Title: Albus Potter and the Global Revelation (book 1)

Author: NoahPhantom

Rating: M

Genre: Adventure

Books: 7 (plus an incomplete sequel)

Chapters: 167

Words: 1,204,000

Updated: November 26, 2016

Published: August 11, 2012

Status: Complete

Library Category: The Alternates

Pairings: Albus/OFC

Summary (from fic): It is Albus Severus Potter's first year at Hogwarts, and though he'd like to spend all his time enjoying it, he can't. There's too much going on in the world that he can't ignore. There are attacks and disappearances, like there were in the days of Voldemort, and a similar fear is taking hold of the world. There are even sightings of former Death Eaters and known allies of Voldemort, but no one is sure if they are even involved, or if a new enemy is rising from the ashes of the old like a phoenix.

Link to book 1: FFN

This fic was posted on the old Almost Recommended megathread, but it seems it was never formally reviewed.

This is not the best or most polished next-gen fic I’ve read (that's probably Hogwarts Houses Divided) but it’s certainly the most interesting, expansive, and impressive. The simple introduction of another Dark Lord uprising between Voldemort’s fall and Albus’s birth (he is vanquished by Harry’s apprentice as Albus is born) causes a monumental shift in the world, and it’s apparent in this fic from the first page. We see a more progressive, more sullen Wizarding World than in canon, a dying Wizarding World like Narnia’s Charn, striving with all its might to recapture the glory of olden days. Monumental progress has been made in wartime: wands are ten times more powerful and the most powerful wizards now wield two wands, roles in the Ministry for Magic have been rehashed, magical creatures have been given more rights but still are prejudiced behind their backs. Political systems are greyer; the threat of blood supremacy is a non-issue now, but more progressive issues have developed. The starkest change in the Wizarding World from canon to NoahPhantom’s universe is the shift towards an almost Calvinist perspective of predestination and hopelessness against one’s fate. For almost every character there is a fight against their most prominent identity or purpose, in Albus' case something we see from the very first chapter. This creates an even more unreal atmosphere than JKR’s universe: everything is heightened; realism becomes irrelevant.


A lot of next-gen fic has the problem of creating a fluffy atmosphere for a couple years, or even weeks, at Hogwarts, and then giving the Potter kid a chance to solve the problem. Not here. It’s dark and suspenseful from day one, and Albus doesn’t have a choice.


What contrasts with the dark plot are the characters, which are written quite cartoonishly in the spirit of canon. Many of the side characters and minor villains are well-developed and interesting. Particularly memorable are Dalton Desulgon, the twenty-year-old Transfiguration professor and apparent Gary Stu; Helio Wilcox, the headmaster; and Harry Potter, who finds himself in increasing difficulties in his personal, political, and professional lives. The Potter-Weasley extended family is well done, but not as memorable as the above. Albus’s friends, generic smartasses whose names all begin with either A or E and muddle together needlessly, are not highlights. This problem sort of rights itself in later books, but might turn some off from the first book.


The plotting in this fic is incredibly intricate for the most part, navigating time travel, Fidelius, and worldwide escapades in later books. The authors (one plots and one writes) manage to keep the tension throughout most of the fic, letting up only in an abominably weak section of the seventh book, which could have been ten chapters shorter. Some cyclic themes throughout the series, which you rarely see in fanfic, add a nice touch. There is a massive buildup towards a befitting ending, which is followed by an even more jawdropping epilogue that closes most of the story’s threads. The writing is serviceable, without technical problems.


It’s far from flawless. As I said, there are too many characters and they tend to mull together. The seventh book is a bit of a shitshow in terms of pacing compared to the others, which are tight and direct, and includes that absolutely inexcusable plot line that almost made me stop reading right there. I don’t know if it’s necessary for the plot and world to be this big, but it’s such an indulgence. The contrast between the colorful characters and dark world is also somewhat jarring at times. But my god, if you want to immerse yourself in a well fleshed out, expanded world for a couple days, read this fic.


I give this a 4/5 for the weak seventh book (aside from the ending), some weak characters, magnificent overindulgence, fantastic plotting, and masterful worldbuilding.

 

My thought process went like this:

- New user
- Story about Albus Severus
- LOL, this is gonna be trash

Excellent review though and I'm gonna give it a go. I'll edit back with actual opinion content.

 

Murr is spot on here.

I'd suggest skimming/powering through the first book. It really is an elaborate setup and there isn't much reward to it.

The rest of the series is action-packed, and the plot is almost always moving forward. Little details that seemingly don't matter may/may not get callbacks later on. Characters are well developed and the story has a very clear direction. There's no meandering as such, and any structural/pacing issues are more due to prose quality and the author autistically wanting to stick close the HP format, but hey, that adds more nostalgia value.

