I actually enjoyed that quite a bit. There are some things that irritate me such as: Narcissa in a loveless marriage, as well as Harry's character but overall it was pretty engaging. I just hope that Narcissa remains an elusive villain because in my view she is much more interesting as one than a friend.

I think the author also has to explain how in the hell Narcissa became a professor. If this was fifth year and Dumbledore didn't have as much of a say in hiring as he did previously that could make sense due to Lucius's closeness with Fudge. But in fourth, hiring is completely Dumbledore's call and I can't imagine him choosing Narcissa to teach defense.

Harry also seems waay too trusting of Narcissa. He hates Malfoy and it shouldn't take just a few words about his mother and a duel to get him to agree to all that crap. I hope in the next chapter he tells Dumbledore or lashes out against Narcissa in some way to show that he is under her thumb so fast. I'm not saying that Narcissa shouldn't be able to effectively manipulate him, I'm just saying that it shouldn't happen so fast.

Overall 3/5, with a good chance to go higher.

 

Ruthless (rated M, 9 Chapters, 25k words) is a dark Harry that I recently came across. It does have its problems, but I thought it was a relatively decent read. It's pretty short, so the story is easy to buzz through in an hour or two.

Harry is more or less an emotionally stunted guy who prides himself on his ability to act rationally. It can sometimes read like the author thinks this cool, emotionless, unfazed, and rational harry is the pinnacle of cool, which I found annoying.

There's so little dialogue, but what is there feels a little stilted.

The Dumbledore scenes weren't well executed, in my opinion. Harry doesn't really manipulate or outmaneuver Dumbledore, but rather Harry doesn't easily fall into the neat package that Dumbledore wants. Harry views Dumbledore as a threat and an enemy. Also, Dumbledore is characterized somewhat poorly.

It's Harry/Hermione, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. In this case, Harry sees Hermione and Nott (they're his only friends) as his shadows. Harry generally has a low opinion of everyone except these two, though I think he only thinks of them as slightly better than the rest. There's only a few instances where Hermione stands up to Harry and he does trample over her a bit.

The writing is decent, though. There are a few errors here and there, but nothing terrible enough to detract from the story. I didn't really like the ending all that much. I'd say 2.5-3/5 or so.

 

What...exactly are the good parts of the story, though? Like, everything you mentioned (other than the pairing) is kind of a negative. It's short so I might read it anyways but reading your description is like a steady stream of put downs.

 

I think it's better than most fics of the same type (dark/badass Harry) for a few reasons. It doesn't take the usual Dursley path. Harry doesn't threaten Petunia and Vernon or frighten them with sociopathic behavior.

The tone is pretty good and consistent throughout the fic. Harry is characterized well and his actions are believable for the kind of person he is supposed to be. The romance between Harry and Hermione grows steadily and in a believable fashion.

It's pretty unique among badass harry fics where Harry ends up dominating everyone around him. It did have elements of that, but Harry basically kept those thoughts to himself. He never flaunts his power, intelligence, or prowess. He's not outwitting and humiliating teachers in class, which is usually what happens in those types of fics. I'm sure all the other character's thought Harry was very weird and strange, which he was. But since it was from Harry's POV, we see this kid who is obviously emotionally stunted, but smart, talented, and a true Slytherin. He's actually a believable Slytherin, too.

I thought that it was well written and definitely worth reading. I did lay a lot of criticism on it looking back. Most of the stuff I listed was easily overlooked, though. I thought the good outweighed the bad.

 

The listed pairing is Harry/Hermione/Nott.

I can't decide whether I like it better than Harry/Hermione or not.

How does the author handle the dynamics of the three-way pairing?

 

Spoiler

Nott inevitably develops feelings for Hermione. Harry notices this and makes note of it. Eventually, Nott and Hermione do something about it. When Hermione admits to it and explains, Nott interrupts her with something like, 'I wouldn't be here if Harry minded'. As it turned out, Harry didn't have a problem with it because, 'You both belong to me. Why should I care if you belong to each other'.

Overall, I felt that the Nott/Hermione romance was somewhat unnecessary, but that it didn't really detract from the fic. In fact, I hadn't seen this sort of reaction in any other fanfiction that I'd read, so I guess you can give it points for being different, haha. Looking back at the ending, I actually like the resolution a little more than I initially had when I first finished it.

 

I don't think that fic belongs in Almost recommended. Seriously, I can't find a single good thing about it.

 

Do remember that barely readable fics have a place in here to.

 

Unless you think it has zero redeeming qualities and rate it at unreadable rather than barely readable. In which case its perfectly valid to think it doesn't belong here.

 

Hey, the Harry in that fic is a completely broken sociopath. He's incapable of understanding basic human emotions and his way of thinking is incredibly warped.

The implied threesome and the romance mess in general made my face twist in disgust tbh.

