This was a wonderful story; I'm sorry I didn't get to leave reviews along the way, as well, having only discovered it last night.
First; the setting. I applaud you for tackling such a confusing, angry and painful piece of history. WWII changed so much. While I must agree that there were some detail inaccuracies - and I probably wouldn't even know all of them, not being a particular WWII buff myself - but they seem to not matter, for you've captured the energy and tension of the time period so perfectly. When Buffy and Jenny fled Giles' apartment, I nearly broke out into a cold sweat myself. When the Gestapo arrived at Tara's apartment, I came close to tears. You have a masterful command of language, and I adore the way you used it to weave the harsh tension and deeply buried intrigue of 1940's Berlin.
Onto the characters. I adored the way you took all the characters and spun them, changed them to fit the setting, all while keeping them true to themselves. I could genuinely understand where even the men like Donnie and Riley were coming from; having been indoctrinated and very nearly brainwashed - in fact, many members of the German Army and the SS were brainwashed. I saw, also, the fear and desperation that Buffy, Xander, Willow and everyone else felt, trying desperately to save a few small lives, in spite of a world dead set against it. I appreciate the strength that you gave to Tara, and feel that you really did her justice. I love the willpower you gave to Willow, that amazing audacity that has always powered her amazing brain, but seemed to have been lost somewhere around late Season 5 (like she can't be a witch AND a genius, or something). Xander's heart, the thing that we saw manifested in Primeval and was always his own special strength, really shone here. Buffy's ingenuity, fierce loyalty, and strength; Jenny's amazing resolve and quick intelligence; even Giles' deep love and affection for his charges shone through, though he was so quickly taken from the story.
I'm glad that you didn't spare us that. As harsh as this may sound, I'm glad that Jenny and Giles died, that everything came so close to falling apart and it's clear that they made it through on sheer luck and balls. Because, as hard as it was to know that Giles was simply shot, in cold blood and likely with a detachment that barely showed us his humanity, the story wouldn't have been as raw, as gripping, or as true-to-life without it. I appreciate the small mercy shown to Jenny in the quick end to her suffering, because Spike could have made it a hundred, a thousand times worse for her. I kept thinking so many times throughout reading this, "I would have run. I would want them to shoot me. Better dead than Auschwitz."
Spike. There's an interesting character, and I do so love what you did with him. He had just the right amount of balance between twisted and human to be a Gestapo officer working both sides - and that is precisely what he would have been! I can't picture him in any other role than exactly where you put him. I loved that in the end - just as with the series - he was willing to do whatever he needed to, with no thought of himself until after the fact, to save the scoobies - Buffy in particular, for no one could possibly question that she has his loyalty in whatever way he can give it.
Anya, too, was magnificently handled. So very like her, to be so up front and open while revealing nothing whatsoever about herself at the same time. I also found it mildly amusing that you made her Russian, since "Anya" is a common Russian name.
The brief spot of Faith we saw was utterly perfect. She would be fighting the unjust war (since she was actually relatively stable before she killed a guy by accident and rationalized her way into insanity), and she WOULD go down spitting insults and curses.
Now, a momentary touch on Ravensbruck. You did the place justice, I must say. You made it all very real, and it was exceedingly difficult to read. It all came to life for me - cruel, horrifying life. Reading about Willow's impressions of the place, meeting Glory and Dr. Walsh, I could almost smell the corpses, the cyanide gas, the sweat and blood that those poor women poured forth day by day, for years. At least, those that lived. Reading it that way is quite different from reading an article; the storyteller's style brings it into a harsh and unforgiving focus, and I admire you for your relentless descriptions of the pain and suffering that must have permeated the very air of the place.
The atrocities committed by the Nazis during WWII must never be forgotten, and you've done an outstanding job of reminding us all of that. Kudos to you.
And thank you, also, for ensuring that you did not lump all Germans into the category of 'Nazi'. Very, very many of the Germans of that period did not agree with what they knew of the war, and of course, they were all kept in the dark about the more horrifying aspects. Even so, they'd been being fed propaganda for years and years beforehand, and most of those who were lower down in the ranks of the Army and SS, even those that joined willingly, didn't know what they were getting into. It should always be made known that the fault lies with the higher-ups.
That said, of course, something should have been done sooner, and it should NEVER have escalated that far... but now I'm just ranting about Nazi Germany, so I'll get back to my review, shall I?
As a matter of fact, I think I'm about done. But this was a wonderful, heartwrenching, nearly impossible story to read, and you handled it brilliantly. Very well done - and I hope to see much more from you soon.
(On a side note, some of the other events that occurred in and around that area at that time are fascinating. Swing Kids and the Sound of Music are two of my all-time favourite movies)
_________________ Don't you sit upon the shoreline and say you're satisfied, choose to chance the rapids, and dare to dance the tides - Garth Brooks, "the River"
|