Haven't read this in over four years—one of my first fifty fics, I think—but even now the world building sticks out. Shit can get way over-the-top, but it's all in good fun. If you can suspend disbelief, you'll be in for a treat. A lot of cool magic and trinkets and what have you, but also like NoahPhantom squeezed every bit they possibly could've out of the HP world while somehow still keeping things within the confines of the post-DH world. Luckily, it's pre-Cursed Child haha.

Good villain(s), and in keeping with the HP novels, the plot gets darker and more intricate as the series progresses.

3.5/5, rounded down. It's a gem within the "almost rec" tier. Thanks for sharing, will give this another read.

If we had a separate star system for "almost rec" tier fics, I'd give this a 4.5. This is really good for what it is, but it's not great for the same reasons Victoria Potter is great.

 

There's nothing much I could say about this that Murr didn't do an exemplary job of saying already. It's a bit long-winded, it's a bit over-tangled in parts, but I'll be damned if this wasn't one of the best complete series I've ever read regardless. There is some damned good magic and legend in this, and I really wish the author could bang out the sequels they talked about.

Absolutely. It's a shame about part of book 7, it's the only bit that makes this not library-worthy, but if you read it you'll see what we're saying. Strong, powerful 3.49 for me.

 

I'm really struggling to get past the first few chapters honestly. The pacing of scenes and conversations is just all over the place and it's really immersion breaking.

 

Ched, would you recommend literally just skipping book 1? That's the way I'm leaning right now, as I doubt I'll get far otherwise.

 

I agree with other reviewers who said first book could have been truncated. I think the 1st and 2nd books could have been combined since they ultimately share the same plot points (e.g. Exo's illness, result of "Global Revelation"). One problem I think this author has is introducing things very early to what will come up later in different books (e.g. the mulanctopol creature, Marionette's Medicine). The first book could have entirely focused on Exo and the lunar eclipse, with the Global Revelation happening during the school year. The discovery of the mulanctopol ultimately isn't important for a while, and you know what Chekhov says about guns.

There is a similar problem with pacing in Book 2 (AP and the Lunar Eclipse)--the titular episode and really the climax of the book occurs earlier in the school year, but the book continues much longer to fit in the annual dueling tournament, which doesn't feel as important (?).

I put all these cares aside for a guilty pleasure read with an interesting plotline, but after starting Book 3 I gave up. The dialogue for all the characters (Hogwarts children, professors, and villains) sounds the same (colloquial and American) with adjectives and adverbs like "ridiculous" or "ludicrously" appearing throughout. The villains at beginning of Book 3 also sounded wooden to me. Often the dialogue is obviously meant to do exposition, which can work, but it's very transparent in this series.

I have to admit that some ideas are interesting even if there are shortcomings in how they are depicted/used. E.g. I like the idea that the "Global Revelation" is a concern that wizards would want to think about and debate before being outed by Muggle tech or wizarding terrorists such as another Voldemort or Grindelwald. The arguments we see performed by Arthur Weasley and Mbato (?) could be more complex though. Also I think the idea of different sects growing from the Death Eaters with different end goals and approaches would be very interesting, as is NoahPhantom's "Dark Revival." This has come up in a recent thread discussing the different motivations and beliefs of the Death Eaters.

But ultimately in addition to the prose and dialogue some of the plot points and characterizations also fall short. It's ok to have a special and talented main character, and it's a nice addition that Albus struggles with people's expectations of him, but nearly all of Albus' friends are talented across the board. Aidan and Rose are both perfect academics, Alec becomes a superstar dueler even though he struggles with ADHD. Eftan is at the top of his year in Slytherin, etc. And

Spoiler

they're all accepted into a unique wizarding program at Hogwarts called A.R.M.

I also grew to be tired of OCs for this reason. There are many adults and families that survive after DH, why don't we see any of them (or their children)? Where were these very talented adults such as Helio Wilcox during the last wizarding war? It's been 20 years since the fall of Voldemort, so even if Wilcox and Desulgon started Hogwarts the year after DH, they'd be 31... very young to be so dominant at magic (more so than Harry even?). All of the Aurors Harry deals with are OCs as well. All of this could be fine (e.g. I think the next-gen fic Hogwarts Houses Divided is great!), but it eventually grew tiresome for me that nearly every OC could become an albino Animagus or duel with two wands...

For those who read on into the series, do these issues get better? Is the plot stronger after the weak showing of AP 1 & 2?

 

Yeah, as I said, the characters are really not the highlight of this series. Books 3 and 4 begin to take the story out of Hogwarts and into the world at large, and that's when the adult wizards get involved.

As to your specific concerns about Desulgon and Wilcox, I'll just say these anomalies are noticeably intentional and they are addressed down the line.

I can 100% see people taking issue with the style of this fic, so if you're still not hooked when the Devoctrices start coming off the board, you might want to stop. That's when the plot hits full gas and doesn't really let up until the end.