I'll merge the two threads, just add your ratings to the already existing one.

 

I actually really enjoyed this. The plot, the suspense, everything was really pleasingly worked out. Especially Harry's badass dark history - the nice part is, you only get snippets of it instead of the usual deluge of 'Harry was wearing a black trenchcoat, and had the meanest look in his eyes anybody in Knockturn alley had ever seen, like ever'. This shows, instead of tells. The fact that he's an auror, but has to constantly struggle with waking up covered in gore after rage blackouts is a nice little touch too. The only thing I didn't like so much was who the villain was revealed to be, because their motivations seemed to let down the potential the story had going to throw something unexpected into the frame.

4/5

 

All in all, an okay story. The back and forth between timelines got annoying; it wouldn't kill the author to general dates. "Five years ago", "one month ago", "present" - that sort of thing. He rushed to get Hermione and Harry together, which was lame - I suspect many fangirl PM's nagging for H/Hr had a hand in it, but who knows.

3/5 for a story that would easily top the list with some beta-work and revising.

 

For those of you who followed this fic, it appears that the author has decided to do an extensive re-write, which is apparently far superior to the version that this thread was dedicated to.

The link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5699736/5/Anguis_The_Snake_Within#

I'm quite impressed with the characterization and the plot in general, but I do feel that the author is taking a little too much liberty with flashbacks. A less focused reader could have trouble following the two different timelines or at least the details in either one.

4/5 for superb technical writing, with a few things that annoy me but not enough to make me stop reading.

 

I just stumbled across this fic in an insomnia driven haze, and I've really enjoyed it. The Noir style is a favourite of mine, and the pacing and general feel reminds me somewhat of the film 'Brick'.

Characterisation is good, and though am not a huge fan of Drugs-Abuse!Harry the author has fleshed it out into an entire dark yet realistic underworld. Harry is bordering on godlike powers, and there are other little things which bug me in general. It seems the author has a tendency to do whole re-writes, yet there are a few niggling errors in the writing which tell me that the author probably doesn't use a beta and prefers his own judgement.

Overall I really like it, and it's definately going on my alerts. As far as post-Voldemort mysteries go, this is far above many others in the field; the plot is engaging and mysterious, and the author has put some care into fleshing out a sub-plot which doesn't detract but adds (a rarity in fanfiction). 4/5, and I'm being harsh. With the added insight of a good beta to iron out the mistakes it could be a 5/5 in my eyes (but as I say, I am a Noir!Fan-boi).

Dark Stallion.

 

I never read the original, but so far the re-write is quite good.

I have reservations about Harry's graduate shadow (especially after reading the spoilers of the original story posted in this thread), but decent misteries are hard to come by in HP fanfiction. This is still way inferior to The Song of Trees, though, so go read that if you haven't already.

4/5

 

After this I clicked the big red X. Doing this to Harry's character at 26 is just as bad as doing it at 15 in the shittiest of post-OotP fics.