Title: Open Your Eyes: The Goblet of Fire
Author: mathiasgranger
Rating: T (PG)
Genre: General/Adventure
DLP Category: General, though Romance does play a part.
Pairing: Harry/Hermione
Status: Complete
Summary: Harry Potter is tired of running blindly into life and death situations. This series is about Harry thinking before he leaps. It starts off at the summer following the events that transpired in Prisoner of Azkaban.
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3225125/1/Open_Your_Eyes_The_Goblet_of_Fire

My Review:
I found this to be a rather brilliant story and surprised it hasn't been listed here before, though I'm guessing the H/Hr pairing had something to do with it. The first thing that captured my attention after a rather slow start was that Harry is thinking for himself. He is no longer a brainless little twerp but more confidant in his abilities and himself. He doesn't whine about life being unfair and all that, though there are a few times where the mere mention of his parents "pains his heart".

Another pleasant surprise was the lack of cliches. I may not be a veteran of HP fics so some concepts are new to me, but this guy seems to have taken on board the readers dislike of them and either twisted the cliches to serve his purpose or not used them at all.

The greatest part of this story is the believability factor. Harry does not become a power to rival Merlin over the summer. Nor did he obtain any power via some obscure plot device. He reads, he trains and he slowly sees the results of his work as his powers grow. Dumbledore is not a complete manipulative prick but instead truly does act for the greater good within reason. And Ron, well lets just say there's none of this "friends forever" crap. Harry also acts believably. He sees an opportunity and he takes it, he actually thinks on what's the best course of action. That is the reason the story has such great appeal to me, there was rarely a time where I questioned myself with "why didn't he do this" or "couldn't he just do that".

Now onto the only fault I can find with this story: the pairing. While I'm not a Hermione fan by any stretch, the author characterized Hermione much better than JKR. She still has some of her bossiness and all that but she does not turn Harry into a pussy. She hardly bitches, if at all, about bullshit ideals which is a big plus in my book. All in all I would say her character here is passable. That said I should warn you guys that there is fluff in this story. Most of the time it's readable but at some stages I had to skip it due to bleeding from the eyes (Halloween).

A very enjoyable fic with great characterization and twists on what I believe to be the best book of the series. Would receive full marks but the presence of Hermione ruins it slightly.

4.5/5

 

I remember this. The idea was good but the story seemed so bland and uninteresting. I don't think I got past the 4th chapter.

I'll read it again so see if its improved.

Edit: No its still the same. While I do like the believability of the characters, and good writing style, there just isn't anything to keep my interest in the fic. Its just dull.

2.5/5

 

Lack of cliches? Uhh I beg to differ:

-The first chapter has Harry realize something about his life with little prompting (Hey! Things would have been better if i had thought 'this way' so I'll do that from now on!)
-Harry goes to Grangers and has a smashing time
-Hugs
-Occlumency book
-Hermione finds book that solves Harry's scar/nightmare problems
-Ron and Ginny are totally accepting of Harry/Hermione
-Animagus-training...

And I only got through 3/4 of the 3rd chapter.

This is the epitome of the standard H/Hr fic, it's stale and yawn-worthy. Not that it's BAD (well, I find it in poor taste for characters to be so accepting...), certainly it's not horrible, and you might be able to read all the way through on a rainy day or something, but I wouldn't think this library worthy.

 

I haven't had the opportunity to read a great deal of Harry Potter fanfiction, and I rarely read anything that isn't in the dark arts or independent section, for that I may have to excuse my ignorance of some of those cliches. Putting them so bluntly does make the story seem kinda corny. As for the pace of the story I found it to be refreshing from the usual kind that I read. Again, thats just my ignorance shining through. It does get better when he finally gets to Hogwarts.

All I got to say in defense of me putting up this story is I liked it and I guess it's not for everyone.

 

Don't be discouraged. I was merely expressing the opinion that was envitably going to be expressed.

If you look, you'll notice how few fics there are actually archived on this site – it's because the archive aims to archive above-average and extra-ordinary fics.

If we wanted normal stories, 3-star stories would be accepted into the archive. This is about a 3-star story.

 

I remember reading this back in the day... whenever the hell then was.

Nothing special, not enough plot to hold my interest. But still decently written.

3/5 Trashbin worthy.

 

Read chapters one and two.
It was well written, the only grammar thing I caught was Hermione's father saying, "I was calling to infer if Harry..." but the Harry-Hermione interaction was weird. Hermione's hair is "wicked"?
And it was just sort of... boring.

Jumped to see what the graveyard scene was like, and what the hell? Harry's supposed to be somewhat more intelligent, yet he both connects the fact that their wands priori incantatem because they're brothers and then tells Voldemort that's why?
2/5

 

I read your post Croaker, and when I went to that chapter. I'm kind of torn by the battle scene. The spells were the standard reducto, stupefy, but then again this is following canon and Harry is fourteen. The play-by-play was good, and those are hard to come by. I enjoyed reading a reasonably intelligent and reactive Harry.

One thing that bothered me was that the dialogue was kind of stilted, and kind of rendered any emotionality null. 3.5/5.

 

This is the kind of story I would have gobbled up 2 years ago and loved every minute of it. Nowdays, I look for something with a bit more plot and originality than simple retelling of book 4, only with Harry seeing through all the clues and foreshadowings JKR had used, while fapping after the author's alter-ego.

 

While I think MG is a good author in many senses, I stopped reading his (her?) work because the HP/HG was just so syrupy thick that it passed all believability.

I would agree with IP, though. As I see it, MG's work is in the top 20% or so of a sea of very similar fics. It's good, but doesn't truly separate itself fro the crowd.

Of course, it's ironic for me to point that out when I 'm struggling just to put out someting mediocre.

3/5

 

While the author is producing some decent hp fics they are not really DLP material. Correct me if I am wrong, but the writer has a high happy/sappy
feel to her works.

 

That's my perception. I guess you're right, it's not quite the DLP norm.

 

I normally wouldn't bother to post, as what I want to say about the fic is pretty much the same as what others are saying. Dull, with too much emphasis on Harry/Hermione. Blech.

However, this annoyed me enough to post:

Snape calls Harry, Potter. Dumbledore calls Harry, M'boy. Molly calls Harry, Harry dear. The Dursleys call Harry, Boy. That is all. There is no swapping of terms.

If Snape started calling Harry, m'boy, then there would be some scratching of heads, and (to borrow Amersion's charming phrase) everyone's assholes would clench protectively.

Why would it change for the Dursleys and Snape's phrasing?

Okay, I'm done now.
*gets off soap box*

 

It wasn't that the battle scene was terrible, though I found it kind of uninspired. It was really just that moment where Harry chats with Voldemort about the priori that bothered me. I mean, his wand core was mentioned like once, almost four years ago at that point? His giant leap from "Weird shit going down with our spells" to "Oh, brother wands" goes a little past intelligent and observant into "I'm so smart I'm like a Seer without any Inner Eye".

And then telling Voldemort what it was struck me as stupid. I mean, he's so smart he realizes that this golden cage of light thing is because they have brother wands, but he's so lacking in sense that he tells his mortal enemy this? That's just... fuckin' weird.

 

Yeah, I agree on your points. What I meant was that when I checked the chapter, my attention somehow shifted from your observation to judging the battle scene.

 

I know this is completely different but when I saw this story I could not help think of it as a song.

Open your eyes, its The Goblet of Fire!
Dadad da daaaa!

Story is 2/5 though.