What I remember most is that this trilogy, especially the second fic, was where my hatred of Snape was born. I never liked him much, but when Barb made him into Harry's Dad in the alternate universe, that's when I really truly started to despise him with every fiber of my being.

I think it was the opposite reaction from what the author intended.

And while the points of suckitude have an overwhelming majority on the points of awesomeness, I still give this one credit for realistic teenage romance, a clever but cruel way to end it (Save Draco! Take my magic!), and a professional level of quality and care to the writing.

Plotwise, well, I wouldn't re-read this if you paid me twenty bucks to do it.

I do remember there is a follow-up fic on fictionalley that picks up where Barb's trilogy ended and it provided a much happier ending for me.

MERGED: with the identical discussion from way long ago.

 

...2 year necro post? Am I seeing this right?

EDIT: Nevermind, Nonjon merged it so it must be ok.

 

I only ever made it through the first story. Reading spoilers of how it ended, though, I'm glad I didn't finish it. I detest stories in which Harry loses his magic forever. As far as I'm concerned, Harry Potter without magic=major fail.

 

Truth. Always and Forever.

Plus, any story where any character sacrifices anything for Draco fucking Malfoy is useless.

 

I got hooked into the first book and plowed my way through it even once I started to scream at the monitor over her fawning over Draco and emasculation of Harry. Enjoyed the second book a great deal more because it was my first taste of AU Harry, but gave up on the third one pretty quickly.

I actually did start in on the prequel at one point, but lost interest in that as well. Never really cared much for MWPP-era fics.

 

I remember getting halfway to chapter five or something like that... but I had read OotP by then so the fail was bloody obvious.

The ending sounds... fail. Squib!Harry is not my thing. Though I'm glad that he gets his magic back.

Thinking about Barb reminds me; has anybody here completed Lori's trilogy? Paradigm of uncertainty / The Show that Never Ends / Hero with a Thousand Faces? I'm thinking about re-reading those, especially since I didn't finish them in the first place and can't remember shit all about them.

 

I don't think "Hero With A Thousand Faces" was ever completed.

The first fic of the trilogy was pretty good, but I find myself unable to continue reading what is essentially an abandoned series.

Still, it is one of the 'legendary' H/Hr classics.

 

Yep, it never got past chapter 12, which was published back in 2005.

Still, the quality is pretty good for a fanfic started in 2001 when there were only four books around.

 

I think it was still being posted on Barb's yahoo group.

 

It was my first also but I'm about to re-read it because I have a different perspective on things now, but yeah I was going for H/Hr so the ending sucked.

 

The Second Book was by far the most interesting. I don't really mind Snape if he isn't too intrusive, and the time travel bit was certainly enough to keep me hooked.

Though, this was 2 years ago. Maybe if I read it today I'd think differently.

 

It was good for its time. The second in the trilogy, in particular, was quite well written and an intriguing premise. I could stomach the H/G in this story, mainly because the romance is secondary to the plot. The ending, however, left an incredibly bad taste in my mouth; I'd have a much better lasting impression of the series if it wasn't so godfucking awful.

 

Just in case folks are confused here's links:

The main trilogy:
Book 1, Year 5: Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent
Book 2, Year 6: Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions (or: The Last Temptation of Harry Potter)
Book 3, Year 7: Harry Potter and the Triangle Prophecy

Barb's own finished prequel:
The Lost Generation (1975-1982)

Dryad's follow-up to the trilogy
Which he wrote independent of Barb but with her permission and is the one where Harry at least gets his magic back for a happier ending: The Return of the Griffin

Barb has other fics, including one called Replay that I think is unfinished, but to the best of my knowledge all parts of this series are complete.

 

So I finaly finished it and I must admit that I still love the story and will probably reread it in another five years. The end sucks obviously but I can look past that because the rest makes up for it in my oppinion. The trilogy also introduced me to fanfiction so it will always hold a special place in my heart

 

The second book was my favourite by far. The death scene when Harry killed Lily was fantastic and very memorable. Time travel plot worked well, but Voldemort's demise was terribly anti-climatic.

Just checked the epilogue, Harry is not a squib, just blind. Doesn't change the point about the sacrifice, though.

I don't regret reading this story, even if I don't like Draco and Snape at all. It's still far from DLP material, however. Super!ginny got quite a lot on my nerves in some places also.

 

Like many others, this is the fic that got me into the fanfiction scene. Also, like many others, my tastes have evolved to the point where I cannot even read these stories anymore, because they utilize every single HP Fanfic Device that I now hate.

The end of the series is hugely disappointing. Even when I first read this series and loved it, the ending completely put me off reading anything else put out by Barb.

 

I can happily say I never reached the ending. I read the first book and most of the 2nd book, but I couldn't get past the beginning of the 3rd book. Didn't like how after all that shit he went through where he killed his mother in the 2nd book he still went back to being the Dursley's bitch over summer.

Even back then when I wasn't a H/G fan I could tolerate the story, I especially liked the snake from the first book. Was pretty sad when he left, funny enough the snake is the most memorable part about the trilogy for me.

 

Barb popped my fanfic cherry too, I remember loving it, until the end when Voldemort got sucker punched by the author to auto-fail. I started reading it as she was writing the first story, it was awesome watching it come together.

Isn't her other story replay the one which was basically a softcore erotica novel about Harry seducing a housewife next door to the dursley's by telling her he's sneaking around her house cause hes MI6 or some such nonsense?(/me goes and checks...yep right one)

I think there's more to it but I kinda just stopped because it was just chapters and chapters(and chapters and chapters) of Harry and this MILF trying to get into some sorta trashy romance, but never quite doing it.

 

Heh this old thing...

Like so many others this was one of the first Harry Potter fanfics I read, luckily for me it wasn't my first though, The Naked Quidditch Match holds that honor for me. Where I discovered Barb's trilogy was while searching kazaa-lite for a copy of the books. Some wise ass thought it;d be funny to name it as book five...

Fortunately for my sanity I quickly discovered it wasn't actually JKR's version of things, but unfortunately for me I was still in my "words, must read" period and so I actually had the misfortune of having read the entire series...kinda. At the time the wise guy was pushing these over P2P, Barb hadn't actually finished the last book and I wasn't able to find her yahoo group so I was pissed at the ending (without a epilogue). Of course once I finally got my hands on the full epilogue I was even more pissed...

The one thing that stands out for me the most in the series though, was her Azkaban Harry plot device--one of the firsts I think... The Azkaban scenes still set a chill up my spine though, especially the bit with a prisoner next door to him singing broadway songs to ward off the dementors. Harry reasons that he was using happy memories to ward them off only to have it revealed the songs aren't exactly happy memories for him...

Over all the books suck, but that's only because of their close relation to the as then yet undeveloped cannon. These days their onoy worth is as historical curiousities. I wouldn't actually recommend them to anyone here, but perhaps a copy or two to toss at the slash fangirls as a distraction would not be amiss?

--bornagainpenguin