Reading Room - Traitor's Fate

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Hi and sorry for being a little late, though it's only 2:30pm (actually, 3:45pm now) here. *g*

I was aiming to post last night, but have finally succumbed to the cold that's been going around at school and didn't manage it.
Excuse the unsophisticated introduction! I've never been a great writer at the best of times! ;)

This week's story is Traitor's Fate by Meg Lewtan, a tale set in the Regency period, taking place partially in London, and in France, during the French Revolution.
The story can be found on the ProsLib CD.


We start right in, not knowing who the POV character is at first, and I was quickly pulled in and followed along.
Sir Raymond Doyle, and oh, he is meeting the Scarlet Pimpernel! For a second, I was yanked out of the story, and wondered if this was written before or after MS played Chauvelin.

I was charmed by the old fashioned language (not really being a history buff, and not knowing much about how the English spoke in those times, I just went with it), and liked the characters we are introduced to and the flow of the story.
The descriptions fit the times, at least to my uneducated ears, and I had no trouble imagining it all.

Doyle is sent to rescue a French nobleman from the Bastille, the Duke of Yveau, who has been beaten and sentenced to death by "Madam la Guilliotine".
We switch to Marquis de Beauville, at the Bastille, and you can probably guess that this is our Bodie. Beauville is also associated with Blakeney (the Scarlet Pimpernel) and has helped save many innocent people from certain death, but has not been able to save his own mother and younger brother. This weighs heavily on his mind and he has lost the will to live.
I had a little trouble with the name and titles, which were a little confusing to me at times, but the author finds a way to call him Bodie (Beaudi) after all. That part took a little getting used to, but with Bodie being a Frenchman in this AU, it's understandable that the name needed changing.

Through trickery via a potion mimicking death, Beauville (the Duke of Yveau) is rescued, but Doyle thinks he's got the wrong man, having expected a much older man (Beauville's father, whom he thinks is still alive and holding the title of Duke of Yveau), and first suspects Bodie (I'm just going to call him that for the rest of the summary) is a spy. Bodie is not exactly grateful, especially since the potion has made him very ill.

The middle part of the stories concentrates on just Bodie and Doyle, traveling together and there is a definite feeling of partnership and attraction developing, despite Doyle thinking Bodie an arrogant fop, and Bodie suspecting Doyle is a traitor, about to hand him over to Chauvelin. The POV switches between the two, and sometimes I get a little lost in the shifts, but being a nosy reader, I appreciate getting both POVs, and not being in the dark about what one or the other feels or thinks.
We get some nice banter, too, with the language befitting the times.!

Here is an exerpt:

*****************

"Unless you were unfortunate enough to be born out of wedlock. Are you, by chance, a bastard?"

The insult enraged Doyle. He was lolling against the trunk of the tree watching the sky turn from rose to purple as twilight deepened and when the question was asked he sat up angrily. "No, I am not! My parents were wed some four years before I was born and if it were not for the situation we are in, I would call you out, Sir! If I appear well-bred, it is because I was educated and learnt to mind my manners. Which, I must tell you, is something you are incapable of doing. You have the sensitivity of a pig and you behave as though the world owes you everything."

******************

Bodie is having night mares about losing his mother and brother, revealing things to Doyle in his dreams. Doyle does the same after a head injury, making Bodie aware that Doyle has had a male lover, none other than good old Murph, who was killed two years ago, throwing Doyle into deep depression.

There are perils and adventures, and finally, the reach the cost where a ship is waiting to take them to England. Up until the very end, Bodie believes Doyle to be a spy, and just when the ship signals them, and Bodie finally trusts Doyle has spoken the truth all the time, a patrol arrives, and Bodie lashes out at Doyle, furious for falling for a ruse.

Doyle, of course, doesn't understand what's the matter with Bodie, and does his best to defend him anyhow. Finally Bodie gets a clue and joins in the fight, and both make it safely to England, with Doyle slightly the worse for wear.

Here we find out that Doyle did get the right man after all, but didn't know Bodie had taken his father's title, after the father was murdered.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is elated that his French friend is safe, and his cousin Raymond, too, and Doyle invites Bodie to stay at his country estate to recover and get his bearings. Bodie feels horribly guilty for having misjudged Doyle, but everything is resolved in the end, and Doyle get to teach Bodie, an avid and eagere student, everything about the art of love.

I had fun reading the story. There wasn't a wimpy and weak Doyle in sight, they seemed in character most of the time (a few too many convenient nightmares, and maybe a bit too much guilt-tripping), but it was an engaging and interesting trip back in time.

Comments

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

byslantedlight went to a lot of trouble to make sure I got hold of the story so at first I was a bit concerned that all I was going to say was 'yes, great, thanks'. I needn't have worried... I have more to say!

