Faded

by Lijah (link)

Genre slash, romance, drama
Pairings Taylor/Scott Moffatt
Length 10 chapters
Status Completed (with sequel)

If there’s one emotion that immediately strikes me in the first chapter of Faded, it’s confusion. The characters are mixed up, sure, but so am I. For most of the chapter, Taylor refers to Scott as Andy; while I know his middle name is Andrew, I don’t understand why he’s suddenly going by it. There are also no paragraph breaks and copious sentence fragments in what’s altogether a rather short chapter. So far, I’m just disoriented and unimpressed.

By the second chapter, the confusion about Scott’s name (as simple as it being a nickname that stuck) is cleared up, but the grammatical problems persist. The plot is fairly touching, though, if not terribly unique — Taylor and Scott are effectively on the run after their parents’ discovery of their relationship. It’s, sadly, a realistic plot, but one that it’s hard not to make sound like a lifetime movie.

Near the end of what’s a really short story, both in number and length of chapters, Scott and even Zac’s points of view come in. That doesn’t really help with that disorientation I felt at the beginning, but at least each character has a fairly distinct voice. I’m not sure the rest of them are necessary, though.

Disorientation and confusion are the themes of Faded for me. After everything Taylor and Scott have gone through, it’s surprising to see Taylor describe their relationship as only sex. It seems odd, and really devalues the rest of the story for me. I can only hope and assume the sequel will end with them in an actual relationship.

Review by Bethany (website)