The Chosen and the Beloved is, in the author's words, a "novelization-slash-AU rewrite" of BioShock Infinite. It starts off telling the game's story more or less word-for-word, but moves further into true AU territory as it progresses. Told from Booker's perspective, it details the game's events, all the while expanding upon his and other characters' backstories and attempting to reconcile the apparent Fauxshadowing with her partially-spoiled experience playing the game.
While it initially updated around once a month, it's suffered from rather severe Schedule Slip; in spite of this, it is not yet a Dead Fic.
Can be found on Archive of Our Own here
and on FanFiction.Net here.
The Chosen and the Beloved contains the following tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: "A Chapter for Daisy".
- Alternate Universe Fic: Type II. The most notable changes include Booker no longer being Comstock and Elizabeth being Lady Comstock (and Booker)'s trueborn child.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Archive of Our Own says it is rated for "Gore, language, unwitting incest, and quantum physics."
- Artistic License – History: Among other things, the Empire State Building (normally completed in 1931) is of use some nineteen years early. The author's reasoning for this is that, in a universe where an aerial city is fairly common knowledge, the need for an urban aerodrome would be more pressing, and therefore would speed things along. Also, because it's cool.
- Backstory: Daisy's in particular is explored and expanded upon in great detail, but we also get a better sense of Booker's, especially his history with Lady Comstock and his involvement in the Massacre at Wounded Knee.
- Deadpan Snarker: All the characters have their moments, but the Twins, true to form, do this the most.
- Dies Wide Open: How Daisy finds Lady Comstock during her Day in the Limelight.
- Fix Fic: Mainly for all of the plot holes the author took issue with, as well as for
Shipping reasons. - Footnote Fever: The twins commentate on Booker's actions, and occasionally partake in Snark-to-Snark Combat.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: Rosalind. It starts out as an attempt to mimic Robert's humor, and only gets worse from there.I suppose you might say the entire incident was something of a train wreck.
- Magic A Is Magic A: The Vigor mechanics are delved to in a little more detail and provided with rules as to why Booker can't use them very often.
- Mercy Kill: As per the original canon, killing Slate is treated as far kinder than leaving him to be captured and "reeducated" by Comstock's men.
- Noodle Incident: When taking a sample of the Possession Vigor, he idly notes that talking to an automaton wouldn't be the strangest thing he ever did. In the footnotes, one of the twins admit they're not sure if they want to know what he meant by that.
- Psychic Nosebleed: Booker and Elizabeth both get them on several occasions, mainly when using their respective powers or experiencing memories from overlapping timelines.
- Scenery Porn: As per the original game, Booker's first day in Columbia is described in lavish detail.
- Shout-Out:
- "Never gamble with a Sicilian, and never get into a land war in Columbia."
- "Hooray. More crime.""Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint."
- The entire scene at the Soldiers' Field hotel is (
quite happily admittedly) lifted straight out of Casino Royale (2006). - "For luck."
- "Of course, the true savvy knows that the best sort of odds are one hundred — or, better, one million — to one; for those circumstances have a convenient habit of coming through in favor nine times out of ten."
- Shout-Out to Shakespeare: A couple of times. Lampshaded by the author on each instance.
- Trickster Mentor: The twins describe themselves as such in the footnotes for chapter 3, and they wouldn't be doing a good job of it if the advice they gave Booker wasn't cryptic.
- Web Serial Novel: At twelve of twenty-one projected chapters (as of December 2019), it's above 85,000 words.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: After making the TV Tropes entry, the Author proudly proclaimed that the novel now had 100% more TV Tropes entry - to increase something by 100% is the same as doubling it.
