Title: Core Threads
Author: theaceoffire
Rating:4/5
Genre: Adventure/Humor/AU
Status: WIP
Library Category: The Alternates
Pairings: Unknown at this time
Words: 176,136
Chapters: 47
Published: Feb 23, 2014
Updated: May 17, 2014
Summary: A young boy in a dark cupboard is in great pain. An unusual power will allow him to heal himself, help others, and grow strong in a world of magic. Eventual God-like Harry, Unsure of eventual pairings. Alternate Universe, possible universe/dimension traveling in the future. Updated on weekends.
Link: FanFiction.Net

A definite AU where Harry gains a unique form of wandless magic after suffering a beating from the Dursleys. I really enjoyed some of the plot points the author used, especially the reasoning behind why the Dursleys were so abusive towards Harry.

The writing is pretty solid and I don't remember seeing any major grammar or spelling errors. However, it definitely has some downfalls. Harry becomes especially powerful early on, and much of his dialogue does not match his age level. The beginning feels a little rushed in my opinion, and much of the time Harry is just too damn mature.

That aside, it definitely is a nice guilty pleasure in my opinion, and has me quite hooked. I was quite surprised that no one else had put it up for review yet, so after lurking without an account for several years I figured I'd register and give this a review thing a shot.

I'd give it a solid 3.5/5, rounded up to a 4/5.


EDIT: added Words, Chapters, Published, and Updated categories.

 

How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways:

1. Harry being insanely abused.

2. Any form of justification for the Dursleys insanely abusing Harry.

3. Wandless Magic.

4. "Unique form" of Wandless Magic.

5.Harry getting powers before even Hogwarts.

6. Eventual God-like Harry.

7. Harry healed from years of being insanely abused at once thanks to powers.

8. Serious problems even you admit exist.

9. This is your second Post, and you suggested this Story? I will grant you it isn't the worse way to introduce yourself to the Dark Lord (my first post was a story of mine that was epically demolished), but it certainly isn't a good one.

 

I enjoyed it despite some of the obvious problems, and I found the general premise unique. Granted I could have built up some posts first if I wanted to avoid being flamed and criticized, but I've got fairly thick skin, so it's not a huge deal.

The worst that happens is that my post gets thrown into the HOS, my account banned after much ridicule and contempt and I go back to lurking without an account. I figured it was worth the risk for a story I enjoyed, and honestly just wanted to recommend it as I think it's still good despite some obvious flaws.

 

If you think it's a guilty pleasure (which you said), then you should post it over in the "Almost Recommended" thread.

 

Yeah, the story is awful.

The technical writing could be worse - it's mostly correct, with only the occasional missing verb conjugation or missing word that makes me think english is the author's second language. But the premise is neither unique nor interesting. I only read (skimmed) the first three or four chapters and saw it hit all the standard checkpoints: those that Rhaengar mentioned, and also destruction/capture of the horcrux using his own magic. Not having a name. Stealing money/food from the Dursleys. Dudley being unrealistically spoiled (even in context of canon). The same story has been written many, many times, sometimes better, sometimes worse. This doesn't really belong in the library. I don't know how long you've been in the HP fandom, but if you stick around DLP eventually you'll find that stories like this lose their appeal.

 

Thanks for the heads up, wasn't quite sure which board it would fit in, as there's been guilty pleasures in the review board in the past, and more than a few in the recycling bin as well.

 

Question, and this is not at all related to the story (which I won't read by the way), but since this is destined to the Trash Bin, I give zero fucks:

Why is this an outright negative thing with no qualifiers?

 

True. I was on a role, and didn't pay too much attention. In retrospect, most of my issues with Wandless Magic are things I put below it, mainly Harry getting cool non-Canon powers before Hogwarts.

 

Actually the Dursley stuff is dealt with in the story. Harry's horcrux is actually like a curse on the entire family and enhances their vices to an extreme amount and basically destroys their ability to function as human beings. Vernon is induced to fear based rage every time he sees the boy, Petunia is obsessively cleaning the house to the detriment of everything else, Dudley is mostly just a spoiled jerk.

That being said the story isn't good. The execution is weak, while the writing is technically solid Harry doesn't sound anything at all like a kid. Beside word use and choice he figures out relatively rapidly not only how to transfigure base metals into gold and the like. He also leads fully grown adukts by the nose like puppies. This fic hits many of my rage inducing buttons by the sheer amount of nonsense that goes on.

3/5

 

I have to say. That does sound like a particularly refreshing take on the Hocrux. Its pretty cool.

 

If only it wasn't used for wangst...

 

Agreed, a very interesting idea. Wonder if a decent stopry had used it.

 

For me it's because authors use wandless magic as a way to simplify magic. Harry waves his hands, dozens of spells fly from each finger tip, he wins. I think one of the coolest things about HP magic is the wand and it's importance to magic (i.e. even master wizards such as Dumbledore and Voldemort need one to do most magic).

So when I see a fic that has wandless magic listed as one of Harry's powers I usually skip over it because I'd rather read about Harry being awesome with a wand.

 

This:

was almost enough to turn me away, but I thought: "eh, I'll give it a try. In the name of educating newbies."

Is this some kind of idiomatic expression? Because it looks like poor sentence structure.

I lol'd at this:

All your base are belong to us. I like-a do the cha-cha.

I don't see the necessity of this repetition.

The story is under Adventure/Humor, and the first few paragraphs are setting up angst. WTF, I say.

Harry calls Vernon "Loud Man", but calls Dudley Dudley-- ??????

This sentence:

Hard Lulz/needs beta

The writing style is just weird. It reads like someone trying (badly) to imitate Andro's flowery prose and the effect is off-putting. Not to mention that you could skim the first few chapters, reading only a few sentences from each and not suffer for it. Literally nothing of note happens, save for Harry discovering his magic. The rest is shitty angst. A skilled writer from DLP would say more, using less words, in a more engaging way.

I gave up after four chapters, because there is no hook to keep me reading. Props for lack of glaring grammar/spelling mistakes at first sight, but that's the only thing that's okay with this fic. I can hardly even see it being a guilty pleasure since it's just plain boring.

Falkunn, you need to lurk more, see what's in the library. If you have, do it again, because it clearly hasn't sunk in.

Not this one. As in, not DLP.