Title: No Featherbed for Me
Author: lit_chick08
Rating: M
Genre: Alternate Universe.
Status: In-Progress.
Fandom: A Song of Ice and Fire.
Pairings: Various.
Summary: Arya Stark wanted to be a knight; she wanted to find glory and adventure with Needle in her hand. But that is not an appropriate life for a highborn lady, and that was all Arya of House Stark was allowed to be. (or What if Gendry was heir to the Iron Throne and Arya had to go through life as a highborn lady instead of a badass?)
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/317779/chapters/511035

I never throw fics up for review, but this one really impressed me. It is the most well-written fic in the fandom, not to mention very true to the series. It reads like it could have happened in the actual series, and while Arya is in a very different situation, she acts like herself. The first couple of chapters are kind of dodgy (or maybe that’s because I don’t like Arya / Gendry as a pairing), but it gets better with every chapter written. Currently, it’s only three chapters away from completion and the nine chapters that are uploaded right now are long as shit.

The only thing I raised my eyebrow at is while the changes in the backstory seem to only extend to Gendry, things like the White Walker invasion and Dany’s single-minded quest to get to the mainland are hand-waved away (not that they don't appear, but the circumstance have been changed). Other than that, though, this fic is perfect.

5/5.

 

I was honestly shocked by how decent this was - it's quite good at both aping GRRM's style and understanding the material quite well.

 

Sorta like canon, except without the interspersed really annoying character POV chapters (you turn the page and see Sansa in giant font and omfg you just want to die). Also without death for the sake of yanking reader's chains. 5/5

 

This is damn good. Definitely Library material. 5/5.

 

Been a long time since I got dragged into reading a fic like this. 5/5.

 

I really enjoyed this story, and couldn't stop reading it. But now, I look at the story and I see a couple of things that bother me. Quite a number of important characters from cannon just disappeared to nothing. The author seems to resolve most of the conflicts not including Arya so easily it bothers me.

Spoiler

Where the fuck is Tyrion? I read all 9 chapters and I haven't seen a single mention of him. He is the canon heir to Casterly Rock after Jaime, but for some reason, Gendry gets the Rock after Aegon usurps him.
And Stanis, the man is mentioned only once when Robert threatens Renly. When did he die? Why is Dragonstone without a lord when Arya goes there?

It seems as if that only things that are related to Arya have any effect on the world. It's nice to read about a centered plotline in this series, but books are about having so many things happening at once. It seems kinda the author was lazy...

But even after all that said, the writing is amazing, and I really enjoyed the story. I loved Arya in the books, and this story really lets her shine.

 

Also I thought fanfiction was nixed in this fandom? Not that I dont appreciate a good fic, but when an author shows his express disapproval for fanfiction, I think it should be obeyed.

 

TV show isn't owned by Martin, so fanfiction is fine.

 

Elegant solution.

 

It's been updated if anyone is interested

 

Interesting update. I did not see that ending coming.

Spoiler

I knew Aegon was going to die eventually, but I didn’t think half of the OCs would be knocked off as well. It makes me wonder if Rhaenys knew Viserys would try to hatch the egg and therefore kill Aegon, but that seems like a convoluted way to murder someone and could backfire badly.

 

Damn. I think it's a strong possibility this is Rhaenys' doing, it fits in too well with her plans, and they already have the perfect scapegoat. After all, I doubt even Viserys is stupid enough to try to hatch an egg without checking if he can be burnt first... On second thought he probably is that stupid. Still a possibility though...

 

A very well written story. The feel is very similar to the original books. Would not mind more of the others. That there has been no mention of them is strange. A solid 5/5.

---------- Post automerged at 17:33 ---------- Previous post was at 17:31 ----------

 

Whoa, this is very shockingly a very enjoyable and awesomely written piece. The first chapter made me expect a stereotypical romance fanfic and I'm not an AryaGendry fan to start with, so wasn't interested. But really, Gendry features quite little in the fic. It's a story about Arya, and her life.

As other people have mentioned, very similar to canon in writing style and events as well. I'd probably say the only thing that makes it different is well...people seem too understanding and reasonable. And heavens forbid anyone in the ASOFAI universe act like that (As Sansa pointed out in the last chapter, Arya got off almost too lucky with each of her situations).

