My review in the For Review thread. I originally wrote it for here, then changed my mind and posted it there.

 

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6474818/1/Diving

Just found this today; surprised I haven't seen it around here, but I saw that Sesc left a positive review, so maybe I missed it. It sets out as a shipfic set in the GoF plotline, but the writing is good enough that it's enjoyable despite the lack of original plot. The H/F is still in the very early stages, and atm the meat of the fic lies in nice characterisation.

It's not perfect, but for some reason the writing made me very tolerant of its problems. For what there is, I'd rate library worthy, but I wouldn't post this type of story for review before it was pretty far along. As it is, I'm not sure the writer knows exactly where he's going with this. Also, the he mentions The Secret Diary of Fleur Delacour, which I haven't read, so I don't know how the stories relate.

tl;dr: nice, light little fic. ~4/5

 

I've always avoided stories with two diggits number of chapters and word count of 20k, because the chance of those being readable is slim to none.

I was about to say that this story is hardly an exception, but then I should be honest and mention that I just read it all and it wasn't that bad.
The thing that I didn't like was that the chapters seem to have been posted as soon as the author has finnished writting the chunk he was currently working on, which points to a certain lazines on the authors part.

That being said, a not so bad pairing fic, or so it seems so far, that can continue being entertaining in the coming chapters or fail misserably. If I had to rate in for the review section it would be a 3/5 from me.

 

The author needs to learn how to use fucking ellipses. Other than that though, I was pleasantly surprised with the dialogue, if a little cliche at times. Reading more as we speak.

 

I read Diving a while ago - but I thought it a bit boring to be honest - but had a few good points in it.

 

I've read it before. It's a nice happy little story. Nothing epic but it fills its purpose well.

 

Yeah, I do that too. I don't think it's a big problem, because the chapters don't carry any plot (contradiction ftw). I actually think it's more annoying in the recent chapters, because the Yule Ball is supposed to read as one chapter, but the author is posting as he goes.

Nice and little seem to be the keywords around here . To be honest it's not great, but it's also a very pleasant surprise. I get the comparison with Jeconais (the angstlessness, the way Harry is extra-perceptive), but it's misleading because this isn't anywhere near as cheesy. I also agree that something about the characterisation rings true.

Generally it compares pretty well to other shipfic types. The Rebel and the Chosen nearly got into the library, and from what I remember this is a lot better (hopefully this isn't going that direction).

 

If anyone was wondering if http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6872576/1/Angel_and_Champions is any good, well, it's not. Every character talks like Captain Kirk, and occlumancy becomes one of the main plot points early on, which is pretty much auto-fail. Of course, like any 4th year redo with HP/FD, it contains Captain James T Daphne Greengrass as well.

I would say it's written well, but its really not. Their is minimal grammar and spelling errors, but Fleur is just written so poorly that it's not fun to read. It seems like she developed a 6th sense right from the getgo from the second she meets with Harry, and we can all see where that is going. She has the uncanny ability to read emotions, correctly identify events that happened just based on peoples postures, and then act accordingly, because for some reason she knows best? I don't know what is going on.

Some choice snippets:
"Who was this boy? She could see the hardship of his life, his eyes told everything to her. The feeling of wanting to rush over to him, pull him into her arms, only her modesty stopped her. The not lady-like emotion she had been taught to avoid since she could remember."

"Harry nodded, not even put a smile on his face, "My name is Harry Potter, nice to meet you Miss. Delacour" He replied with a forgery tone of happiness, before taking her hand. Instantly, Fleur got the tingling feeling from his touch. Her stomach made a flip, as their eyes locked, she couldn't help but to blush to the sensation."

"There was something with him, something wrong. She couldn't find any answers to what could be wrong with Harry. It was also annoying to her, that she kept wanting to look into his eyes."

Nothing redeeming about the story at all and it's only three chapters in.

Next story: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6046437/1/Change_of_Fate
Avoid.

Next: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6747136/1/The_Bond
Avoid.

Next: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6864381/1/Harry_Potter_and_The_Veela
Avoid.

Next: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6091629/1/Triwizard_Tournament_Take_Two
Wat.

Next: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6898331/1/Shoulders_are_for_Crying
Avoid.

Next: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6947101/1/Soul_Body_and_Mind
Avoid.

Yeah...

 

You dashed my hopes Anarchy. I saw a bunch of links in your post and hoped one of them would be semi-good....only for you to say otherwise.

And now I feel compelled to read them for myself anyway. So when I get the inevitable urge to bleach my eyes Imma be cursing you Anarchy

 

Hoooolllly shit that is funny.

 

For the love of God, is a decent Harry/Fleur story too much to ask for?

 

Yes, it seems.

 

I quite enjoyed this story too. The short chapters are a bit annoying and the author needs a beta for some more proofreading but, I'd give it a 3,5 rating with the potential to go higher. Its a slightly clichéd portrayal of Fleur but I think the author actually makes it work.

And as you said, Laid-Back!Harry is sweet.

At the very least it would go into The Recycling Bin.

 

I actually re-read the two best Fleur/Harry stories because of the lack of them the other day. I think the only way for a decent story of this pairing to happen is either a GOF-rewrite, or a Harry has an affair with Fleur during HBP.

 

"Shoulders Are For Crying" turned out to be majorly plagiarized by means of HP and the Broken Wands. From what I gathered, it took a ridiculously long length of time and tons of damning reviews for the FF.Net staff to take it off. Did anyone here notice and leave a review?

Also, since the Harry/Fleur community has been without a good story for a while with the exception of Heartlands, does anyone have any good ideas for a new fic?

 

This post made gather my courage and browse FFnet once more for H/F fics.
This is what greeted me:

I think I'll just go back to waiting for something to turn up.

 

Yeah, it's looking pretty sad for new stuff, however, I saw that chris400ad made a sequel to Triwizard Champions called Champion's Return (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7098187/1/Champions_Return). If you can stomach some of the bad grammar and hold your vomit down with all the cliches, it's a fair pleasure read. At least it's not Harry/Fleur/Queen Elizabeth or Harry becoming blind in the Chamber of Secrets, coming out more badass than before, and winning over Fleur (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6468629/1/Blinded).

 

Those parts, right there, are more than enough to make me skip what is obviously a horrible story. I didn't even need to read the summary.

I've always wanted to write a story, either at FF.net or at TTH and just post a single sentence per chapter, then insist everyone review the wonderfulness of my work before I proceed.

Seriously? Not even a thousand words per chapter?