#crown of the summer court by astolat

[mistchievous]

Reblog and tag with the fic or fics that live rent-free in your brain.

[zhalfirin]

The Crown of the Summer Court - Astolat

This is the second book I made for Renegade Guild's Tiny Books Bang event.

Typeset provided by merlinmausi.

Cork veneer half-binding with inset thaumatrope. (not sure it qualifies as a 'half-binding', because it actually is one piece of cork veneer... with huge cut outs.)

And if you're wondering what a thaumatrope is... it's an optical toy. On a disk are 2 separate pictures on each side. Strings are attached to the sides of the disk and when twirling the strings, the pictures seem to merge into one.

Materials used

case construction cover - layered grey board and cardboard and inset magnet spine stiffener - cardboard covering material - handmade paste papers, cork veneer title - gold foiled onlays - paper, laser printed

thaumatrope grey board with inset magnet, covered with laser printed paper cords - braided sewing thread

inner book book body - Schleipen Fly 05, 115gsm endpapers - lokta paper endbands - button hole silk

Size ~ A7 (7,2cm x 10,5cm)

[quotablefanfiction]

“Is Morgana watching?” Arthur muttered, pulling his shirt off. “—no?” Merlin said. “You’re lying, aren’t you,” Arthur said. “Yeah,” Merlin said apologetically. “Sorry. Everyone’s watching, actually. Even the elves.”

Arthur gets to put on a bit of a show (chp. 1)

The Crown of the Summer Court by astolat (AO3) Merlin – Explicit – Arthur/Merlin #Alternate Universe #Elves #Magic #Sex

“The king sent me to get you,” Merlin said, with a tone that implied strongly that he wasn’t rolling his eyes where Arthur could see, but just wait until his back was turned. “He said you’re to get changed into formal clothes and meet him in the Great Hall, there’s a delegation coming from the Summer Court.”

Part 5 of the Astolat Sampler series (AO3)

Part 11 of the Merlin works series (AO3)

[mythmerth]

from my November readings, I’ve collected a few more merlin fic recs for the people…

For favorite long (80k+) fic, I would have to choose Gladiator by Clea2011. It’s 115k and has some really intense moments followed with a wonderful growing love story woven in to it. arthur as a gladiator goes kind of hard even if he’s fighting for his life. also the dragons are very present in this and I do love my dragon content!

For favorite mid length (…40k-80k) fic, id have to choose Public Image by an orphaned account. As someone who has had a Great Deal of text/online friendships and relationships, I absolutely adored the type of text based development these two had. they’re just both obsessed with each other but trying and failing to hide it, LOVE that shit

For favorite short fic (<40k), you may have noticed that for this month I have changed the bar of short fic to less than 40k instead of 30k and it’s because I REALLY enjoyed this 39k apocalypse fic and wanted to put it here :’D Land of Ghouls by rotrude was so intense and had me clutching my chest but was exactly what I was looking for with zombie apocalypse merthur; not something I’ll fully sob about, but keeps me on my toes.

Here’s a few more rapid fire fics from this month! I read more long ones than usual tehe

Sunny in Camelot by foxy_mulder is a really silly quick read, just ridiculous and plays heavy on the “what the hell does Merlin do” gag! I don’t typically read super short fics but I love these type

Somewhere between the Sand and the Stardust by Cithara was a great canon era long read; merthur PARENTS 💞

I FINISHED LOADED MARCH! Do or Die and At the End We Begin Again by Footloose had me absolutely floored. I apologize because you can’t read these as standalone fics and yes there’s a million words that come before them, but if you like wartime modern magic merthur where Arthur’s a military mastermind and Merlin is a tech genius (and yes I mean those 100% seriously they are so badass), read loaded march. It’s got the most scream worthy merthur devotion I’ve ever read and that’s saying something. Do or Die was masterful and so action packed. We begin again was a perfect and beautiful ending that made me tear up. you won’t regret getting into this series!! and I may make a full post about my thoughts on each installation at a later date, it’s really that good.

