A Week Is just Seven Days Isn't It?

Title: A Week Is just Seven Days Isn't It?
Author: scifigrl47
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Sherlock, John, Lestrade
Warning: PG-13, injury (Sherlock)
Length: Medium
Status: Completed

When John heads overseas for a week, Sherlock's forced to fend for himself. It goes about as well as anyone could have anticipated. Which is to say, very, very poorly. Don't worry, things'll be fine in just seven days.



FF

Simply hilarious. One of the best comedies out there in the fandom.

You and Sugar Plums

Title: You and Sugar Plums
Author: canolacrush
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mummy Holmes
Warning: PG-13,
Length: Novella
Status: Ongoing


In which Sherlock reluctantly agrees to be this year's Father Christmas, John accidentally agrees to help, and both of them discover that there's a lot more involved in this Christmas thing than they ever imagined.


AO3

Sherlock is Father Christmas. No. No, I haven't got this wrong. He's not dressing up as Father Christmas. He IS Father Christmas. This story is lovely. Truly.

Against the Rest of the World

Title: Against the Rest of the World

Author: SilentAuror

Fandom: Sherlock

Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, OMC (Duncan)

Warning: NC-17, slash, cheating (John), injury (Sherlock)

Length: Novel
Status: Completed

Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns. 

AO3

A bit more action-based than the original series. The relationship is important but I like this story as an action story better.

Same author as:
Deductions of a Lesser Mind
Vena Cava
Resurrection

Naked, Stripped, and Raw

Title: Naked, Stripped, and Raw
Author: Nikoshinigami
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Sherlock(/John), John/Mary, OFC (child)
Warning: PG-13, injury (John), character death (Mary)
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


Time passes, John moves on in love and life, but no matter of distance or separation can ever truly make him say goodbye to Sherlock Holmes.


AO3

For the records: I think John very cruel until the last part of the last instalment. It feels wrong. If he truly loved Sherlock, he'd have said goodbye, he'd have released him instead of burdening him with John's indecision.
It's a difficult fic.

 I'd have to say I'm going to my dealer. I can't change what I don't like about my life. It's more than just being lonely. You were more than just someone to pay the other share of the rent. I can't replace you the way you replaced me. But I can stop it from mattering for a few hours at a time.

I mean, that sums it up pretty well. It's difficult. And it's very true considering season three. In more than one way does this story resound with what we got last season. It makes for a horrible premonition...

"Grow up! Will you just grow up!"
"What for? So I can be like all the other friends you have? I'm not like them! I'm better than them! I am better than her!"
"I. LOVE. HER."
"So what are we doing out here!?"

This author is killing me. God. There are so many raw emotions floating about.
I mean, let's face it: John does not stick around anymore. He seeks out Sherlock at times but they are not as close as they once were. While John enjoys Sherlock's company, he actively decides against him. So why is he still accompanying him? This story leads to the same question: What are they doing there? Stress on they. I hate it when John is indecisive. I hate it in general when people run with the hare and hunt with the hounds instead of choosing what they want and face the consequences. It's cowardly.
John's a coward throughout this story. He stops being one in the epilogue, I think. When he stops reacting and starts acting.


Same author as:
The Circle of Fifths
Two of Every Kind
The Ichor of Talos

Bodies and Minds

Title: Bodies and Minds
Author: NezumiPi
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Lestrade, Moran
Warning: PG-13, disability (Sherlock)
Length: Medium
Status: Ongoing

 Watson, Lestrade, and Mycroft go back into Sherlock's life to try to understand his death. 

Molly Hooper visits a still-grieving John Watson with the news that Sherlock is alive, but he's disappeared. John, Lestrade, and Mycroft travel to America in search of him, but what they find is not what they expected. Includes no fewer than 6 characters named John.


AO3


Sherlock!whump. And an interesting ethical question is being raised.
I rec this for everybody. The pairing is barely graspable.
Everybody who wants to see Sherlock at an animal shelter surrounded by a rabbit, a gold fish and several dogs. All of them named John. No. It's not crack.

