YMMV of course, but you'll find quite a number of folks ready to disagree with you on that one...

Also, in terms of more recent fics I don't think you will find, for example Headrush's W/G stories "stick figure Giles and Willow, devoid of everything that shaped them" in the slightest...nor, since I'm being extemely honest and horribly pimpy here, my own post-Grave, "Complicated". I actually find myself slightly miffed at that description as applied to either of our work, irrespective of whether you wished to recommend or not. Sorry.

Apologies to Headrush if I'm overstepping the mark in referring to your work...