Random: A Sporking, part I
Welcome, welcome, all of you lost souls. Join me for an evening of creepy tales of woe.
I wanted to do another sporking, and it was either this novel, or one that I actually like. But failte_aoife and nessaniel insisted I do this one first:
This entry is the first of many to spork a novel that is actually Hornblower (TV!canon) slash fic with the serial numbers filed off.
Please be aware that this novel deals with themes of rape and abuse (in the typical, classy badfic way!). Continue reading at your own risk.
This series of entries is going to be one in which I curse a lot and express my disgust for OTT-woobie-fandom. WITH PICTURES.
You might want to keep away if this is an emotionally charged topic for you. But I'd prefer if you all stayed and joined the fun!
I am sporking the novel and not the fanfic version, because I am willing to allow much more leeway (ahahaha) to a fanfic (especially a 14 year old fanfic that is bogged down in oldschool fanfic clichés) than a more recently published work that I actually paid real-life money for.
You can find an actual review by me that is not a sporking of this novel on goodreads.
Introduction & Prologue
So, some time in 2012 I had the flu and decided to cheer myself up by reading the Kindle edition of Lee Rowan’s Age of Sail m/m-romance novel “Ransom”. (Oy, when I’m sick I like to read romance. The smuttier the better, ok?)
I thought I’d try this one since I love Age of Sail adventure novels (as you well know), and was willing to try another AoS m/m-romance. I have made good experiences with Alex Beecroft’s novel False Colors in this genre, which gave the adventure plot as much if not more room than the romance plot. Since I’ve heard the series of books that begins with Ransom compared to Beecroft’s work I thought I’d check it out.
Boy, had I been lied too!
Here's just a few random things that Beecroft's novel has, but Lee Rowan's novel sadly misses:
I didn’t suspect it right away (mostly because it's something you really don't expect with a published novel), but I did feel like the author had to have been heavily inspired by the Hornblower TV series from the very fist pages onwards. And boy, it doesn’t take long until it becomes pretty clear that the author wasn't just inspired by Hornblower, but had taken an old fanfic and simply filed off the serial numbers (and serisouly that fic is old as balls!).
About halfway through the novel I finally gave in and googled the original fic. All current links had been taken down, but as every responsible internet user knows, the internet never forgets. It never does. Unless it’s a locked LJ entry on an inactive account full of smutfic of your favourite rare pairing. T__T )
I considered providing links to the original fanfic but decided against it. Making these links public would be unfair to the author. But while searching I found links both for the original fic and a non-slashy version that got published in a fanzine.
You may disagree, but I feel that if you can just switch things up and cut out and change the nature of a relationship just like that, there might something wrong with how that relationship is woven into the story.
Since I won't be able to quote everything from the book that reveals its ugly nature as P2P fanfic - both due to copyright law and more importantly because I don't want to waste that much space, let's start with a couple of really obvious scenes:
Want some examples of how this book does not even try to disguise its nature?
Here’s from the opening paragraph of the eventually published novel:
It could have been a play, Archer thought as he stood in respectful silence, his midshipman’s hat tucked under his arm. The scene before him was like some outdoor theatrical, David and Goliath re-enacted in modern dress. Two men also in midshipmen’s uniforms, the elder burly and red-faced, the younger slim and deathly pale, stood back-to-back in a sunny glade not far from Plymouth harbor. Each held a pistol in his right hand.
[…]
The doctor raised his voice. “Mr. Correy, Mr. Marshall... Gentlemen, you are certain you cannot be reconciled?”
Doesn’t this strike anyone else as reminiscent of Simpson’s and Horatio’s duel in the first TV movie? That is probably the case because the dialogue is lifted directly from the film, just with altered names.
In the novel our Hornblower expy, William Marshall, got bullied by Correy, our stand-in for Simpson. The book adds a sexual component to the harrassment which prompted Marshall to challenge Correy to a duel (because, as you will find out, every single person in this book who is not on the side of the good guys is also a rapist). The outcome of this duel is of course, that Marshall kills Simpson - I mean Correy!