I love the AU - I love The Scarlet Pimpernel and I thought the language was excellent - true to the Pimpernel series and to Georgette Heyer whose novels are set in the same period. I thought the depictions of France and the 'troubles' was good (I did an in depth study of the French Revolution once upon a time) and I liked the use of places on the route to the coast which are very real to me - we drive that way quite often. So for the first half of the story I was wallowing in pleasure.

Then I started to lose the total immersion. I didn't quite believe the 'almost rape' scene which underpinned the emotions later. I found the fights - both with the felons and the militia - less than well explained/choreographed. I thought the ending, after they got to England, was rather long-drawn-out and repetitive and whilst I liked some of the sex I thought the writing could have been tightened.

I liked the way other characters were brought in (Cowley!) but have to admit I didn't recognise Murphy in Cathal!!

So all in all I don't think this is a 'keeper' for me, although some of it will no doubt stay in my memory and I read happily to the end.

I was interested to note the number of typos - and they were typos not other errors masquerading as typos. I assume this was written in the days before Word, etc.!!

I would like to thank you for your review, and for choosing a story that led me to research, at long last, the possiblity of owning the Proslib CD!! And now, as it's almost midnight here in Pros-land, I'm off to bed! *g*

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Thanks for joining in!
I'm glad to hear that you though the language was excellent. It felt right to me, but I had nothing to compare it to.
And I agree the ending felt a little drawn out. My favorite part was everything right up to Bodie and Doyle making it to England.
We didn't hear many details about Murphy, but I've always thought him a little colorless, and a bit of a push-over in canon, so I could live with him as Cathal (interesting name).

I always give some of the typos the benefit of the doubt, because if the story was converted through an OCR program, they could have crept in through that, but you might be right and the story may have been written before spell checkers. I'm not sure if the people who create the digital files correct typos, or leave them as the are in the original.

The ProsLib CD is wonderful! :)

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

I had to come back to say: what a wonderful icon! I don't know how it escaped my attention the first time!

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

It's by enednoviel and was up for grabs ages ago on one of the comms - so you could snag it provided you credit her!

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big fan of AU. I often find it difficult to see "my" Bodie and Doyle in them. I do, however, really enjoy Meg Lewtan's stories. She manages to write AU without emasculating Doyle and without turning Bodie into a boor. Like both comments above, I thought the ending a bit drawn out, but anytime the lads spend in bed is worth reading, no? *g* I too liked the use of other 'canon' characters. The 'near-rape' didn't sit well with me. Some of the banter as they sparred verbally with each other was amusing. The settings and language were well done. For an AU story, it was ok! *g*
I enjoyed your rec - thanks!

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I picked the story at random from the list, trying to find something that was relatively easily available and that I couldn't remember reading before.
So, I didn't know what to expect at all, and was happy that it was very readable. I do think I may have read it a long time ago, but maybe it was another, similar story.
The attempted rape did seem a little out of character.

[murphybabe]

Hmmm. As I've said before, I'm not keen on AUs generally. However, I thought I would give this one a go - I am a huge fan of Georgette Heyer and similar fiction; also I like Meg Lewtan's other stuff. I've read a couple of AUs in the hope of finding something I like... and sadly, this wasn't one of them. I didn't like the nightmares (too convenient), I didn't like the near-rape (too unreal?) and I really didn't like the contrived nature of the name Beaudi.

The story rollicked along well enough, but I didn't really recognise Bodie and Doyle from canon.

However, I have just had a huge mental breakthrough (hooray!) - I've just realised that for me, it seems that as soon as we enter an AU, all banter and humour goes out of the window. Is this true? Have I just been unlucky in what I've read? Can anyone think of a funny AU?

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

There's plenty of gentle humour/banter in Lizzie's A Birdwatcher's Guide to Cornish Ghosts (ninetenth century). Ellis Ward has banter in Echo and the sequel Broadcast Difficulties (sci-fi). Arduinna Finn's An Elf by any other Name and the sequel Lighter than the Fox are hilarious and mostly banter - not sure if they count as AU but they do for me - the lads are in ci5 but one of them isn't quite what he seems. Then there's humour in Rhiannon's Larton Chronicles (rural squire and retired policeman). But to a great extent it's possible writers building believeable AUs forget to include the banter... To some extent that's true of historical novels (Georgette Heyer's an exception) and sci-fi in general, not just in the realms of fanfic. Interesting point!!

[murphybabe]

Right. My assignment this weekend is to read Birdwatcher's Guide. I never have, and you must be the fifth person to recommend it, so I will.

Sorry, a slight diversion but this thing about AU and humour interests me. I like Larton, but don't find it particularly amusing, and I loved Harlequin Airs, but again it didn't tickle my funny bone much.

And I'm really really sorry, but I forgot to say, I enjoyed Siskiou's review. It made me go and read the fic, so it did what it was supposed to - thank you!

