Last chapter is getting close to ruining this chapter for me...there doesn't seem to be any sort of relief or progression on Harry at all...he's learning from an enchanter but is still hopelessly confused and lost on everything....which is understandable since he's young but for how many chapters deep we are there isn't much character growth for Harry at all

 

I kind of get what you mean. Most fanfic (but Dark!Harry especially) is so often filled with easy wins and wish fulfillment, so this story feels almost nihilistic in comparison. Certainly, the author has been raising the stakes faster than Harry has been progressing.

But I think there is light at the end of the tunnel. Compare this Harry to the Harry of chapter 15 and there's been big progression. He laughably outclasses his peers at school.

 

This story needs a time skip or two.

 

That awkward moment when a twelve-year old asks you what your sex doll collection is for.

 

Scryer didn't update with the latest chapter - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10629488/55/Blood-Crest

 

Latest update -> https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10629488/56/Blood-Crest

This is my favorite story right now. It's thematically monotone, but the philosophy and theory explored is interesting, so it gets a pass imo. World building is limited, and I hope this will improve in time. The one concern I have for this story is word count.

Spoiler

Harry is at a cross roads in this chapter. So far the two over arching characterizations of Harry is his self preservation and a more recent canon 'loyal friend' streak. Here, these two aspects of his personality conflict and show that Harry, at his core, is still as he was in canon. Both Tom Riddle and Harry are shown to be much more complex in character. In canon, Tom was a student genius who became a simplistic terrorist leader. Here, he is still that brilliant man, but with darker motivations. This matches with the tone of the story in general, with working and motivation of the magical society examined through a realist lens.

 

I got to the end of chapter 44 before dropping this. This was like three weeks ago, so excuse me if my recollection is a bit foggy.

It’s taken me a while to understand why I dropped this, because this fic is the shining example of originality. It’s well-written, with so many great ideas, and it’s unpredictable in a way that keeps you reading.

But it’s the characters that eventually turned me off.

I don’t want to call Harry stupid. He’s not, he’s acting like a normal eleven/twelve-year-old, but he feels overly passive and a bit annoying to read about. And though I applaud the writer for including an OC as such an important major character, I’ve lost interest in Joachim. He doesn’t really have a character arc. He’s just a guy that Harry lives with when he’s not at Hogwarts, and even Harry doesn’t care much about Joachim anymore. I don’t expect Joachim to do anything interesting, or change, or be forced to confront challenges. He feels static. Because of this, the non-Hogwarts chapters were a slog, though I didn’t notice until Harry got to Hogwarts and the story became more enjoyable.

In the end though, Voldemort is a huge problem. Him as Quirrell was good, as he was a mystery for Harry to focus on, but Voldemort proceeded to center the story around himself. Which makes sense, because the story looks at souls and death, so Voldemort is the perfect antagonist. But I’m tired seeing him on page. Harry has locked himself into the quest of convincing Voldemort not to kill him or go after him, and as of chapter 44, Voldemort is accepting of this. However, it seems clear to me that once Voldemort learns the prophecy, he’s going to go against Harry, no matter what Harry does for him beforehand. Therefore, Harry’s quest seems like filler and a waste of time and word count. It’s boring.

I feel like this review is pretty negative, but the story is good. It’s just not something that I really enjoyed reading.

3.5/5 -> 3/5.

 

I read all of the chapters currently available. I absolutely love the story because of the lengthy worldbuilding and explanations on how magic works in this AU. The author's intake on Divination is fascinating and the innate difference between Wizards and others

Spoiler

the ability to change fate, which is fixed unless you are a wizard

is an interesting uptake as to why other magical creatures and muggles would be considered as "lesser" in the Hp universe.

The last chapter was on conjuration and how the dead are always truthful, but make everything so that the necromancer joins them too. I loved that.

Contrarily to Vira I do not find anything boring in this fiction, because when there is less action we get more worldbuilding. Joachim does feel "static", but he's a grown person already and quite old. His personality isn't going to change, his world-view isn't going to change, his way of life has no reason to change either and I think old people IRL are often quite similar in this way. He's Harry's necromancy teacher and whenever the author decides to explain how magic works (using Joachim as a medium), it is an exciting read.

Still, it seems like the story is going slowly. The writing isn't extremely lively. (Kinda funny to say since it's about necromancy...) It feels dry. I'd rate the story around 4 stars, because of the style of writing.