It's difficult, but as it's atrocious in some aspects and great in others, 3/5 seems adequate, even though there's not much I'd call mediocre in here.

 

It's got some good ideas and some awesome twists, but it's all bogged down now. TSM is just printing every idea he has down onto the story at this point, which isn't helping an already too big of a fic that's just only in the third year.

Hopefully he can steer the ship clear, but at this point I think he's stuck in an eco-chamber of fans rambling about how awesome all his ideas are. Though no where near as grand in scale, the same thing happened with Goerge Lucas. Maybe it's a bad metaphor, but it's what came to mind.

 

This fic is, as everyone else commenting on the thread has said, is a guilty pleasure fic, however if you manage to get past the first 5 chapters it becomes quite enjoyable. This fic definitely belongs in almost recommended, because of how Sueish Harry is. Personally, I think the author got too attached to Harry, and couldn’t possibly think of giving his precious character any flaws. Harry masters occlumency, is a politician, is a good guy while being bad ass, he inherits the Potter fortune. He legitimately cannot do wrong. Another character with seemingly no flaws is Neville; he always helps Harry and always does the morally correct thing. He’s even a powerful wizard for god’s sake. I think Neville could have been a really interesting character if he was a good person but not a good wizard; that would lead to a very interesting character, but again I think the author got too attached. Hermione is also pretty much perfect, although she rejects doing things the ‘slytherin’ way and does sometimes become annoying because of that.
So far I’ve commented on all the flaws of the fic, however there are several virtues that I think make an interesting read. The plot has atleast 3 twists each year, and each year promises to be more than a canon rehash. The prince of slytherin plot line is the most original thing I’ve ever seen in hp fanfiction. The idea of having someone “rule” slytherin house from the shadows is an interesting idea which needs to be explored in more fics than this. In fact, the author has put in so many plot twists and so many open ended ideas that might lead to a plot twist he forgets to finish some of those open ended ideas. Overall, the plot is a prime selling point on the story.
A character I find far more interesting than Harry is Jim, the wbwl. He makes several mistakes, is selfish, but a far more believable character than Harry who does everything right. What he does after hearing the prophecy is completely believable for a teenager. He starts to crack, becomes far more serious, and begins to see a dramatic change in personality. This is done masterfully, and it makes it all the more believable that he would be so desperate to learn occlumency that he would go against his father’s wishes. As I said before this results in a far more believable character who is interesting to read. In fact, for all his prejudices and faults the story would be more interesting if told from Jim’s POV.
I give this fic a 3, and say that if you can make it past the first 5-10 chapters it’s worth a read.

 

@AgentSatan I think you're confusing plot with some of the author's ideas that you like. A plot is a sequence of events. TSM has lost the plot in interludes hundreds of thousands of words ago.

And imo there's no jump in quality after 10 chapters. The first 30 are pretty much universally awful.

 

@ScottyPress I do state pretty clearly in my comment that I like the idea of a ruler of slytherin. Maybe I could have not included it in the paragraph about plot, but I said I liked it as an idea. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by 'its lost the plot,' because each year has a plot of it's own.
First year was a canon rehash, but with Harry inserted in and character interactions. The overarching plot was the Sorcerers Stone, and the conflict was Voldemort trying to steal it. It definitely had other plots within that though with the most striking example Harry solving the dragon crisis.
Second year there was an overarching plot and again several smaller ones. The overarching one of course was the chamber of secrets, and another was Jim and Harry's conflict.
Second year summer has many plots. One of the most notable is the India plot, and the Azkaban plot.
Third year has yet to finish so I can't really know the plot, because of how the original third year plot of Sirius is now destroyed.
So, of course TSM made a plot in this story. There is a plot for each year, because each year is supposed to be treated like a separate book. TSM even said he only made it into one fic for reader convenience. There is definitely plot the only worry is that there are too many subplots and TSM won't be able to keep up as I mentioned in my first comment. The interludes develop the characters and while some are unnecessary the plot isn't lost as you suggested.
Yeah, its been a while since I've read it so the first 30 chapters may as well be pretty crap.

