spnanonhaven | Big Bang/Exchange Fic Discussion #1

Its up! (This is the Hunger Games AU).
http://trinityofone.livejournal.com/201469.html

Art & soundtrack bu aesc
http://aesc.livejournal.com/448031.html

Haven't read it yet. Looks like Cas is going to be "Jimmy" for 3/4 of the fic.

You get used to it.

Anyone read this yet? Is it necessary to know anything about Hunger Games in order to appreciate the fic?

I've read them, and I think it helps, but I'm not sure it would be strictly necessary.

Really, really loved the fic. Better than the novels, actually.

I read it without having any idea what the Hunger Games books are even about (beyond the title) and didn't find it at all confusing. I think you should be fine.

I will agree with the nonny below, though, that the epilogue detracted from my overall enjoyment of the story. Then I did wish that I had read the original books, because maybe it would give me a good idea of why the epilogue was included. Other than some Dean/Cas is pasteded on, (not so) yay.

Huh. SPOIL ME, nonnie, what was it about the epilogue that put you off?

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-19 22:36 (UTC) - Expand

Nonnies who've read this: will I enjoy this as typical any other Trin work? (I'm always hesitant about wading into fusion fics where I have no acquaintance with the source material. Which is why I'm probably never gonna get around to reading unoshot's Last Unicorn fic. :( )

I haven't read the original source material, but so far it doesn't seem to matter (I'm mid-way through part 3). I'm really enjoying this, Trin's done a great job as usual, very readable with solid characterizations.

Oh, since you brought that up, that unoshot's fic was not very good, def. not up to her usual stuff's standard.

Liked this until the epilogue. :/

I enjoyed this but didn't love it as much as her previous fics. It was well done, but I think because I love the books so much this fusion was wrong for me. The tweaks to both canons were interesting but unsatisfying. I liked the theocracy set up, but would have liked a little more depth and explanation to the world building.

The central relationship was fine, but I didn't really see it as romantic for most of the fic. The aging body issue was just odd and tacked on imho. I don't know. Maybe I just had too high expectations for this one.

Also, the art is fine. I liked the cover and the mockingbird dividers. I didn't love the illustrator art - too static.

Dean started: apparently, it had been someone's bright idea to shove Jo into a tight red dress that was much too mature for her. He blushed and glanced away.em>

He blushed and glanced away.

That's in line with both the character he's fused with and the relationship that trinity set up between the Campbells and Harvelles.

Hunger Games is a *massively* asexual book, and the lead character more asexual than most of the characters in it.

Dean's interpretation of there being anything sexual about Jo and being uncomfortable about it definitely works for the story, and it's called out later. He thinks more about sex before he even reaches Castiel than The Hunger Games protagonist thinks in three books.

AYRT

Fair enough, but I'm reading this with characters I already love from canon in mind, and this line threw me out because the Dean I know wouldn't react like that (YMMV). If the story is rewriting Dean's personality, that's fine, but if that's the case, this Dean may not be a Dean I care to read about at all.

If the characterization relies that heavily on the reader being familiar with The Hunger Games, then that may be too much a leap for fans who haven't touched the book at all.

I'm still sticking with the story, and I'm open to being proven wrong and loving the story as it unfolds.

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-20 04:54 (UTC) - Expand

I wouldn't say The Hunger Games is an asexual novel. I think it's pretty on par with any other YA Fantasy novel

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-20 05:07 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-20 05:23 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-20 05:42 (UTC) - Expand

DA

He thinks more about sex before he even reaches Castiel than The Hunger Games protagonist thinks in three books.

So... what? I don't know books and I don't care about the books, and it's massively unfair if I have to have that context to enjoy the fic as it is. (I haven't read the fic and I don't know how true this is, but the way you've framed your comment makes it seem like this is the case.)

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-20 06:33 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-20 15:56 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-20 17:35 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-21 03:38 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-21 15:34 (UTC) - Expand

It's not bad. I don't think trinityofone could write a bad fic if she deliberately tried, but that epilogue is completely pastede on. There's no relationship between Dean and Cas up to that point. Cas seems to like Dean as a person. He seems to help him out of shock that Dean isn't just a murderous mud-monkey as he's been taught to believe all humans are, but there's no hint of anything romantic between them. She should have cut the epilogue and kept it a gen fic.

The first part may be a bit confusing to people who haven't read the book. She doesn't explain a lot of the set-up until they're in the arena, and no motives (for why the angels are doing this) are given until the end, when she finally vaguely alludes to the fact that this is a world in which Michael's gang took-over a large chunk of the planet, presumably because the apocalypse happened earlier than it did in our timeline.

After the first part, though, I think knowing the books becomes a distraction, because so much is different, and it's hard to know when you're supposed to fill in information gaps with stuff from the book, and when you aren't. I didn't realize for example that the "girl with the blonde pigtails" was child!Lilith until the very end, because I was expecting her to be helpful like the little girl from Districk 4(?, I think) in the books.

I never did get used to the Jimmy=Cas thing either. Possibly because I've read a lot of fic with Jimmy in it. I had to keep reminding myself that it was Cas, and honestly, if it weren't a DCBB, I wouldn't have thought it was.

Dean had been having sexual thoughts about Jimmy beforehand, and it seemed clear that Jimmy had realized that. There was also a fair amount of touching that I thought was the setup to eventual sexytimes.

I'm glad there wasn't much more, because, dude the world and your little brother is watching right now, but I felt she established Dean's attraction from his PoV from a little bit before the explosion, and it just gets more crystallized from there.

When it comes to Jimmy/Cas, staring==love, no?

I spent a lot of time at the start too trying to fit Hunger Games characters onto the SPN list of players. I could totally see Bobby as Hammitch, for instance. But I figured once Jo was in Peeta's place I shouldn't get too attached to any one for one. Still, took a while to wind down.

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-20 07:30 (UTC) - Expand

I know this has already been said, but: I would have loved this fic if it had been labeled gen, without the pastede on yay epilogue. As it was, I was expecting a Dean/Cas story, and it disappointed me by not being that, as awesome as it was otherwise, and I couldn't get past that to enjoy the awesome gen story.

And this is why I love the BB thread. I love the Hunger Games books so I would have come into reading this fic with the expectation that romance be a central role in the story (even if only "pretend" romance and scorching chemistry), and would have been sorely disappointed.

Gen is a perfectly awesome genre, and friendship perfectly qualifies for the DCBB.

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-25 04:26 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-25 20:11 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-26 00:27 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DCBB: Bird of Paradise [Dean/Castiel, R] by trinityofone

(Anonymous) - 2010-10-26 03:44 (UTC) - Expand

Gorgeous, gorgeous colors. Atypical aesc with the use of Illustrator, but I approve. However, the I can't get over the fact that we can't see any hint if the lower half of Cas' body. Does it exist? But other than that, this is awesome.

Oooh, yes, I agree. This is gorgeous.

Gorgeous, gorgeous colors. Atypical aesc with the use of Illustrator, but I approve. However, the I can't get over the fact that we can't see any hint if the lower half of Cas' body. Does it exist? But other than that, this is awesome.

Oooh, yes, I agree. This is gorgeous.