WIP The many Deaths of Harry Potter by ShayneT - T

Just finished the story. Agree that the author should show more and tell less, but I was very entertained despite that. The action scenes had good tension, and Harry's big reset-advantage never seemed overpowering. Instead it felt necessary just to give him half a chance against Voldemort.

It's kind of borderline rating-wise for me, but I guess 3/5. Almost a 4.

 

I'm wondering why some people here didn't really appreciate how the writer managed to streamline the plot without truly damaging the plot, characterisation and emotional message. With >200k words this story never felt long at all as the S/N ration is so high.

I actually can't even recall any long story which is so compressed on the essentials without having far worse problems. There are lot "longer" stories which say a lot less. That makes it unique in a way.


P.S. The few chapters till the end worked fine for me. There's real tension and the action quite consistent and direct. This story achieves exactly what it tries to do but nothing more. Unfortunately some focus too much on the "nothing more".

 

I guess I understand why this story is 'Almost Recommended'.

It's a bit bland, especially the first two years, which make up half of the book and even the ending leaves a bit of a bitter taste, even though it was well-written and pleasurable.

Having said that, I loved the Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire chapters and even the Horcrux hunt was surprisingly enjoyable.
The first Triwizard tournament reminded me so much of 'On the way to Greatness' and combine it with a bit of 'Again and Again' and it's easily 5/5 there.

4/5 for me because those middle chapters are some of the best I've had the chance to read of Slytherin Harry, but I can see why it's a 3/5 story for most of the people. My own rating is biased exactly because of the nostalgia - haven't had the chance to read much of a good Slytherin Harry lately.

 

I enjoyed this story... I've noticed a lot of negative reviews regarding the amount of deaths harry endures. (May i remind you of the title.. honestly) I found the theme of this story fascinating, what he's forced to endured(murdered repeatedly) should make the character study perfect for this site but maybe your just a bunch of over-critical pussies. overall the 1st half of the story as amazing and you shouldn't discount the incredible update rate. Now disregarding that the last half of the story was repetitive, boring, and cliche. So an amazing beginning met a lackluster end.
3.96/5

 

Being a bunch of over-critical pussies is pretty much what this site is about. ^^

Just, we don't tell each other that we're overcritical pussies, especially if we, like you, haven't understood the point the other is making. I've skimmed the thread and literally only one person complained about there being too many deaths.
Others issued structural problems of this fic that are a result of the deaths - which, honestly, is a perfectly valid complaint and just because someone writes something in the title of his fic, it doesn't suddenly make it un-criticizable if it results in less enjoyment for the reader.

 

I agree with this for the most part. The first... half? of the story that covered the first and second year was decent. But contrary to some I think it got really bad the longer it went on, especially near the middle. First time going through the fourth year was just painful and almost got me to drop the entire thing, but it got slightly better afterwards, enough to keep me reading with the drought of good stories of late.

Most of what could be said about this fic has been said already. I'd rate the first part of the story 3.5/5, but the later half got exponentially worse and isn't worth more than 2/5 IMO.

@edit: I wonder if it's really so difficult to create a believable political background for a story. I'm not even talking about politics in the foreground, but it seems that there's only a small handful of stories I've ever read on ffn (be it HP or other fandoms) that actually made it at least somewhat believable and add something good to the story. The vast majority of anything regarding politics written by fans is just so completely shit that it boggles the mind, this story included.

 

This was actually a lot better than I expected, given the comments. The opening was profoundly mediocre in many ways - Harry died often through nonsensical bullshit to begin with which stretched my suspension of disbelief, but I was willing to let it pass. It hits some of the stations of canon for most of the first third of the story, and only then diverges substantially.

And yet.

This is perhaps the most reasonable descent into a dark!Harry that I've seen. He doesn't especially want to be cruel, but it's forced upon him by his environment, and he adapts accordingly. That works for me. I also quite liked the cordial if unfriendly relationship he formed with the Dursleys out of a mutual dislike for murderous wizards ruining their lives.

The "cost" of the time-travel, both in time spent and events Harry cannot change, is very well done in parts. Pucey was a brilliant touch. Harry doesn't get out of death for free. He's constantly motivated to live and seek self-improvement.

Snape is very much in the background, but I enjoyed his depiction here. He's difficult to get right, with attempts wavering between bashing and character assassination of the worst kind - turning him into a carebear with somewhat prickly skin. None of that was an issue here. There's the right mix of respect for a kindred spirit and intense dislike because, let's face it, Snape hates himself far more than he could ever hate Harry.

Throughout the fic we see a mix of fascinating creativity and utter blandness. It's mostly devoid of cliches, but in many ways feels somehow hollow. Almost a parallel to the cold and absent emotional state Harry winds up in. The one thing we do feel, however, is a constant sense of threat which is rare in time travel fanfiction. I can't even remember the last time I read about a dementor and actually felt as if it could pose a challenge - until now. The scene where Harry finally conjures a patronus alongside half the damn school was a bit shit, though. Having everyone able to do a rare and powerful spell on a whim like that just undermines the impact of it altogether. Still, on the other side of this argument, I loved seeing how much Harry could do with a simple diffindo.

It's an incredibly flawed piece of work, sure, but I think it has a wide appeal for users on DLP. Nobody will mistake it for a masterpiece, but many of us will agree it fits within Almost Recommended. In fact, I'd highly recommend it for Almost Recommended. Be cognizant of the flaws, but don't overlook it just because it's not good enough for the Library proper.

3/5

 

Much like CareOtters, I enjoyed it far more than I expected from the reviews. It felt fresh in a way that HP fanfiction rarely does these days. If only the author had a more engaging writing style, it would graduate from 'enjoyable' to 'rather good'.