Smile Back

Still very early but the pairing is Harry/Daphne.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14386912/1/Smile-Back

The latest work from DarknessEnthroned, best known for his story "A Cadmean Victory"

Expect all the pros and cons that come with him.
This is supposed to be novel length and the author has a good track record of actually finishing his stories. So if you fck with his writing style that's a huge plus.

The first few chapters were all alright imo.

 

Thanks! I enjoy it.

Check out this one
https://archiveofourown.org/works/57950443/chapters/148174441#workskin

 

This is just a weirdo fic so far. I kinda enjoy unhinged Harry laughing at everything, most of the jokes hit, this version of Voldemort is interesting. The unnamed being recognizing the presumably Peverell bloodline, and removing what I suspect is the horcrux is neat. Thou hast and little wychling and thine fucks are cringy at this point, but oh well.

But what a weird start. I do enjoy the idea of some weirdo masochist drawing smily faces on the parchment with Umbridge's torture quill though lmao. And it, rightfully, weirding her out.

 

I'm still enjoying that weirdo fic. It's a lot of crack, not for everyone. The humor is hit or miss for me, which means it might very well be miss or miss for someone. Harry somehow playing straight to the Dark Lord being creepy as fuck in his dreams - Voldemort casting something to let them communicate in sleep. And the veiled world shit, and whatever the fuck Daphne is at this point.

 

I opened this on a whim and ended up binging the whole thing. Enjoyed it. It's not badly written and avoids anything too cringeworthy. I liked the characters and the relationships between them. I came to the end of whats written and was disappointed it finished.

It's gotta be your thing, ie it's a slow burn romance type fic and has no real action to speak of. But it's an interesting take on magical society.

 

A man of culture I see…definitely top 5 titles in the ship.

 

The problem is there's a couple definitions for "new".

It could be "new" as in, released or updated recently, but it could also be "new" as in, old story that's new-to-me because I hadn't heard of it before.

 

Smile Back is such a confusing, contradictory mess to me. I enjoy some parts and hate many others. It has some good ideas and some inventive worldbuilding, but its execution of it always disappoints.

The premise of Harry unknowingly giving away parts of his soul/emotions/ability to feel anything other than mirth is a novel concept that sometimes gets played for memes and other times it is absolutely terrifying in its implications. That even gets -perhaps not explored, but at least acknowledged. I worry though that the fic will not properly explore just how maimed Harry became.

The humor (so closely tied to the premise) is ever-present by necessity, and it almost pulls it off? It's right on the edge of being too much, of almost not working or trying too hard, but never quite hard-crossing that line. But enough to think about. Still, I would say the fact that they've managed to keep story consistently funny is actually very impressive in hindsight.

As for Daphne, that's my biggest issue with the story in that I absolutely dislike her, how she's presented, and what she's doing to the story. I think the story would be much better and more interesting without her, and have absolutely zero interest in whatever her mystery is.

Similarly, the death/mysterious entity that did the deal with Harry is absolutely terrible. The author's descriptions are overdone and entirely skippable and their attempts at giving them lines were horrendous and eye-rolling. Decent idea, horrible execution.

Sadly, lately the story has introduced some anime tier shit like flaring colorful auras to show off how powerful you are that is just baffling.

Like I said, a very confusing experience that cannot decide if it's garbage or good and just decides to be both at different times.

 

The agwyd shit or whatever it's called is kinda weird and annoying. I don't much get the point of fighting like that, up close and personal with a "blade" or something, when transfiguration and shit exists, but oh, the agwyd cancels hostile magic! I'm sure I would have thought it was the coolest shit ever over a decade ago, but the regular Harry Potter magic is typically varied and mighty enough for me these days.

I do say that I'm interested in reading more about Maerdrid and the Grall Kenect or whatever, but that's mostly just because of how much that motherfucker has been played and talked up and I legitimately want Lord Voldemort to body him completely and embarrassingly.

Really though, I can't lie and say I don't read every update immediately. Like you said, it's weird and confusing

But goddamnit I hope I never see the words crayon time again. It just reminds me of motorcycle accidents and humans meeting pavement at velocity

 

Smile back is definitely weird.

My biggest issue with it is not the humour, but the fact that the 'pact' essentially removed my ability to take the story seriously. Everyone seems to go along with it, despite what should have been a pretty drastic change in personality. Harry himself seems pretty dismissive about the whole thing, except for the odd moment where he acknowledges that something has happened—only for him to remark that he'd rather not think about it.

Aside from the miraculous intuition—and power—this seems to have given him, which again no one questions, the stakes are further lowered by the lack of obstacles Harry faces. He's just coasting along, following orders and being told information about the Veiled World.

So that leaves the worldbuilding, the romance and the humour as possible interests for the story.

The humour has not really been cutting it for me, but it is tolerable. It gets really repetitive at times, and some of it really does my head in, especially the 'red crayon time' (closely followed by the 'jampires').

The worldbuilding (which seems to be at the very least partly inspired by Elden Ring) I do find interesting or, at least, the concept behind it. However, I personally would enjoy it a lot more if Harry had any agency in finding out things about it, which seems to be impossible now due to his personality.

The romance and Daphne are okay, I guess. After the 'big revelation', Daphne's absence prior to where the story picks up gets explained. What's not explained is her presence now.

Spoiler

What is she doing at Hogwarts with no wand? Why does no one find it strange during classes or when she does not take the exams?

The aura thing is absolutely cringe and I skipped almost the entirety of it, with every intention to continue doing so.

I expect a disappointing exploration of what happened to Harry (if there even is one) and an even more disappointing confrontation with the ICW guys that get talked about all the time.

 

I figure it's going to go the other way though. The ICW and Pendragon are being set up to be the greater scope threats, and Voldemort is likely there to be Worfed. It seems pretty obvious that Riddle is a pretender to what Harry is actually meant to become here.

I like this story generally, but the Harry/Daphne parts (which are starting to take over more and more of the updates) are a complete skip for me. I'm way too old and jaded now to want to read about sugary teen romance. I really hope summer break ends soon and the story goes back to Hogwarts so there's more going on than that and training scenes with a rather annoying Tonks.

 

The last several chapters have been almost entirely anime martial arts training and Daphne romance/mystery things, both of which are absolute cringe-fests and I wish didn't exist.

Ironically the best parts at the Voldemort ones and the glimpse into the larger world.

I enjoy the buildup for Maerdrid. I don't think I remember the last time any story made me not roll my eyes at the presentation of an OC that Voldemort/Dumbledore can't beat or are afraid of, so this surprised me. I hope he's not a letdown when he does show up. I suspect that the author literally cannot deliver on the promises of the story and the buildup they're making, however.


It's sad, the way the last many chapters have gone. We've gone from a metronome between bad and good to mostly just very bad.

 

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14361508/4/Crossroads This was in the review board. It’s got a good amount of Harry/Daphne in it. Apart from that I just think it’s Epic.