The Holiday

Title: Th Holiday
Author: Scriblit
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Sherlock, John(/Mary + baby), Mrs. Hudson, Jim, OC (Gruner - criminal), Lestrade, Molly
Warning: R, non-con (Sherlock)
Length: Medium
Status: Completed


A month following an horrific, sadistic attack during a case, Sherlock is still physically incapacitated and emotionally damaged. A holiday is suggested, but even stuck out in the middle of nowhere, he and John happen upon a case that could make Sherlock begin to feel like his old self again - or could kill him.


AO3

The only thing I find distasteful in this fic is Mary plus baby.
Still, it's too good not to rec it. I actually would quite like a sequel. Without murderous wife and unnecessary baggage, to be honest. Just makes me scream "decide John, either solve murders, or be a father. Don't be an ass of a father who risks his life for fun without thinking of his child".
Okay, ranting contained...
This fic has got the entire set go on holiday without it being crammed. There's still enough screen time for every character, and no character is being neglected. Liked that.

The Sustain Stories

Title: The Sustain Stories
Author: maybe_amanda
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Sherlock/Molly, John, Mycroft, OMC (Edmund - baby), Daddy Holmes, Mommy Holmes, Jim
Warning: NC-17, het, pregnancy, cheating ( Daddy Holmes)
Length: Novel
Status: Completed


"So now you're behaving like a six year old 'cause he didn't take you along on his honeymoon?" Lestrade said. "Grow the hell up." 


AO3

Second instalment has got a rather gruesome crime.

Actually this is less about Sherlock and Molly than about Sherlock growing into the role of a father. The couple relationship actually develops slowly, it comes to the front of the story at the third instalment.

On the Ice

Title: On the Ice
Author: berlynn_wohl
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock
Warning: NC-17, slash, illness (Sherlock - depression)
Length: Medium
Status: Completed


"Sherlock, I once saw you taste a vacuum cleaner attachment that had been used as a murder weapon, so can we please not pretend that Dungeons and Dragons is too weird for you?"



AO3

Yes. Sherlock all bored and depressed. One of the best Sherlock!whump stories I have ever read. And I can totally see him get all geeky about some game.

Hitting the Water at Sixty Miles an Hour

Title: Hitting the Water at Sixty Miles an Hour
Author: what_alchemy
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Mommy Holmes
Warning: PG-13, slash
Length: Medium
Status: Completed

“You love your mother, Sherlock?”

John watched the muscles in Sherlock’s jaw jump. He nodded in one sharp jerk.

“Then we’re going to her party and making her happy.” John let out a resigned sigh. “As a ruddy couple, you bastard.”

AO3

Very funny story.
I especially liked the backstory (Mycroft's father, Sherlock's father - both contrasting their profession of choice).

Same author as:
The Syntax of Things

Composing Hallelujah

Title: Composing Hallelujah
Author: Ricechex
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, Mycroft, Irene, Jim, Victor/Sherlock
Warning: NC-17, slash, non-con/(Sherlock), drug abuse (Sherlock), suicidal (John)
Length: Novel
Status: Ongoing


Sherlock Holmes is hailed as the world's greatest concert violinist who can't leave off the cocaine and is willing to trade sex and abuse to get it. John Watson is a failed surgeon who, after losing a high profile patient, drinks himself into a stupor and tries to kill himself - but only ends up shooting himself in the shoulder. What happens when they become roommates at Clouds House, a rehab center in beautiful Wiltshire? And what happens after they leave Clouds?


AO3

Consisting of three parts;
The Secret Chord
The Minor Fall
The Major Lift

In terms of an AU, a must-read. There aren't that many well-written Sherlock!musician stories out there. I especially liked the tentative approach Sherlock and John decide on. They are aware of the circumstances and value each other too much to risk their relationship. Similiar to The Baker Street Nativity, Composing Hallelujah is about tackling the obstacles between you, and having the foresight to see the ones coming.


