Two months ago, after reading about Tropical Storm and the other ubers by Missy Good in the XOC recommendation thread,
I decided to go pull up the first chapter and see what you all were talking about. It was when I had unlimited Internet time in the mornings at work, and of
course I had a plan for stuff to get done and didn't end up doing any of it, since I was reading for three solid hours and didn't even notice. This
story has to be one of the most romantic things I've ever read in my life. I'm about a third of the way into Hurricane Watch now, and still totally obsessed.
So, this thread is something LadyRowanD and I were talking about on livejournal. We'd like a place to be insane fangirls about Dar, Kerry, romance, Missy Good, Xena's dark side shining through Dar in unexpected moments, angst mixed with romance, Dar, Kerry...
I know that Missy's writing isn't perfect. She could use a good proofreader, and--if I'd been able to make myself step out of the story long enough to look at it as I'd look at something I was beta-ing--I probably would have found more flaws. But I'm asking that if you do want to critique, we start a separate thread for that? Here, I'd just like to let my fangirl tendencies go wild (if you're not so inclined, feel free to watch me with a camera in hand...I'm laughing at me,
)
So, I will start!
My favorite scene was the whole end of the story. Kerry's last thought when her parents were doing such horrible things to her was to cry out to Dar, and Dar heard her!!! Then Dar told her to confront her parents and yet not to hate them, and so Kerry thought it would be easier if she could hate them, but she couldn't, and she cried, and Dar said one of the most perfect things I think she could have said: "I've got you."
I loved the way that Dar was...she was Xena if Xena hadn't been a killer, and yet she wasn't. She compromised, but she never went nearly so far as Evil Xena had. In the Xenaverse itself, I identify more with Xena because I identify with her quest for redemption and I admire her protective instinct. But in Tropical Storm I identify more with Kerry...there was a peculiar blend of strength and insecurity that I found so lovely.
It was so much fun to see the friendship developing between Dar and Kerry. Neither understood, they just knew that they were drawn to one another...and I thought it was a letter-perfect picture of how something can be both someone's own free will, and set in motion by already knowing each other in some way, all at the same time. They don't always know the perfect thing to say to each other. But...you could see the walls coming down, bit by bit, in them both.
Both ladies have issues, but I think Kerry is actually the more screwed-up one of the two. I couldn't imagine spending that long trying that hard to maintain a facade, nor finally taking it down as clearly and directly as she finally managed. It was like she managed to keep a little part of herself locked inside where her parents couldn't touch it, but kept that part alive and whole, and eventually let the walls down fully for Dar.
In summary: squeeeeeee!!!! Now I can't decide whether I want to go reread Tropical Storm or go on in Hurricane Watch... (Hurricane Watch is winning for now...) but may the squee-ing over Tropical Storm commence!
(P.S. Would you all mind using spoiler space for anything beyond TS? Thanks!)
So, this thread is something LadyRowanD and I were talking about on livejournal. We'd like a place to be insane fangirls about Dar, Kerry, romance, Missy Good, Xena's dark side shining through Dar in unexpected moments, angst mixed with romance, Dar, Kerry...
I know that Missy's writing isn't perfect. She could use a good proofreader, and--if I'd been able to make myself step out of the story long enough to look at it as I'd look at something I was beta-ing--I probably would have found more flaws. But I'm asking that if you do want to critique, we start a separate thread for that? Here, I'd just like to let my fangirl tendencies go wild (if you're not so inclined, feel free to watch me with a camera in hand...I'm laughing at me,
)
So, I will start!
My favorite scene was the whole end of the story. Kerry's last thought when her parents were doing such horrible things to her was to cry out to Dar, and Dar heard her!!! Then Dar told her to confront her parents and yet not to hate them, and so Kerry thought it would be easier if she could hate them, but she couldn't, and she cried, and Dar said one of the most perfect things I think she could have said: "I've got you."
I loved the way that Dar was...she was Xena if Xena hadn't been a killer, and yet she wasn't. She compromised, but she never went nearly so far as Evil Xena had. In the Xenaverse itself, I identify more with Xena because I identify with her quest for redemption and I admire her protective instinct. But in Tropical Storm I identify more with Kerry...there was a peculiar blend of strength and insecurity that I found so lovely.
It was so much fun to see the friendship developing between Dar and Kerry. Neither understood, they just knew that they were drawn to one another...and I thought it was a letter-perfect picture of how something can be both someone's own free will, and set in motion by already knowing each other in some way, all at the same time. They don't always know the perfect thing to say to each other. But...you could see the walls coming down, bit by bit, in them both.
Both ladies have issues, but I think Kerry is actually the more screwed-up one of the two. I couldn't imagine spending that long trying that hard to maintain a facade, nor finally taking it down as clearly and directly as she finally managed. It was like she managed to keep a little part of herself locked inside where her parents couldn't touch it, but kept that part alive and whole, and eventually let the walls down fully for Dar.
In summary: squeeeeeee!!!! Now I can't decide whether I want to go reread Tropical Storm or go on in Hurricane Watch... (Hurricane Watch is winning for now...) but may the squee-ing over Tropical Storm commence!
(P.S. Would you all mind using spoiler space for anything beyond TS? Thanks!)