With my loaded march plug out of the way, my favorite reread this month… would have to be ever popular The Crown of the Summer Court by astolat! It’s not long and such a fun read, I love imagining Merlin getting Arthur all ready for another kingdom to come only for them to be solely invested in Merlin, like what an excellent concept. lighthearted and so fun, if you haven’t checked it out I definitely recommend it!

It’s December… end of the year… and while everyone’s getting into their Spotify wrapped, I’m gonna be doing my 💫 2024 Merlin fic reading wrapped 💫 which is exactly as unhinged as it sounds. If you’ve ever wondered what my gay donut profile photo is here, stay tuned for it cause yes it is Merlin related in a very diabolical way. I’m excited to get into this insanity and I hope it’ll be as silly for you as it is for me.

I’ll be back in 2025 for my December recs and will be doing my fic stats soon 🫡

and if you’re still looking for more recs then check out my other posts ~

<< last month next month >>

[ctimenefic]

i’ve really been wanting to get into merthur after watching it for so many years!! do u have any fic recs?

Yes! Yes I do! I deeply regret not using the bookmark button on AO3 before, like, last year, but I guess this means you get the ones that have really lingered in my brainpan.

I adore the Merlin fandom. It was the first fandom I posted fic on AO3 for! The fic can be (extremely roughly) bisected into two - the canon era (fantasy medieval!) and the modern AUs (some with magic, some without) with a tiny sprinkling of reincarnation fic yoking the two together.

A lot of these are the absolute classics - some of them became genre defining beyond the fandom. I hope you enjoy them!

The Canon (ish)

The Crown of the Summer Court - Astolat (@astolat) Yeah, I know, I'm reccing Astolat, I'm a bold pioneer. But this fic (and, indeed, all of her Merlin fic) is wonderfully realised, and merges the really quite silly show with a deeper take on folklore in a beautiful synthesis. She should do this for a living or something.

Misrule -thehoyden (@thehoyden) Short, sweet, sexy, lil bit of gender play, it's like this was written specifically for me. I adore it.

The Modern AUs

Loaded March - a series by Footloose (@insanewordcount) If you're looking for a blistering series with an incredible, unique premise, this is the one for you. Settle in for the long haul.

No Matter How Far Away You Roam - lady_ragnell (@theladyragnell) Occasionally I'll be eating a sandwich and I'll say out loud "This is a panini of lies and pain". Because of this fic.

Drastically Redefining Protocol - rageprufock (@rageprufrock) No Merlin rec list is complete without it. The Modern Prince Arthur AU. A delight.

secrets i have held in my heart - arthur_pendragon I read this about once a year when I need to cry. (It ends happily if you need it to - and doesn't if you don't)

I recommend plundering the other works by every author listed here, but also roaming through Ao3 with wild abandon. You know the two cakes fanfic meme? There's SO much fucking cake.

[cloysterbell]

This is probably a stupid question but do you have any Haven and Merlin fanfics that you particularly enjoy and might be able to recommend me...? 👀

BOY DO I

So I will caveat that these Haven recs are a lot fresher since I only got into the show last year. Most of my Merlin recs are a thousand years old since I haven't read anything new since probably 2016 but the old stuff is classic and still fucks despite its age. Also funnily enough, despite everything I still have the most Merlin bookmarks on AO3 over any other show

HAVEN:

The Void series by serendipityxii - to me this is how the show canonically ended

don't stop to think this through by gendernoncompliant - maybe my favorite Haven fic?? You will immediately see why if you read it

the only right i have wronged by gendernoncompliant - VERY interesting read! Love when actions have consequences! Also I do highly recommend most of gendernoncompliant's Haven fics, they're very good

The Accidental Threesome (Or, Five Times Duke Might’ve Date-Crashed, and One Time the Date Crashed Him) by jadzibelle - as a Duke stan I just think that

Emotional Motion Sickness by bellatemple - I really wish we'd gotten to explore the consequences of the finale a little bit more, especially if Duke had survived

Come See About Me by templemarker - absolutely insane about this one and again, you'll see why if you read it

Powerful (with a Little Bit of Tender) by polytropic - I don't remember the details about this one too well but I remember the concept was super interesting and well done

The Trouble with Fairytails by Kedreeva - not to be a furry but

and of COURSE I have to recommend Three Favorite Things and No one told me that there'd be a test (I never studied but I did my best) by multifandom-damnation because they were written for me and they rule!