Same author as:
I Don't Speak French

Neither A Soldier Nor A Gentleman

Title: Neither A Soldier Nor A Gentleman
Author: Francesca_Wayland
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Sherlock/Irene
Warning: R, het, injury
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


How does Sherlock actually escape from the Karachi insurgents himself, and what happens when an adrenaline-filled Sherlock finds Irene waiting for him in his hotel room right after his audacious rescue? 


AO3

So, once again a het ship.
This story focuses more on Sherlock, and I love the close resemblance to Death Takes a Holiday - the progress of action is rather similiar, e.g. the ambush.
Sherlock/Irene isn't that big of a ship in the fandom, so I am glad to add to the few stories I have found so far that I deem rec-worthy. Doesn't mean I don't know more, just most do not seem to me like I will reread them or that they are that outstanding in their category. Some are very good, though. Just not what I am looking for.

Same Author as:
Sui Generis

Don't Is not The Same as Haven't

Title: Don't Is not The Same as Haven't
Author: Impractical Beekeeping
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: Victor/Sherlock, Mycroft, John
Warning: R, slash, diability (Victor), character death (Mr. Trevor), murder (Mr. Trevor), drug abuse (Sherlock)
Length: Medium
Status: Completed

When Sherlock Holmes told John Watson he didn't have friends, it wasn't the same as saying he never had.

In 1995, he steps on a dog's paw in a darkened chapel. The resultant wound is a minor thing, but the friendship he forges with Victor Trevor will leave scars for years to come.

AO3

Difficult, well-done work and a meta on Sherlock's behavior towards other people. 

I took the liberty to quote something - which has not as much impact out of context, but I think it sums up the story's main point - how Sherlock's self-esteem was crushed enough to distrust people as much as he does.

“I’ll grant you that,” Victor says, exhaling slowly. “I’ve never had to work so hard for a shag.

[...]  Did I say that I loved you? Well. Maybe I meant it. Maybe I didn’t.”

[...]You repel me." 

(Victor to Sherlock after Sherlock deduced that Victor's father committed murder which ends in a fight)


After this qote it seems unbelievable to state just this: I like Victor Trevor. Yes, I do. This work made me like this character so much that I now prefer it to Sherstrade. It is interesting how a somewhat gullible, inexperienced, young Sherlock winds up with a blind guy as a boyfriend. While not much related to their relationship is depicted, the author shows the magic behind this pairing. The utter completion Sherlock finds in that boy that accepts him, that is fascinated in him and, most of all, loves him, no explanation needed. I consider this special; with Sherlock/Irene, it's about attraction and double entendre. With Sherlock/Lestrade, it's about amicable silence and a deep understanding of one's needs. With Johnlock, it's about trust and admiration (both ways). All of these, I can see as friendship relationships. With Sherlock/Victor, I can't. To me, the idea of Victor is deeply linked to Sherlock's first experience with love given to him without any ties (family, work). I cannot see them as mere friends. I cannot. And this is one of the two works that have shaped my concept of Victor.

Same Author as:
Songs of Expedience

Through the Clouds

Title: Through the Clouds
Author: Mazarin221b
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock
Warning: R, slash
Length: Medium
Status: Completed

Sherlock takes a remarkably early retirement at 47, and convinces John that a change of pace would do them both good. They buy an old cottage on the South Downs, and exchange their nonstop life in Baker Street for quiet contemplation, bee studies, and book writing.

They might go completely insane, but sometimes it takes stepping outside of the life you're living to find the life you want.

Sherlock takes one last look out to the horizon, mouth downturned and brow furrowed, before seeming to shake himself and catching up to John with a few long-legged strides. John turns back toward the path cut into the cliffs, climbing steadily toward the rolling downs already green and lush in the weak April warmth.

