by Chrysten (link)
Genre het, drama/angst, romance
Pairings Isaac/OFC, Taylor/OFC
Length prologue and 46 chapters
Status Completed
It’s strange how certain tropes have developed in hanfic. So many early stories,for example, start with detailed, bullet point descriptions of the characters. I usually take this as a sign of an immature writer who has apparently never read an actual book before, but Delicate Cries of Death has one thing going for it. The narrator is dead, a fact that she reveals from the very beginning. That could be interesting, but ultimately it takes away any hope of the story surprising its readers.
In fact, there really is nothing new or surprising in this story. The main character, Madison, is a famous teenage model with absentee parents and a convenient family connection to Hanson. As for Hanson, they’re already jaded and frustrated with fame, with drug issues that don’t get nearly as much attention in the plot as Madison’s.
The entire plot is driven by Madison’s diet pill addiction, with a brief deviation into a love triangle plot. That deviation makes me wonder if the prologue’s statement is misleading, but it isn’t. Suddenly, Chrysten throws in a medical curveball that’s completely unrealistic and impossible, and brings us to the point where Madison does indeed die. The final chapter offers a strange, almost magical realistic take on how the band formed, but this little bit of a unique moment is too little too late after a story full of over the top drama, point of view switches and needless descriptions of designer clothing. In the end, Delicate Cries of Death is every bit the typical early hanfic that I expected it to be.
Review by Bethany (website)