by Aitziber (link)
Genre drama/angst
Pairings Isaac/OFC
Length 20 chapters
Status Completed
No Reason To Die starts out with a few strikes against it. The main character has a ridiculous name and a melodramatic story. Par for the course in early hanfic, really. Aitziber was the first moderator of the Hanfic Mailing List, though, so I have high expectations for her writing. Perhaps she can turn what seems cliche into a good story.
There’s a stilted quality to Zibbi’s writing, but that isn’t surprising given that I know English isn’t her first language. Aside from a few awkward or incorrect turns of phrase, it mostly fits the ten-year old narrator, Bay. Sometimes, though, Bay feels much older than ten. I can’t tell if she’s supposed to be narrating the story from the future or not.
The biggest problem I have with her writing is all the exposition I have to wade through before the story actually starts. After that, there are moments when hints about what’s to come are practically shouted in my face. I don’t mind when Bay addresses the audience directly; it’s a style that I don’t write in often, but which can be effective if done well. It isn’t as though the summary didn’t already tell me what to expect from the story, so the exposition and sense of the story being told long after the events is actually a little annoying and just leaves me waiting impatiently for things to finally happen.
In spite of the stilted writing, or perhaps because of it, Bay is a very believable young narrator. That’s a little frustrating, because she can be very childish and even ignorant, but I have to remind myself of her age. No Reason To Die progresses a bit too quickly, but with fairly believable medical details. The ending is no surprise at all, but it still manages to bring a tear to my eyes. If you can get through Aitziber’s imperfect writing and don’t mind stories that focus more on the original characters than the boys, then No Reason To Die might be just your style.
Review by Bethany (website)