I think a lot of us are guilty of having various things in the fandom that are just such a turnoff we often wont start a story if it has it. For example, usually all I need to throw a fanfic away is to see it be "fem-harry" or say "hermoine/harry" or "SI"

Just from reading these boards, its clear a lot of people on DLP have those pet peeves. Certain pairings they wont touch, or certain cliches that are a deal breaker for them.

So here is the question though! I thought it would be interesting to have a story search thread listing fics that violated your 'peeves' but was so good (or handled them well enough) that you read it and enjoyed it anyway. Fics that managed to overcome what would normally be a deal breaker for you.

 

Normally time travel fics are a huge let down and end up sucking but our very own Joe does it pretty well in the Wastelands of Time.

 

Ha, I was thinking of making a thread like this.

I generally stay away from Snape becomes Harry's guardian stories. Normally, everyone's characterization is murdered and the author is a closet Snape fangirl. However I absolutely love the R trilogy - Resonance.

I also don't go for Harry/Draco slash... ever. Well, except for Snakes and Lions. It's an exceptionally well written friendship story that has light slash near the end.

 

Menace's fic. Hits the trifecta of my pet peeves. Time travel, fem Sasuke and a Naruto/Sasuke pairing and yet it is one of my favorite fanfics.

 

I hate stories involving magical inheritances, but Out of the Night is one of the best fics out there, and its a central plot device.

 

Yup, exactly cheddar. Thats exactly what I was aiming for with the thread.

 

Yeah, the mentor Snape thing rubs me wrong most days too, but Arsenoe de Blassenville wrote one called "The Best Revenge" - which was actually my favorite fic of hers.

My guilty pleasure fic, which is pretty bashy actually (my pet peeve above all else), is the Wizard's Fall short series by Bobmin. It's the first fic I ever read, and despite its flaws, remains something I look at from time to time all these years later.

 

I'm not a big fan of slash, angst or evil/manipulative Dumbledore, but I put that aside for the Saving Connor series by Lightning on the Wave. The world building in that series is certainly very very interesting.

 

I usually hate slash and especially the Draco/Harry pairing but Burning Day by Lomonaaeren and the two preceding fics were very good.

 

I'm not a fan of Harry/Hermione fics because she's usually portrayed as just a prissy little bookworm but I do like The End and the Beginning by muggledad. Both Harry and Hermione have a darkness to them having been forced to kill many times during war and it's a characterisation of Hermione that I prefer (though her opposition to swearing is a bit much in my opinion. It's dark times so I think the odd fuck or shit is justified).
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/5783428/1/The-End-and-the-Beginning

 

I normally don't like it when Harry does something like change his name and go to some non canon school but Miranda Flairgold did it pretty well in the Second Chance at Life.

 

I uhm..

actually really really hate the whole Pureblood system that fanon has expanded so much upon. Things like marriage contracts, and houses, and holy fuck who cares what the difference between an Ancient House and a Noble House and an Ancient AND Noble House is. Poorly executed pureblood decorum scenes, and the whole "I talk like a 19th Century Victorian Brit" thing also grate on my nerves. Usually, with those types of stories, I cringe and mentally ready myself to lose some brain cells.

But, hey, I enjoyed Contractual Invalidation and Uncle Harry despite all that. Granted, Republic nailed the pureblood decorum scenes, and there really wasn't a lot of the pureblood garbage that pervades Harry/Daphne stories nowadays, but nevertheless, it did touch upon a lot of tropes that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, and managed to pull it off admirably.