They reach the top and Sherlock strikes toward the west, back to where their hired Land Rover sits a mile away in a public carpark. John falls into step beside him and takes a deep breath.

“I expected a case,” he starts. “A bit chilly for a walk, really, so. D’you mind telling me what we’re doing out here?”
Sherlock doesn’t even pause, simply tucks his head down against the wind and continues walking.

“I’m retiring,” he says simply.

AO3

The story is fairly easy, the author a pragmatic. I especially liked the scenery throughout the story. It is a very beautiful, very strong imagery mazarin221b creates.

A Matter of Fact

Title: A Matter of Fact

Author: OpalJade
Fandom: Sherlock

Characters: John/Sherlock, Mommy Holmes

Warning: R, slash

Length: Novella
Status: Completed

John Watson did not believe in fortune tellers. The psychic he’d been dragged to in his younger days might’ve been right about ‘a serious injury occurring in a foreign land’ and in advising him to take a ‘greater interest in computers and IT’. But not once had she mentioned that in his forties he would fall head over heels in love with his male flatmate. A little warning would’ve been nice.

Sherlock Holmes only believed in empirical data and facts. He’d assumed those would be enough to persuade John Watson that his fake suicide had been necessary. But not once had it crossed his brilliant mind that the one thing that would ultimately convince John would have nothing to do with facts. A little warning would’ve changed absolutely nothing.

AO3

Either the author is bloody brilliant or really has some issues. I prefer the former deduction.

Her thesis on Reichenbach Fall is intriguing. Far-fetched, intriguing, and.. well, brilliant. Nuts, but I like it. My new head-canon.

Otherwise, this story follows the usual recipe for Johnlock works; John and Sherlock notice how entangled their lives have become. and consider "more". Here this story becomes once more brilliant... and nuts at the same time. Sherlock visits Ella. One of my favorite tropes now. I need to find more stories like that XD

The Beast of Baskerville

Title: The Beast of Baskerville

Author: Mildredandbobbin

Fandom: Sherlock

Characters: John/Sherlock, Harry, Molly, Jim

Warning: NC-17, slash

Length: Novella

Status: Completed

15th Century/fairy tale AU. An invalided John Watson comes to the isolated village of Baskerville seeking shelter with his sister, only to find himself embroiled in a grisly murder. As the villagers point to a local werewolf legend, the odd but brilliant friar, Brother Sherlock, disagrees, and soon he and John are on the the trail of a very human murderer. As the killer takes another victim, fear and suspicion grips the village, culminating in the arrival of Inquisitor, Friar James Moriarty, who proves more terrible than any supernatural beast could ever be.

At AO3

Sherlock as a brother :)

Yes, this is very nice. Especially since, as religion is a science in itself, Sherlock takes his job very seriously but doesn't just preach. He's very in character. Religion is his science, he practices, he is faithful but sticks to his own rules.

John's grief over Sherlock's apparent death also is interesting to read. Overall, I was very pleased with this novella. 

The Speed of Objects in Motion

Title: The Speed of Objects in Motion
Author: holyfant
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock, John/OFC, Dimmock, Hudson
Warning: NC-17, cheating, 
Length: Medium
Status: Completed


Sherlock, John and a lifetime of falling together and apart.


At AO3


This fic crushed me. Really, it did. It's one of those fics where you think "Yeah, John's going to come around because he already is doubting himself' then he comes around. And you think everything is going great. But it doesn't. Because John is hurting Sherlock. And then you want them to break up - even as a Johnlock fan. It's just not fair to Sherlock. And John is too selfish. So selfless in some aspects but way too selfish in another. Sherlock can't let go because he has become dependent. Given in to this addiction and... John is hurting him again. Leaving. Leaving as if it was Sherlock to blame. When they get back together, I felt so weak. I couldn't trust John not to hurt Sherlock again. Even at the end, it was more like the clock ticking...
When John tells Sherlock that he was miserable without him, I felt like throwing a book at him. So selfish, so... damn tiring selfish. He describes Sherlock as "taking up everything" but isn't he doing the same to Sherlock in this story? This John has become the darkest I have ever seen. Even when I read dark!John stories, there wasn't something inherently wrong with them in this regard. They ignored morals, they hurt consciously. Their actions were always consciously. Here, they aren't. I believe this John is the most scary I've seen. Because you want to trust him but there is this waryness, this distrust. And every time you are ready to discard it, he disappoints. Messes up. And there's no real regret behind it. Otherwise he wouldn't again. He wouldn't, not in the same way. He is scary. And I feel so sorry for Sherlock to have fallen for him.