Having escaped their bully the young men, Davy Archer and Will Marshall, are transferred from their downtrodden first ship in which they had been withering away at the mercy of their tormentor (which is totally not the Justinian), into a beautiful, fast frigate, under a famous, prize-taking captain. This frigate, luckily, turns out to be a Happy Ship. Which probably sounds familiar to you as well.
Need more proof?
Let’s have a look at the first half of our romantic couple:
Will Marshall, the second protagonist next to Davy, is most certainly not Horatio Hornblower as portrayed by Ioan Gruffudd in the television series… even though he is tall and pale with dark, curly hair. Despite joining the navy later than Davy he advanced to the rank of lieutenant quickly, despite failing his first examination.
So completely unlike Hornblower…
Things are going to sound even more familiar soon, because here’s the question that failed him:
“You are close-hauled on the port tack, beating up-channel with a nor’easterly wind blowing hard, with Dover bearing north two miles. The wind veers four points and takes you flat aback.”
It was the very question that had caused Marshall to fail his first examination, though he’d passed on his second try. Apparently the problem was giving David some trouble, too, since he had no ready answer.
“You are now dismasted, Mr. Archer,” Smith droned, “with Dover cliffs under your lee. What are you going to do?”
Again, this book is lifting dialogue directly from the script. In addition to this being P2P fic, one might also be tempted to add charges of plagiarism.
I'll admit, it is a cute idea that the book presents this situation as an unwinnable scenario (even though this does not really work for the setting in multiple ways once you think about it) in order to turn the failing question into a lesson for the main characters on how occasionally there's no other chance than to face defeat and salvage what you can. Sadly, the book never really does anything with the idea rendering this exchange completely pointless, and additionally leaving a rather anachronistic taste behind, given the (military) frame of mind at the time.
But the book goes further than quoting random scenes to add flavour that actually has no place in the story. It also copies random details from the canon like how Horatio Will couldn’t afford silver buckles for his new shoes, so he got pinchback buckles instead.
Later in the book both he and Davy have an encounter with rats in a small, enclosed space that is extremely reminiscent of The Hole in the Spanish prison fort from The Duchess and the Devil.
In addition to all of that Will is also the captain’s favourite (it's Captain Smith btw. Because by the point he got named the author had apparently run out of creative names), who thinks him more talented and gifted than any other young officer under his command, and who has taken a fatherly interest in him.
Here's what the captain has to say about his favourite:
All to the good, because he was going to be a captain who would take his place beside Jervis, Nelson, and Pellew in the pages of history.
I see what you did there, book. Sadly, I don't find it endearing at all, since I strongly feel that Ned deserves better than half-baked, self-indulgent mentions in what's basically a third rate Penny Dreadful variant.
Random trivia fact: Actually it's not as out there to throw in Pellew's name with the other two as it might appear. He had been pretty famous at one point. Although it should be noted that by the time that Nelson did anything that people took wide interest in, Pellew's fame had already begun to wane, due to his habit of antagonising too many of his superiors in short order - which would be exactly the time in which this story takes place.
Love that they mention old Jervie though. ♥ I don't know how anyone could read anything about the Age of Sail and not develop a fondness for him, even though he was horrible.
OK I WILL SHUT UP NOW ABOUT HISTORICAL ADMIRALS! Sorry.
So far this has all been ripped fairly straight from the TV movies. BUT the novel did change a couple of things. For instance, it switched Horatio’s/Will’s father from a country doctor into a parson, which leads to this hilarious exchange:
„Take deep breaths.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, it’s something my father used to tell his parishioners when they were worried.”
So the people came to your dad to ask for divine guidance from the head of their parish on matters from deathly sick relatives to crop failures and poverty and his advice was to breathe deeply?
Seriously?
