I haven't read the story, and have no plans to, but the way I understand the title is that Lily and James were basically strangers since she died so young. Meh.

 

It's Summer of Change rehashed and stupider on the relationship front. Harry is just a one-dimensional yes-man. Boring.

 

Rehash of an 8 year old story? Sure, but consider Summer of Change is terrible, I'd say this is an improvement.

 

At least lordwar tried to be original :\ and the writing is def better.

 

I don't think originality was the goal of this story. I think it's supposed to be a parody, but honestly, it's hard to tell.

 

I read "Without Thorn the Rose" some time ago and the relationship between Harry and James really is different, interesting, dysfunctional and described more realistically than most others. I think you have to consider that James was married to Lily and accepted Harry as his son before she died. Under these circumstances I don't think it's weird that James continues to raise Harry after Lily's death.
From what I remember it is well written (grammar and spelling wise) and has an OC I actually liked. The Azkaban part of the story (the Auror guards live on the island) explores new territory.

I didn't like the mythological monster part though it is well researched, I really hated that Remus and Sirius are former/future lovers. I just can't imagine these two being gay. Thankfully so far it was only a really small part of the story.

I don't like it when Author's make Lily a pureblood for no apparent reason, but from what I remember there was a backstory here that will also have a big influence on Harry's future.
The take on magic was interesting but I had my issues with it.

I think the father/son relationship and the Azkaban part make it worth reading. It's different from the mass of fanfics. There's a second part which was a bit boring so far and features a really really weird Draco Malfoy.

 

I don't think it's a parody; it's just a silly story that doesn't take itself very seriously, which isn't really the same thing.

 

Without looking at the story $10 says the real father is Snape.

---------- Post automerged at 15:31 ---------- Previous post was at 15:26 ----------

Uh, what?

Summer of Change is Unspeakable!Harry with some Honks thrown in while Nymphadora's Beau is Harry has is way with Tonks and Kreature sabotages her contraceptive potion.

The only thing linking them is Honks and being set in summer of fifth year.

 

That still didn't answer my question though. Why would he raise another man's child? Did Lily have him before she married James? Did Lily cheat on James? If so, why?

 

Lily was pregnant with Harry before she married James. James was probably quite happy to marry Lily and was willing to deal with her son, but with Lily's death James also feels responsible for Harry. That doesn't mean he doesn't have some issues with the situation.

Without Harry's father being revealed I am 99% sure he's not.

 

Harry's parentage is a mystery and that is part of the story. James has problems with Harry not being his son, which influences their relationship. It's been a while since I read the story, so I don't remember if there was a detailed explanation why exactly James accepted Harry as his son, but it didn't feel unrealistic. I agree, Snape is 99% not the father. It really is different form the mass of "James is not Harry's father" fics I came across.

 

So she slept with someone else then while she was engaged?

 

We don't know what exactly happened. We see things from Harry's POV and weirdly enough James didn't talk about it with his ten year old son. They have a truly messed up relationship and James really has problems, it's not downplayed. If your curious just give it a try.

 

Fraterculus

This one was almost recommended not so long ago, but apart from a jab at spelling canon wrong and a stupid pic it didn't receive any opinions, so I'm posting it now.

I didn't finish it all, so I may not be totally objective, but here are my thoughts. It plays a lot with the HP universe, characters are OOC, the timeline is screwed and the first years know stunners, to name a few, but... it has many redeeming features.

Harry is more or less the same as in canon, he just started earlier. He is the same dedicated and passionate lad he was. Harry even enjoys Quidditch and has similar outlook on life as the original, it's just this one's sole focus is his younger brother and I can totally dig that. James and Lily Potter are simply their parents, period (no super wizards here), same for Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Dumbledore is normal, in that he is not a scheming mastermind, so far. Even Voldemort is very intelligent and methodical

Spoiler

Because the prophecy is different and it points to the source of the Chosen One's power, he plans to research and get the same power himself, he even wanted to absorb his horcruxes, since the first line mentioned the "false immortal" to be vanquished, but that didn't work

I really like that Harry is not the prophesized saviour and that he wants his brother to be strong enough to do the deed. Few stories had that angle and I appreciate it more for the original take than it deserves, I think. It's just that something is lacking, maybe in the characters, but I think in the overall structure. There are many interesting characters and ideas, but they lack focus and a single theme that brings them all together. Still, many wonderful and original ideas to be found in this story.

 

What the fuck are you people recomending?

 

Almost Recommended VII

Stories you don't feel are quite up to snuff for the Library but may interest others.

 

Go read the first post on this thread, if you feel the quality of the recommendations is declining.

Also, pay more attention to the "For Review" forum.

 

Honey by Mark Geoffrey Norrish

A well-written story with a non-cliché plot of Harry working with Voldemort. Well, I suppose

Spoiler

evil Dumbledore

is quite cliché, but this story manages to present it in a way that isn't annoying at all.

 

I think this was recommended before. Was sort of alright, until Hermione popped in the story. I don't know exactly why, but she's really unbearable to read about in this particular fic. Just annoys the hell out of me.

 

Hermoine was definitely the worst part of that story. Honey had a good original idea, but was unfortunately also a shipping fic, and shipping fics are always pretty terrible. Thus the story oscilated between being really good and interesting, and, whenever Hermoine showed up, boring and awful.
I read the whole thing and I'd say it was worth it. The plot really was very good, and you can skim the shipping sections. Nothing interesting yet in the sequel though.