MERLIN:

to the world that never let you be by imperialmint - oh my god. oh my god. maybe still one of my favorite fics of all time?

Down by the River by bleedforyou1 - wait no never mind THIS is my favorite fic of all time

Stars Above, Stones Below by Destina - I did reread this recently and it and its sequel still hold up

We Are All Diamonds by Footloose - listen. It's a strange concept but just go with it, it's one of the most beautifully written pieces of fiction because Footloose (also the famed author of the Shadowlord and Pirate King, which I never read) is a fandom classic

The Crown of the Summer Court by astolat - let Merlin be on equal footing with Arthur! It's what he deserves!

Hidden Light by Destina - I have this bookmarked as 'the fic with the lake' which is all you need to know

I'm Colourblind, Kid by brbsoulnomming - a fun little au where again, not to be a furry but

August by rageprufrock - it's what we should've gotten if canon wasn't determined to be mean to Arthur all the time

Leashed by riventhorn - 👀

Sense Memory by glim - soft!Arthur my absolute most beloved

and of course, I have to recommend The Student Prince by FayJay. I truly have no idea if you were to read this for the first time in 2024 if it's any good, but it's still very much considered to be one of the fandom classics so it's worth a try at the very least

Unfortunately with Merlin I don't really read that many modern!AUs but stick to mostly canon or canon!AU so I'm not much help if you do want more recent stuff. But I would also very much recommend checking out @dirtybookshelves (better on desktop than mobile)! It's a PHENOMENAL resource for Merlin fics and whoever ran this (I think it was emjayelle?) is a goddamn hero

[hiuythn]

Can I ask your top 10 fav fics ever (from any fandom, if you don't mind)?

Also, just curious, is there a story behind your name "hiuythn "?

oooo you've got me scrounging through my 1501 bookmarks now, this is going to lead me on so many sidequests, i'm going to end up rereading so many and never get back to you HAHAH

top 10 in no particular order:

lies your captain told you - waldorph - star trek aos - spirk

way down we go - xiaq - harry potter - drarry

sugar cookies - aloera - bnha - kiribaku

what we fought for - metisket - khr - multi/gen

onfindan - astolat - merlin - merthur

the crown of the summer court - astolat - merlin - merthur

atlas - distractedKat - star trek aos - spirk

running on air - eleventy7 - harry potter - drarry

performance in a leading role - mad_lori - sherlock - johnlock

tongfang - the feels whale (miscellea) - svsss - bingqiu

as for my name, it's just a mix of the letters in my name :)

(if anyone can unscramble it i'll write them a fic)

[wetcatspellcaster]

Top 5 fanfics (that you have read)!

Oh my goodness, this is both going to be very silly but also very revealing lmao. I'm sorry they're not bg3!! I am saving up my big fandom deep dive for when my wips are finished.

Every letter that you write me by othellia (Spike/Buffy) - I love soulmate AUs generally but this was the first fanfic I literally ever read. It updated for the first time in 3yrs a week after I read it so I got the full serotonin experience instantly and I was hooked.

Pride by astolat (Jaime/Cersei/Brienne) - look. I am a Jaime/Brienne shipper at heart. But this is so hot, ok. It had no right being this hot!

The Crown of the Summer Court by astolat (Merlin/Arthur). I never watched Merlin and as such am not a Merthur shipper. I enjoyed this fic for the same reason I enjoy Emily Wilde - well written faerie shit.

Beholding the GDPR by shinyopals (The Magnus Archives) - look. I love fanfic. Sometimes fanfic is about romance, sometimes it's about sex. Sometimes, it's about institutionalising data protection laws at your eldritch workplace. This is, in my honest opinion, one of the best examples of what fic is capable of (and at one point, GDPR was literally my job so-)

A Convenient Arrangement by DemonSaya (Jareth/Sarah) - fake dating forced proximity done so well. Also really big shout out to Come As You Aren't by PaintedGlass bc also... hot.

Ask me my top 5 things!