What an ass.
This is what happens when you try disguising a character’s origins by turning a country doctor into a pastor but don’t want to entirely cut out dialogue bits that made more sense with the original background info in place.
But the TV movies aren't the only thing this novel-fic remixes, oh no! Our primary main character is made up entirely out of fanon (and goo).
And how do we know that? Well, back to the opening chapter. Before our protagonists actually get onto their new Happy Ship, Archie Archer (seriously, was the author even trying?) reveals to the reader that he had been sexually abused by Simpson Correy.
And sadly this is basically accepted fanon for Archie. To be fair, the first movie strongly hints at it, but this is not where fanon stops, because one dark, sad element of a character's background has always to be joined by more of the same. And more. And then some. Because this is a type of angst fandom is really crazy about. And so fandom latched on to Archie as the poor sexually abused woobie and ran away with the idea (this got better in modern fandom, and from what I've seen from Classic Who fandom this type of woobiefication appears to have been a big fandom-thing in the late '90/early naughties in general).
See, canon!Archie has no backstory*, which is why there have been abundant theories about him these last 15 years, some of which simply became fanon, the most egregious examples of which all made it into this fic - I mean novel - I mean, ugh … since the original fic came out so long ago it might even have codified parts of fanon?
*Well, neither have any of the other non!book characters on the show, but I guess no one thought they were cute enough to create fanon for. Except maybe for Edrington. He at least has a fanon given name, which I think is actually kinda neat.
Fanon is never a bad thing per sé, it just depends on how it's used in fic. And boy, is it misused and upped to eleven in this piece of suck!
So, let me introduce you to fanon!Archie. Most of this was laid down by fandom some 10-15 years ago, but it stuck around, as these things often do.
Fanon!Archie is usually portrayed as the unloved youngest son of some nobleman or other (unloved in 90% of fic because his dad knows or suspects the boy is gay). And so he is in this fic-I-mean-novel:
“Mr. Archer,” Smith went on, “your father the Earl will not be pleased to hear you have come to this strait.”
“No, sir, but I expect he’ll buy me back.” David’s tone was ironic. “They can’t ask much for a fourth son, at any rate.”
So far, so good. But I think the summary of the original slash-fic will give you a taste of the far less pleasant aspects of fanon!Archie’s painful existence:
"While the Indy is in dock for repairs, Captain Pellew and his two junior lieutenants are kidnapped by a British renegade. As the Indy’s crew searches for its missing officers, Pellew and Hornblower work to escape - and Archie Kennedy finds himself facing his greatest fears - and worse, the fulfilment of his dearest dreams."
The clue lies in the last sentence. The true men get to be active and working, while the damsel in distress spends his time crying single silver tears and helplessly bemoaning their fate. The most useful thing he does in this piece of art is throw up on the villain’s shoes (yes, seriously). Fanon!Archie is never allowed to do much else but angst and be abused, all the while he's admiring and pining for Horatio. He is The Woobie in its worst form. And that is pretty much the extent of characterisation he receives: He is cute when he suffers!
No wonder I usually feel the strongest urge to strangle him.
This is exactly what Davy’s role is throughout the entire book: Drowning in despair.
Never mind that he is an accomplished officer, whom his colleagues and captain think the world of! No, it doesn't matter that the very next chapter following a time-skip after the duel in the prologue has our protagonists returning to port after a successful battle. Never mind that Arch--er led a boarding party onto a French ship. He shot people dead, skewered them on his sword. He ordered his gun crews to throw hundreds of pounds of metal into an enemy vessel and drilled them until he could be sure to order them to continue their bloody tasks as their shipmates were cut to pieces around them by shot and flying splinters. He saw friend and foe killed and mangled. He stood the noise and the heat and the rush of battle, of cannons going off all around him - for hours and hours - all accompanied by the dangerous rain of sniper musket fire.
