Title: His Own Man
Author: Crunchysunrises
Rating: T
Genre: Adventure / Friendship
DLP Category: The Alternates / Independent Harry
Pairing: Hints of future Harry/Luna
Summary: In the station between Life and Death Harry makes a different choice. Now he's eleven again, no one is turning out the same way, the Sorting Hat won't Sort him, the Malfoys are looking at him strangely, and - Lucius decides to live dangerously.

Link: Here

I just read this entire thing in one go and went from heartbroken when there was no 'next' button to deliriously happy when I noticed the last update was quite recent. Sure, the overall plot is cliche as hell, but everything about the execution is fantastically original. Five stars, easy.

 

I remember reading this back in December. It was good, but it had a few ideas that just didn't appeal to me. For example

Spoiler

Harry taking the OWL's early and becoming an adult.

The update rate is pretty good, some of the ideas are excellent and original, but Harry's characterization is very off. I'll give it a 3.5/5, rounded up to 4/5, because it deserves to be in the library, but it still has some big flaws.
Also the writing is solid, though again, some characters, like

Spoiler

Dumbledore, Lucius,

are very different from canon.

Bottom line, good but definitely not perfect. 4/5

P.S. Even though Harry's character is definitely different from canon, I like it a lot. Independent, but not an asshole, unlike many stories in the library.

 

Chapter 4 and it has, once again, a really evil, manipulative and again evil Dumbledore, who had bad teachers to make Harry unprepared, who stole his stuff, hid family and his numerous family vaults from him, let Sirius in Azkaban and was all around just an asshole and the Malfoys are the good guys and Harry one-upped Dumbledore by

Spoiler

taking the Elder Wand and suing him

and the forth.

Dunno man, until now it reads like a typical "Harry loathes Dumbledore" story where he constantly whines and bitches about him, although the Malfoys were interesting.

have to stop now but I will try to read further later on, maybe it gets better.

 

@Nemrut. The whole story is based on !Evil!Dumbledore, but the writing is good and the plot he creates is pretty original. Be warned, lots of cliches.
Harry is very proactive, which is refreshing from the many Time-travel stories where Harry takes a whole year to do anything. Hermione,, Ron, twins... are all characterized pretty well.
I still like it, though.

 

Don't bitch about the skeleton, look at the flesh. It's an extremely well-written story with legitimately likable and believable characters, and features actual plot twists that aren't taken wholesale from canon.

Any story where I check how many chapters are left and feel happy if there's more than a few or sad if I'm nearing the end gets a recommendation from me, and I was surprised as hell that it hasn't hit For Review before. It's been mentioned here a couple times according to Google, though.

And I'd argue that it's not evil Dumbledore, per se. It's a Dumbledore that's dead-set on Harry being sacrificed on the altar of the Greater Good, whether Harry approves or not. If there was no other way to stop Voldemort, then he'd be in the right; it's the whole needs of the many (the wizarding world not being Voldemort's bitch) vs the needs of the few (or of the one, in this case). Harry thinks he's bypassed the argument with his third-faction gambit.

 

I dunno about this. I'll read it, and rate it later, but from the first couple of lines it is unbelievable that Harry is believable, and I don't like that. If a newbie had recommended this, I'm not sure I would've even read it. Harry picking up and cuddling the ugly and deformed Tom Riddle? Harry's first words towards Dumbledore being about manipulation?

Example to show I'm not just blowing out my ass;

Doesn't fit canon at this point, but again, I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt.

 

I like the Dumbledore being very focused on the Greater Good. I don't like how Harry is out of character. Just about every other character is done well, but Harry isn't(He's got a good, interesting, likable personality, but no transition from canon Harry to this Harry).

Spoiler

Harry seems to forget completely about Ginny(girlfriend in canon), while he focuses on Luna(friend in canon), which makes absolutely no sense. If the author is going to write a fic that has a Harry/Luna pairing, that's awesome(like your fic). But it's as if Harry and Ginny never had a relationship. I'm not asking for a Harry/Ginny pairing, but I'd like some explanation, like Harry saying " I don't like her anymore" or "This Ginny isn't the one I liked back in my timeline". As it stands, Luna seems more important to Harry than Ginny, which makes no sense, because in canon he looks at Ginny on the Marauder's Map, not Luna.

I might seem like I don't like it but I really do. There are definitely some problems with it. The writing is excellent, but there are some grammar mistakes.

Still 4/5

 

I can't believe people are taking this seriously. The story is horribly cliché and there are hardly any redeeming factors.

2/5 because it could be worse.

 

Definitely this.

 

I reread it and... I hate the Harry and Malfoy interactions. This story isn't 4/5, it's 3/5 max.
The plot's cool but Harry is so overpowered.

 

Probably the gayest scene in fan fiction history.

 

Voldemort using his real name for his vault, how delightfully in character!

2/5 cause you know, it could be worse.

 

Peasants. The lot of you.

 

I'm enjoying this fic, won't review it yet cause I"m not up to date. And Dizstance, you missed a supergayfag line in Ch. 22 when everyone comes into the infirmary the morning after the Legilimens scene you quoted...

:awesome

 

^ This fic has some cringe-worthy moments, but there are some pretty awesome moments as well, that kinda make up for them. It's probably a kinda polarizing fic. My score's hovering between 3 and 4, depending on if the author does some more cool plot twists and if he resolves the Harry/Ginny thing I mentioned in my earlier post.

 

I don't mind the interactions as much, I just hate the pro-Slytherin stuff. You know, only Slytherins notice stuff whilst everyone else is ignorant, they live on a whole different social ladder to everyone else etc etc. Although it's not as prevalant in the later chapters, it is still there.

Quick run down on cliches:
Evil Dumbledore, heir to everything.

Quick run on fangirl cliches:
Slytherins are just misunderstood, Dracos Harrys new bum buddie, Snapes Harrys soon to be new bum buddie, and pretty much everything is in the background 90% of the time besides the Harry/Slytherin interaction.

Thank fuck seriously when Draco died and returned that he did not keep his memories...

As it is, writing is decent, does do some character interactions well, kudos for having both canon plots unravel in Harrys first year, but overall very cliche, too pro-slytherin for my likes at times. So a 3/5 because I will be reading it but it could be alot better, could be worse.

 

...Read it as crack, folks. It's a much better fic that way.

That said, for a serious rating, 2/5.

 

With the sheer number of cliches, I should dislike this, but frankly I have tons of fun reading this, and am looking forward to future chapters. Should be 3/5, but guilty pleasure factor bumps it up to 4/5 for me.

 

I read this some time ago, but recently enough so that I recall it at least decently. It was amusing enough for me to finish what was there, but not good enough to end up on my favorites list.

Therefore, 3/5.

 

I do like that a lot of Harry's actions had unintended consequences that raised the difficulty level of his first year, basically forcing him to juggle the first three books all at once. There are lots of dumb cliches, but also some epic scenes

Spoiler

I quite enjoyed the battle in the Chamber of Secrets with Tom, the Basilisk, and Quirrelmort all at once.

The butterfly effect on the timeline is more interestingly portrayed than most Harry-goes-back fics, and in my opinion it merits a 4/5.