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eponymous_roseI'll be coming back to the Happy Meme - the last couple of days have been pretty busy - but first, have a DS9 fic rec/review/meta!
The fic in question is an older one - it made its appearance on ASC back in 1999 - by Marlissa Campbell. Wormwood is a lengthy, intricately plotted character study of Gul Dukat, set right after the events of "Sacrifice of Angels". The premise is a simple one: Starfleet has sent a Betazoid forensic psychiatrist to evaluate Dukat's mental condition, in order to determine his fitness for trial. What starts out as a routine getting-to-know-the-baddie fic twists into something much darker and much more fascinating - after all, having an empath interact with Dukat, the master of self-deception, means the influence begins to work both ways.
I very much enjoyed this fic, and can rec it wholeheartedly - I'm a big fan of long stories that bridge gaps in canon, adding depth and new dimensions to existing characters and situations without overstating the case, seeing new things in the canon rather than creating them. I realize lots of people don't find that particularly appealing in fic - and goodness knows I enjoy zany AUs and mind-bending sequels as much as the next fan - but I hope you'll give this one a shot regardless.
The problem I generally have with many fics written from an original character's point of view is that, no matter how well-rounded the character may be, their opinions inevitably seem to slot neatly into a set of fannish precepts: this particular character is awesome, this one is boring, this one is barely deserving of attention, this one is suspicious and not to be trusted. With Wormwood's Aaron Cox, the author takes the fantastic opportunity to see all the flawed complexities of the DS9 crew at a time when they're hardly at their best, and runs with it - the protagonist's impressions of the regulars change, not always favourably, as the story progresses, and as his interviews with Gul Dukat become more and more detailed and intimate. One of the most appealing aspects of DS9 is, I think, that not one character comes away from the events of the series with clean hands - this fic reflects that aspect of the show in ways that are sometimes startling, but always manage to ring true.
The vagaries of Cardassian psychology are something the show touches on from time to time (Marritza's confessions in "Duet", Dukat's twisted chains of logic in "Waltz", not to mention Garak, whose mind probably deserves a meta post all its own), but not often enough to have done more than scratch the surface: in Wormwood, we keep digging, and every time we come up with a rational explanation, we're met with the distinct impression that there's something still more fascinating and complex lurking beneath the surface.
A recurring image in the story is that of conversations and emotional exchanges - empathic or not - leaving traces in the mind long after the fact. After a walk on a holographic beach with Nerys, Aaron brings out this motif in no uncertain terms: "The chilling breeze disappeared with it, as did the holosand and holowater clinging to our clothes and skin. The mussing of our hair and the rumples in our clothes, however, remained." Despite the short frame of time covered by the story (it ends during the events of "Waltz"), people change, and those changes happen in subtle and sometimes terrifying ways.
My only quibble with the story is the odd rash of punctuation errors - generally minor, and usually just in the area of dialogue. The errors only stand out at all because they're in contrast with the otherwise excellent calibre of the writing: there are some truly fantastic word choices throughout the fic, speaking to the careful administration of a prodigious vocabulary.
The author wrote a spin-off of this fic for the Strange New Worlds contest, called "Cause of Death", which is quite interesting in its own right - one of the more chilling elements of both stories is that, in the end, everyone can only see Ziyal as a symbol, as a catalyst. I would argue, though, that this second fic is redundant if you're planning on reading Wormwood - much of the dialogue, descriptions, and ideas appears in a similar form in the longer version of the story, with the added complexities of Wormwood's careful pacing and subtle variations in mood.
In case I wasn't clear: I really recommend this fic. It's not exactly fast-paced or action-packed, but its suspense, its subtle characterization, and its slow, careful build-up make it a fascinating read all the same.
The fic in question is an older one - it made its appearance on ASC back in 1999 - by Marlissa Campbell. Wormwood is a lengthy, intricately plotted character study of Gul Dukat, set right after the events of "Sacrifice of Angels". The premise is a simple one: Starfleet has sent a Betazoid forensic psychiatrist to evaluate Dukat's mental condition, in order to determine his fitness for trial. What starts out as a routine getting-to-know-the-baddie fic twists into something much darker and much more fascinating - after all, having an empath interact with Dukat, the master of self-deception, means the influence begins to work both ways.
I very much enjoyed this fic, and can rec it wholeheartedly - I'm a big fan of long stories that bridge gaps in canon, adding depth and new dimensions to existing characters and situations without overstating the case, seeing new things in the canon rather than creating them. I realize lots of people don't find that particularly appealing in fic - and goodness knows I enjoy zany AUs and mind-bending sequels as much as the next fan - but I hope you'll give this one a shot regardless.
The problem I generally have with many fics written from an original character's point of view is that, no matter how well-rounded the character may be, their opinions inevitably seem to slot neatly into a set of fannish precepts: this particular character is awesome, this one is boring, this one is barely deserving of attention, this one is suspicious and not to be trusted. With Wormwood's Aaron Cox, the author takes the fantastic opportunity to see all the flawed complexities of the DS9 crew at a time when they're hardly at their best, and runs with it - the protagonist's impressions of the regulars change, not always favourably, as the story progresses, and as his interviews with Gul Dukat become more and more detailed and intimate. One of the most appealing aspects of DS9 is, I think, that not one character comes away from the events of the series with clean hands - this fic reflects that aspect of the show in ways that are sometimes startling, but always manage to ring true.
The vagaries of Cardassian psychology are something the show touches on from time to time (Marritza's confessions in "Duet", Dukat's twisted chains of logic in "Waltz", not to mention Garak, whose mind probably deserves a meta post all its own), but not often enough to have done more than scratch the surface: in Wormwood, we keep digging, and every time we come up with a rational explanation, we're met with the distinct impression that there's something still more fascinating and complex lurking beneath the surface.
A recurring image in the story is that of conversations and emotional exchanges - empathic or not - leaving traces in the mind long after the fact. After a walk on a holographic beach with Nerys, Aaron brings out this motif in no uncertain terms: "The chilling breeze disappeared with it, as did the holosand and holowater clinging to our clothes and skin. The mussing of our hair and the rumples in our clothes, however, remained." Despite the short frame of time covered by the story (it ends during the events of "Waltz"), people change, and those changes happen in subtle and sometimes terrifying ways.
My only quibble with the story is the odd rash of punctuation errors - generally minor, and usually just in the area of dialogue. The errors only stand out at all because they're in contrast with the otherwise excellent calibre of the writing: there are some truly fantastic word choices throughout the fic, speaking to the careful administration of a prodigious vocabulary.
The author wrote a spin-off of this fic for the Strange New Worlds contest, called "Cause of Death", which is quite interesting in its own right - one of the more chilling elements of both stories is that, in the end, everyone can only see Ziyal as a symbol, as a catalyst. I would argue, though, that this second fic is redundant if you're planning on reading Wormwood - much of the dialogue, descriptions, and ideas appears in a similar form in the longer version of the story, with the added complexities of Wormwood's careful pacing and subtle variations in mood.
In case I wasn't clear: I really recommend this fic. It's not exactly fast-paced or action-packed, but its suspense, its subtle characterization, and its slow, careful build-up make it a fascinating read all the same.
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Date: 2010-02-28 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-02-28 08:49 pm (UTC)