It ended just as it was getting good.

I enjoyed it and for a fic written in 2009 is pretty high quality. I wouldn't have been surprised if the fic was passed over back in '09 because of DLPs then hate for anything with Ginny in it.

The story makes sense and I can see that having happened if Skeeters was poking around in the PS.

 

Death Before Dishonour by SuperNova26 - M

Death before Dishonor updated for the first time in months.

Overall, decent chapter, if nothing special. The story continues to remain solid if unspectacular. A few spelling errors here and there, but nothing too jarring.

Nice to finally get an explanation for Harry's pitiable finances. That had been bugging me for a while.

Also, Daphne's a redhead in this? Well, fuck you fanon. I don't mind at all (after all, it seems better suited to canon Harry's tastes), but then I have no idea how Daphne fanboys imagine her to be.

(I have no idea how could anyone be a fan of a blank slate character either, but since when did insignificant things like that stop the shippers?)

Her characterization is decent (if unspectacular) here so far, so I don't mind. It will be interesting to see what the author does with the pairing. I am far more interested in Harry's bookie group than Daphne though -- I do hope we get to see more of them soon.


EDIT by Minion:
Follow up discussion can be found here: https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=28739

EDIT EDIT by Minion:
As the haircolour question started an interesting debate, I moved it into a separate thread here:
https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=28752

 

Is red hair, green tie too early for review?

 

No idea, honestly, but I love it all the same. Thanks for linking it here.

 

I moved the hair colour question into its own thread here:
https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=28752

 

Title: Deal with a Devil
Author: Silently Watches
Rating: Fiction M
Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11188292/1/Deal-with-a-Devil
Summary: She was an agent of Evil who regretted her choices. He was a child with a destiny too heavy for his shoulders. Is the Wizarding World ready for a Boy-Who-Lived influenced by a reforming Fallen Angel? …Probably not. NOT Harry/Lash



This story is literally just beginning, but I thought the premise was interesting and figured someone else might as well. It features Lash - not Lasciel - who has been given a chance at redemption if she helps Harry Potter. Basically, Uriel is using her, an entity who is not with God and not one of the Fallen, as a countermeasure against the actions of one of the Fallen, who has supplied Voldemort with knowledge that eases his resurrection. I'm hoping this knowledge will provide an early divergence from canon and make Voldemort a more pressing threat, but it's way too early to tell. Regardless, the interaction between Lash and Harry so far has had promise and I'm looking forward to more.

In their profile, the author has said that updates will be every other week for at least half a year. And though I've had issues with some of their stories in the past, the author is fairly reliable when it comes to updates, so expect more of this fic soon.

 

I can certainly see why you'd have issues with the author's past stories. After finishing the only available chapter of Deal with a Devil I had a look at Princess of the Blacks. After the second chapter I quit due it downplaying pedophilia while proclaiming to the heavens in the author's note about how dark and seriously the story was taking the issue.

If that's how the author thinks a dark and serious take on abuse is done I'm very wary of how Deal with a Devil will turn out.

 

Yeah same here. I tried to get through a little bit of it but just couldn't. Really creepy, and really downplayed to the point that I have to wonder about the author.

 

I do not get this standpoint at all. I've been reading this story since about half way through the first book and it's never really downplayed pedophilia.

I don't know how you can say it's downplaying pedophilia at all. All it is, is the main character is a very fucked up individual who has known no other life. It's the life she grew up in and from her perspective (but not everyone else unless you're talking about Narcissa who actually is a pedo in the story). Several thousand words in the story is slowly getting to the point where the whole kiddy brothel thing is being dealt with.

You shouldn't be dropping a story because it doesn't fully explain itself or deal with the issue immediately. Just admit that the story is too squick for you instead of inventing excuses.

 

What you're perceiving as downplay is actually a case of unreliable narrator. Jen has no fucking idea how much her upbringing has affected her or her perception of sex and healthy sexual relationships, and it gets addressed slowly as the story goes on. The most recent chapter of the sequel put a spotlight on some of the ramifications of this, in fact.

Because the whole thing is mostly from her perspective, we only get to have it addressed when the topic comes up with other people talking to her about it, which isn't terribly often, but it is definitely being handled.

 

Said it far better than I did.

It also should be noted it's ridiculous to expect the issue to be dealt with in the first chapter.

 

Exactly, especially when you're dealing with a protagonist who's so used to it that she doesn't think there's anything wrong in the first place. It's a continuing thread in the story, it'd be boring for it to be resolved in the first chapter.

 

I was talking more about the fact that moments after finding out that Narcissa is a pedo Sirius and co are all having a chuckle with her about it. Obviously Jen doesn't know right from wrong, but Sirius should. Instead we get Tonks into gender play and Sirius is into borderline bestiality, so hey, welcome to pervert club Narcissa, no one is here to judge!

Also strange of you to question my motives in voicing my dislike of the author's take on the issue. Are you the author's buddy or something?

 

Jen basically blackmailed him to keep Narcissa around.

As for being his buddy? Nope, I just see he gets a lot of flak around here and it's not for what I would have expected. I couldn't understand why people were focusing on that so I assumed it was squick rather than that.

 

Fair enough, it's not really a big deal. The writing hadn't grabbed me by that point anyway so it was easy enough for the scene to make me not want to read any further. The other reason was his author's notes really pushing how dark the story was and how he didn't even want to think about writing the years of Jen's prostitution (understandable). It created a disconnect with how seriously I was expecting it to be with how much less seriously the scene appeared to me.

I think with a bit more time to build the characters or if I was enjoying the writing more I would have read the scene and given the story time to justify itself. Lord knows I've read some utter crap over the years as long as the writing or characters draw me in enough.

 

That'd probably put me off too, tbh, but I have a habit of outright ignoring author's notes, so I didn't even notice the author was doing this. It's really not dark enough to warrant the kind of continual warning you're talking about.

 

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11110214/1/Harry-Potter-and-the-Travel-to-Alternate-Dimension

I'm not recommending this, but I wasn't sure where else to put it.

The author claims he was inspired by On a Pale Horse. The very first word in the first chapter is Hadrian, so that should give you an idea of what is going to happen in the story.

 

Couldn't get into "Black Princess." I've never been a huge fan of Female!Harry fics and when the summary says fem!Harry.. Bisexual! I guess I don't really see the point. If this Harry is a female bisexual than why not just make Harry, Harry?

 

Because they'd prefer the homo portion to be f/f rather than m/m.

 

But if they wanted a homo portion wouldn't they have a preferred gender? Or are they really just putting it in there because "look how diverse and PC my story is"?