Title: Convergence of Fates
Author: Gladiusx
Genre: Adventure/Drama
Rating: between T and M
Status: In-Progress
Library Category:
Pairings: Harry Potter / fem OC
Summary: A more determined Harry Potter faces the Dark Lord in the Forbidden Forest. Instead of succumbing to cursed flames, Harry finds himself thrust into a new timeline with an opportunity to rewrite his fate. Armed with knowledge of the future and a resolve to shape his destiny, Harry navigates a world filled with familiar faces and unexpected allies, all while preparing for the battles yet to come.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42330366
Chapters: 38 (author has 45 written total so far), 222.5k words

I rate it at ~3/5 - 3.5/5. I was interested enough to binge it in one sitting and I'll keep reading it. Slow start so I skimmed the early chapters (around the first 10) - stuff on the train, some of the stuff with the Blacks, typical AO3 annoyances, etc. It does pick up, and has hit its stride by chapter 20.

Pros:

• Capable Harry, decent action scenes, more than a few clever original-ish twists and ideas that have kept me reading, both with characters and magic stuff
• Already into third year
• Decently well written - not the best but not bad
• Steady update rate and already 220k words
• Voldemort is apparently more formidable as a villain

Cons:

• Prose stretches long at points
• I don't care for romance with these kinds of fics, though happily it's not very pronounced so far.
• Rough around the edges on quality of some character motivations, relationships and 3-dimensionality (ex. Juno). It can be hard to take seriously at points - think Black Luminary characterizations, at times - not as bad though.
• Spoiler: About 2nd year

  It totally let the air out of tension around the Riddle diary but I didn't care for that storyline so I didn't mind.
  If the upcoming years and chapters retain tension and are done well, it could redeem itself to a clear 3.5 or better

 

Think its a pretty fun time travel AU.

Some tropes are a bit trite but the pacing is pretty good, updates on the regular and we've ditched Ron & Hermione as part of the core group.

I think it's around a 3.5 to 4 currently, so will just put 4.

 

I really enjoyed the A Song of Ice and Fire time travel story by this author, so I tried pretty hard to get into this, but now I've dropped the story twice and I doubt I'll try again.

 

It’s just another rehash/fix-it fic. 3/5. A solid Meh.

 

I'd say there's enough imagination on display to make this worth reading, even if the basic concept and structure are very old hat.

I'm quite liking how the author's handling various side characters, particularly Ron and Hermione and their development due to Harry keeping his distance. It's not got a bad Dumbledore and Voldemort either. This seems to be a bit of a pattern with this author. He does a lot of different POVs and the ones that aren't the main character manage to be interesting due to them not getting wanked to high heaven.

Unfortunately, I'd say Harry's one of weakest links in the story. He's very bland in this and doesn't really do much except train and get stronger, while all the other POV characters are amazed by him. This seems to be a bit of a pattern with this author. He does a lot of different POVs and only the ones that aren't the main character manage to be interesting due to them not getting wanked to high heaven. He did the same thing with Jon and Ned. They just won all the time with zero difficulty.

The OC girls are worse though. Juno is at least narratively important, but she does bring a lot of eye-rolling pureblood tropes with her. Diana though is terrible. She has no business existing and is essentially just there to be a replacement Hermione but with nothing that makes her interesting or useful.

I'm willing to keep reading it though. I'd currently give it a 3.5.

 

4/5 for me.

It's far from perfect. Harry is a bit bland. His singlemindedness has no drawbacks - he has friends, people like him, nothing goes properly wrong. Even when they did, he ended up benefiting from it. He's too logical for a 17 year old in a 12 year old's body.

The side characters are interesting, though. Dumbledore shines IMO. He's an old man with a weary mind and a heavy heart and staggeringly competent despite that. I look forward to his scenes.

The fic is engaging in spite of a bland protagonist and minimal proper conflict. The concepts are cool. It does tropes in a way that don't feel entirely played out. Both Dumbledore and Voldemort are highly competent and there's no bashing. The bar may be low, but in a fandom that's pretty bone dry having good grammar and interesting concepts makes for a pretty fun read. Helps that it updates every two weeks.

 

I like this story less as it's gone on. The latest chapters are closer to filler for sweet, sweet patreon dollars; the female lead gets reduced to another witness of Harry's superiority and the author seems to enjoy describing her feelings of inferiority; and there are undertones of weird fanservice.

I agree with you on the story's strengths, Inert.

Edit: new chapter was pretty good. Not as pessimistic as I was above.

 

Read this all on a long flight.

It kept me engaged throughout and I ended wanting more. The writing is decent and the growth in power satisfying.

I agree Diana has failed to justify her existence. When she was introduced I rolled my eyes but I was slowly brought around to semi-like her, but for the last 100k words or so she has barely existed and honestly the story doesn't need her.

Now that I am all caught up, I suspect I will struggle to keep up with the story as it updates, simply because the pacing is so slow. But the author has referred to a time skip at some point, so that may keep me engaged.

 

It took me two tries to read this and I don't feel the slightest urge to pick it up again.

Lack of relatable new characters while ditching the old is the largest problem.

3/5