Title: Colors of the Rainbow
Author: VeilWeaver
Rating: M
Genre: AU, Adventure, Gen (so far)
Status: Work in Progress (266000 words, updating weekly)
Pairing: none (so far)
Summary:
Iris Potter was left with a far more insidious wound than Harry that night. With her magic left all but shattered, seemingly as powerless and faltering as a ray of light, even the simplest spells elude her grasp.
A quest to unravel and wield the broken pieces leads her into the forbidden realm of rituals and dark magic. But the path to power is a treacherous one, and the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In an effort to try and protect her brother she will defy even the laws of Magic itself.
Slight AU with rapidly growing canon divergence. No bashing. No WBWL.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52194136/chapters/132019963


Hands down the best new HP fic I’ve had the pleasure to read. Colors of the Rainbow managed to feel so fresh (coming from one who’s read hundreds of fics) and engaging that I read the entire thing in one go.

CotR has such a well-thought out magic system. It fills in the gaps left by canons: What are lethifolds? How do spells, charms, transfiguration etc work? Why does Quirell wear purple? Why is AK green? I gasped multiple times as the dots were connected.
I love how the worldbuilding is so innovative, yet not so wildly AU that it’s not HP anymore. In fact, I can see all of this fitting right into canon. I also like how CotR draws parallels to concepts in physics (prism refraction, radiation etc). Fear not -- this is not one of those badly executed cases of fics trying to use science to explain HP magic. In CotR physics is only roped in as analogies, not as the complete explanation. IMO the magic still feels whimsical and inexplicable, but very satisfying to my sciencephilic brain.

CotR centers on Iris, Harry’s twin, whose magic was heavily damaged on Halloween.
- Love that Iris is unapologetically an OC. I’m not a fan of OCs masquerading as characters we know and love. Harry is still Harry, with his reckless and heroic moments, but Iris is her own lovely protagonist too.
- Love me a zero-to-hero trope. Iris will likely be powerful one day, but she has to work for it. Almost nothing magical came naturally to her; wand selection was… an ordeal; at the end of first year, she couldn’t even manage the matchstick-to-needle transformation. But Iris has powers that elude adult wizards.

CotR excels in many aspects of storytelling: pacing, foreshadowing, climax and resolution etc. Couldn’t put it down! The prose, while not what I would call lyrical, is functional enough. Sentences can be more concise, but the storytelling is so well executed that I barely felt any bloat.

One minor issue I have so far is that characters just dropped out of the plot until they were needed again (Sabrina, Salem, Lupin etc), so some potential for emotional heft was wasted.
EDIT: Also there's zero Britpicking, as you can see from the title... but not something I'd mind.

4.5/5 (potential change, depending on how the story unfolds)

 

Yes!
Just read about 50%.
Amazing. Partially a bit unpolished but definitely at least 4/5 right now.

 

Just read it all the way through, after quitting the first chapter multiple times.

Some positives:
- Fun, fresh takes on canon characters. E.g. Quirrell is there, but not the Quirrell we've seen a thousand times.
- A unique exploration of the magic system, with Iris having powers which feel unfamiliar and a bit strange at first glance, but that blend quite well with what we know from canon.
- Plots that had me hooked.
- Great interactions between the characters, who actually feel like kids.

What I didn't love:
- The prose is adequate but nothing special. This is also the major reason why I almost couldn't get past the first chapter. It just felt kind of flat, something we've all seen before, with introspection that was bland at most.
- Sometimes the fight scenes felt a bit off. Either they end suddenly without much resolution, or I quite simply didn't believe how it happened.

4/5 for now