Admin FicRec: Stringing It All Together

Dooley
String Theory - T
AU
16 Chapters, 57,320 Words
06/11/2009 - WIP
[ FFN ] [ Twilighted ] [ Forum ]

Bella is just living her life-- at home with her brother Jacob, and Charlie and Renee, at school with her friends, in her bedroom with...well. She doesn't like to talk about that. Carlisle Cullen knows-- even if he doesn't know why-- that nothing is right.

Manyafandom's

So, I stumbled upon this story completely by accident back in March. I was trolling Twilighted for something new to read andI’m easy and a snazzy banner can capture my attention. The banner for String Theory has Edward in glasses, well I’m a hoor for anything Geekward so I clicked and read. I immediately fell in love with this story.



I’m a fan of almost all forms of science-fiction (SW, ST, Stargate, BSG, Dune, etc…). It’s the geek in me. Now, I wouldn’t classify String Theory as hard sci-fi, but there are sci-fi themes in it, alternate dimensions/realities being the main one. Don’t be afraid or turned off by the sci-fi themes, like I said they’re light. We have to suspend belief when we read the original source material with a supernatural feels. I mean we’re talking about vampires & werewolves here, so alternate realities shouldn’t be that far of a stretch.



Now I can’t say too much on the plot without giving the whole damn thing away. Part of the reason this story is so good, is the slow unveiling or unraveling of the mystery surrounding them all. Nothing is right in the world that the characters live in. They all feel a whisper of something being off, of it being not right, but pass it off as the usual teenage discontent. Only one person knows the truth, knows how things are supposed to be and mourns the existence he should have.



When the story opens, Bella is in her bed waiting, waiting for her nighttime visitor to make an appearance. It’s not Edward, but James. Bella has been messing around with James for awhile, but something feels off and she puts a halt on it. The next day she goes about her morning routine, borrowing a scarf from her mom Renee to cover the hickey James gave her the night before. She spars with her brother Jacob and rushes around trying to be on time for school for once. At school the characters pass by each other on the edge of their periphery, barely noticing each other if at all. Oblivious to the wrongness they are all feeling.



Edward Masen is a loner. A foster kid whose home life is a series of exercises in maliciousness and control by his foster father. He sticks to himself and doesn’t socialize with anyone, trying to not draw attention to himself, staying out of everyone’s business. Keeping his head down and his mouth shut, just trying to survive day by day. His foster brother Emmett fights back from the hand life had dealt him by being a bully, stealing lunch money so Edward and he can eat. He dreams of a blonde woman who loves him completely, longs for her and the feeling of contentment that comes from his dreams.



Jacob Black is the adopted son the Police Chief and his wife. His father died when he was young, but as the future leader of his tribe they didn’t want him to go far, so the Chief and his wife took him in. Bella is his sister and he is unaware of her nighttime visitor. He misses his family, but is happy with the Swans, but still mourns the life he should be living.



Jasper Whitlock and his family took in the hitchhiking runaway Alice Brandon years ago. Jasper and Alice are together and the scandal of that rocked the small sleepy town. They are outcasts, but don’t really care. They have each other and that’s all that matters.



Carlisle Cullen is the new doctor in town; he’s single and the object of many of the townswomen’s fantasies. He knows the truth, is obsessed with it. He sees how they are all supposed to be, how the world is supposed to be. He wants his family and is desperate to have it, to have his wife.



A chance encounter between clumsy Bella and Dr. Cullen starts the journey towards finding the truth. As the displaced characters personal spheres grow and start to overlap and intermingle the dreams increase for all of them, the dreams of the other place, their other selves.



Bella starts to dream of a different Jacob and Edward. Jacob is huge and has close cropped hair. He looks at her with longing and desire. It scares her and she withdraws from Jacob afraid that he may be harboring feelings for her. The dream Edward is ethereally beautiful, confident, sure and looks at Bella as if she is his whole world. A world where she has a crescent shaped scar on her wrist and Edward is cold to the touch. She loves the dream Edward, as he loves her. She wishes the real Edward would look at her that way, but he doesn’t. Yet they are still drawn to one another. All the characters seem drawn to each other, when together as a group the feeling of wrongness is quieted a bit.



I could go on and on about the plot and what happens, but really…I don’t want to give it all away. It was a joy and pleasure for me to read and uncover the truth as the characters uncovered it. So my lips are sealed.



Now about the writing and another reason this story is so fucking good. It’s written in the 3rd person singular POV. I love reading 3rd person POV’s and there are not too many of them in the fandom. So that in and of itself is a treat. Dooley is detailed in her description of the environment and what the characters are experiencing and feeling, but not to the point where the narrative is overly verbose or flowery. The story and words flow smoothly without being jerky or stilted.



The author builds the sense of suspense and anticipation very well and leaves us contemplating what the hell is going on. I’ve said before that this story is like the LOST of twific, it has that feel to it. Some questions are answered that bring up even more questions; but not in a frustrating, pull out your hair kinda way.



It’s the mix of the original compelling storyline, 3rd person pov, the author’s writing style and characters that resemble and mimic their book counterparts that make this one of my favorite stories of all time. I hope you enjoy.

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Manyafandom is the author who makes multiples romantic, slash delicious and brings the deviant goodness to the shack. She hopes to in the future to write an IC/Canon Pairing/Vamp story with No Smut to prove she really isn't as big of a perv/deviant as people think she is. She enjoys almost all kinds of twific as long as it's well written and has a good story.