Speaking of that, the author has posted the first chapter of the sequel Ned Stark Lives Part 2 a few hours ago.

 

Ah cool. Thanks for that.

Annoyed Jon is a bit of a pussy here. I was hoping Ned could come back and see how many levels of badass Jon has become. Instead it looks like in this fic Ned is the only one who is allowed to be badass.

 

Yeah, I wasn't really a fan of how Jon was depicted in this fic either. The story definitely leans toward emphasizing Ned's virtues, but not everyone else's.

Also, I'm surprised the sequel has the same name as previous story with a Part 2 tagged on. It wasn't a particularly good title the first time around, but at least then it made sense in a way.

 

My favourite ASOIAF fic as of late is this beautiful beast, which features the POV of one of my favouritest characters in anything ever, Stannis Baratheon, and manages to nail all the factors of characterisation, plot progression, and also a healthy dose of AUness. Time will tell if it'll end up following a lot of the events of the novels, but I'm doubtful/cautiously optimistic it's going full tilt with the premise established in the latest chapter, and shit's about to go down, son. And Stannis for life, fuck the haters.

 

I was actually going to ask if this fic in particular was worth reading as I'd seen it recommended elsewhere. I suppose I'll give it a shot.

 

For anyone looking check this one out.

In Good Company Author: ariel2me

AU where Stannis Baratheon stayed at King's Landing after Robert Baratheon appointed Ned Stark as Hand of the King.
Rated: Fiction K - English - Stannis B. & Eddard S./Ned - Chapters: 18 - Words: 69,961 - Reviews: 102 - Favs: 66 - Follows: 91 - Updated: 02-01-13 - Published: 10-16-12 - id: 8614734

 

.......lol.

 

Oh snorkack. You silly.

You silly, Snorkack.

 

What? It entertained me for a little while...

 

Matt posted that story about 40 minutes before you D:

 

Well...he shouldn't be hiding links like that! That was very Slytherin of him. Because when you play the game of following links, you either win, or you run into a key-logger.

 

Ooh, I've been debating about whether or not to try this one. It sounds pretty unique and I've heard great things about it. I'll give it a try too.

 

I read this, and it's good. Stannis is an underused character, and he got the characterization spot on. Enjoyable and well written, 4/5.

 

I agree. The author of this story takes an underused and difficult to capture character and nails him. The writing is pretty solid and the AU premise was realistically executed.

 

The stuff with Arya irritates me. Her character voice is all wrong.

 

The voices of most of the characters are off just slightly, but I put it down to the fact that the author is not using Martin's deliberately archaic way of writing dialogue. Regardless, I didn't find it to be that big of a deal.

That said, Stannis tolerating Arya's constant impertinence is OOC.

 

Arya's very interest in politics is OOC. She doesn't act or talk like a child at all. She just screams plot device. What she reminds me of most are the ghosts of Christmas from A Christmas Carol.

And yeah, all the characters use a far too modern turn of phrase.

 

So, thought I'd rec one for the people asking for Jon/Dany-centric fics...

The Better Sword

Basically Arthur Dayne survives in the Tower of Joy. Rather then Ned taking Jon to the North, Dayne raises him in the Free Cities, telling him that he is his bastard son.
It isn't the greatest ASoIaF story, but it is a favorite of mine, and the POVs change and follow a predictable order. It also updates frequently enough, and it concentrates on both generations pretty equally. I vaguely recall there being some decent plot twists, but its been a while since I read the beginning.

 

Meh, I read most of it and it was decent for a while, but I just couldn't keep reading it.

Stannis' character aggravates me. In canon he is, frankly speaking, a cunt. A giant, cold, unbending-to-the-point-of-outright-stupidity cunt with a three foot spiked iron rod up his ass for good measure. I'm about half way through ADWD and every time I come across a chapter that I know will involve the man, I groan audibly at the thought of slogging through another scene with a man so heinously politically illiterate that he has absolutely no business trying to rule a damn chicken coop, much less a kingdom.

Anyway, at the beginning of the story, the author portrays him more-or-less as he was in canon (minus perhaps the spiked iron rod, since this bizzarro-Stannis actually gives a flying fuck about his wife and daughter). Stannis being the one trying to be sneaky while counseling Ned Stark to be patient and circumspect made me facepalm so hard I might have given myself a mild concussion. Him trying to outplay Cersei was almost as bad; While canon Cersei may be a paranoid delusional, and a mediocre player at best, Stannis seems barely aware that there's a game at all!

I also fiercely dislike the hand-waved deaths of

Spoiler

Jaime, whose character I've actually become quite fond of, and the children, who could have kept the matter of the succession interesting at least.

It just smacks of laziness and a desire to let nothing get in the way of more scenes with kinder, fuzzier bizzarro-Stannis.

All that is not to say I don't think Stannis can change, I just think it would require something a hell of a lot more drastic than getting chummy with Lord Eddard.

 

That doesn't happen