Not Myself

Okay so, you know how I said on Monday that I was gonna take the weekends off? Well... I kinda lied. That, and I promised to do this review a while ago... and then didn't. And now it's stuck in my head and I forgot to post yesterday so... you get a blog post today! Don't you feel special?

Not Myself by Princess Alexandria
     I can't remember exactly when I read this fic for the first time. Must have been sometime in high school because I wasn't on my Dad's super-old laptop -- the thing had a black/gray background with white letters/foreground things and Paint was all black and white, that's how old this thing was. It also didn't all fit on one floppy disk. Yes, I said floppy disk. I used to take some with me to school and grab fanfiction off the school computers during study hall. But anyway... I love, love, love, love this story. I've read it at least three or four times, which is kind of a lot considering how long it is.
     Not Myself is a Marvel Universe fanfiction featuring the X-Men. It's about one of Princess Alexandria's original characters, Christy Taylor. Remember this name, it's important. It also features a few others: Annie, Jessi, Erik, and Jon. Don't be afraid of the whole "OC" thing. It's definitely not bad this time. In fact, Christy's written so well that she goes on to spawn two sequel-ish things (if you count Adrift in a Room of Mirrors as all one story and not the four that are actually in it).
      The first batch of chapters are kind of a rough start for Christy due to some things revealed later in the story. She takes in the wayward Annie Thompson and things springboard from there. Christy becomes a sort of den mother for, not only Annie, but also Erik, Jessie, and Jon. Each of the characters are well grounded and don't stink of cliches the way a lot of OCs out there do.
     The inclusion of the X-Men doesn't happen until a few chapters in, but it's quite obvious to anyone familiar with the comics that the story is set in the Marvel Universe. The X-Men themselves are completely in-character, which is more than you could probably say about some of the comics they appear in. Emma Frost and Mystique are particularly well realized and feature heavily. Emma as Christy's lover-interest and Mystique as her teacher.
     The kids to eventually end up going to Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning and Christy gets more interaction with the X-Men proper during this phase. And I say kids, but they're all in college... I think... so... not really kids, but not really not either. And... this is really hard to do without spoiling things, seeing as I know this story backward and forward... so I think I'm calling SPOILERS from here on out.

THE SPOILERY PART - for both the story and the comics
     Christy, as it turns out, has powers. Didn't you think she would? As well as having a very, very strong mental shield, Christy is also a defacto shapeshifter and can "feed" on death energy. And she's not super-powerful, unless you count the ability to travel dimensions, which she doesn't do often, if ever at all. Christy also didn't know she was a shapeshifter so that's where Mystique comes in.
     Mystique is portrayed very sympathetically, and if I hadn't loved her before the start of this story, I definitely would have by the end of it. She's just too awesome. So Mystique teaches and befriends Christy despite being blackmailed by Xavier. Also, her handler, Shortpack, is funny.
     The Christy/Emma relationship was a joy to "watch" develop. I won't tell you exactly how that happens because it's much better served by Princess Alexandria's writing than mine. Also "watching" Annie's relationship with the Stepford Cuckoos is fun. I came to really love these characters. They're so under-served by the comics. It also made losing Sophie in the main universe worse.

Sum-Up
     I think I've pretty much reviewed that in one big gush. But really, I think Not Myself is one of the best fanfictions to ever come across my notice. It's really well written once it gets going and I think you'll really enjoy it, especially if you're a fan of the X-Men. Oh, and one thing I may have forgotten to mention, this story does contain a couple of lesbian relationships. If this bothers you, I suggest you run away quickly.

Love ya, Jessie

PS: As usual, links to the story and author's pages are up there where the story title and author are given. And for those of you who aren't reading my main blog or visiting the actual website, I've added a new Kira avi to my Gaiaonline Journal... which you can find via my website on the Links page. Happy reading!