But clearly that is not a character who would manage to be resourceful and come up with a single clever idea during weeks of captivity! (Spoilers, oh noes!)
No, never mind all that. He is a poor woobie with no way to access his own self-worth. He is only to there to angst prettily and to cry like a sweet, frightened child, so he can be pitied and cuddled. He needs not to be able to think about anything but of what a failure he is, despite all he has accomplished, so the readers - or, by proxy, his brave heroic love interest - can tell him that he’s actually a good boy, and did well, and that he deserves all the sexual rewards. Yay!
Thankfully, the book initially makes a decent job of having the reader empathise with Davy's feeling like there is something wrong with him personally for constantly getting victimised by ever new bullies. I really liked this piece of characterisation and was routing for the guy. This is something many badfics never manage!
But sadly this is the sneaky kind of badfic that starts out alright, and after five chapters you don't know anymore what hit you or why you ever liked a single one of these characters. Now, I've never been that big a fan of Archie's but, but this book treats him in ways that truly no character deserves.
All too quickly his self-worth issues are taken to such an extreme level it’s simply a chore to continue to read. And then Will learns about what terrible things have been done to his friend and the reading gets even harder, because now even in Will’s PoV chapters we read little else but about what a poor, sweet, pitiable person Davy is, and how Will is going to do everything in the world to protect him from future harm. And then they both admit that they have feelings for each other, and finally they can angst about that too. Apart from sodomy being a hanging offence in the navy back then, Will, of course, fears, he might hurt Davy like his abusers have done, while Davy fears he might infect Will with his abnormal sexuality and spoil his innocence. And then they admit their fears to each other and talk about it, and finally may angst together instead of separately.
This last stage goes on for (50 consecutive p)ages before Will comforts Davy with his dick. Because the Healing Cock is clearly something we needed more of in published fiction!
The actual sporking will commence in part II, which will be posted in a couple of minutes!
Here it is, yay!
I wanted to do another sporking, and it was either this novel, or one that I actually like. But failte_aoife and nessaniel insisted I do this one first:
This entry is the first of many to spork a novel that is actually Hornblower (TV!canon) slash fic with the serial numbers filed off.
Please be aware that this novel deals with themes of rape and abuse (in the typical, classy badfic way!). Continue reading at your own risk.
This series of entries is going to be one in which I curse a lot and express my disgust for OTT-woobie-fandom. WITH PICTURES.
You might want to keep away if this is an emotionally charged topic for you. But I'd prefer if you all stayed and joined the fun!
I am sporking the novel and not the fanfic version, because I am willing to allow much more leeway (ahahaha) to a fanfic (especially a 14 year old fanfic that is bogged down in oldschool fanfic clichés) than a more recently published work that I actually paid real-life money for.
You can find an actual review by me that is not a sporking of this novel on goodreads.
Introduction & Prologue
So, some time in 2012 I had the flu and decided to cheer myself up by reading the Kindle edition of Lee Rowan’s Age of Sail m/m-romance novel “Ransom”. (Oy, when I’m sick I like to read romance. The smuttier the better, ok?)
I thought I’d try this one since I love Age of Sail adventure novels (as you well know), and was willing to try another AoS m/m-romance. I have made good experiences with Alex Beecroft’s novel False Colors in this genre, which gave the adventure plot as much if not more room than the romance plot. Since I’ve heard the series of books that begins with Ransom compared to Beecroft’s work I thought I’d check it out.
Boy, had I been lied too!
Here's just a few random things that Beecroft's novel has, but Lee Rowan's novel sadly misses:
- A historical setting backed by actual research about the period.
- Characters that act convincingly according to their profession and upbringing.
- Character development.
- A main character you don't want to strangle.
- Antagonists with more than one defining character trait.
- A plot that is not exclusively grounded in porn and fanfic tropes (and it's too rarely the good kind of fanfic tropes!).