I honestly have no predicted anything in this fic at all. Particularly the last few chapters. Like canon as well, it's very hard to decide how you feel about people, or how you want them to end up. The difference is in canon, you pretty much feel dislike and disgust to just about everyone, while here you sympathize with just about everyone.

And I do think the last chapter was probably all of Rhaenys' doing. And once again, I have no idea how to feel about that. =S

5/5

 

I've read very little of ASoIaF, and although I have been following the show my perspective may be a little different from those who like the books. The story is long but I read it in a couple of days. It did a great job at keeping my attention and although it was enjoyable after the third chapter, I have some oddly mixed feelings about the substance of the story.

Technically, the writing is perfect. One of the few fics I've read in any fandom which reads like publishing quality material. Only the last chapter is slightly faulty in that respect; perhaps it didn't go through beta. The characterisation is great, everyone is suitably complex and confounding. The plot isn't predictable considering the subject (an awesome main character being reduced to living a boring life of a tame wife and mother), and moves along briskly.

That said most of what I feel for the story is criticism, and in some ways it's a testament to how well executed it is that it's hard to pin what to dislike about it. Towards the end of the story, I felt the devices the story uses to create tension were not as well integrated and the plot a little too unpredictable and starting to feel aimless. The conflict manifests itself through character interaction, but as such we're subjected to perpetual character dissatisfaction, which makes it feel angsty. Some times characters make conveniently stupid decisions; others time skips to justify some their motivations changing drastically.

I was pretty frustrated by the way Arya sends her children away with little justification, seemingly oblivious to the fact that keeping the king in the dark would infuriate him, and then promptly goes from being very close to them to loosing all contact. Unsurprisingly, they can become suitably dramatic characters whose motivations have completely reversed when they come back. It's not unrealistic, it's just a little convenient and frustrating at the same time.

The writing is so good that I think it becomes a little indulgent or formulaic; in favoring style over substance, the author writes herself into circles - she's capable of declaring in broad authoritative strokes that Rhaenys is entirely like Arya and competely different to her in the same sentence. It reads great if you don't pay attention.

I guess my main problem is that I still don't know what I'm reading. It's a story that fleshes out a great main character, and then manages to keep here as unhappy as possible. The plot twists and turns to make sure that's the case, but the conflict is never actually resolved - time just passes and people change their minds. In hindsight it feels a little artificial and if you remove that I'm not sure what you have left.

I'm not sure I would like it half as much if the writing was less competent.

4/5

 

I got the feeling that most of those things comparing Rhaenys to Arya were thoughts and comparisons Arya herself was making. Which is kind of what the author was trying to show in the latest chapter. That Arya was trying to project herself on her daughter.

She probably thought that when she was a girl she'd have loved to have her father just send her away from King's Landing to become a wildling, consequences be damned. It's in her character to do something reckless like that without considering what Aegon would think.

 

It's not just that it's reckless, it's that it's unjustified. She never actually weighs the decision to do it behind his back; maybe it's the right decision, maybe he wouldn't have let her do it, but this isn't made clear which is stupid given that it's narrated through her perspective. The way it's presented, you think Rhaenys is happy with the choice, but it's just ambiguous enough that she can come back and say it's not what she wanted, that Arya was projecting herself onto her daughter.

Because the narration is internal, you can explain everything away through Arya's own misjudgements and flaws. I'm not saying anyone is wrong for liking it, but to me it felt inconsistent and frustrating.

 

I read this a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed it. I do agree that this Arya is very very selfish, which is noted in the story. The Gendry/Arya towards the end of the story frustrated me, because it's a stupid thing to do- on Arya and Gendrys part. I like the comparisons with each character. Sansa and Arya. Arya and Rhaenys.

Also favourite part of the story was when they said that Arya was stolen away, even if she denies it- it's still totally true.

 

It's finally been updated

 

Read the update, and it's interesting to watch Arya take a back seat to her children. I'm not sure for how long this could go on without loss of interest, but so far, the story is still quite enjoyable, even if the main character is no longer in the center of everything (don't get me wrong, she's still pretty close to the going ons, but her children are definitely taking control of events).

I would say more, but I'm not sure how to set spoiler tags... any help there would be appreciated.