[themerlinlibrary]

Favourites Friday (July 2024) – All Time Favourite

TML Favourites Friday round-up! July 2024 round 1

What is Favourites Friday? – The Basics

a different theme is announced on Friday each week; FF recs must match the theme of the week

only one FF rec per person per week/theme

FF recs must be unique within that week/theme; no double-posting the same fic for one theme!

no self-recs during regular rounds

only self-recs during self-rec rounds (last Friday of each month)

Theme for week 1: All-Time Favourite!

Imbolc by MerlinLikeTheBird G, 145k, Merlin/Arthur Canon AU

Sorcerer's Bane by BeautifulFiction E, 265k, Merlin/Arthur Canon divergence, Abduction

Once and Future Pride by Papysanzo89, Pinky_Wisteria, Snarky_Ship (Pinky_Wisteria)  E, Series of 8 art works, Merlin/Arthur Modern AU, Comics, Pride

The Crown of the Summer Court by astolat E, 24k, Merlin/Arthur Merry Gentry fusion

The Hands We Use To Catch Each Other by scripps T, 10k, Merlin/Arthur Canon Era

From Shadows to the Light by PeaceHeather T, 16k Post-Canon Fix it

My Significant Bother by evaelisaa, Leandra E, 96k, Merlin/Arthur Modern Era, Royalty, Friends with Benefits

wanna be your end game (my youth is yours) by ladililn E, 63k, Merlin/Arthur Modern Royalty AU, Series

Twitch Your Whiskers and Pull My Tail by BlueSimplicity E, 62k, Merlin/Arthur Modern AU

Avalon by s0mmerspr0ssen E, 133k, Merlin/Arthur Modern AU, Escort!Merlin

All lives are (love)stories by amithia E, 193k, Merlin/Arthur Canon Era, Soul Bond, Fix-it

Dower the Stars by RurouniHime E, 41k, Merlin/Arthur Canon era AU, Golden Age

Parchments by BlueGrassSax E, 33k, Merlin/Arthur Canon era

Let's Be Winners by Mistake by Seravia E, 48k, Merlin/Arthur Modern AU

A Challenging Hostage/A Challenging Quest by wryter501 T, 390k, primarily Gen with background ships  Canon AU

A masterlist of all round-ups can be found here.

If you want to make sure you never miss a FF rec, or would like to participate and share your own favourites; join us on the Discord TheMerlinLibrary! Happy reading!

About the FF round-up lists:

Recs are listed in the order they were posted on the Discord; the order does not imply any sort of ranking.

The pairing given in this list is the main pairing of each respective fic – please read the tags for any possible minor or side-pairings, as well as any potential warnings or triggers.

Pairings and Eras are given as tagged in each respective fic. (?) signifies that the tags were unclear and I do not know enough about the fic to fill the gaps.

Round-ups are compiled on the weekend of the week after the respective theme of the post (when the new theme has already been anounced), to avoid omitting potentially belated FF recs.

The weekly round-up is not a guarantee! I'm running this alone, so it can only be posted for weeks when I have enough time on my hands to compile a list. If you'd like to help out, feel free to contact me on Tumblr ( @zaharya ) or Discord. Thanks to @ravenwilds for helping me out with these round-ups, and to Chel for making a whole-ass bot to make it easier!

[flowermountainpress]

This was my fourth bind!

It's my first "fat" quarto, and second quarto in general. The margins yucked up a little, but overall I love the bind. The spine is homemade bookcloth from thrifted fabric, which I think began life as placemats or kitchen towels. The cover paper is heavy scrap book paper.

This is also my first use of vinyl, which I retroactively added to the spine several weeks after I finished the bind.

I wanted to bind "The Crown of the Summer Court" by Astolat, but it wasn't long enough to make the small, chunky volume I was going for, so I added several other Merlin works by Astolat to pad it out. Therefore, it's about 1/3rd "The Crown of the Summer Court" and 2/3rds various one-shots I enjoyed.

@astolat is and remains one of my very favorite authors, and one of the first ones my mind goes to when I consider "fics I want to immortalize in paper on my shelf forever."

