West of the Moon, East of the Sun by KnifeEdge
Chapter: Chapter 63: True

Nichol
09/18/2010 10:27 pm
FINALLY! *Applaudes wildly* She finally figured out that she is in love with Spike. Thank the powers.....nice chapter.

Raye
09/18/2010 04:59 pm
I don't usually write comments, but this story is amazing and made me com out of my non-posting shell. I read this , and wait for this like it's my drug.

Also, as I was reading this chapter all I could think was "this is sooo much better than True Blood," and I LOVE True Blood.

Keep up the excellent work.

Randal
09/18/2010 04:06 am
It seems, somehow, to be past 3 AM.

For the second night in a row.

For the last hour and the last few chapters I have sort of been fearing a cliffhanger ending, but it turns out to be a rather satisfying point at which to be forced to stop.

It has been a long time since any story gripped me quite as strongly as this one. Moved me as much, made me feel as strongly.

I didn't even really like the initial concept all that much. I've read a good bit of fanfiction, but stories that re-hash episodes or worse, seasons of the canon show with some kind of twist are just uninteresting to me. It's already been on television with those wonderful actors depicting it, and season 5 in particular is my favourite of the lot and no written version is going to one-up it. Particularly as I like Dawn and never wanted her gone, and I initially regarded the mr. Gordo shenanigans with considerable suspicion. Sure, once the real plot got started properly I was hooked, but by that time I was a few dozen chapters in already.

So, two explanations. First person point of view and characterisation. The point of view is what allows even the re-hashing to add something to familiar material. Comparing the internal monologue you write to the interpretations I made while watching was what kept me reading in the first part of the story.
Buffy's voice is what hooked me. It feels so very true to the character, meshing exactly with how I interpret her to be. The story doesn't pick and choose which parts of canon to adapt, it doesn't seek to prove an agenda or twist events or characters in any way to suit the purposes of the plot. It does justice to the whole spectrum of the show and to Buffy in particular.

While the story is in very large part a romance between Buffy and Spike in the truest sense of the word I think it must be the slowest I've ever read, with the characters travelling the longest road to reach an understanding of one another, and I've read a fair number. It's also the first one where I have truly believed a non-season-6-depressed Buffy falling for a non-souled Spike while fully realising what she is doing and why. The first one where I felt it was earned. Where I no longer had any niggling doubts or moments of disbelief to put aside, and instead just allowed myself to feel it all.

I don't even agree that much with your version of vampire metaphysics. I don't like prophecies and destinies and hate the idea of Buffy and Spike "meant" for one another in some soul-matey way, I think part of their whole point is that they're not.

Both concepts work great in this story.

I love this story period.

I could ramble on for another half dozen paragraphs but I think I've made my main points. I'll take a brief moment to note how much I appreciate the story's structure with Spike's own by-journal first-person narrative broke the larger arc up. It's novel and it works exceptionally well. I'll also note how it hits just the right humorous notes throughout, not only making me laugh and breaking the tension even in the darker parts of the story, but doing it in such a way that I can just hear Buffy making those quips.

And finally... naturally... I hope you keep updating. A lot. This page is bookmarked.

Thank you for writing.

crazylife
09/17/2010 11:11 pm
I've never been much for POV fics, but I have to tell you this is the best I've ever read! Love it!! Thanks for updating so quickly.

Becky

Onj
09/17/2010 09:36 pm
Love, love, love this story.

09/17/2010 02:53 pm
Is it bad that one of the first things I do in the morning is check to see if this story has an update? I have enjoyed every bit of this story so far and can't wait to read the this chapter!