I didn’t suspect it right away (mostly because it's something you really don't expect with a published novel), but I did feel like the author had to have been heavily inspired by the Hornblower TV series from the very fist pages onwards. And boy, it doesn’t take long until it becomes pretty clear that the author wasn't just inspired by Hornblower, but had taken an old fanfic and simply filed off the serial numbers (and serisouly that fic is old as balls!).
About halfway through the novel I finally gave in and googled the original fic. All current links had been taken down, but as every responsible internet user knows, the internet never forgets. It never does. Unless it’s a locked LJ entry on an inactive account full of smutfic of your favourite rare pairing. T__T )
I considered providing links to the original fanfic but decided against it. Making these links public would be unfair to the author. But while searching I found links both for the original fic and a non-slashy version that got published in a fanzine.
You may disagree, but I feel that if you can just switch things up and cut out and change the nature of a relationship just like that, there might something wrong with how that relationship is woven into the story.
Since I won't be able to quote everything from the book that reveals its ugly nature as P2P fanfic - both due to copyright law and more importantly because I don't want to waste that much space, let's start with a couple of really obvious scenes:
Want some examples of how this book does not even try to disguise its nature?
Here’s from the opening paragraph of the eventually published novel:
It could have been a play, Archer thought as he stood in respectful silence, his midshipman’s hat tucked under his arm. The scene before him was like some outdoor theatrical, David and Goliath re-enacted in modern dress. Two men also in midshipmen’s uniforms, the elder burly and red-faced, the younger slim and deathly pale, stood back-to-back in a sunny glade not far from Plymouth harbor. Each held a pistol in his right hand.
[…]
The doctor raised his voice. “Mr. Correy, Mr. Marshall... Gentlemen, you are certain you cannot be reconciled?”
Doesn’t this strike anyone else as reminiscent of Simpson’s and Horatio’s duel in the first TV movie? That is probably the case because the dialogue is lifted directly from the film, just with altered names.
In the novel our Hornblower expy, William Marshall, got bullied by Correy, our stand-in for Simpson. The book adds a sexual component to the harrassment which prompted Marshall to challenge Correy to a duel (because, as you will find out, every single person in this book who is not on the side of the good guys is also a rapist). The outcome of this duel is of course, that Marshall kills Simpson - I mean Correy!
Having escaped their bully the young men, Davy Archer and Will Marshall, are transferred from their downtrodden first ship in which they had been withering away at the mercy of their tormentor (which is totally not the Justinian), into a beautiful, fast frigate, under a famous, prize-taking captain. This frigate, luckily, turns out to be a Happy Ship. Which probably sounds familiar to you as well.
Need more proof?
Let’s have a look at the first half of our romantic couple:
Will Marshall, the second protagonist next to Davy, is most certainly not Horatio Hornblower as portrayed by Ioan Gruffudd in the television series… even though he is tall and pale with dark, curly hair. Despite joining the navy later than Davy he advanced to the rank of lieutenant quickly, despite failing his first examination.
So completely unlike Hornblower…
Things are going to sound even more familiar soon, because here’s the question that failed him:
“You are close-hauled on the port tack, beating up-channel with a nor’easterly wind blowing hard, with Dover bearing north two miles. The wind veers four points and takes you flat aback.”
It was the very question that had caused Marshall to fail his first examination, though he’d passed on his second try. Apparently the problem was giving David some trouble, too, since he had no ready answer.
“You are now dismasted, Mr. Archer,” Smith droned, “with Dover cliffs under your lee. What are you going to do?”
Again, this book is lifting dialogue directly from the script. In addition to this being P2P fic, one might also be tempted to add charges of plagiarism.
I'll admit, it is a cute idea that the book presents this situation as an unwinnable scenario (even though this does not really work for the setting in multiple ways once you think about it) in order to turn the failing question into a lesson for the main characters on how occasionally there's no other chance than to face defeat and salvage what you can. Sadly, the book never really does anything with the idea rendering this exchange completely pointless, and additionally leaving a rather anachronistic taste behind, given the (military) frame of mind at the time.
