Les Miz Fanlit

[HRH Queen of the Unknown]

Okay, since I'm a newbie here and thus far my posts have consisted of an intro and odd posts in the Games forum, I figured I'd start a topic.

So. Les Miz fanlit. I haven't read any yet, but I'm incredibly curious. Anyone read anything? How bad are they? Are there any good ones? Also, is Cosette by Laura Kalpakian as bad as I've heard? I think I'd like to read it for a good laugh and maybe to parody on FF.net.

[Marianne]

I haven't read Kalpakian so I couldn't say. But by all the accounts I've heard, yes it is that bad.

There's a French author, Ceresa I think, who wrote Cosette, or the Time of Illusions. My friends and I stumbled upon a copy of the sequel in Paris and it wasn't bad per se, just really bizarre.

There's also a series called Pont-au-Change that's pretty decent. I read the first one and while there were parts I wanted to attack with a red pen, the plot was interesting and not abjectly ridiculous.

[SylvieProuvaire1832]

Cosette by Laura Kalpakian

Teeeeeerrible, awful, evil. I honestly couldn't bare te read the whole thing.

[Mamselle Miss]

I read the darn thing in High School. The biggest impression I came away with was that the whole thing was weak, plotless, and kinda boring.

I went back a few months ago and read the first part again. This time I found the writing bad, and the characters flat and totally unlike how they are written in the original.

In short, a pale and badly written imitation of the original.

[Wolf_Of_Mankind]

I read the three Pont Au Change novels that are currently out (Resurrections, Sanctuary, and Adrift, respectively), and really enjoyed them. Granted, they're not Hugo or in the style of him at all, but it's a fun sort of "What if" story that's well thought out so far. Javert’s not quite snarky enough for me (but I write a *really* snarky Javert, so it could just be personal) and Valjean’s really almost perfect. The original characters are very clever, and well-rounded. I didn’t like the third book as much at ALL, but it was plot and not just random OOC –ness. Overall, a good quick-read type of book series. And the nitpicky details are spot on.

[9430]

I read the three Pont Au Change novels that are currently out (Resurrections, Sanctuary, and Adrift, respectively), and really enjoyed them. Granted, they're not Hugo or in the style of him at all, but it's a fun sort of "What if" story that's well thought out so far. Javert’s not quite snarky enough for me (but I write a *really* snarky Javert, so it could just be personal) and Valjean’s really almost perfect. The original characters are very clever, and well-rounded. I didn’t like the third book as much at ALL, but it was plot and not just random OOC –ness. Overall, a good quick-read type of book series. And the nitpicky details are spot on.

I've been wanting to read that series, but it is so expensive to import that I have never really been able to consider buying the books.

[Wolf_Of_Mankind]

Yea, they are, but I think the author is switching to a not-so-expensive publisher. It's been a while since I've checked up on it, but you can follow the blog at www.pontauchange.blogspot.com and the website is www.pontauchange.com

The website is amazing. I totally love it. She has some really cool stuff up such as movie reviews, pictures, and a whole bunch of other Les Miz geekery. So if you can't get the books, at least check out the website.

[23623]

*revives thread 7 years later*

I just saw this post in the movie section about a TV adaptation of a Vietnamese novel adaptation of Les Mis. Googled what this "Ngọn Cỏ Gió Đùa" is and google took me to this list of Les Mis adaptations on wikipedia. Found some quite interesting ones on the list, like:

1935, Jean Val Jean, a condensed retelling by Solomon Cleaver.

Condensed retelling with...elongated character name? Is...is Valjean really called Jean Val Jean throughout the novel?

2001, French author François Cérésa wrote two sequels, Cosette or the Time of Illusions and Marius or The Fugitive. Hugo's descendants, including his great-great-grandson Pierre Hugo, wanted the novels banned, claiming that they breached the moral rights of the author and betrayed the "respect of the integrity" and "spirit" of Hugo's original novel.

I'm so curious what crimes the author has done to infuriate Hugo's descendants?

2013, Barricades: The Journey Of Javert, a novel by C.A. Shilton based on the early life of Javert.

I kind of want to read this tbh. I always have the feeling that although Javert is the main antagonist, Hugo actually reveals very little about him in the book. Even Marius gets a complete backstory while Javert doesn't. I guess this is the reason why fan fiction is so popular nowadays. Someone has to help the author finish what should have been done. But why is it called "Barricades"?!

Also

Yea, they are, but I think the author is switching to a not-so-expensive publisher. It's been a while since I've checked up on it, but you can follow the blog at http://www.pontauchange.blogspot.com and the website is http://www.pontauchange.com

The website is amazing. I totally love it. She has some really cool stuff up such as movie reviews, pictures, and a whole bunch of other Les Miz geekery. So if you can't get the books, at least check out the website.

the second website isn't working anymore but the first one still is, and it is amazing indeed!

[Louise]

Has anyone read Virago by Ellie Valsin? It is the "barricade boys" story, only Enjolras is a woman in the disguise of a man. I originally came across it on Tumblr (which I generally find a confusing site and only find things by accident) and there was a link to the book on Amazon. Actually it sounds quite interesting! Here it is:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UOALYZG/re ... le_ext_tmb

[jemappellegrantaire]

Has anyone read Virago by Ellie Valsin?

I haven't read it (I'm not much a fan of Combeferre/Enjolras), but I love the author's fanart.

[TheRandomPhangirl]

I've read it twice now, I think. There are bits I enjoy, the action scenes and the more political bits I found really interesting, as well as Enjolras and Combeferre's relationship (I mean, I know I'm biased because Enjolras/Combeferre is my favourite pairing period, but still). Some bits I'm more conflicted over.
I'd recommend giving it a read anyway, as far as fanlit goes it's miles above things like the god awful Kalpakian.