Title: Alchemical Reactions
Author: Mirror Behind the Wall
Rating: T
Pairing: None as of yet
Status: WIP, 34k words
Genre: AU
Summary: AU Left on the Dursleys' doorstep, Harry is kidnapped by Moody and taken to a better home. However, misfortune follows him wherever he goes and he is soon at an orphanage, ostracized and alone...that is, until he's adopted by Nicholas Flamel.
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3763179/1/Alchemical_Reactions

An interesting little fic. The wandless magic stuff was a bit annoying (done to death) and Harry's attitude sometimes gets on my nerves, but otherwise it's interesting and reasonably well written.

3/5

 

It's... slow. Very slow. And not unique at all. It's just... very bland.

2.5/5, rounded to a 3. Trash bin worthy, but not exemplary enough for the library.

 

Out of all of the raised by someone else story lines, I think that Harry being raised by Flamels is one of my favorite, mainly because it makes sure that we will have a main character who doesn't have to Reilly on a backfiring uber wand to beat voldemort.
the only problem is that all the other raised by Flamel story's seem to been abandoned, Hopefully this one will not be.
I have to give this one 3.5/5 depending on whether it goes silly now harry is at hogwarts

 

I agree with headbanger22 as long as he isn't to silly at Hogwarts and doesn't turn into a know-it-all the rating will only rise from its 3.5

 

2/5

I couldn't get past the first couple of chapters when I read it when it first came out on ficwad. Its not exactly poorly writtern, it just fails completely to capture my interest or attention.

 

While it may appear sober from time to time, i also can read it, meaning there aren't many things that really turn me off, and it flows ok.

3 or 3.5/5 i'd say.

 

It feels like a very extended prologue right now. Chapter 10 basically completes the introduction to a standard super-Harry vs. manipulative Dumbledore fic.

 

Had some trouble getting past the first few chapters. Harry is whiny and difficult, and the reasons for it are all set out without subtlety - a case of being told and not shown. When Flamel got Harry's sight improved so that he could 'see' magic, I had to quit. 2/5

 

I actually enjoyed it very much, while the beginning wasn't the best, it improved greatly in the later chapters and right now, I can't wait for next chapter.
4/5

 

Chapter 11 is up by the way.

 

The beginning really made me want to close the window, but I was bored enough to keep going. After a while it is tolerable and turned out to be entertaining. I'll give it a 3/5, it really isn't anything special.

 

Pleasant update, nice explanation of alchemy, a bit of drama and a different take on emo! Harry.

The Emo! Harry is not really emo harry but isolated harry or, anti social harry.

I think things are looking up for this story, but I have been wrong before.

 

2.5/5

Writing is okay.. but having N. Flamel saying Harry is showing near "mastery" of wandless magic and he's not even 11 yet... just smacks of another fucking Super!Harry fic where he's over powered... and his attitude is nothing more than that of a snotnosed brat. Flamel is offering to teach him magic at a level noone else could and he's acting like he's doing Flamel a favor by learning from him. I found myself hoping that the other characters would give him an ass whooping just to drive home that he's still a 9 year old and thus not such a piece of hot shit.

The Moody aspect was also handled poorly. All in all it left me very underwhelmed.

 

Yeah, for a 660 year old dude, Flamel sure has a pisspoor concept of child-rearing. Hell, even the Dursleys did a better job of shaping Harry into a decent fucking human being, and by all rights, given their treatment, Harry SHOULD have become a sociopath.

That scene where Harry banished Flamel from the library during a lesson especially pissed me off. Personally, I would have locked the kid in his room for three days with naught but three square meals a day brought up to his room so he didn't starve, and see how interesting that book is during a lesson again. I guarentee Flamel would have had Harry's rapt attention and Harry would have been hanging on every single fucking detail after the second time he was subjected to that punishment.

Of course, I would have made sure he understood that simply put, there's a time and place for everything, and he can read whatever he wants when its his own time. During lessons, it AIN'T time to fuck around and act like that.

I forced myself to read what's there, but I won't continue with this fic unless Harry has a full 180 degree attitude adjustment.

 

Actually I found that to be one of the better bits of Humor in the story. and while I agree that the general concept of directing magic though his re-grown eyes is generally more than enough to place this firmly in the 'SuperHarry!' Category, the fact that he's completely ignoring the ability is a plus (Power the dark lord knows not anyone?)

Second Plus is that the Flamels admit that the creation of the stone was a complete accident and Nick's notes were more or less destroyed in the resulting explosion so they can't just re-create it. On the other hand we have no definitive proof (As of chapter9) that the stone was actually destroyed. so there is some chance that the Flamels will recover it before they bite the bullet.

Also, I wouldn't exactly classify harry as 'Emo' just.... maladjusted(?) perhaps. I've known other orphans with a similar mindset to the one that harry displayed in the early chapters. Thankfully the story has been steadly improving as it continues. the only thing ringing warning bells at the moment is that nick and pernelle intend to have harry emancipated upon their eventual demise. On the plus side Pernelle freely admits that it probably won't work...

it could still go either way I'd say. Tentative 3.4 for now. good enough to stay, but in need of a bit of a re-write to be considered epic.

 

For those following, Chapter 12 is up.

 

I read through the story and have to say that I wasn't that impressed by it. Yes, it was a nice change from most of the utter shit out there, but it really wasn't that special. Maybe I've just become desentisized, but it seemed to be pretty generic Tramuatized!Harry vs Manipulative!Dumbledore, with Harry of course being the ultra intelligent, extremely witty, secretive, uber-wandless wonder of the shithole that is Hogwarts. Seriously, it wasn't badly written, but didn't stand out in any particular way in my mind. No real big innovation or catches that make it stand out, unfortunately.

3/5 for yet another take of an average plot by an average writer. Don't waste your time unless you are really, really bored.