But the book goes further than quoting random scenes to add flavour that actually has no place in the story. It also copies random details from the canon like how Horatio Will couldn’t afford silver buckles for his new shoes, so he got pinchback buckles instead.
Later in the book both he and Davy have an encounter with rats in a small, enclosed space that is extremely reminiscent of The Hole in the Spanish prison fort from The Duchess and the Devil.
In addition to all of that Will is also the captain’s favourite (it's Captain Smith btw. Because by the point he got named the author had apparently run out of creative names), who thinks him more talented and gifted than any other young officer under his command, and who has taken a fatherly interest in him.
Here's what the captain has to say about his favourite:
All to the good, because he was going to be a captain who would take his place beside Jervis, Nelson, and Pellew in the pages of history.
I see what you did there, book. Sadly, I don't find it endearing at all, since I strongly feel that Ned deserves better than half-baked, self-indulgent mentions in what's basically a third rate Penny Dreadful variant.
Random trivia fact: Actually it's not as out there to throw in Pellew's name with the other two as it might appear. He had been pretty famous at one point. Although it should be noted that by the time that Nelson did anything that people took wide interest in, Pellew's fame had already begun to wane, due to his habit of antagonising too many of his superiors in short order - which would be exactly the time in which this story takes place.
Love that they mention old Jervie though. ♥ I don't know how anyone could read anything about the Age of Sail and not develop a fondness for him, even though he was horrible.
OK I WILL SHUT UP NOW ABOUT HISTORICAL ADMIRALS! Sorry.
So far this has all been ripped fairly straight from the TV movies. BUT the novel did change a couple of things. For instance, it switched Horatio’s/Will’s father from a country doctor into a parson, which leads to this hilarious exchange:
„Take deep breaths.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, it’s something my father used to tell his parishioners when they were worried.”
So the people came to your dad to ask for divine guidance from the head of their parish on matters from deathly sick relatives to crop failures and poverty and his advice was to breathe deeply?
Seriously?
What an ass.
This is what happens when you try disguising a character’s origins by turning a country doctor into a pastor but don’t want to entirely cut out dialogue bits that made more sense with the original background info in place.
But the TV movies aren't the only thing this novel-fic remixes, oh no! Our primary main character is made up entirely out of fanon (and goo).
And how do we know that? Well, back to the opening chapter. Before our protagonists actually get onto their new Happy Ship, Archie Archer (seriously, was the author even trying?) reveals to the reader that he had been sexually abused by Simpson Correy.
And sadly this is basically accepted fanon for Archie. To be fair, the first movie strongly hints at it, but this is not where fanon stops, because one dark, sad element of a character's background has always to be joined by more of the same. And more. And then some. Because this is a type of angst fandom is really crazy about. And so fandom latched on to Archie as the poor sexually abused woobie and ran away with the idea (this got better in modern fandom, and from what I've seen from Classic Who fandom this type of woobiefication appears to have been a big fandom-thing in the late '90/early naughties in general).
See, canon!Archie has no backstory*, which is why there have been abundant theories about him these last 15 years, some of which simply became fanon, the most egregious examples of which all made it into this fic - I mean novel - I mean, ugh … since the original fic came out so long ago it might even have codified parts of fanon?
*Well, neither have any of the other non!book characters on the show, but I guess no one thought they were cute enough to create fanon for. Except maybe for Edrington. He at least has a fanon given name, which I think is actually kinda neat.
Fanon is never a bad thing per sé, it just depends on how it's used in fic. And boy, is it misused and upped to eleven in this piece of suck!
So, let me introduce you to fanon!Archie. Most of this was laid down by fandom some 10-15 years ago, but it stuck around, as these things often do.
