2/5 for me means "English is technically fine, but the content has nothing to recommend it".

Which perfectly describes this fic.

It takes more than decent spelling and grammar to make a 3/5. If the most basic plot premise makes me rage because it's so stupid (see Tenages' post for how much the legal argument sucked) then it's not going to get a 3.

You're right, subjectivity is a big part of it. But out of the two of us, I think you're the one who's not being quite rational about it (hint: I bet that, were it not H/F, you wouldn't like it anywhere near as much. If instead of J.S. we had Hermione's dad, and a marriage contract to Hermione, I bet you'd rate this just as lowly as us, if not lower).

 

I acknowledge the effort the author put into it. It's still a fundamentally terrible premise, but he does his best to wrap the betrothal in as many layers of distractions as possible to try and convince the reader to accept it.

Sirius being used as a bridge between Harry and Fleur's dad, name-dropping the ICW organization, throwing out invented technicalities, even the little mysterious-but-not thing with J.C.'s initials, I'm glad he's doing that.

It's all just there for the sake of trying to make the betrothal more acceptable, and that transparency ruins it for me.

Also, I don't like that writing style. It's technically correct, but it's not lyrical or the type that you find wanting to imitate, like perhaps George R. R. Martin's, or Mervyn Peake's. It's overloaded on adjectives and adverbs like "assiduously" you should never have to resort to and dialogue that does its best to be formal, to convince the reader that this is a sophisticated writing style at work.

It's all there in the title: Alternate Endeavors.

Nondescript and would be even less worthy of mention if the median writing quality wasn't so low already.

Even as a Harry/Fleur fan eager to give it a chance the story was a letdown.

And the ultra-dramatic way Fleur's dad declares the betrothal, complete with the strategically-placed scene break - wow.

2/5.

 

I'll grant you the point that I was probably overly harsh in my review Sesc. You're right in that this is nowhere near My Immortal or shit-fics that we rate 1/5. (My personal view is that those don't even deserve a rating, but as long as 1/5 is the lowest possible rating, you have a point."

Thus 2/5 is the lowest it could be rated, and it's not really "barely" that, like I said.

That being said, the story begins the same way, with the same cliches, and the same absolute characterization and logic fails of a million crappy harem fics that I have no problem rating 2/5 or worse (depending on technical writing skill). See my previous review and Andro & Taure's posts for my main issues. Perhaps, however, it improves later on, thus raising the rating. I don't know, I didn't read that far. If this were in For Review, I would continue reading just to ensure I don't shortchange the story due to a terrible beginning.

This being the Almost Recommended thread however, I have no problem throwing out a quick rating and review after I read the first few chapters and decide whether or not to continue. And based on what I read (through the end of the Ministry basically) this is without doubt in my mind around a 2/5. Technically fine writing with no real plot or characterization features beyond poorly done cliches.

Maybe I'm overly harsh. But that's how I view it and it actually pains me to say so because I'm a fanboy who desperately wants any Harry/Fleur fic to work.

 

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6615909/1/Fuzzy_Wuzzy_Protector

Don't let the multi-pairing (Harry with Luna/Hermione) fool you, this is actually quite funny. Two chapters so far, and my favorite line is: "Harry shook himself out of his thoughts, and began moving. His senses were working in overtime, reviewing the new sights and smells before him. The field smelled richly of grass and the earth, and to his surprise some kind of feces. That made him wonder once again whether he had died. What kind of afterlife would smell like dog crap?"

 

I haven't seen this one and a quick search came up with nothing. Could be that I missed it though.

The World I Leave Behind by NES85

Summary:
Harry went into the forbidden forest to let Voldemort kill him, but was taken prisoner, instead. He is believed to be dead, and Ginny, Ron, and Hermione struggle to find a way forward. Canon is followed up to Chapter 34 of Deathly Hallows. Please R&R.

I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Writing seems good to me. The plot is decent. There are some things that I didn't like but there is enough good stuff that it doesn't really bother.

Spoiler

The biggest turndown I could imagine for now is that Voldemort his plan seems to be trying to make a horcrux out of Hogwarts and apparently he will do it by killing all the students who are still there.

I decided to post it here because in my opinion it is somewhere between a 3 or a 4 if I had to rate it. It's certainly worth the read if you are looking to waste some time.

 

I've actually been following this one too^ The fluff/ angst content is a little through the roof at times, but the rest of the quality of writing is pretty damn good. Definitely if you're looking for a decent story to waste some time on, this one is worth taking a look at.

