I'm just waiting until they're out of Grimmauld to start reading again. It doesn't help that Daphne's POV and her reasons behind everything seem retarded as fuck.

 

"Reign of the Serpent" just updated with quite interesting chapter. Sirius making fun of upstanding society members in way that is really funny and not stupid, Order that is doing something efficiently and some other bits of wordbuilding that I liked.

Hogwarts U is also quite interesting, though I am worried that it will end as not so badly written Dumbledore and Weasley bashing. And also abandoned (author started and de facto abandoned some stories, though there are examples of finished ones). BTW, the idea with starting education at Hogwarts not as 11 years old really should be used more frequently.

 

More reviews

 

I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time --Blaise Pascal

 

I don't think the author really knows where the story should go. I can't even see some inner logic in what he/she does. Sure, reading insane Draco is an interesting spin but how does that affect the story universe? Don't think the writer thought about that.

The same with what happens with Dumbledore. The only thing we read is that he died sometime during the summer. Completely wasted story telling potential. That matches with the pointless role of Draco in the 6th year. 2 people died and Harry assumes it's him but nothing happens about it. The year just ends.

A fake marriage would somewhere down the line end accidently in some real romance or in a conflict with his/her real love. At least that should be the purpose of that tool. But the way Daphne is characterized I see it's more likely that Harry gets together with Trevor, the toad. So what was the purpose of the marriage again? Protection of her but that failed royally. So what's the role of Daphne's character now? I can't see any besides filling chapters with drivel. That's unfortunately the essence of "The Legacy". The potential we see in some scenes are nothing more than a Fata Morgana.

 

I made it up to chapter 20 or so in the legacy a few weeks back, but it just dragged on and on and on, and the logic behind a lot of the author's decisions didn't make sense, such as the combining of Harry's horcux and himself... that's pretty much where I gave up all hope for the fic.

 

I know Darth Marrs doesn't have a good rep around here but I just finished Broken Chains https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7718942/1/Broken-Chains and found it kinda good.

Sure Harry is a bit overpowered and the ritual used by Voldemort is kinda iffy, but overall it does a good job of telling the story of a Harry who returns from the Star Wars verse with all the extra force and technological knowledge.

Definitely suggest giving it a read. And if Harry being evil and not himself at first puts you off, don't worry it's explained away. How well I'll leave you to judge, but there is a reason he comes out all OOC, and it's explained starting chapter 9 IIRC.

 

For anyone curious, it's about as prototypical of a Darth Marrs story as you can find. From the kinda neat premise, to the pretty okay writing, to the somewhat fun build up, to the moment it turns to shit.

But... it is kinda fun.

 

I've always been of the opinion that Broken Chains is one of his better stories.

It still turns to shit, but the shit isn't nearly as stinky. You could even call it manure or fertilizer instead of just shit.

It's almost the definition of a Guilty Pleasure for me. Not something I'd recommend for the library, but something I enjoy reading nonetheless.

 

Oh lord, how much of a grimdark shithole is the world in that particular Darth Marrs story?

 

Now, now, it can't be that bad. While I have personally never read any of Darth Marrs' stories (DLP made sure of this), they can't be that dark. I mean, what's wrong with a little horror?

 

His best story (imo, also I have not continued to read Firebird or whatever) is the second in his Harem trilogy; naturally, that one contains the least harem elements.

 

Except grimdark and horror are total opposites: horror (usually) relies on subtlety, while grimdark is so in your face it becomes ridiculous.

 

Only if you skip the first story. Otherwise there is no plot.

 

As pidl so graciously pointed out, grimdark =/= horror. Then again, there are various definitions of grimdark. Warhammer 40k is grimdark, yet I remain consistently amused by it (or I am at least when the material isn't written by Ward or Goto). The grimdark in Firebird? It tends to go over the top, build a higher tower and then takes a piss on the one before it. And with every new chapter a new pissing tower is built.

See, the basic premise of Firebird is that wizards and witches just biologically aren't human, or at least with sufficient passage of time they become something other than human. Pureblood bigotry is the norm, there's harems everywhere though not in the sense most people think, it's more of because of the fact that there's so little wizards around that witches just tend to put multiple wives/bonded relationships on just one wizard, whether he has average or extraordinary magical core. Oh yeah, there's magical cores too, did I mention that?

Let's see, what else... oh right, there's a spell called Masturbare which basically works as a onahole spell to make even gay wizards get hard so that witches can have children. I believe Dumbledore got subjected to that, as did Tom Riddle, although he got subjected to that because he had no wish to fuck Moaning Myrtle, but due to them viewing him as muggleborn and she being the daughter of some Coven leader, his rights were nonexistent. In fact, wizards for the most part have no rights. You can get bonded, or rather poached as the in-universe term is, even in your first year if you're not careful.

The bonds aren't good things either. Should one wizard be bonded to too many witches or just can't handle the strain in general (did I mention that wizards are inherently more powerful than witches and that whenever a bond is formed the bonded witch basically siphons away a rather significant percentage of his power?) he can basically go into coma, but that doesn't mean he gets wasted. Oh no, that's why they got Masturbare and so they use the comatose wizard as a breeding stud.

There's also the issue that something in the way most wands were made from the onset of the 10th century significantly influence wizards to father female offspring, due to some... female humours in the wands themselves. In order for a true wand to be crafted, apparently a witch has to piss on the wood. Or something like that, it's been a while since I dared to take a peek into the second installment of Firebird.

Oh and finally bear in mind that I have just barely touched upon the shithole that world Darth Marrs has constructed for the purpose of his stories.

 

Well, his Bonds of Blood were the first not stereotypical soul-bond story. Then it devolved, but it was quite good.

Broken Chains followed his usual schematic perfectly. Just as it was said previously: very good premise, fine beginning, decent development, terrible, oh so terrible, everything else from that point (though Vader was a boss in this one, quite liked that scene with him).

Is his Firebird sequel any good? I didn't read it at all. Only read the first one.

 

Magical cores automatically invalidate any story, so I'm confused as to why anyone would read it.

I mean, fucking magical cores. That's like a giant red beacon in the sky which warns you that a tsunami of liquid shit is about to be unleashed upon your eyes.

 

That depends. Did you like the first one? Would you like to read more about how the world around Harry and co. gets shittier and shittier with every new chapter? I myself went through the trouble because I had been exceedingly bored at the time, but eventually the cup overfloweth and I said 'fuck it'.

The world gets bleaker and more fucked up in the second story, so if you're looking for that, than yeah, I suppose it's good.

I mean, don't get me wrong, DM can write quite good, from a technical standpoint, it's just that the themes aren't quite what I personally enjoy reading about for so many chapters.

 

Oh god. I want to say I've read this story but can't. Something similar perhaps but not by Darth Marrs.

It sounds so shitty, yet I'm intrigued. Especially by the Tom Riddle back story. Perhaps too many witches wanted Tom and he went dark. lol.

 

No, from what I recall, they managed to bond him to an extent, but then he arranged the deaths of his wives. The thing is in this setting wizards are slaves to their magical biology, so that when they bond, they can't harm their wives directly. Tom killed Myrtle via the Basilisk.

Or if a witch gets naked in front a number of wizards, their biology just compels them to sit there dumbfounded. Yeah. I think one of the last few chapters had something like that.

Oh and Goblins, now there's a nasty bunch, don't have females of their kind so they get females of other magical species, usually witches with small magical cores who get sold off into slavery to the Goblins for gold or favors, to forcefully impregnate them and quite possibly kill them in the process.