Fanon!Archie is usually portrayed as the unloved youngest son of some nobleman or other (unloved in 90% of fic because his dad knows or suspects the boy is gay). And so he is in this fic-I-mean-novel:
“Mr. Archer,” Smith went on, “your father the Earl will not be pleased to hear you have come to this strait.”
“No, sir, but I expect he’ll buy me back.” David’s tone was ironic. “They can’t ask much for a fourth son, at any rate.”
So far, so good. But I think the summary of the original slash-fic will give you a taste of the far less pleasant aspects of fanon!Archie’s painful existence:
"While the Indy is in dock for repairs, Captain Pellew and his two junior lieutenants are kidnapped by a British renegade. As the Indy’s crew searches for its missing officers, Pellew and Hornblower work to escape - and Archie Kennedy finds himself facing his greatest fears - and worse, the fulfilment of his dearest dreams."
The clue lies in the last sentence. The true men get to be active and working, while the damsel in distress spends his time crying single silver tears and helplessly bemoaning their fate. The most useful thing he does in this piece of art is throw up on the villain’s shoes (yes, seriously). Fanon!Archie is never allowed to do much else but angst and be abused, all the while he's admiring and pining for Horatio. He is The Woobie in its worst form. And that is pretty much the extent of characterisation he receives: He is cute when he suffers!
No wonder I usually feel the strongest urge to strangle him.
This is exactly what Davy’s role is throughout the entire book: Drowning in despair.
Never mind that he is an accomplished officer, whom his colleagues and captain think the world of! No, it doesn't matter that the very next chapter following a time-skip after the duel in the prologue has our protagonists returning to port after a successful battle. Never mind that Arch--er led a boarding party onto a French ship. He shot people dead, skewered them on his sword. He ordered his gun crews to throw hundreds of pounds of metal into an enemy vessel and drilled them until he could be sure to order them to continue their bloody tasks as their shipmates were cut to pieces around them by shot and flying splinters. He saw friend and foe killed and mangled. He stood the noise and the heat and the rush of battle, of cannons going off all around him - for hours and hours - all accompanied by the dangerous rain of sniper musket fire.
But clearly that is not a character who would manage to be resourceful and come up with a single clever idea during weeks of captivity! (Spoilers, oh noes!)
No, never mind all that. He is a poor woobie with no way to access his own self-worth. He is only to there to angst prettily and to cry like a sweet, frightened child, so he can be pitied and cuddled. He needs not to be able to think about anything but of what a failure he is, despite all he has accomplished, so the readers - or, by proxy, his brave heroic love interest - can tell him that he’s actually a good boy, and did well, and that he deserves all the sexual rewards. Yay!
Thankfully, the book initially makes a decent job of having the reader empathise with Davy's feeling like there is something wrong with him personally for constantly getting victimised by ever new bullies. I really liked this piece of characterisation and was routing for the guy. This is something many badfics never manage!
But sadly this is the sneaky kind of badfic that starts out alright, and after five chapters you don't know anymore what hit you or why you ever liked a single one of these characters. Now, I've never been that big a fan of Archie's but, but this book treats him in ways that truly no character deserves.
All too quickly his self-worth issues are taken to such an extreme level it’s simply a chore to continue to read. And then Will learns about what terrible things have been done to his friend and the reading gets even harder, because now even in Will’s PoV chapters we read little else but about what a poor, sweet, pitiable person Davy is, and how Will is going to do everything in the world to protect him from future harm. And then they both admit that they have feelings for each other, and finally they can angst about that too. Apart from sodomy being a hanging offence in the navy back then, Will, of course, fears, he might hurt Davy like his abusers have done, while Davy fears he might infect Will with his abnormal sexuality and spoil his innocence. And then they admit their fears to each other and talk about it, and finally may angst together instead of separately.
This last stage goes on for (50 consecutive p)ages before Will comforts Davy with his dick. Because the Healing Cock is clearly something we needed more of in published fiction!
The actual sporking will commence in part II, which will be posted in a couple of minutes!
Here it is, yay!