The Greens of Jericho

Reviewer: Marzee Doats Signed [Report This]
Date: 14 Nov 2011 1:39:29 AM Title: The Last Expanse

Wow, Penny Lane.  This is some pretty powerful stuff.  It really impacted me the first time I read it back when you first posted, and the impact was just as strong when I re-read it now.  It feels very real, especially because of your amazing ability to show the conflicts here, such as pre-bombs Dale noticing and hating that he notices Skylar, and how their closeness is both incomplete and potentially ruined because of Dale's big secret.

It would be hard to identify anything I didn't like in this story, but this I thought was beautifully written, and really the heart of the tale:

Quote:

And she wasn't anything like he imagined her. The real he'd seen this year was different. She was more real to him than most people. She was brave and she was scared. She was strong and she was vulnerable. She wanted to see good and she was dismayed at their world. And she was like him.

She was always surprising. He didn't know what part was most surprising, but he hadn't expected to find he was like her. He'd always thought they were so different, really two different species - normal and annoying. Nothing was normal anymore, and he no longer thought she was annoying.

 

I love how he (they both) has discovered that they are alike.  What a gift in the world where they've found themselves.

I think the ending you chose is brilliant.  Things have changed, and they can't back the world up and make things different.  All they can do is move on, stronger together than they would be apart. 

And lastly, thanks for the first Dale/Skylar-centric story at GoJ!  I do have a big, soft spot for this pairing and you certainly did them justice.