I don't remember it much but I remember that Harry was pretty much a sociopath and Hermione was a test-tube baby with a cunt mother for some reason. I guess there was something worth reading in it five years ago, but hell if I could tell you what it was now.

 

I've more or less read every fic on dlp except the few that were deleted, so it was mostly curiosity.

 

I found the stories and added them as attachment.

 

I'm late to the whole fan fiction world, and am slowly working my way through the DLP library, as (like the rest of you no doubt) I've found it to be a good filter. So far so good, it's introduced me to a whole stack of decent fics and some that are really great. I havent posted a review on any of these old books as I generally agreed that they were worth a spot in the library and didnt want to necro an old thread.

This one however... it's bad. Like really bad. As it's the first time I've seriously disagreed with the DLP ranking I felt like leaving a note to say just how bad I think it is! I know it's a pre-DH book so early in the fanfic universe, but there are quite a few good fics in the library here that fall into that category. This one starts bad and gets worse in my view.

First, the story is basically a canon rehash of PS, but making it worse. This one removes any of the subtlety of canon and replaces it with sledgehammer plots. Harry is not a young wizard entering a new world - he's a superpowered first year that can do fifth year charms at the first attempt, early in his first term. He struggles a bit with non-verbal magic but is basically shown to be on par with the sixth years in that respect. He is not mystified by any of the people or places, he just watches and works out how to do it for himself. Everything is simple and obvious. Like an unbreakable vow, which he casts with Ron just because he can pretty much.

Then there is the logical inconsistencies. For example, his metamorphmagus abilities. At the start he has green hair. When questioned about it he says something like "accidental magic, look", and proceeds to change it to a different colour. Intentionally. Does the author not know the meaning of accidental? The other characters seem to accept this without question. Except Tonks of course, who shortly afterward recognises that he's a metamorpmagus. But he can't grow taller because of someone who forgot to add extra arteries in their legs and had to have them regrown. Because tall people have extra arteries apparently. I guess you need a really strong grasp of human anatomy to be a metamorph if the blood vessels don't grow along with the rest of the leg. But Harry seems to manage to grow all the other bits, bones, muscles, nerves, etc... the whole thing makes little sense, surely the bits that need changing must be instinctive to a metamorphmagus. The ability is shoehorned into the plot for no real reason in the end anyway, he barely uses this amazing ability.

Harry himself is a real piece of work, a sociopath that only sees people for their utility in helping him. He is more than happy to leave Dean, Ron and Neville to die a gruesome death but he can't stomach losing Hermione because she is a "genius" in his mind. Never mind that he intellectually outstrips her in every single interaction they have in the book.

The adults are mere caricatures of their canon selves. Snape is hilariously vitriolic towards Harry, seeking his expulsion on the first night for a supposed confrontation on the Hogwarts Express. Yes he seeks expulsion in canon too but generally he at least has some believable reason for it. And not before bedtime on the first night! McGonagall doesnt really feature other than to impose matronly discipline occassionally. Hagrid is a loveable buffoon whose role is to give up some major secret every time he appears, inadvertently of course. Flitwick is excitable and bouncy and only features in a duelling competition. I'll give the author some marks for a reasonable Dumbledore even though he's really only there to tell Harry what to do next.

None of the children have any depth either, Draco is a sneer, Crabbe and Goyle are toughs, Neville is unsure of himself, Hermione is smart... all traits from canon but here they are nothing but these things. None of them contribute at all to the story, with a minor exception for Hermione who acts as Harry's sounding board so he can tell all of us exactly how intelligent he is.

And then there are the character interactions. On his first night in Hogwarts, before he's even gotten to the dorm, Harry has a deep and meaningful with Dumbledore in which they discuss child abuse, Snape's character, Voldemort, the sorting process, how bad Malfoy is and how his upbringing excuses his behaviour, and Dumbledore's laissez faire approach to discipline. He has quite a few follow up conversations with Dumbledore through the year and they get less and less believable. Harry pretty much interacts with him as an equal.

Harry's backstory is over the top tragic, suffering physical and emotional abuse far beyond canon. This is supposed to make him colder and more driven for payback. Might explain his sociopathy. But it doesn't explain how he's so bloody good at everything. When he sees himself killing the Dursleys in the Mirror of Erised I guess it's supposed to be shocking, but just comes across as something he'd do. He's just so unlikeable.

Perhaps the author was foreshadowing a Harrymort. But just the nasty and clever bits, not Voldemort's charisma. I can't be bothered with the sequel to find out.

The one positive in this book for me is the grammar, at least it's vaguely readable. Everything else, the plot, characters, scenes etc are awful.

So sorry for the necro, the FAQ suggests it's ok for a detailed review so hopefully this is acceptable. I just couldn't believe how poor this one. Some might argue that this one just hasnt aged well, but I just can't see how it ever stood in the same category as pretty much anything else in the library!

 

Nah, man, you're fine. I've taken off my rose-tinted goggles a long time ago, and this fic is bad. I first read it soon after it was first posted, and I thought it was bad back then as well. The first chapter alone is full of so many needless cliches that it makes it seem like everyone is a caricature of themselves, and it doesn't really get better.

 

Yeah, I was one of the people who loved this back in the day. I've changed quite a bit since then and doubt I could handle reading it now. I've changed my rating to reflect that.

Big props to you for leaving a model review as a sub 5 post member btw. Well done.

 

I'd be interested in revisiting this one, but the linked file gives me a lot of weird line breaks and strange characters. Anyone else having this problem, or know a way around it?

 

Have attached a zip file with epubs of Vincet and the sequel, generated using Calibre from the text files on the title. Enjoy. Or not!

vincet.zip

edit: uploaded the file again, seems to have been deleted. Hope this stays.
edit 2: the attachment was lost again. Have saved to dropbox, hopefully it works this time.