Eh, it just felt like it had several cliches in it. Amelia Bones becoming MoM, marriage bonding (although this was a lot less consensual and seemed more annoying to the people), Harry having enough gold to fill the SuperDome, etc etc.

That said, it's still fun. I just read the chapter that was released today and enjoyed seeing Hermione's parents flip out.

 

Wait .












WHAT !? How does he manage that?

 

She comes as a corpreal body.

 

A_Warriors_Philosophy by Not_Fade

In the summer after OotP, Harry becomes determined to become what he must to fulfill the prophecy. He finds guidance and direction from a source he never expected. Independent!Harry, Semi-Dark!Harry.
Harry Potter - Fiction Rated: M - English - Adventure/Drama - Chapters: 4 - Words: 20,074 - Reviews: 33 - Updated: 4-10-09 - Published: 4-8-09 - Harry P. & Bellatrix L.

A new fic up at ff.net which has quite the potential and I could easily rate as a solid 4 if it wasn't for the unexplained change in Bellatrix's character and a few more moments which were borderline a "WTF moments".
As it is the story comes closer to the recommended fanfiction rather than just readable but LeStrange's unexplained sanity, and Potter's change of heart - from wanting to kill 'the cunt' going to the other extreme of "trusting" her, despite saying he won't ever, he still does, rates the story with 3 but that might as well change with the next chapters.

The fic is another try on the indi Harry scenario with angry thoughts after the DoM events but it has a surprisingly nice 3rd chapter where Bellatrix does explain the "warriors philosophy" more or less.

It gets bonus points for nice Honks scenes but there won't be much of that according to the author.

 

That is fail right there. No need to go any further. Still, haven't read this yet so I'll keep my mouth shut.

 

You can call here straight an OC and yet the story is quite entertaining... but that is the reason I posted it in here, it does take some getting use to the idea of apparently quite sane Bellatrix and that only in a few short weeks after the DoM accident, where she was more or less drooling while standing there and thinking of Voldemort's 'snake'...

 

Okay, I'm putting this in almost recommended because it's not Harry-centric, though, IMHO, it's one of the best crossovers in the Potterverse.

[TDA] Marks And Scars by E. H. Smith Rating: PG-13 - Spoilers: PS/SS, CoS, PoA - 3476 hits - 8177 words
Genre: Drama - Main character(s): None - Ships: None - Era: Multiple Eras
In which two of the most intriguing characters from the works of J.K. Rowling and Lois McMaster Bujold meet for tea and, eventually, sympathy. A meeting between these characters is certainly something their respective authors would never have anticipated, but their worlds turn out to be oddly congruent. Takes place during the spring of Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts (not that Harry figures in this story in any but the most peripheral way) and, from the Bujoldian point of view, during KOMARR.
Published: October 28, 2001 (between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix) - Updated: October 28, 2001

There are two sequels to it, too. It's crossed seamlessly and beautifully done. The only problem I can see with it is that if you haven't read Bujold's Vorkosigan series, you'll be lost. Banner posted it in recs a bit over a year ago, but it unsurprisingly ended up in the recycling bin. It is, however, high-quality fic, despite the nonfavoriteDLP character focus.

 

Gah, Discoveries by Potterholic keeps getting worse and worse. The humor seems to have been drained out of the dialogue, leaving only sloppy drama. And by that, I mean narrative and dialogue that reads juvenile.

However, a nifty oneshot popped up today.

L'Heritier de le Fay by n1ght3lf reviews English story; girl!Harry. It had been four years since Malfoy had changed her... four years since the War had ended. It was time for her to come back.Rated: M - English - Drama/General - Chapters: 1 - Words: 25,784 - Reviews: 3 - Published: 4-19-09 - Harry P. & Gabrielle D. - Complete

Cons: Harry is turned into a girl. Not much tension in the story; Harry steamrolls her opposition as if she were written by Jeconais.

Pros: Female Harry seems to be in a relationship with Gabrielle. Kind of like a lesbian oneshot version of Hope. Excellent grammar and spelling, no noticeable errors to me when I read through it, although I didn't go over it with a microscope. It's fun to read.

I'd probably give it a 4/5 if put up For Review, although I don't quite feel confident enough to expose it to the masses. Read it.

 

lolwtf. I have to read it just for this.

edit: huh, did the author rip this from someone else? i've read it before

 

Bujold? Instant, overwhelming, epic win. I haven't even opened the link yet, and I know it is awesome.

And now taht I have read it, or at least part, I must add to my previous statement: BEYOND WIN. I was expecting Miles and Harry, you know, with the two lightning scars? But Snape and Mark... wow. Just wow. I worship this.

 

The author said he posted it on TFF last August. I knew the story looked vaguely familiar when I first read it too.

 

The writing is Meh. The grammar is not-so-great. The author typo's all over the place, and there are too many clichés for my liking. But Squirrelmort is pure WIN!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4612714/28/Knowledge_is_Power It's a time-travel story and those aspects are only so-so. It'd never make the library, and I wouldn't put it anywhere but almost recommended. Still, what they did to Voldemort....

 

Try linking to chapter 1 rather than chapter 28. Is that really too much to ask?

EDIT: Just read chapter 1, possibly the most confusing opening chapter I've ever read. It was one big what the fuck moment. Completely put me off, didn't even bother to look at the next chapter.

 

huh. Thought I did. Sorry.

Edit: Yes, the first chapter sucks. Almost didn't go on after it, but I was bored and didn't have anything better to do. It gets better. Especially with Squirrelmort. It's a bit closer to the barely readable spectrum, IMHO. Squirrelmort is one of the few redeeming things in it.

 

There's a huge problem with commas, but there are some nice touches such as the international wards. They're only superficial, throw-away attempts at fleshing out the magical world though. Good light read.

 

Meh. The content and writing is not that bad, I give you that. Problems with commas also do not disturb me since I myself have got absolutely no clue how commas in English really work (I listen to my gut).

However, some aspects of the story really are lacking. The spelling mistakes (aurorers, anyone?) may be rare but they make me cringe. The formatting is atrocious as well - walls upon walls of text successfully try to induce a headache for the reader.

I do not really want my time back either (especially as it is Harry/Daphne), but I do not think that the story is even fit for the Recycling Bin. It may have the potential for 3/5 but as of now... 2/5 at most which sadly still means that it's better than most of the new shit out there.

 

The first indication of a problem, was when Harry debated putting on his weapons and armour. Now, I didn't read far enough to know exactly what the author meant by weapons and armour, but its rarely ever good in an HP fic.

The second problem, was that the supposedly manipulative Dumbledore was excessively blatant. Maybe I've been spoil by better authors, but I prefer a manipulative Dumbledore that has the reader guessing as to what he's actually trying to do, rather than it being blatantly obvious and leaving you wondering why no one in the fic has noticed and killed the old bastard.

 

The massive blocks of text are killing me right now. I'll try again tomorrow afternoon when I'm more awake.

However, I have noticed several things that I dislike by chapter two... aside from the massive blocks of text, that is. In no particular order...

- No scene breaks.
- Grammar/spelling.
- Harry's appearance at the end of chapter two made me think of the Terminator...
- Dumbledore. Blatant and poorly written evil Dumbledore.
- Harry's attitude has already changed before the start of story. I don't want to read another going over of past events and realising that Dumbledore is evil any more than anyone else, but some effort to show character progression would be nice...

Not looking promising. I'll read a bit more tomorrow like I said, but I'm doubting this qualifies even as guilty pleasure material. Sorry Sesc.