Big Bang Fic: Rat and Sword Go To War

[narniabb-mod.livejournal.com]

Title: Rat and Sword Go To War
Author: rthstewart
Rating: T, for a soldier's salty language
Pairings/characters: Peter Pevensie, Susan Pevensie
Disclaimer: This work of historical fiction is offered respectfully and with deep admiration for the men and women herein depicted as well as C.S. Lewis and the other content owners of the Chronicles of Narnia and its related properties. Any original content in this derivative fiction is in the public domain and may be used freely and without notice to me or attribution.
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: All of The Chronicles of Narnia.
Summary: The High King and the Gentle Queen go to war, again.

Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 Part 1 Part 2
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6 Part 1 Part 2

Comments

[cofax7]

yay!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I hope you enjoy it!

[(Anonymous)]

While more elaborate comments will be offered when this unbelievably briilliant, epic, tale goes up on the fan fiction website, it is good to see this posted by an extraordinary talent.

Many thanks from this reader to Rth Stewart for writing this.

Clio1792

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

And thank you so much!

[tiabolt.livejournal.com]

Too perfect words, but the few that come to mind to describe this story are "a great and terrible beauty." That moment when Peter sees the codenames for the LZ's and beaches, Susan's coding, Tebbitt, the Major (both of them actually), and Lt. Becker, the instructor's observations on Susan, the pregnancy with Hans's baby, the drills, and EVERYTHING, was brilliant. I must add a special note for Edmund because I love him too much-he was perfect. I love all the Pevensies but no Narnia story is quite right without a little Just King. Thank you for such a lovely lovely tale. As usual, I'm left speechless and mindblown, after reading your work.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. I so appreciate you reading and reviewing. I've been feeling very down about the story, that I really missed something essential and so I hugely value hearing from folks. Edmund was one of those additions that didn't really have to be there, but once I fiddled with it, it just had to be there. Snacky talked me out of having Susan pretend to be pregnant the whole time she was in France. The LZs I did not know until I was writing that scene and realized it. In fact, I didn't know about Sword Beach until someone mentioned it in a review when I suggested in AW that Peter would be joining the 6th Airborne and the Oxs & Bucks. I had just liked the paras' shoulder flash of Pegasus/Fledge.

Anyway, thank you very, very much.

[edenfalling]

Finished! ...And alas, I am not able to compress my reaction into anything coherent right now, so please take this comment as a sadly inadequate expression of thanks for writing and sharing such a magnificent story.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much. I hope you enjoyed it.

[edenfalling]

Very much so! I am just having trouble writing you any kind of useful reaction, because my reaction is basically, "Yes, this, exactly this, of course it went/would have gone like this, how else could it possibly go?" It's as if you crystallized something that was always there, waiting to be set down in the correct words -- and that is a very hard trick to pull off! So I am both impressed as a writer and beyond pleased as a reader. :-)

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

And as I said in another post, somewhere, I'm amazed you were able to follow it (and even tried) since this story is set so firmly in the bigger TSG work. Thank you so much for that generosity.

[(Anonymous)]

'E'

This gave me goosebumps -- especially the last chapter, with the sight of the paratroopers. Ive been to Pegasus Bridge, and Caen, and the D-Day beaches, and now I wish this story had existed years ago so I could have appreciated the trip more -- I'd read Ambrose, but not Pegasus Bridge, which evidently I will have to pick up.

This. is. flawless.

This will have to be a short review, (I'll review better on ff.net) but the previous sentence says it best. The attention to detail and the research are staggering -- no glitches. Brilliant writing, well researched, tense and dramatic with everyone IC and lovely character interaction. Even though we don't see the Pevensie's together very much, you let us know that they are definitely in each others thoughts. Your OC's continue to be real and fleshed out. So much awesomeness here.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Oh goodnes, E, thanks so very, very much. I've never been to Normandy, or held a gun, or jumped from a plane. Writing any war story is totally daunting to someone like me and especially THIS story because it is so well known and has been recounted both as history and historical fiction by so many others who are so very good.

The Fowler book is a very small and missing a lot of the background of Ambrose. Fowler is a very technical sort of person -- he's the one who tries to figure out what Thornton actually shot. He contradicts Ambrose in a few places, too, and I've found that some of the really technical experts take issue with some of Ambrose. But you know, he's got a Pulitzer and the rest of us don't.

So, thank you. Thank you for reading and for bringing your own expertise to the story and finding that it met expectation and was true to the history. I wrote this completely in the dark, with nothing but the source material and have felt something essential lacking, so I really appreciate you taking a bit of your very scarce time to comment.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Amazing. Simply amazing. All that I hoped for and more.

I loved how Peter and Susan's very different journeys brought them to the same place. How Peter ended taking orders in the most difficult of places because he needed to be under a competent commander, and how despite how tough it still was, fighting in a war completely different than what he was used to, there were so many signs that he was in the right place. I love that al-Masri and Walker had to turn to Edmund for elucidation on Susan's message. It was incredible to see Susan grow as all the people she's already established that she is, and really grow into being them, even when that included killing people that were not easy, and she didn't want it to be. There are so many people who know them and have given up understanding how they are the way they are, but accepting it as fact that they are dealing with skilled adults, not schoolchildren. It was just so beautiful to see it all coming together like this, and that I got to read it in one piece.

So, so perfect. ♥ ♥

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much, Kate. This was (another) very personal piece for me, where I tried to write a complete story, a series of rising actions, climax, denouement, though the actual order of battle did limit me. Technically, I felt it was solid work, but I've also felt that I missed something fundamental and that I'd let readers down, reinforced by other things in the posting. So thank you for pausing in your very busy and exciting life to leave some comments. I really appreciate it so much.