Edited: This one's not too bad, although it's easy to see where it draws its inspiration from. It's pretty standard fare in the world of Cross-dimensional-traveler!Harry, but it does it with good grammar and spelling. It does suffer a little overmuch from the "this boy should be DEAD!" syndrome, but expecting all that going in, it was fairly entertaining.

Stranger in a Too Familiar Land » reviews
Harry Potter successfully fulfilled his destiny by killing Voldemort. As he lay dying, he was abruptly summoned to another world. What happens when a tired and cynical Harry discovers that he's expected to save their world from another Dark Lord?
Harry Potter - Rated: T - English - Drama/Hurt/Comfort - Chapters: 4 - Words: 22,571 - Reviews: 203 - Updated: 1-14-11 - Published: 12-31-10 - Harry P.

 

After a horrible first chapter (several cliche's, awful monologue, stale dialogue), this is steadily improving. Plenty of potential here as long as some plot (aside from adjusting to the new world) emerges soon. Only Different Timeline and its sequel have successfully focused on readjusting that I've read.

The author repeats some things a little, but otherwise this is well written. On alerts.

 

I like the evil politician twist of the above story. I look forward to Harry battle wits rather than crossing wands with his foe. There are worse ways to spend your time than reading this fic.

 

I laughed out loud at Voldemorts Temple of Doom style death. First chapter was pretty damn bad, but that was awesome.

 

Behind the wall of madness
Post-HBP oneshot. Captured by Death Eaters in an attempt to lure Harry, Hermione is put under Bellatrix' "care". Trying to pull her captor's strings, she ends up bound by them instead. Femslash, D/s, Stockholm Syndrome, Non-con, but above all a love stoy
Harry Potter - Rated: M - English - Horror/Romance - Chapters: 1 - Words: 9,839 - Reviews: 41 - Published: 8-9-10 - Hermione G. & Bellatrix L. - Complete

......

Honestly I don't know what to think about this fic. While reading it, I thought of reccing it, but by the end I decided not to. The Hermione/Bellatrix pairing is done surprisingly well. There are a few spelling mistakes, but they can be easily ignored.

My only problem is

Spoiler

Hermione marrying Ron at the end. I don't understand why she got together with him.

 

Pretty much anything by this author would fall into this category, most on the 'barely' end of the scale, though.

His writing is pretty bad - the grammar mistakes are pretty awful, but he does have some pretty good, and somewhat original, ideas - he just doesn't execute them very well.

There's one where Sasuke is killed at wave and Sakura+Naruto each get one of his eyes. There's one where he leaves the elemental countries to play duel monsters. There's also one that's a crossover with all the Final Fantasies.

Peruse at your own risk - but if you're desperate for something to read, it's ... tolerable?

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1335061/EroSlackerMicha

 

the Secret of Slytherin » by Kirinin

Amidst misconceptions and reconciliation, the lines that separate the Wizarding World will be destroyed. Enemies will serve one another as friendships are tested and forged. But first, the Sorting Hat has a message for Hogwarts... 1st in Kindred Powers
Harry Potter - Fiction Rated: T - English - Drama/Mystery - Chapters: 52 - Words: 190,934 - Reviews: 1402 - Updated: 1-13-11 - Published: 4-26-06 - - Harry P./Severus S. - Complete

​

Eh... I was thinking about putting this in For Review, but it was rather inconsistent. Not sure how to describe it better than that.

Also, one of the most bizarre SS/HP gen relationships I've ever read. Not bad, just very unusual.

 

If an author can't bother to use proper capitalization in the title of their story, I'm not going to bother reading it. Is it really so hard?

 

That's a terrible reason not to read a story, frankly. That would be like me saying if an author can't be bothered to list the story genre, I'm not going to read it.

There aren't any significantly overwhelming spelling/grammar errors in the actual story.

 

It's an excellent reason actually. Good stories take a lot of work to write. If the author can't take the effort to properly capitalize the title, then there's no reason to assume that he/she put any actual effort into writing the story.

 

^This and what Sesc said.

If someone can't write a decent summary then what are the chances that he/she can write a decent fic?

 

Why exactly does my argument not work the same way? Not putting in a genre is also lazy but not necessarily indicative of the story quality. Anyways, the whole argument is made redundant by reading the first paragraph of the story. It's not filled with capitalization errors, or such.

Edit: And what does the summary have to do with it? He was complaining that "the" was not capitalized.
Also, I'm not trying to force you guys to read the fic, it's obviously up to you. I'm just saying that's a stupid (and lazy) judgment call.