[thalialunacy]

(pt 1) (pt 2) (back to rec index)

&tc

/love by shesakicker

A

all I wanted was a white knight (I got a prince instead) by orphan_account

All Its Splendid Glory by Loz

And This Is How I See You by Emjayelle

Ashes, Ember, Flames by unpossible

At Our Best When It's From the Hips by derryere

B

A Binding Contract by eldee

But It's a Good Refrain by lady_ragnell

C

Camelot by dreamdustmama

A Change of Pace by kianspo

The Crown of the Summer Court by astolat

The Cure for Anything by thalialunacy

D

Dark and Cold, the Nights We Stole by sassafrasx

Distance Without Remedy by BeautifulFiction

Drastically Redefining Protocol by rageprufrock

Dress You Up (in my love) by alby_mangroves

E

Easy There by syllic

ever on and ever back by SomeTorist

Every Cloud by cassie_black

Every Story is a Love Story by lady_ragnell

An Exchange of Favours (aka The One Where Arthur Gets his Dick Stuck in a Door) by SPowell

F

Felicity by BeautifulFiction

Fools of Us All by adelagia

For Every Hand is Lunatic by lostlenore

Fuckweasel by teprometo

G

Game, Set, Match by ingberry

H

The Heart You Call Home by alby_mangroves

A Heavy Heart to Carry by Thursday_Next

Here We Go Again (a What's Your Number? AU) by alby_mangroves & daroh

Hidden Light by Destina

I

i was fixed on your hand of gold by intothefirewego

If Greater Want of Skill by Emjayelle

If Thou Wolt Haue it Red by Skitz_phenom

It Was Never About the Coffee, Merlin by thalialunacy

It's Only Time (Why Would I Stop Loving You A Hundred Years From Now?) by SlantedKnitting

J

Just Have To Save The World (Back In A Minute) by ZairaA

L

The Language of You by PlaneJane

Lasting Impressions by cassie_black

Let me be your canvas by marguerite_26

Life in the Key of C-Sharp by thalialunacy

lights go out, here I go again by HalfFizzbin

M

Made of Dreams and Bones by lady_ragnell

Misrule by thehoyden

(pt 1) (pt 2) (back to rec index)

[quotablefanfiction]

“Don’t look impressed or anything, just because I defeated a terrible magic-wielding elven warrior,” Arthur snapped. “As if you need any encouragement.”

Arthur and Merlin (chp. 1)

The Crown of the Summer Court by astolat (AO3) Merlin – Explicit – Arthur/Merlin #Alternate Universe #Elves #Magic #Sex

“The king sent me to get you,” Merlin said, with a tone that implied strongly that he wasn’t rolling his eyes where Arthur could see, but just wait until his back was turned. “He said you’re to get changed into formal clothes and meet him in the Great Hall, there’s a delegation coming from the Summer Court.”

Part 12 of the Astolat Sampler series (AO3) Part 11 of the Merlin works series (AO3)

[pensieveprose]

so im fr fr going down a merthur fanfic rabbit hole… anybody have any fics like the crown of the summer court by astolat? i just loved the world building and magic system sooo much

[smilebackwards]

🔁 For the fic rec ask game!! 💜💜💜💜

🔁 A fic you’ve re-read several times

The Crown of the Summer Court by astolat! Fantastic and hilarious Merlin/Arthur fic where the king of the elves dies, Merlin is revealed to be his son, and there is a competition for the throne. And many feelings.

[theburialofstrawberries]

Do you have any fic recs... you seem like a good connoisseur of like, that particular brand of thought-provoking gorgeous writing style holy crap I can’t believe someone wrote this intricate, delicate piece of fiction for free stuff. I don’t even care if it’s like about Pixar Cars I trust your taste fully on this. Asking for a friend.