 

Having read the latest chapter, I can‘t really think of anything meaningful to say.

I mean, what else did we expect to happen?

Spoiler

The Advocatus Diabolus, while somewhat entertaining, was as obvious a redshirt as I have seen in a while. And, as usual, the first half of the chapter was essentially just a massive infodump that, while providing some new character beats for Snape, could have been handled just as effectively in another way. Which would have also been beneficial to the brevity of the Dreamscapes arc, which was once again ridiculously long.

I wonder whether this type of mental fortification might play a role in the eventual endgame, no matter how Lovecraftian it might turn out to be (read, by my current estimate: very). Because if not, this is yet another three-chapter excursion that has led us towards yet another foregone conclusion, Sirius’ possible intervention or no.

All of that being said, I wonder what our merry group will do with Rookwood now that they have seen what one of his disciples was capable of?

 

800k words, is in the middle of third year.

114th chapter starts with 3k words of Ted and Andromeda Tonks met and what is the Black Madness.

…

 

That was a classic case of the author overreaching for something that really needed no explanation at all and I have a strong suspicion will not be particularly relevant for some time to come, if at all. And by that point, We will all have forgotten about half of it. Anyone remember the Selwyns..?

On the other hand, I mean, it’s pretty much what I expect at this point. TSM has NO filter whatsoever.

I expect this fic to update well into the reign of King George VII.

Spoiler

In any case, bets on whether poor old Hoskins will make it out of that dungeon alive?

 

I fully agree with Dicra honestly. I love this fic, and I think it's amazing. But what was once a fic about Harry and Friends is now a fic about Friends and Harry. Expanding other characters is fine, but not when we know what every character is doing at all times. We've literally spent the last 7 chapters on the same 48-hour period, shuffling from perspective to perspective. Especially when subplots that are less compelling (i.e. Theo-No-Name or Snape's wolf-fear) become the main plot.

That said, the plot-explosion idea is mostly contained within the Third Year, and I think the author is doing so intentionally. I've spoken to the author on his discord, and the Author says that he's setting up the dominoes right now, but once winter break is over the dominoes will all fall quickly. I'm taking this to mean that the main plot for Year 3 is a collection of random plot threads that all come together in one big conclusion.

I hope that this is the case, and the story gets back to being as intense as Year 2 was.

 

So now that @Dicra has apparently been away from the site for a while (I hope they’re alright!), I have to ask. Is anyone else still reading this?

Spoiler

While there are still some interesting plot threads somewhere in the giant mess TSM created, I find myself continually put off by some of the more recent developments. James jumped the shark by casting an Unforgivable on his son, the Carrow scene was just… ugh… and today‘s update resolved the mystery around Sirius‘s trial in a plausible, but ultimately rather lame way. I get the impression that the author is trying to walk the tightrope between horror, shock and awe and mystery procedural, but continually drifts off into the territories of either too much or too little of any one thing. There is no real balance to things anymore.

In addition, the massive updates and multiple weeks of wait time in between are absolutely killing immersion for me, but that‘s hardly newsworthy with regard to this story anymore. My initial reaction to the Ancient Runes lesson being staged in the Great Hall was one of utter confusion, as I could absolutely not recall the project Hermione was working on. The same for Narcissa and Barty staying at Nott Manor. It is an immensely frustrating phenomenon. I still read the updates as soon as I can reasonably get to them, because I still enjoy TSM‘s writing style, most of the characters (Lily‘s craftiness stands out as opposed to her husband‘s continued buffoonery), and the universe they created. However, the negative points I mentioned are starting to weigh more heavily in my deliberations on the story that is delivered.

 

I honestly believe the only reason that James did that was because in the prologue Harry doesn't get on with his family. It was my least favourite thing that's happened in the story since first year.