Storms of War
by
Jlynn
Many things aside, I am not a cruel person. Honest. I’m not even a real tease, cause in the end I always tend to deliver on the promise. I mean, if I whip out the feather and you find yourself shackled to a comfortable piece of furniture (as I hear some bards are want to do), yea, it might be a couple of hours of sweet misery, but – in the end – you’ll get your bargain’s worth. (And, should you be interested in such a proposition, my number is…)
Now, if done properly, the tease can occupy one to the exclusion of everything else. You’ll find yourself waiting for the next… never quite sure what it is you’re waiting for, never knowing what luscious torture will follow the previous one, but, oh!, how you wait for it! You are not quite sure if it’s been minutes or hours, days perchance, since you’ve been ensnared by your senses and you do not care, you just know you want it to stop right then, you want the teasing to end. And yet you pray it never ceases.
Yes, if done properly, a tease can be a powerful thing.
And why am I sharing this with you? I am telling you this, you poor, unaware creature, so you would know the extent of wicked bardly talent this woman possesses (as I cannot vouch for any other… skills she might have) before you commit to the enjoyment reading this story will procure.
My god! One week! I was reading this story in one-week increments! Imagine being left strung out for seven days between one superbly crafted chapter and the next. Seven days, 168 hours – way too damn long.
Granted, the story is finished and available in its entirety now so instead of excruciatingly delicious sessions of teasing your literary palate you most likely will not be able to stop yourself from indulging in a marathon orgy of character nuances, plot twists, wonderful visuals and subtle, touching, utterly believable relationship development. This is a Xena and Gabrielle story at its finest.
That is, as fine, dear reader, as a Xena and Gabrielle story can get without the consummation of the said relationship. Because, in the end, JLynn has tied all the loose ends, left us with a wonderfully hopeful ending, wrote a glorious story with enough love, devotion and sizzling sensuality and all this without that final, *physical* commitment on the part of our heroines.
And, yea, so JLynn might tell you stuff about character development and chronological consistency of the plot line and the ‘innate truth behind a person’s acts and emotions’, but believe none of it! She’s just a tease, of the worst kind. Yeah. So there.
Go read and ask her for a friggin’ sequel already. Humpf. Go, whatchu waitin’ for?