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Blind Illya
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Bookmark for the first story (actually #4 in this series):
Excellent story. It's the first I've read in the series (said it was Prequel, so I started here) and it's been such a ride. The blinding, when Illya gets acid thrown in his eyes, is horrific, and you're along for the ride with all the pain and shock and fear. Poor Napoleon can't always stick around, he has to corral the bad guys (they're in Sweden at the time), and hospital rules are strict, so sometimes Illya had to be on his own.Getting back to New York is an ordeal, and once Illya's out of UNCLE hospital, Napoleon just moves him in with him. It's a long, slow slog. Illya is terribly depressed and even suicidal at times, and Napoleon is just as scared and worried and overwhelmed. But in the middle of this they find each other in a different way, and romance brings a little comfort and respite and hope. Illya eventually gets his depressed angry sad sack of a self up and into a school for the blind to learn how to function, Thrush attacks a couple of times, and Waverly patiently waits for Illya to figure out some skills so he can come back to work in UNCLE.
Author did some research on schools for being blind, and aids (in the 60s) and there's so much thought into the psychological and physical adaptations Illya has to make. (And Napoleon, too.) But the end goal is for Illya to be independent, rather than an object of pity, and by god, he's going to get there.
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Series (7 stories so far) is great, veers satisfyingly between domestic and suspenseful, lots of hurt and comfort. Author has some fantastic details of Soviet culture of the period (and the period in general). I really enjoyed it.