If you’re in the Voltron fandom, you’ll adore this work of fiction. If you haven’t heard of it already, SongBird is a Voltron fanfiction written by FaeQueen40 surrounding two main characters: Lance and Keith.
The plot is as follows, during a battle with a piece of the intergalactic Galran army who are trying to take possession of all five of Voltron’s lions for their tyrannical leader, Zarkon. Lance and Keith get separated from the battle. One lion is out of commission (lions are vessels that the paladin’s use to defend the universe) and another is unable to do anything else but fly. To their surprise, Voltron finds out the leader of this army is not Zarkon, the tyrannical leader of almost every Galran army. Instead it’s Zarkon’s half breed son, Lotor, who does not take anyone’s orders but his own. As the Galran army closes in, Lance sacrifices himself in order to keep Keith away from the Lotor’s hands. This begins the thrilling story that is the team of Voltron trying to get Lance back.
“Lance rose from his crouch… each step closer to the mouth of Keith’s lion feeling like the steps to a funeral march… The prince’s face curled into a smirk, one pale eyebrow lifted in amusement. Lance took a few more steps forward, a tension he didn’t know he was carrying relaxing when Red’s barrier blazed into life.”
Everything, from the plot to the author’s writing conveying images that every bookworm would be engrossed with, draws me in as a reader. Their word play is something different. I haven’t seen this type before.
“The jewelry that draped his body was carefully chosen and had he been anywhere else, he would have admired how it fit the shape of his shoulders and traced the dip of his waist. The long cascade of silver that dangled from his belly button would shift as he walked, drawing even more attention to flip of the fabric of his pants. All in all, he looked exotic, something that he would have expected out of some re-make of Arabian Nights.”
The way the author paints an image with every detail, seemingly chosen so carefully, really got me hooked as soon as it started. I could feel the coolness of chains, the tension impacting me as much as it did the characters.
“He allowed the guards to drag him down the hall, the chains still attached to the shackles on his ankles making a cacophony…”
The sound of chains are beginning to echo in my head, the small clings of silver and glass. Bare feet against an empty corridor floor. Can you hear it?
“He was slender, the bones of his chest and face fine like that of an exotic bird. The links of silver that draped him lazily contrasted with his dusky skin in an objectively pleasing way, the difference in color making his coloring very similar to that of the Altean princess. The deep purple fabric that cloaked his legs revealed teasing glimpses of skin as he struggled, his strangely shaped feet left bare, stubby toes flexing with his movement.”
Can you see the image being painted into your mind, faceless yes, but the word play and detail of everything is chosen carefully. There isn’t too much to confuse the reader, there is just enough to give the reader room for their own interpretation. Though mostly, the author takes control of the end result invidenably.
“Silver helped to conceal the unnatural roundness of his ears and the dark curls of his hair almost seemed to invite the invasion of hands...The core of his being shrank away from the druid and Lance wanted nothing more than to be elsewhere. He yelped when he felt the sparks of their electrical quintessence against his skin once more, the sting burrowing itself beneath his skin, deep centers of darkened skin appearing on the tips of his shoulders.
The burn deepened… patterns scrolling away from the deep centers. Sprawling lines crawled across the surface of his chest, symmetrical lines dancing down the planes. Lance arched away from the inexorable march of the lines, the patterns resolving themselves as almost tattoo-like brands. He could feel their raised texture, a deep pulsating heat making his skin feel like it was going to crawl away.”
I know that this paragraph is very long but I honestly can’t stress enough how beautifully written everything in this fanfiction is. Especially this piece, this paragraph along with many more, have large doses of imagery. You’ll just have to read it yourself! If you aren’t a fan of Voltron, don’t worry, you’ll understand along the way. If anything just read it for the beautiful writing. You’ll be glad you did!
“It felt like the slow drag of a torch, lines of fire taking their sweet time in caressing his skin. It burned down to his very bones, a brand that he knew he would never be free of.” - SongBird written by FaeQueen40
The plot is as follows, during a battle with a piece of the intergalactic Galran army who are trying to take possession of all five of Voltron’s lions for their tyrannical leader, Zarkon. Lance and Keith get separated from the battle. One lion is out of commission (lions are vessels that the paladin’s use to defend the universe) and another is unable to do anything else but fly. To their surprise, Voltron finds out the leader of this army is not Zarkon, the tyrannical leader of almost every Galran army. Instead it’s Zarkon’s half breed son, Lotor, who does not take anyone’s orders but his own. As the Galran army closes in, Lance sacrifices himself in order to keep Keith away from the Lotor’s hands. This begins the thrilling story that is the team of Voltron trying to get Lance back.
“Lance rose from his crouch… each step closer to the mouth of Keith’s lion feeling like the steps to a funeral march… The prince’s face curled into a smirk, one pale eyebrow lifted in amusement. Lance took a few more steps forward, a tension he didn’t know he was carrying relaxing when Red’s barrier blazed into life.”
Everything, from the plot to the author’s writing conveying images that every bookworm would be engrossed with, draws me in as a reader. Their word play is something different. I haven’t seen this type before.
“The jewelry that draped his body was carefully chosen and had he been anywhere else, he would have admired how it fit the shape of his shoulders and traced the dip of his waist. The long cascade of silver that dangled from his belly button would shift as he walked, drawing even more attention to flip of the fabric of his pants. All in all, he looked exotic, something that he would have expected out of some re-make of Arabian Nights.”
The way the author paints an image with every detail, seemingly chosen so carefully, really got me hooked as soon as it started. I could feel the coolness of chains, the tension impacting me as much as it did the characters.
“He allowed the guards to drag him down the hall, the chains still attached to the shackles on his ankles making a cacophony…”
The sound of chains are beginning to echo in my head, the small clings of silver and glass. Bare feet against an empty corridor floor. Can you hear it?
“He was slender, the bones of his chest and face fine like that of an exotic bird. The links of silver that draped him lazily contrasted with his dusky skin in an objectively pleasing way, the difference in color making his coloring very similar to that of the Altean princess. The deep purple fabric that cloaked his legs revealed teasing glimpses of skin as he struggled, his strangely shaped feet left bare, stubby toes flexing with his movement.”
Can you see the image being painted into your mind, faceless yes, but the word play and detail of everything is chosen carefully. There isn’t too much to confuse the reader, there is just enough to give the reader room for their own interpretation. Though mostly, the author takes control of the end result invidenably.
“Silver helped to conceal the unnatural roundness of his ears and the dark curls of his hair almost seemed to invite the invasion of hands...The core of his being shrank away from the druid and Lance wanted nothing more than to be elsewhere. He yelped when he felt the sparks of their electrical quintessence against his skin once more, the sting burrowing itself beneath his skin, deep centers of darkened skin appearing on the tips of his shoulders.
The burn deepened… patterns scrolling away from the deep centers. Sprawling lines crawled across the surface of his chest, symmetrical lines dancing down the planes. Lance arched away from the inexorable march of the lines, the patterns resolving themselves as almost tattoo-like brands. He could feel their raised texture, a deep pulsating heat making his skin feel like it was going to crawl away.”
I know that this paragraph is very long but I honestly can’t stress enough how beautifully written everything in this fanfiction is. Especially this piece, this paragraph along with many more, have large doses of imagery. You’ll just have to read it yourself! If you aren’t a fan of Voltron, don’t worry, you’ll understand along the way. If anything just read it for the beautiful writing. You’ll be glad you did!
“It felt like the slow drag of a torch, lines of fire taking their sweet time in caressing his skin. It burned down to his very bones, a brand that he knew he would never be free of.” - SongBird written by FaeQueen40