9th Best Fanfic Of All Time-Canary On A Landmine by kyouji kanji

9. Canary On A Landmine by kyouji-kanji

Section: In Plain Sight
Genre: Crime Adventure
Rating: Ten plus, for some language and action that isn't that explicit.
Type: Chapter Fics
Status: Complete, 25 Chapters and 50,000 words.
Finished On: April 8th, 2011

Starring Characters: Mary Shannon, Marshall Mann, OC Isabelle Manning

It's incredibly hard, as I've mentioned, to do a story with the characters in character when they're off a TV show. They're developed in, at times, more than fifty hours of TV episodes. It's even harder when it's from a show that focuses on developing the characters, like In Plain Sight does. It's extremely hard, in this case, to capture the overall feel that the TV show does.

Kyouji-kanji's Canary on a Landmine succeeds that, and that's what makes it such a triumph.

I'm astonished how in character everyone is, and how in character the story is to the show. It's absolutely remarkable. It's literally like reading an episode of the show. It's a shame that they're cancelling In Plain Sight because Kyouji could write for it very well.

"We're going away from the commercial flights because they're hard to secure. We have a Gulfstream 150 waiting for us at the far side of the airport and that will take us straight through to Denver. We're going to be with you all the way there and we aren't going to let anything happen to you. Okay?" [Marshall explained.]

She nodded, finally finding her voice. "Thank you."

"No worries, we aim to please…"

Mary gave a slightly derisive short. "We aim not to miss," she muttered under her breath, then added aloud, "There they are."

Mary sat up straight once again scanning the area.

The story itself is well done and original. The premise is that Mary and Marshall, being the grand Witness Protection agents that they are, are taking a witness across the nation to Denver, but as predicted, things go awry as people start hunting them down. What really cinches the story as original as it turns out is what is perhaps the greatest use of starring Original Character ever, the enigmatic Isabelle Manning, who is the cause of most of the plot twists. A few chapters in we find that

SPOILER ALERT
Isabelle Manning isn't really Isabelle Manning, special agent, she's a close friend, also a special agent, in cognito as her, and she does this kind of disguise work a lot. This allows her true character to show through, and it's a blessing. The fake Isabelle, nicknamed "Isn't", is one of the most entertaining characters I've seen in a long time, holding up to the wit and character of Mary and Marshall.
End Spoiler Alert.

All in all, this story is pulled off magnificently, and it's a great read. There are a few grammar and spelling errors (points to the title on Fanfiction) but this is one of the most engaging and entertaining works I've read in a long time, and I'm glad I followed it. Now if only Kyouji would work on the sequel some more...

BONUS- Psst, click me, Kyouji...

20th Best Fanfic I've Read: Restraints by Hardly Loquacious

Hey, all! You may have seen my 20-11 for top fanfics I've ever had the pleasure of reading. My friend and entrant Foxpilot had the great suggestion of individualizing the entries so they do not get lost within each other. So here I go! Expect 10-12 new posts today, only with little to nothing new! XD

20. Restraints by Hardly Loquacious

Section: The Mentalist
Genre: Romance, Humor
Rating: TV 14- Some Violence, Mild Sexual Situations, Sensuality, and some language
Type: Full Story
Status: Finished, Seven Chapters, 37,000 Words
Finished: June 8, 2011

Starring Characters: Patrick Jane, Teresa Lisbon

Description: After the fall of Red John, legendarily cognative detective Patrick Jane works to reconstruct his life and sort through his emotions and eventual feelings for his partner as he works his way back into a normal life without a revenge focus.

Review: Let's face it- even in adult shows, there's still pairings and characters that you ship for. One of the most noteworthy is CBS' The Mentalist and its most implied pairing, breezy wiseguy detective with talented people reading skills Patrick Jane and loyal if not tense partner Teresa Lisbon. This is pretty tricky territory to be taken in seriously in- you have to do a damn good job to nail a more sophisticated pairing without looking like just a passionate fan, especially in a media where their characters are extremely, extremely defined. And you have to hand it to Hardly Loquacious, who did a good job at keeping it fresh, but most importantly, keeping it true to the show's elements.

Watching Jane put the pieces of his life together after the one thing he had spent many years of his life trying to do- kill Red John, who killed his family- was done by Lisbon- is an interesting twist considering that without Red John to hunt, Jane has set up no purpose for himself, and since he was not the one to perform the deed, it's almost a twisted insult to injury. This is a clever setup that was a brilliant brainblast from a very cognative author.

But let the premise not fool you- the story is incredibly fluffy. And when you can take a story that seems a setup for angst, make it fluffy, but make it believable, hats off to you.

"Patrick Jane wasn't most people.

He knew that Mr. Overly Safe wasn't what she really needed. He knew it.

But he wasn't quite sure she did. Not anymore.

And now, as a result, he had a fuming Teresa Lisbon sitting in the passenger seat of his car.

Oh yeah, and she was handcuffed.

He may have panicked, just a little."

Rarely is it that you will find characterization so spot on, especially since in this case there's such a high risk and so little excuse to get it wrong. Everything Jane does, everything Lisbon does, every reaction, every interaction is one hundred percent in character. The dialogue, the internal thoughts, the narration (which often comes from a technical third person but sounds very first person- you'd have to see it for yourself, but it certainly works)every word typed is worth reading, funny, intelligent, exactly what needs to have been said in that situation, romantic- it's exactly what it needs and tries to be. And that's a feat. I guess if you're loquacious as an author, you have to make every word count, and there is hardly a flaw in it.

Overall, in a story that could technically be seen as a series conclusion, Hardly Loquacious makes a story that hits all the right notes.