Dark, edgy, written in a style you either like or dislike, barely 3/5.

 

The Last Lion of House Reyne by joen1801

"When Tywin Lannister crushed the Reyne-Tarbeck Rebellion everyone in the Kingdoms believed he ended two noble lines. But thanks to one unique infant, one Harrion Reyne called Harry by his parents, some survived."

Here is a fic I liked. It's essentially Harry being born into ASoIaF universe, a la Prince that was promised. Similarly he dreams of his past life as Harry Potter and is slowly relearning magic. It's written by the same guy that wrote "Difference one man can make" that's either in this thread or in rec bin.

The differences are that instead of being born smack dab in the middle of the whole GoT conflict he is the son of a minor lord and after the destruction on his house goes to live with another minor lord. Also it's set in a time Before the mad king was the mad king. The story itself moves along nicely, by chapter three Harry is old enough to become a squire.

The downsides are that it's a bit Happy go lucky, even with the whole destruction of House Reyne through drowning them alive. But it's rather short and just moved out of the setup phase, so perhaps that will change.

Sorry for the utilitarian rec, but my pc crashed as I was writing a more detailed one and now I just can't be arsed to rewrite all of it.

 

The Reynes weren't minor lords though. At the time they were almost as powerful as the Lannisters. In any case, it's slightly better than his other story. Which isn't saying much, but it's readable.

 

Among the things that bother me about that fic is the fact that Harry's a Parselmouth.

Why? If he was reborn without a Horcrux, he shouldn't be able to speak Parseltongue.

 

The story is extremely dry and generic. It's a bit heavy-handed as well, using the author's foreknowledge of the future to sculpt the past people's perceptions. Essentially, it's like the author knows the answer to a math problem, and then sculpts the problem itself to fit the answer. It's a bit jarring, and like I said, heavy-handed. The words should flow and be convincing, rather than just being a setup for whatever.

Also, the characters are way too polarized, either being extremely confrontational, or completely forgiving - almost like they're bipolar.

 

I agree.

Lily decides that it would be a great idea to seek aid from Olenna Tyrell, who she only met once before. Nevermind that she will likely use them for her own purposes.
It's like it's already decided that every choice Lily does will be the correct one without any real consequences.

 

Kisses Cursed by The Fictionist. (complete)

Fairytale AU. Loosely inspired by Beauty and the Beast. Some said he was once a man, cursed, and some that he sold his soul to demons and became one in turn. Others said that such evil as he could never have been human. That he was instead a nightmare, left lingering upon the earth a very long time ago. Harry just knew it wasn't safe to walk near the Riddle House after dark.

Warning! Story has ambiguous harry/Voldemort interaction. There is no slash or any romantic interaction. This story is pure suspense/horror. So worry not, there will be no squicky Harrymort love fest. Only include warning since it could be viewed as a lead up to potential slash. Also, there are references of Ginny/Harry.

I really enjoyed this fic. A lot of thought was put into the puzzles and the different aspects of Voldemort (All of which try to kill their 'guest' in their own unique way). It's loosely based on Beauty & the Beast with a strong horror aspect. Riddle is a heartless bastard and gets cursed for it. Until he learns to be less of an evil bastard, he and the town are trapped in an endless enchantment. Every year a sacrifice is made at random from the townspeople to be sent to the riddle manor to be a 'guest'. These 'guests' always come to some horrific end. Already, Hermione, Harry's parents, and other HP characters have died as past sacrifices. Ginny was supposed to be the most recent sacrifice but Harry volunteered to take her place. The story takes place almost entirely in Riddle Manor. With the cursed fractured pieces of Voldemort contesting to trick the sacrifice into breaking one of the many rules set by the curse so that they can kill/consume the sacrifice.

It's well written, properly thought out, and best of all COMPLETE. This story won't be for everyone, but if you can look past any potential slashiness it's a fun read.

 

*cough*cough*

Be careful what you wish for.

 

Rorsh wrote Reunion for this trope.

 

Huh, this looks kind of interesting-

Dammit.

Well, I’ll check it out.

Just a warning to people interested: this is totally slash, no if, ands, and buts about it. So if that’s a deal breaker for you, avoid this.

Otherwise, it’s compelling. I like the game and the rules, but the pacing is off. Harry gets too much information too quick and it weakens the mystery. Also, most of this information is spelled out to Harry and while he barters, he doesn’t really solve anything until the second half. However, these problems fade away in the second half, once everything hits the fan.

I didn’t quite understand the ending, but it was a good time-waster and didn’t go on longer than it could have.

3/5.

 

There's a decent but overall forgettable story where Harry does slaughter the Death Eaters, Returning to the Start. It isn't really to DLP's taste though, its from Hermione's perspective but the author does try to show how weird an adult going back to school would be to other students even as they tried to fit in. It falls pretty squarely in almost recommended territory, worth a quick read though.