Boy do I totally have exactly what you asked for. Below are recs largely from fandoms where I have had either zero or minimal engagement with the source material but whose authors I’d trust with my life. In no particular order: 

1. In the spirit of your Pixar Cars joke, this Transformers fic by the peerless astolat that will leave you stunned the robot cars didn’t bone when they are so clearly in love. If you like that one you should read the Victory Condition, same fandom and author; someone correctly commented that its the next Great American Novel and only we on this site will ever know

2. One of my absolute favourite written works ever which I will never stop recommending is The Book of Secrets by Are; Downton Abbey, prickly gay evil butler with a heart of gold, vain handsome footman undergoing a deep crisis of identity. Are introduces psychological complexity and richness to the fairly bland Jimmy character, and as tumblr user maiden once remarked, making good fanfiction for bad tv shows IS the noblest of women’s works, this generation’s Bayeux tapestry. If you like that you should definitely read Hauntsverse (the Enchanted Life of Thomas Barrow has the kind of pacing & action & thematically + narratively satisfying conclusion in its last third that Christopher Nolan dreams of)

3. Also still really like this Rave footballer RPF fic of Christiano Ronaldo and Kaka where Ronaldo is a half-demon and Kaka is a priest. Love a good crisis of faith story. I do not follow football and have no dog in the RPF discourse war but Rave is just a lush brilliant humorous writer 

4. User Fahye literally held the real estate deeds to my ass for the longest time, they’re prolific and have done some excellent work in the Untamed and Yuri on Ice fandoms in particular, but two niche works that deserve to be mentioned: Single Use Weapon, a fealty fic set in a tiny modern day kingdom. Monarch is in love with the childhood friend turned mercenary who must protect his king. And then this enjolras / grantaire fic that I’ve probably outgrown since I don’t have the tolerance for prolonged angst anymore, but when I did, this was the one I kept returning to   

5. Syllic sent me down an entire Merlin/Arthur phase with Three Tasks (if you like this you should check out the rest of their works + astolat’s entire Merlin body of work, Crown of the Summer Court is widely regarded as one of the best fanworks ever ever ever)

6. Some anon very long ago recommended An Ever Fixed Mark, which is a soulmates AU of Pride and Prejudice. The author AMarguerite does some beautiful well-researched world-building here and completely transports you to the regency era, I learned all about the Ton. But importantly this series is juicy and funny and full of heart. It’s also choose your own adventure -- what if Lizzie had ended up with Colonel Fitzwilliam? Or the literal actual Duke of Wellington? Staunch supporters of Mr. Darcy may rest easy seeing as there is a 100K+ story dedicated to Darcy/Lizzie but there’s also two separate what-ifs; the one where Lizzie shacks up with the Duke of Wellington is, for my money, the best 

7. Passion & Profession starring Marcus Aquila of The Eagle (2011) and YES Jamie Bell EXCEPT as St John Rivers from Jane Eyre. Follows St John’s adventures after he sets for Calcutta -- and lives, because he has his big gay awakening with a buff handsome crippled soldier. Beautiful story, St John is a drama queen, really liked the portrayal of British Raj era West Bengal here. As I said, I love a good crisis of faith fic, and the conversation St John has with a cheerful gay reverend near the climax of the fic is one of the favourite back and forths on religion and gay love ever 

8. This fix-it Snowpiercer fic where Yona and Timmy survive and find an underground society....sci-fi levels of intricate and bold world-building  

9. Another fix-it because I’ve recently been obsessed with Avatar where Neytiri is the one chosen by the elder tree to become Toruk Makto and save her people; same author has written a 34K slow burn between Trudy and Grace that I’m dying to read 

10. Some original works that have recently been on my mind: 

For King & Country, I’m following Part 2 of this masterful series with bated breath; insecure mage hates his handsomer more charismatic more talented rival, unaware said rival has been in love with him for aaages. 

This weird short lovely thing where a thief rides across a desert nearly dies and is saved by the mute solar deity whose temple he is about to rob. Love an unexpected story that makes me re-read looking for clues and subtext and details I may have missed 

This horror fic about how a group of people on an online forum for analyzing a Tolkein-like children’s series meet up IRL to discuss the author’s alleged descent into madness and unlock the mystery behind his last seemingly nonsensical book. As you say I cannot believe people write this stuff for free

Hollycomb is a legend and my heart pangs with every re-read of this paranormal coming of age fic....wistful & lovely 

And my bookmarks for further reference. If you end up reading anything from this list let me know!!!!!

[faerie-queen-of-the-north]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40561

I cannot recommend astolat's masterpiece enough.

There's also various translations on ao3