Title: Alexander Harris and the Shadow Council
Fandoms: BtVS, HP, Addams Family
Author: Tenhawk
Rating: T
Pairing: Unknown
Summary: A step to one side in time, a shift to another in space, and you would be surprised at the changes one might wreak on an unsuspecting world.
Link: http://www.tenhawkpresents.com/viewstory.php?sid=35

Link: Tenhawk

Synopsis: This is a Xander centric story where he is the son of two squibs. Willow is a muggle-born whose parents don't let her attend Salem, and I assume that Tenhawk will use her to bridge HP magic and BtVS magic. Through a convenient plot device, Salem is unable to take new students for Xander's first year, so he and Wednesday Addams go abroad to Hogwarts.

Cons: Very Xander-centric. Tenhawk writes nothing but strong Xander stories - so if you don't like Xander this won't be for you at all. A fair amount of spelling and grammatical errors - especially in the halfway point of the story when the author was experimenting with speech to text software. The author has not read HBP or DH and will not use any plot elements introduced by them in the story. So long canon!

Pro: Engaging story and fun read. The first three books have been covered and we're now up to GoF. If you can tolerate Xander, characterization is a blast. Wednesday is used to great effect, this has some of the best Hermione dialogue and characteriztion, Narcissa deals with her divided loyalties between her husband's cause and the Black family and we're finally starting to develop Harry in new directions.

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable features are the characters pursuing studies in magic that are mentioned but not delved into in canon. There is a ton of dialogue on wand-crafting and the protean charm that I found surprisingly interesting.

There are minor differences for canon in regards to the first two books - but as of the end of PoA canon has jumped the rails. The author has not read HBP or DH and will not use any plot elements introduced by them in the story.

Conclusion: You're much more likely to enjoy this if you also enjoy Buffy fanfiction. While Tenhawk has made Xander ridiculously important in every story, at least here he has reiterated that Xander will not displace Harry and that Harry will remain substantially more powerful in comparison. Most importantly - this is a fun read for me.

5/5

Checked by Dark Syaoran, June 5, 2014.
Dead link. Found another source.

 

The story is deep, new takes on HP characters and O.C.'s best history of American Magic government I have read, A nice intergration of muggle and magical England, and half a dozen other little things that put this story into "good fan fiction" group.

Tenhawk writing makes it easy to picture scenes and people in your head, rather than that
"fuzy black and white, skip the details writing that pops up everywhere.
It reminds me of Tom Clancy level of detail.

But what do I know?

 

Wow, I am definitely going to give this a go. I haven't read a good HP/Buffy xover since the guy that wrote the HP/Smallville xover. The only other one that was good was by Dellacour as well, I think, and that was more readable than amazing, due to having a weak bad guy.

 

Might I get the name of that smallville crossover? It could be a good read. If it isn't the Ascension of Raa send it this way! Anway, I like Xander centric. I always felt that Buffy's character was too static. She changes during the story, I'll admit that, but Xander does a complete 180 by the end of the saga. I look forward to see how he develops as a character.

 

I'm fairly certain Ellisande is referring to the Ascension of Ra for the HP/Smallville xover. Apocalypse Thou wrote Harry Potter and the Slayer Dimension, which he occasionally updates. The story has solid mechanics - but so far it is only super Harry talking to Season 4 Scoobies.

 

Yeah, Kensington has it right. It was the Ascension of Ra.

As for the story, I just spent the last few day immersed in it, and have highly enjoyed it.

I'm a bit put out, that it hasn't really started GOF yet, however, it is incredibly fun to read, and honestly one of the best fics i've read dealing in playing around with Magic.

I love how Xander is actually intelligent, and acts in a way that doesn't fall on its head with certain logical fallacies.

I am also ridiculously happy that the Author hasn't made replaced Ron as best buddies with Harry, this is the first non-harry centric fic that I have read and enjoyed.

Does anyone have any other recommendations by the same author? I'm taking a look around, and seeing if there is anything of decent length worth reading.

But yeah, completely new style of HP fic, refreshingly enjoying, definite 5/5 from me.

Hoping the update rate is good, too be honest. Great to find another WIP i'm really looking forward too. Excellent find, Kensington.

 

Ellisande: They are in GoF. The last chapter has nearly all the main characters at the Quidditch World Cup. As for the update rate - he tends to spew out 2-4 new segments every week. I'm actually half expecting a new one to come out tonight on his Yahoo! group.

As for other works by Tenhawk - most of them can be found at tenhawkpresents.com. However, there's always the Journeyverse. Now that series is frustrating as hell. Grammar imperfect. Will always be unfinished. Near God!Xander. However, it is extremely entertaining.

It is the best BtVS/SG-1/Aliens/Predator/Independence Day/Lethal Weapon/Charlie's Angels/Jack Ryan-verse/True Lies/Pretender/Crow/Charmed/Hercules/Xena/Atlantis:The Lost Empire/The Shadow/Magnificent Seven/Tomb Raider/Highlander and who the fuck knows what-else crossover ever. Thankfully it is the only crossover to this degree that I am aware of.

It's silly and preachy - but there are definitely some fun chapters. Word of warning though - not every chapter is written by Tenhawk - and even with all the named characters there are still OCs. I think. It is possible that every character is from a fandom, and that I'm just not aware of all of them.

Journeyverse is fanfiction junkfood. It's bad for you - but it's oh so fun to read.

 

I'll definitely check that out. I read the Seal Team 13 one. The first chapter is excellent, the second, very good. The rest? Bleh. Not quite worth it.

I have to say, I do love a lot of Buffy fanfiction, even though I never really got into the series.

