So, I did my best to find it,

I looked in both the Harry/Hermione and the Harry/Fleur tagged areas.

Perhaps I'm just blind.

The story is an Arranged!Marriage piece of fiction, where Fleur's father makes the decision with Sirius to engage the two.

Only, Harry is already starting to fall for Hermione.

There are various other things going on in the fic, politically wise, as well, but that's what I can remember of it.

If it was part of either of the tagged story lists.. well... feel free to flame the shit outta me.

I've been wanting to check up on it, but I forgot to add it to my favorites/alerts on FFN, and now can't seem to find it.

 

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5681042/1/Heart_and_Soul

 

Thanks, T3t.

 

Is it any good? Worth reading?

 

Arranged marriage, you do the math.

 

Statistically implausible =/= statistically impossible. I'm sure there's bound to be a good arranged marriage fic out there somewhere... maybe. Either way I am kind of curious about this now.

 

Actually I found it to be done supremely well last time I read it.

Unfortunately, I don't remember much in the way of specifics, just my general opinion of it.

The writing is coherent and almost error free, it's bashing-free, the relationships move at a reasonable and realistic pace and the premise doesn't require much in the way of suspension of disbelief.

I'd give you more of a review, but I'm re-reading it at the moment, and it's been some months, so I'm not familiar with the details anymore.

But I'll probably give one after I go through my archive-trawling.

It IS rather long.

The basic premise is a rather familiar one. Sirius decides to do something about protecting Harry/improving his life and arranges a marriage for Harry... We're all familiar with said premise and are generally tired of it, I'd assume.

However, I would compare this piece of fanfic to the Naruto fic Time Braid, in that it takes a generally badly done genre and does something actually good with it.

Though I won't say it's as masterfully done as that fic till I've re-read it.

 

Short answer, no. I remember posting it in the Almost recommendable thread a while ago. Back then, it good sides were the characterizations and interactions, especially concerning the Weasleys, the bad sides being the obvious arranged marriage and prospect of Harry/multi.

Now, the characterizations and interactions have gone shit, the whole arranged marriage thing plus the Harry/Fleur interaction remain shit, and the whole Hermione angle is just to gag at. Yea, no. Don't read it.

EDIT @WalkingDisaster: The points you mention were exactly the strong points of the story. They are not anymore.

 

Huh, is that so? I mean, I'm still going to read it, if only because once my curiosity latches onto something it has to be imminently terrible to push me away, but now I'm suddenly less enthusiastic about the prospect.

Though I have to admit I see no problem with either of your stated 'bad sides' in the first paragraph, so you'll have to excuse me if I take your review with just a grain of salt.

Not to say your opinion is invalid, just that I think we might end with differing opinions here based on what we find distasteful and what we do not, individually.

 

Define 'good'.

 

Arranged marriage is astronomically better than soul/love bonds.

 

a (1) : of a favorable character or tendency <good news> (2) : bountiful, fertile <good land> (3) : handsome, attractive <good looks>



Seriously: I can't give a real review for now, as I'm barely into chapter two.

However, I can say that I find the writing to be premium. It's detailed, coherent, paced well and technically sound.

 

Out of curiosity, what is the pairing for this fic? Harry/Fleur, Harry/Hermione, or Harry/Fleur/Hermione?

 

It kind of.. fluctuates between all three. But was currently leaning towards Harry/Fleur/Hermione last time I read it.

 

I recall reading it a couple months back. I think it was leaning towards Harry/Fleur and Harry/Hermione, but without the usual threesome nonsense...

I think. Maybe it was something else.

 

I'd have to disagree here. They each provide the exact same dramatic conflict (or lack thereof), but with soul bonds you can logically add an interesting dose of magic into the relationships.

That being said, they are both horrible plot devices that make me want to decapitate kittens.

 

Noooooooooooooo.

No, no, no, this is as shit as the use of the arranged marriage plot device suggests it is.

The writing is completely mediocre - just because he doesn't make grammatical mistakes doesn't mean he's any good at writing. Very stale, not one memorable or lyrical or well-constructed sentence in the whole hundred thousand words.

You need a good dose of Swimdraconian or Anomynous55 or even me to cure you of this mindset.

The story is based on a politics that are as ridiculous and retarded as five Hellen Kellers combined.

Objectively bad.

 

I find this to be the most amusing part of your post. Since I've tried to read Circular Reasoning several times, and while I can admit the writing is indeed superb, I can't stomach the characterization or the story.

What you've written is good as well, but not enough that it's some sort of proposed Fanfiction Medicine, as if it could cure the ills of having a differing taste and opinion.

Writing doesn't need to be a fancy flourish of proving your mastery over the wonders of the thesaurus to be good and enjoyable, at least in my opinion.

tl;dr: You have every right to disagree, but I take offense at your presumptive, insulting, cocky tone.

Fuck off.

 

Because I've read the story, I'm going to have to agree with Andro - the writing is objectively bad. It's way, way, way too wordy, the sentence structure sucks, and there's far too much "tell" and not enough "show". It's come to the point where I'm not even following updates on the story anymore - it's just too tedious to read.

 

This I can agree with to a point. I happen to like very wordy stories, since I'm an obsessive reader and happen to be rather detail oriented myself. But others do not, appreciating more of a reserve with word usage and description, so I can see your point.

I'd put the story itself at a 3.5, not fantastic, and not worthy of the DLP library, but not bad either. Firmly in the middle of the 'good' section.

However, there is little that is actively updating and even that good out there at the moment that I'm not already aware of or that I haven't read to death, so I read it nonetheless.

Thanks again for the link.