Laney

Search and Rescue

(1) Lost Warrior (Stargate/Buffy)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 8th June 2004 (3)
Tags: Novelette
(65K)

This is an Alternative Universe crossover which has an intriguing premise: that things happened differently in "Graduation", and that various characters were killed, and as a result, Willow loses it and swears to have nothing to do with magic or anything Hellmouthy, and ends up joining the Air Force as a safe, regimented way of life. And then she's selected for a special programme...

I liked the idea, and I liked the setup, and the sympathetic Daniel, but I found it a little frustrating too, because I felt it could have been so much better with some polishing, especially the opening sequence, which was somewhat confusing, when they're talking about "it's all an illusion" and one wonders, since this is the Buffyverse after all, whether they were talking literally.

(Also at Stargate Novel Archive http://sgnovels.shahrazad.net/ and Twisting The Hellmouth http://www.tthfanfic.com/)

(2) Instincts (Stargate/Buffy)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 8th June 2004 (4)
Tags: Novella
(192K)

The second story in the "Search and Rescue" series also has some good ideas -- that Willow's magic won't stay bottled, and that people think she's psychic. Unfortunately, there's a tendency towards Willow-Sueness in the way that everyone seems to like her, approve of her, and give her chances that a mere Lieutenant probably wouldn't normally be given.

It also wasn't that clear to me as to why she was so terrified of people finding out about her magic and thinking that she's psychic, because she seems to think that once they know, that would be the end of her career. She does make a better explanation later on in the story, about how she doesn't want people to attribute all her success to being psychic, rather than appreciating her real competence which backs it up. Of course, this is such a different Willow from canon-Willow, but even so, she feels like a plausible extrapolation -- if only there wasn't that Willow-Sueness around. Because there were some really cool scenes and stuff, and fights, and a few other cool ideas too, like, why should one assume that demons and magic are only active on Earth...?

(Also at Stargate Novel Archive http://sgnovels.shahrazad.net/ and Twisting The Hellmouth http://www.tthfanfic.com/)