Edit: uh wait, where do I start on the Journeyverse? :/

Also, gimme a link to Tenhawk's Yahoo Group page will ya?

 

With the Journeyverse, start with "Journeys". It's the first story.

Tenhawk's Yahoo Group.

 

I posted the story in the Almost Recommended thread a few weeks ago. I was reluctant to submit it for review anywhere because there are quite a few grammatical errors in which the speech-to-text software contributed (I didn't know until now that he was using that software).

I concur with Kensington on most aspects of the story. I don't think it deserves 5 stars because the grammar has been bad at times. I even stated in 'Almost Recommended' that I wouldn't recommend for the library... But since it can be attributed to a speech-to-text experiment that's not worked, I'll be a little more lenient.

4 stars for excellent storytelling with bad grammar thus far.

Bit character spoiler:

Spoiler

General Robert E. Lee as one of Xander's mentors is good stuff.

 

This story is entertaining.

I was concerned about the inclusion of the Addams Family as they seem completely unnecessary to the plot. I was worried the author was going to institute 101 crossovers as in he did in his journeyverse series. In particular, Wednesday seems like a bit of a mary sue type character and the character doesn't even play a vital role in the story.

Other negatives include grammar/spelling mistakes, such as the author continues to misspell certain spell incantations even after being corrected.

Overall, the story is very well done. If one can get behind Xander as a main character, it's well worth reading.

4/5

 

I thought it was interesting, story wise. Like has been said, the grammar drove me insane (especially the inability to differentiate between your/you're), but I think the storytelling was interesting enough that it's worth scrolling through. My only criticism of the plot is that it does tend toward super!Xander.

4/5

 

This thing is up to 85 chapters now, being updated a few times since the last post in this thread.

As to the story itself...it is highly entertaining, able to be easily followed even with no real familiarity with the BtVS or Addams' Family universe. There is a surprising amount of creativity taken with magic, that I've always found lacking, both in canon, and in fanfiction. Wand crafting, creative uses of the protean charm, using simple spell combinations for potent results (example - using a cutting charm and a levitation spell to use a slab of earth as a shield against an unforgivable).

I've seen other fics use similar concepts, of course, but this one melds them all into a fairly natural progression of magic ability as the characters age. They're intelligent, without becoming....'too' adult-sounding. They're powerful, but not excessively so. I'm extremely familiar with the BtVS universe, but had almost no knowledge of the Addams'.

I enjoyed the way the Addams are portrayed, and may have to look into it a bit more. What is it, a movie? Cartoon? Books? I honestly am not sure where it originates. Just that Wednesday amuses me. I found it odd that there's no Buffy in this story, however. Although...I think it may well make it better, in that regard. There are already several strong female characters in the story, and I'm not entirely sure how to fit her in as something other than...possible comedic relief, without it turning into a HAND TO HAND COMBAT > MAGIC LOL, sort of fic. Which....goes against the magical innovation so present in this fic.

The political maneuvering of Narcissa Malfoy is interesting, and I find myself curious how that will play out with Voldemort's return.

Anyways, great fic, and the length was a selling point for me. Killed a few hours nicely. Looking forwards to updates.

 

I believe it started as a cartoon, but it was a movie that popularized it.

I suspect that's only because Buffy doesn't reside in Sunnydale yet. She moved when she was sixteen, which will be Xander's sixth year at Hogwarts. I'm sure she'll be in the story eventually.

 

A valid point, heh. I think I even thought of that while reading it, but then... just got absorbed into what was actually written, not thinking about it.

 

This story's up to 90 chapters now, and Tenhawk has mentioned on his site that his main plotline kicks in after OotP. While normally I wouldn't hold my breath for an epic length fic, Tenhawk has shown his ability to write a LOT. Journeyverse is (very) roughly added up to about 9 Mb, and the quality, be it good or bad, hasn't changed much.

In my opinion, the characters are fairly interesting, though they can occasionally seem much older than they actually are. Example,

Spoiler

Xander has created wands and is attempting spell creation at age 14-15.

On other occasions though, the ages seem spot on. Harry seems ever-so-slightly more vulgar than in canon, but it's easily overlooked. The addition of Wednesday Addams makes actually is my favorite part of the story so far, as she is what makes what would be yet another 'Xander goes to Hogwarts' fic enjoyable. She's definitely the most entertaining character in this one, even if she is borderline MarySue.

As stated, the grammer and formatting has some issues on occasion (from 57-59 is the worst), and the plot centers around canon so far, but according to Tenhawk, that will change. The question is whether he will more closely follow HP or BtVS or make his own universe rather separate from the two as he has done before.

Unmentioned Pros/Cons
PROs: length, experienced author, planned out storyline, believable Harry development

CONs: first HP fic, manipulative Dumbledore is cliche though he's not as bad as some

I'll give it a 4/5 if only for the grammer.

 

Thanks for the heads up that Tenhawk is back updating this - I know he'd taken a few months off due to work stuff cropping up.

/off too re-read whole thing, will edit with updated thoughts later.

 

Ditto Peaslums. thanks for taking the time!

 

I like Journeyverse. I'd like to see more updates. It is past the point of being silly with all the powers and such, but fun all the same.

This one is one of the more original HP or HP/Crossover stories I've seen. That it is still entertaining after all this time and length says a lot.

 

One of my favourite BTVS/HP crossovers. Doesn't deviate much from canon at first which is normally enough to make me stop reading very quickly, but seems to be starting down its own path soon. Entertained me quite a lot, and I think it's worthy of its current library status.

4/5