My other favorite Doctor Who fic which I must recommend here for completeness: Everyman by basingstoke (3395 words). It's about Captain Jack and his future, and how he moves through time in one direction, for a very long time, and sometimes sees the Doctor (and certain companions), but most of the time doesn't. The last few paragraphs build wonderfully.

I found the ending of The Hunger Games trilogy to be rushed and unsatisfying -- I know I'm not alone in that. The Unrecorded Hours by hollycomb takes 24,000 words to give Katniss a better ending. It's a bit of a wandering ramble through the post-traumatic healing process back in District 12, taking one step back for every two steps forward, going to unexpected places -- kind of the way life sometimes does. I think it works better on the second read, once you know where it's going and why.

Without actually knowing anything about the author, I think of Erin Lasgalen's The Price of Freedom (FF.net link) as an early fanfic effort showing huge amounts of potential. The story needs polishing and scrubbing for spelling, grammar and formatting, but what's there shows so much raw talent, so much no-holds-barred asskicking storytelling, that I was completely engrossed from beginning to end. Then I went back to the beginning and read it all over again. All 131,000 words of it.

The story branches off from known canon after Éowyn's stay at the Houses of Healing, with a brief prologue showing her at Helm's Deep. Instead of agreeing to marry Faramir, she sets out to travel Middle Earth by herself, and eventually ends up becoming the captain of the guards (all female) for the young Queen of a tiny nation. Things kick off when an ancient evil tries to take over the land. It's all told with credibly Tolkien-esque flair, and the portrayal of the women who make up the guard and the Queen's court is quite thoughtful and refreshing (especially compared to the canonical LOTR sausage-fest).

It's labeled Éowyn/Legolas, and that relationship is indeed central -- but it doesn't play out as a typical romance. Some incredibly dark stuff goes down between them and around them, and while I raised my eyebrows at a few passages, I could still believe there was a real depth of mutual respect and regard underlying all the passion and drama. What I especially like about their dynamic is that Legolas himself seems to understand this is primarily Éowyn's story. He steps back and lets her take care of court intrigue (again, all female!), battle strategy, arrogant former enemies, and even himself.

The author's notes promise a sequel, but that was back in 2003, so let me quell the excitement now and say it doesn't seem likely. Still, 131,000 words is plenty -- set aside a good chunk of time to read this one.

Also: note that the odd formatting in the prologue at FF.net is limited to that section only -- the other chapters are all fine. You can also read a slightly fancier copy here.

sheldrake's Growing Up is a story for everyone who had issues with C.S. Lewis's treatment of Susan in The Last Battle. Susan and Lucy are sisters -- their wants and desires may be different, they may be strangers to each other in certain respects, but they still share that one common ground. This story understands this, in a way that Lewis's published words apparently didn't. The ending is incredibly poignant.

Yes, you read the pairing right. Vincent Crabbe/Harry Potter. Trust me. It works. Open up allecto's The Chosen, get over your initial shock about the concept, and keep reading.

This isn't a story about a shock pairing. It's about Vincent Crabbe, and what it means to be a pureblood wizard, the son of a Death Eater, a Slytherin, and finally, what it means to be all of those things while working for the wrong side. This is a minor character brought vividly to life. I love the way the author takes tiny glimpses of things JKR gives us and spins whole customs and histories out of them, while in turn distilling them back into tiny glimpses which make the world utterly real and affecting.

setissma says in her notes to The Bathtub's Archipelago that she's never written Ron before, let alone Harry/Ron. She should do it more often. This is a such a sharp little story, a perfect slice of their relationship as it might look after the war is over, when the boys will likely need some putting back together.

snegurochka_lee wrote Five Dead Women for the femgenficathon. This is for all of those people who say the female characters in the HP-verse aren't interesting or are badly written or whatever lame excuse is the thing du jour. I don't think you can get such a freaking awesome story unless there's something compelling going on with the women in the source material, and this story is about five of them.

In short, it's freaking awesome. Read each section carefully -- it's all one story, and the final one is breathtaking.

(Note: very much post-HBP.)

taraljc always does really good, ep-like longer stories, no matter what fandom she's writing for. Happily, her current focus is on Doctor Who. Ivory and Horn is a slightly zany planetary adventure, Who-style, with some gentle subtext-made-more-text.

Everyone and their mother in the new Doctor Who fandom has read Pulse by casirafics, so I'm just jumping on the bandwagon. It's quite good, though -- a well-written reminder that the Doctor is alien, and that even so, he and Rose still manage to share something.

So I have a new fannish obsession. (Those who've followed my recs over the years are like, "Yeah, what's new.") That obsession is Doctor Who, the new series.

I still have...issues with NC-17 Whofic, or even outright romantic fic, although I've read and enjoyed fair amount. I think the best stories in the fandom are those like loneraven's Lovers, 'Tis Almost Fairy-Time, which is much more about the wonders of the Doctor's intellect and experience of the universe than his sexual prowess. It's also really well-written, and captures a sort of quiet and awed mood while at the same time feeling very much like the inside of Rose's head.

(Now, I went hunting and hunting for this story, to the exclusion of a ton of other Whofics I could have spent the time recommending, because I cleverly neglected to memory it when I first found it. So you know it has to be good, if I went to all that trouble.)