees a
panther when Jim is in trouble, which doesn't quite seem to fit with the
traditional idea of a spirit guide... Also, remember that this series uses
an instant-instinct Sentinel-Guide bond and dials with numbers on them;
just in case you're not into that level of fanon.
In this story, Jim and Blair get their first case... and it seems to lead
them up blind alleys and dead ends. An over-protective Jim adds to Blair's
frustration, but little does he know that soon he's going to have a lot
more to worry about, and one over-protective Sentinel is his only hope...
This one didn't work quite so well for me as the others. On the one hand,
the mystery was nicely set up, and we have a good mix of understanding
and misunderstanding between Jim and Blair. However the things that
happened when Blair was kidnapped were just too much, like something
out of a hurt/comfort novel, not something real. I couldn't believe it.