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

I used to hate AUs with a passion, and usually never got past the first few pages, and then somebody sent me "Harlequin Airs". I don't know what it was about that one, but ever since, I've been more interested, and have found quite a few more that I like a lot.
Several of them are mentioned in moth2fic's comment. :)

You definitely have a point when it comes to the banter! I thought there was a little in "Traitor's Fate", but in general, it seems to fall by the wayside a bit in AUs. Though I think this is true for other types of stories, too, or they can go the opposite way and have a little *too* much of it.

To me, the banter in Pros was so natural and real, and it's hard to reproduce this.

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Right, I read this in great haste, but I am here at last!

Do you know, I find Meg Lewtan much more readable than the Pimpernel books. There's enough "la!" and "lud" and "demme" to remind me of the Pimpernel without being annoying in that "this is a Pimpernel story, remember" way that authors aiming for a particular impression can accidently achieve. And the good baroness's more fevered paragraphs of interior monologue are blessedly absent. However, I shall pick up on murphybabe's theme: the banter. The dialogue in general, in fact.

I had no problem with the 'near-rape' scene. What I did have a problem with was the idea that the one recounted it to the other at all, let alone the insight into his own psyche he apparently has. Can you imagine present-day Bodie or Doyle in a CI5 world saying something to the effect of "I resented you. I hated your seductiveness and my own weakness"? Even if either has that amount of insight -- and I don't believe either does -- I just can't see him offering that on a platter to anyone, love of his life or not. And to do it in long, measured sentences... argh, no.

Perhaps it is my fault for skim-reading, but I did get bogged down in why neither believed the other, whether it relied on titles or came down to the the scene on the beach. And I am stunned to find myself agreeing that the last section is drawn out. They're in bed for most of it, and I am not normally complaining about that. Perhaps it's that there's a little too much talking there, and too much of "his imagination was amazing". If it's that good, I want to know what they're doing. In detail.

I didn't spot the typos moth2fic saw (although there were a lot of unexpected capital letters) and I am no linguist, but the alternation of 'tu' and 'vous' in the French all through threw me a little. There's one remark which goes something like 'pardonnez-moi, je t'en prie', for example. Perhaps this is actually quite reasonable in French, but I wouldn't know.

Oh, last thing. Four hens, eight large eggs? Really?

It was a good adventure story, and if I was hankering for a Pimpernel story, to be honest, I'd prefer this to a lot of the Orczy books. And - despite the period - she avoids my bête noire of fainting "ah me" Doyle. He's really active in this, and I like that a lot.

Excellent introduction, btw. I said I read this in haste. What I didn't say was that I hadn't intended to read it at all. But I saw your introduction and thought "Oh. Okay. Should try this." I shall now spend Sunday working instead of reading fic, but I shall not be casting too many curses in your direction!

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

but I did get bogged down in why neither believed the other

Interesting, and now that you mention it, this theme of drawn out misunderstandings is something that comes up in Pros quite a bit.
I remember reading quite a few stories where I wanted to scream, because the characters just weren't getting it!

4 hens, 8 eggs? Doesn't happen? Some of them were too old to eat, so I assumed they weren't all laid that day, but I really don't know much about chickens. :)

Thanks for not sending me too many curses! *g* I'll take some hot toddy, with a helping of Bodie and Doyle, though!

Maybe I should read the Pimpernel books some time, to compare to this story? I have to admit to being a complete Pimpernel virgin!

Having just picked the story at random, I was very happy to find a strong Doyle in this one, though I would have preferred less nightmares and learn about the characters' history another way.
And they do talk about feelings an awful lot. Were men in those times more open?

BTW, is there another Pros AU set in this time period?
When I started reading, it didn't ring a bell at all, but then I thought I remembered some parts, but several things I expected, never materialized, so now I'm not sure.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

There's Breakking the Chains by greengerbil which is absolutely wonderful but is a sort of extra crossover. It takes Bodie, one of the Pimperne's team, to France where he finds himself involved in rescuing Chauvelin (played by Martin Shaw in the film version) and the romance unfolds in fits and starts. A gorgeous story which I have read more than once. It has a lot of memorable scenes, including some in the prison, so perhaps that's what you were thinking of?

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Do you read zines? There is a review of 'Continental B and D' on the Hatstand which mentions Fraternite by Jasper as containing a lengthy 1792 historical AU.

Or, of course, Re-Discovered in a Graveyard follows a modern storyline and a historical one, and the historical one starts in revolutionary Paris, but the rest isn't remotely similar.

But moth2fic's suggestion of Breaking the Chains sounds more plausible.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

I didn't spot the garbled French! You're absolutely right!! Clearly when I'm reading fast I don't look at detail in other languages, though I speak French so I should have done!!