Meh, is about how I can sum it up for me. The writing isn't bad, Harry's narration was pretty good, and as a sequel to Mercenary, it works. As a stand alone, the genre is way past its time. Dumbledore was painful to read, as was the straight up bashing of everyone loyal to him.

4/5 if I read both stories one after the other, and pretend its 2008. 2/5 leaning towards 3/5 otherwise. It falls into the guilty pleasure category.

 

What?

That, is unacceptable. To me, at least.

 

It's an example of a silly mistake made into a retarded one, that's for sure, but the fact that we could actually understand what he meant lessened the annoyance factor.

Both Mercenary and its sequel have their own charm which, for me at least, makes up slightly for the numerous spelling and grammar mistakes and the somewhat simplistic nature of the plot. A very abrupt and seemingly rushed ending does disappoint slightly, but it's actually fitting when you consider the overall pacing of the fic.

A fun read, but nothing more. 3.5/5, rounded down in this case to a 3/5.

 

That makes me believe it's a typo. A damn annoying one, for sure, but still a minor typo, and not some total wrong typing of the prison Nurmengard. Plus, adding to the (canon?) fact that Grindelwald's rise to power was connected to the Nazis, it makes sense to choose that location.

 

This - pretty much sums up my exact reaction to this story.

 

I wish he'd get back to writing more Balancing Destinies.

 

I wonder why I never read this.

I enjoyed it a lot. Even though there are some clichés found in most Azkaban fics (manipulative Dumbledore and Ministry, learning magic by accessing Riddle's memories => super!Harry), it is almost original with its premise (Harry was actually convicted for a crime he committed), the main plot (Harry hired to kill Voldemort), the protagonists ('good' Ron, 'bad' Hermione, 'well-organised' Death Eaters), and the end.

The story is written in first person with Harry's point of view, thus the reader doesn't have to listen to Dumbledore's monologues about the 'greater good' or random secret 'light side' meetings.


It's not brilliant, but really good - if you are able to accept the clichés.

4/5


EDIT: I will rate the sequel in its own thread.