Title: Cross Cases
Author: yopumpkinhead
Rating: T
Genre: Adventure
Status: Completed
Fandom: Dresden Files/Supernatural
Pairings: N/A
Summary: While looking for a way to remove the Mark of Cain from his brother, Sam accidentally activates a spell that transports him into an alternate reality. There, he discovers that wizards have Laws, demons aren't just made of smoke, and Lucifer isn't the only fallen angel in town.

Meanwhile, Harry Dresden just wants some downtime to recuperate from breaking into Hades' vault and foiling Nicodemus's plans. But when a stranger named Sam Winchester turns up unexpectedly on Demonreach, and demons start going after Harry and his friends, Harry has to get on the case, and fast.

And Dean? Dean just wishes things would stop going to shit for one whole day. As if the Mark of Cain wasn't enough to deal with, now he's got an angel on one shoulder, a demon on the other, and a brother who's unexpectedly gone missing. Again.
Link: Here

This is an excellent Dresden Files fan fic, and while I'm less knowledgeable about Supernatural it does mesh with what I know. From the summary you know that Sam shows up in the Dresdenverse and promptly meets Harry. After that things spin up in a satisfyingly Dresden like manner as other members of both casts appear. The story is tightly written, each character acts according to their nature and the treatment of both sides of the crossover is very fair. Even better the story has rising action and comes to a conclusion, making this one of the better Dresden stories almost by default. It's 130k words, so reading it takes a well spent afternoon and it will scratch some of the itch for Dresden as the next book continues to not appear.

5/5

 

The writing is technically sound, but there's something about the way the author writes that leaves me feeling a bit disconnected. The level of angst from Sam also left a bad taste in my mouth. While it seems in character at first glance, he's not...that broody, all the time. There instances where he's his more normal self, but overall the tone is 'Broody, Scared, Desperate.' Some of that is explained away from the fact that, you know, Lucifer can use him as a meatsuit at any time, but eh...wasn't a fan.

Speaking of, the level of erotic overtones from Lucifer was crappy as fuck. Which may have been the point, but IO don't remember him ever being that overt in canon.

Back to the narrative itself....everything seemed too brief. Like, some scenes and interactions had serious potential and we saw some of it, but then the scene would be over before it could be fully explored. All in all, it would have been nice for thing to be stretched a little more, to give the various relationships being formed time to deepen.

Basically, I feel like this kind of idea and crossover doesn't lend itself to being much more than a very short story, or a full length one.

Honestly though, the idea of the Winchesters in the DF Universe and having to adapt to everything, with the new set of rules and monsters to live by as they do their thing, is interesting. It was sad to see it get cheaped out by Dresden/Crowley/Lucifer being able to send the Winchesters and Co back home.

I'll give it 3.5/5, rounded down.

 

I have not watched Supernatural but even without that knowledge, I believe that you can still enjoy this fic.

It was written fairly good with all the basics covered. Harry didn't seem OOC and the plot was very straightforward. Very Dresden-like in its episodic manner. I do regret not seeing any interaction with the Sidhe Rulers with regards to Lucifer and Co. I would have assumed it to be a big deal for them to be in Dresdenverse.

Overall, I'd give it 3.5/5 going up to 4 as it is complete.

 

Necro because I slogged through this the other night in a fit of boredom.

I found it average at best. Nothing positively stood out to me about any of the characters or scenes. Dresden's snark is really muted in favor of his empathy with the fallen angel possession. The characters in general come across as one dimensional, with consistent behaviors that drive the plot while lacking complexity and depth. For a bunch of it, Castiel is just there, and the only interesting things he does are provide exposition by being there in the background. Harry wasn't really memorable aside from playing counselor on the Sam and Lucy show.

Author also doesn't do a great job of developing scenes or fleshing out details. There was one chapter where I had to double back because I couldn't figure out for the life of me when Sanya popped up with Butters. While I wanted to know what happened next, I felt rushed reading through it.

Definitely more Supernatural than Dresden, both in terms of style and character focus. The Dresdenverse is just another adventure for the Two Brothers(TM). Pacing and predictable twists and cliffhangers make it read more like a short arc in the show rather than an actual story. It captures the feel of the show pretty well and incorporates enough elements of Dresden to make it familiar, but doesn't blend them together in an interesting way.

It very much reads like "The French Mistake" episode where Sam and Dean are in the real world parody universe, and the premise for the interaction between the two universes feels pretty weak.

The subtler differences between the two worlds are fun to read about, and I do give it points for ending in a way that seamlessly leads back into the next season of Supernatural, but it fails to realize a lot of potential.

3/5: Not great, not terrible.