lol@songtitle

It's a play off of one, but it still entertains me.

 

I'll second the rec for happiness is a broken wand. Definitively new and innovative stuff, although the later chapters seem to be loosing focus.

 

Little Nicky

a little one-shot I enjoyed. Not the greatest fic I've ever read, but it explores an angle that I've rarely seen.

 

I searched the following fic by id, name, and author. I only found a fic already listed in the Rejected Submissions. I even google'd it and found nothing, so...

Title: The Chronicles of Harry Holmes
Author: ZenoNoKyuubi
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7487494/1/
Universe: Complete AU, with some canon orientation.
Summary: What if the Dursleys gave Harry the Sherlock Holmes books when he was a child to make sure he knew that there was no such thing as magic? What if he did everything to become just like Holmes? May seem rushed, but more coming. Sequel in the making!

The sequel is already completed and the author published a third installment.

I liked it a lot. I was gonna recommend it for the libray, but the author previous rejection stoped me. The story is about how Harry, reading the entire collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, started to copy the main character in his unique form of reasoning. The plot starts in 5th year, with a prologue that covers from childhood through first year. It's not a heavely Harry centric fic, because some parts are related by Neville.
It has some weird stuff like author!neville, but it's almost recommendable, IMO.

 

@The Chronicles of Harry Holmes

I love the concept of Harry's life changing because he reads the Holmes stories. What I don't like is the execution. However fun the idea might sound, it would take some excellent writing to get me to suspend my sense of disbelief and accept that somebody's life was completely changed because of one book he read. I...just didn't get that from the story.

The whole thing just made me think "If I could suspend my disbelief for this, I'm sure the Holmes fanboy in me would love it but..."

So yeah, I really didn't enjoy that, which is a pity because I love the concept, just not the execution.

Also, on a completely unrelated note, it bugs me is that I remember reading a story with that exact same concept but done in a less cartoonish and more "how a book could impact Harry's life" sort of way, but I can't remember what it was called. Dammit, I just know I'm gonna waste like 30 minutes trying to find that now.

 

[WIP]Unspeakable Beauty

It's okay. Kinda fast and looks like somebody threw together a few ideas. Also extremely fluffy.

 

Obsta Principiis

It's going to be a Harry/young!Bellatrix story in the vein of Delenda Est. Decently written (better than its inspiration, I think). It's just at 7,000k words at the moment, but something to keep an eye on.

 

Really, Andro? She straight-up jacked lyrics from a song to insert as a lullaby. They don't even fit properly.

Also the early writing of Delenda Est far outclasses this in terms of characterization, dialogue, plotting, etc. The latest chapters are completely unmentionable, but that's besides the point.

 

Yeah, not too impressed with Obsta Principiis. Any story that has Harry claiming "I'm pathetic" within the first few paragraphs is a no go for me.

 

It was more the inclusion of certain details. Like Harry running with the rubble of the school falling all around him. Harry imagining the trees castigating him. The general feel of the forest atmosphere with Harry fleeing the Death Eaters pursuing him, finding refuge in the mist.

Delenda Est was mostly unreadable to me, even at the first few chapters.

 

I honestly don't know why everyone was gushing about Delenta Est. It's supposed to be a Harry/Bellatrix story, but that Bellatrix was barely recognizable to the point of being a complete OC save for the name.

 

I was alright with the first chapter, but I couldn't get through the second. If you are going to have a time-travel fic, then I feel like you should throw him back in time instead of having him sit around in the present. They even had a good point where they could send him into the past while he was lying in the ditch. Also, the reason I couldn't finish chapter two was because of both Harry and Draco's constant switching between whining and screaming at the top of their lungs.

 

Becoming something more by Soxman

The story is being rewritten by the author. Only two chapters out at the moment.

 

Been following it. The rewrite is infinitely better than the original in terms of characterisation, pacing, and general writing quality. Though perhaps the pacing has gone a bit too far in the opposite direction - we're on chapter three and the main plot point - Voldemort's memories - hasn't even been hinted at yet. At first I thought that Soxman had got rid of the Voldemort's memories plot entirely, and was just going to go with a Harry changed by the removal of the horcrux. But he's confirmed to me in PM that the Voldemort's memories plotline will still be there.

So I guess we'll wait and see. Far too early to tell what the plot is going to be like.

My review for the original:

 

This is good and depending on how it unfolds, I think it has a lot of potential. I didn't read the old version but the writing in new one is reasonably good. It is realistic and there is a bit of humor too.

LOL.

 

I think we're reading different stories... Or he's gone back and deleted the third chapter and changed the second. right at the end of chapter two we see that Harry was awoken from his dreams,

Here is our first hint that he remembers Voldemort in a way that he shouldn't.

Anyway, it looks pretty interesting, I'll have it on my alert list for sure.

 

There's been quite a few of these type stories floating around recently, and I don't think I've liked any of them. Actually, just the principle of Harry suddenly getting memories like that always seems fail to me, and never necessary.

 

I dislike any fics where Harry gains Voldemort's memories in which it's used as a quick power-up (i.e. 98% of them).

Quick power-ups in general are a bad idea. It doesn't matter if it's Voldemort's memories, an uber custom wand with the core of 5 different creatures, Merlin's staff/inherited magical items (usually in bad indy fics) etc. etc.

While I dislike weak, mediocre (canon!Harry) or pussy!Harry, I also dislike fics where Harry suddenly jumps from mediocre to a Death Eater killing baddass just under AD and LV's level in the span of a chapter or two through the use of aforementioned cheap power-ups.

It's much more interesting to read a story where Harry is competent and perhaps inherently "powerful", but has to work his ass off, and eventually through well thought out trials and tribulations, becomes a highly skilled wizard (hint: canon retreads are usually boring; come up with your own plots). Kind of like Alexander Quick in Inverarity's stories. She becomes powerful (and feared) over time in a believable fashion, although she ends up paying dearly for it through the course of the series.

 

Stories like this tend to remind me of Partially Kissed Hero, which is never a good thing. That said it has been done well before, Dalyon's unfinished Of Blood and Power comes to mind, though I haven't reread that for years and of course jbern's TLIL, though from what I've seen a lot of people don't think that that's aged very well.

I think Harry-with-Voldemort's memories is a story line that could be good, it just needs a good author. I also think that having Voldemort's memories shouldn't make Harry an automatic badass - he should have to work to master the knowledge - which is something that jbern did pretty well.

 

Kmfrank's Unlocked Knowledge is probably the best instance of Voldemort's memories Harry.

Daylon's fic was good back in the day, but it's very short. And suffers from RESS*.

*Raised Eyebrow and Smirk Syndrome