It's funny that should come up just now, as I've been reading The Legacy, a mediocre Harry/Daphne fic which I believe was recced in this thread a few pages back (I don't know where else I would have got it from, anyway), and basically the opposite of a Hermione-wank has just happened.

Anyway, it's not particularly good, but so far it hadn't done anything wrong enough to kill my enjoyment, when suddenly out of the blue in today's update comes a total shark-jump of a Hermione characterisation (or should I say re-characterisation, given that she was fairly canon-ish for the first 100k+ words). Basically there's a long digression on her totally batshit insane manipulative!Dumbledore-style motivations towards Harry and Ron, and then the story carries on again with back-to-normal Hermione as if nothing has happened, apart from some kind of knowing wink at the end of the chapter.

It really freaked me out.

 

Lol yeah, I saw that too. Absolutely awful take on her. The author basically turned her into a delusional psychopath.

 

Wait, really? You guys don't meticulously plan out the lives of your friends in order to maximize your own happiness?

 

To be fair, if anyone wrote Hermione that way without over the top bashing, I'd probably read it. If there's any character in the series that could plan out their friends lives it would be her (or Dumbledore).

 

The problem wasn't that she was overly analytical, it was that she was delusional, not seeing the blatantly obvious, and arrogant to the point of pantomime, thinking about Harry and Ron as dogs to be trained.

With regards to The Serpent and the Crown, is it just the world that's AU or is the magic system different too?

 

Both the world and magic system are AU, and it's rather delightful. Even with the slow pacing I'd consider it library worthy.

 

My reviews for each chapter...

Basically: it starts off promising, but quickly divebombs. A glance at the author's favourites is not encouraging. I don't think I'll be following further updates.

 

I like The Serpent and The Crown, but I read it as what it is. A piece of original fiction with semi-recognizable character names.
I'm pretty sure Harry doesn't have gold, which is what confused Dumbledore. Dumbledore expected him, a noble, to have plenty of gold. He appears to not be omniscient in this AU.
The reason Harry is confused about the theory is that he expected to just be able to learn spells, and from every conversation he's had with someone not a teacher that is exactly how it works. People outside of Hogwarts learn chants and spells and other rituals that require no theory at all. My guess is that the magic at Hogwarts is more refined and that learning some theory allows you to learn a large amount of spells easier, but it could just be that the author is so inconsistent that he confused his own characters.
Also magical reserves... yuck.

 

Just finished it.
Quick updates and it was pretty decent as well.
Not really seeing too much of a plot line even now, but its still pretty entertaining, and things are still happening. Thankfully the author didnt bash any chars, coupled with decent writing makes it good enough for me.

 

I really like the story so far and I'm following it with interest. There are very few things to dislike in it, which is quite rare these days, and so far it offers a lot more that makes me wish to see where it goes next. That's pretty much enough for me to rate it as almost solid 4/5

It followed the canon story line up until now, and according to the author he has reached the point where he will divert from canon and start on his own path.

Also with regular 10k+ updates there is little to complain about

 

126 kilowords of canon rehash before divergence? I think that I will read something else.

 

Actually 188k words now.
But those are pretty good 188k ones

 

The main plot is generally rehash but the focus is on character building. Tonks, Daphne, and Tracey are all really well done and the central premise that Harry has to take this potion to dull his magic is pretty interesting.

I recommend giving it a shot.

 

That's precisely the problem I had with it. It diverged so thoroughly that it was no longer Harry Potter in anything but name, and the divergence into stereotypical fantasy was done with such utter mediocrity that it wasn't really readable. It's one step down from a $2 paperback fantasy novel that you would only ever even consider reading on a 12 hour layer in a particularly uninteresting airport.

 

My problem with Serpent and Crown is not that it's different to canon but that it's worse than canon. The characters are less interesting and more annoying, and the world is as cookie-cutter as it's possible to get when it comes to medieval fantasy... with the exception of the elements imported from canon, which stand out.

 

I thought The Serpent and the Crown was decent enough. I'll be following it for a bit just to see where the author takes the story.

My biggest problem with the story is as Taure said; Harry lost all motivation after his first lesson. I just can't imagine that happening. In the first chapter he was so excited to become a wizard and then after finding out he has to put some actual work into it he starts acting like . . . canon Harry. Ugh. Harry doesn't need to be a walking encyclopedia like Hermione, but let's give him some talent. On the bright side, he's at least thinking about getting some reading material on the side now.

I'm also a bit confused on something. Is there no apparition, floo or port keys in this universe? I'm assuming that by removing those tools s/he's hoping to create an "epic journey high fantasy" atmosphere? Beats me, but I've always love apparition.

On a side note; Taure have you read the review someone posted after you? The reviewer is going at your throat, lol. Too bad it's unsigned.

 

Lol, I'll never understand people who write replies to other peoples' reviews. How do they expect the original reviewer to see it?

Anyway, said reviewer makes the classical errors of "popularity = quality" and "quantity = quality". Such argumentation is not really worthy of any reply.

Their misunderstanding of Potter Law is hilarious though. Especially as they reference my profile in relation to it, which clearly states that Potter Law was a work of humour.

 

Shut up Taure, your best story is only ranked 1250th out of six hundred thousand. You don't get to have an opinion.

 

Still better than 99.8% of all other stories.

 

That reviewer is an idiot, I may not like Taure's stories very much, but I think he is tone of he best HP fic critics, in either quality, consistence, broadness and quantity. And it's very rare for me to disagree completely with him.

The only major bad thing I have to say about his reviews is that he is too lenient in many cases. Not this one specifically, but most. And he see things in a story that the author could never even imagine, and ends up giving him/her too much credit.

About The Merging, just this: "Your vaults Mr. potter". Fuck you. Is it worth reading or is it just Indy! Cliche crap?