The time skips are used very well to illustrate how time passes. Loved that.

Same Author as:
The Fabric of Life

If You Can't Move Heaven, Raise Hell

Title: If You Can't Move Heaven, Raise Hell

Author: splix

Fandom: Sherlock

Characters: John/Sherlock, Ian Adler/Sherlock, Ian Adler/John

Warning: NC-17, slash, non-con, BDSM

Length: Novella
Status: Completed

All John Watson wants is a peaceful fortnight's holiday in Cornwall. Fate has other plans.

At AO3

Set in a monastry. John's and Sherlock's interactions were very natural and the case was interesting. I didn't mind their relationship to take form in the last chapter - this isn't about them, it's about the case and them sorting out their feelings. I don't know why Irene had to become Ian but I didn't mind.

4.916

Title: 4.916
Author: nmqttps
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John, Sherlock, Mycroft, Sally, Mary
Warning: PG-13, injury(John), violence
Length: Novel
Status: Completed

John jumps in Sherlock's stead. Moriarty's organisation is massive, but not impenetrable. There's a bigger game being played well over Sherlock's head.


At AO3

This one's interesting. There's a lot of BAMF!John in there and more of a very apathic, silent Sherlock. Not my usual "stuff" but I liked the characterization.

Northwest Passage

Title: Northwest Passage
Author: Kryptaria
Fandom: Sherlock
Characters: John/Sherlock (switching), Mycroft, Molly
Warning: R, slash, PTSD ( John), mention of violence (John)
Length: Novella
Status: Completed


Seven years ago, Captain John Watson of the Canadian Forces Medical Service withdrew from society, seeking a simple, isolated life in the distant northern wilderness of Canada. Though he survives from one day to the next, he doesn't truly live until someone from his dark past calls in a favor and turns his world upside-down with the introduction of Sherlock Holmes.


At AO3

I don't know why I haven't read this before. I remember scrolling over it - and thinking that it sounded alright, but boring. But it isn't. This is a very intriguing story about loner John in the Canadian wilderness taking in Sherlock on Mycroft's request. The solitude and self-dependence needed to survive off major roads is depicted beautifully, and even if you don't like slash, this is worth a read: the scenery is fantastic. I haven't felt a setting coming to life this much for some time.
Sherlock's a bit OoC, but like I said - the scenery is overwhelming. I'd be out of character, too, if you threw me in there.

Author also wrote:
If You Were.. Verse

Starry Night

Title: Starry Night
Author: RaeWhit
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Snape/Harry, Draco/OMC, briefly Draco/Harry
Warning: PG-13, character death (Narcissa), post-war
Length: Medium
Status: Completed


It's been over four years since the end of the war, and Harry honestly doesn't know what he wants. Fortunately, someone else does.


At AO3

A bit of a borderliner. The story is not that unique but the structure is solid, the main idea, too. I can't find faults with the story but I felt it was a bit too easy to read for one of RaeWhit's works. Usually, there's a lot of subtlety inbetween the lines. This story lacked in that particular department but alas, it just didn't feel like one of RaeWhit's, this doesn't make it a bad fiction or lacking in comparison to other works.

Same Author as:
Throwaways
Sex, Lies, and Audiobooks
The Sensible Garden
Second Best
Unnatural Selection
Filtered Past Boredom
Occam's Razor