Title: An Interview with Justin FinchFletchley
Author: ajarntham
Rating: T
Genre: None listed (probably General)
Status: Complete
Library Category: General
Pairings: Canon (off-screen)
Summary: Ten years after the defeat of Voldemort, Lee Jordan asks what life was like during the Death-Eaters' reign for the Muggleborn son of a prominent Tory family, and what he learned as a member of the commission which investigated how they came to power.
Link: FF.net

Still a little unsure as to the spirit of the new rules, but here it is all the same. I'm not sure this will be to everyone's tastes, but it's really well-written (captures the essence of a radio interview very well, with good interjections, word swaps, etc - you can really "hear" the interview in your head.)

Calls attention to some post-DH and off-screen DH events in a really thoughtful, interesting way. Really refreshing to see some issues that tend to inspire grandiose, overblown ranting - like Muggles vs. wizards - handled in this way.

Some great moments of humor, too. The whole "Dean Thomas, Sex God" thing is worth the price of admission (20K words, pretty quick read) on its own.

Don't go in expecting rip-roaring action - this is what it says on the tin: a radio interview.

The big draw for me is that the writing is, by the by, very good, and it fleshes out some unexplored or underexplored areas of canon in interesting ways. Even if Harry and the other big-name cast members don't actually appear, you get some very cool perspectives on them.

This fic is a personal favorite and helped to shape some of my own ideas about how the broader wizarding world works within the outline sketched by canon, but I'm not quite sure it's really a DLP fic. So take that for what it's worth.

Edit: Heh, forgot to do that whole rating thing.

This is a 4/5 from me. It's somewhat limited in scope, and I certainly wouldn't call it a must-read, but it covers some very fraught topics in a non-hyperbolic way, the writing is solid, and there are some nice moments of humor. Way better than average, but not something I rave about, in other words.

 

I really liked it. It's a nice look at events from the view of a side character, and a good attempt at extrapolating what's going on with the rest of the (non-Harry world) while remaining true to canon.

I don't agree with all of his interpretations, certainly, but even the ones I disagree with, there was clearly a lot of thought put into.

There was only one (or maybe two) times when I read something that just so utterly disagrees with my interpretation of canon that I found it entirely implausible. Unsurprisingly, that was one of the how technology intersects with magic moments.

4/5 easily though.

 

Solid read, yeah. I'm a sucker for explorations into the war and various incidents. This reads like a story from World War Z, which is the only interview-style thing that goes down all right to me, and I come away from this story wishing there were more perspectives or stories, basically. The Muggle Vs Wizard kinda talk wasn't quite the cup of tea I'd order, but went down okay enough, and could've been worse, so.

But the best parts were the outsider view character commentarys. Things like Voldemort's attempts at magical self-improvement, everything involving Harry's image problems, various Ginny moments, the Snape stuff et cetera. Little anecdotes and conversations from different views, with enough devil's advocate to showcase all sides to give multiple moments of "oh that's valid too, yeah". And the commentary's not just the usual fic writers spouting meta thing, which is always good. Justin himself has a pretty awesome moment during one of the trials, so good for him there.

So yes, it's worth a read. Short enough and goes down well. Kind of makes you wish there were more really good war testimonial stories in this style. Good stuff.

 

A very nice read for someone wanting something entirely different from the normal.

One think I did not like, the idea of Daphne and Anthony being together. Eeep, she is my favorite heroine and I don't like her with anyone other than Harry.

4/5 from me.

 

The writing was very solid and the dialogue was flowing accordingly. Tidbits like Justin meeting Rasputin only sweetened the pot. Also, the length was perfect. Any longer and I probably would've lost interest in this style of writing. The Wizard v. Muggle stuff wasn't really jarring, and certainly appropriate regarding who was being interviewed, but I wouldn't have exactly minded had they been replaced with more scenes of Harry and other people.

4/5

 

This is really good. Reading about the war from an outside perspective is fascinating. The only thing I don't like is Harry pretty much giving away all the secrets of the war. I cannot really imagine Harry informing the world about Snape's love for his mother, for instance. 4/5

Daphne is pretty much a complete unknown, mentioned all of once in canon. How can she be anyone's favorite anything?

 

Being a completely blank slate, authors had a lot of fun with her character. HarryxDaphne is also a fairly popular pairing and that, as well as the many different fanfiction interpretations of her character, color how many see her, even if none of that has a real basis in canon.

 

This fic engages my biggest hate in all HP fanfiction, the idea of Muggle military being able to take on Voldemort, and so it can't go above 3/5 for me. It's well written, but I don't like what is written.

Also, for a radio show about a political situation, their conversation focuses far too much on what amounts to gossip. Of course they should be talking about Harry, but speculating about his psychology isn't relevant. It's just an excuse for the author to engage in psychoanalysis and push their preferred interpretation of Harry (and, worse, simply telling us what that character is).

Also not a fan of "Newblood" at all.

 

It's a solid little fic that does something different, and does it pretty well. It's probably not one I'll bother to read again, but it did engage me enough that I stayed up for an hour to read it all, and given I barely read fanfic these days that's quite something.

It isn't perfect - some of the humorous bits aren't quite as funny as they think they are, for instance - but it captured the feel of an interview pretty well (although as Taure notes, it's not exactly a serious political interview, which it really ought to be given the material being covered).

4/5.

 

That might be true, but it does not explain why Daphne would be more popular than say, Tracey Davis or Susan Bones. Do people just like the name 'Daphne' more than the others?

It makes sense though. Some of the muggle born stripped of all their assets are bound to have influential relatives in the Muggle world. Do you expect them to do absolutely nothing while the Wizarding government encourages Muggle torture as a sport? Of course, any success of their plans is debatable, but surely they must try.

 

There's just something in the character that attracts attention even though she isn't mentioned much in canon. Especially after reading so many great fics with her in the lead for years.

I don't think she is as much of a blank slate now as back then. Certain characteristics come to mind when we think of her. Pureblood, Beautiful, Slytherin, Cold or at least aloof, not a fan of Draco Malfoy, Dark or blond hair, blue eyes, has a small sister, etc.

As for why not Tracey Davis: she is considered Daphne's best friend, sort of like Ron, so that takes the spot light away from her OR Susan Bones: she isn't in Slytherin, isn't cold, is niece to DMLE director, sort of cute, etc. , i.e. not as interesting as Daphne.

Lastly, it might just be the name as well. Daphne just has a ring to it. Daphne, hmmm...sounds good. I created an insane Daphne recently. It got deleted.

 

To be fair, it only says they were going to try. It makes no claims about whether or not they would actually succeed.

 

This, if you're trying to do away with labels that puts a worth on a persons lineage and therefore power, maybe you should stop all references to blood and just call everyone wizards and witches.

 

Well to be fair Justin is, in this fic, the son of a Tory cabinet member. I wouldn't read him as an unbiased observer at all - his bias is just subtle and realistic, it's quite well-done actually. 4/5 seems right.