Title: Cartographer's Craft
Author: Copperbadge/Sam Storyteller
Rating: M
Genre: Romance
DLP Category: General/Romance
Pairing: Harry/Sirius, Remus/Tonks
Status: Complete
Summary: In the summer after Harry's sixth year, Harry and Remus uncover a section of the Marauder's Map which has been hidden for the past twenty years, releasing a carbon copy of sixteen-year-old Sirius Black from its depths. As they prepare for the impending war, Sirius must find a place for himself in this new world, Harry must find a way to destroy Voldemort, and Remus must face his own past while trying to build a tenuous future with Tonks.
Link: FFA, Dreamwidth

Probably the only slash story I've ever enjoyed reading. By the same author who wrote Reclamation. AU 7th year - better than what JKR wrote, for sure.

 

I have to dash off to uni now, but, in spite of the slash warning, this does actually sound quite interesting, and I've saved it in an open tab to read later.

 

I've read this before. Can't really remember much but from what I remember it's the only HP/SB worth reading. Actually it's the only one, other than some extremely crappy soul-bond/veela/destinedmate pezzo di merda and heaps of mediocre one-shots.

It's actually quite good, samvine/copperbadge is a good writer and it's a pity he's out of the scene now. It's one of the best slash fics out there and a nice length too.

I stopped reading it towards the end but that was about the time I first discovered DLP so I got distracted.

The characterisation of Sirius is fairly good and the actual progression of the relationship is believable and steady.

Compared to other slash fics it's the creme de la creme, and in DLP standards it's about a 3.5 or a 4.

EDIT: Rounded up to 4 because I'd like to believe that what I didn't read was the same quality as what I did read.

 

I'll thank you to never again use that phrase with regards to slash.

 

Even if the slash is technically readable, it still doesn't mean I'd ever want to read it.

 

It's not that the technical writing of this fic is bad - it's adequate, nothing special - or it's not even that the slash fazes me that much. Honestly, if the writer had worked to create any emotional investment in the characters, I could have continued to read it.

No, my issue with this story is that it's bland as all hell. It's a story that wastes too much time telling rather than showing - and when the author does decide to 'show', it's just so average it's painful. It's not aggressively bad, it's just dull as shit. There's no real hook to this story, nothing to keep me interested, making it a chore to keep reading.

Oh, and the dialogue is just terrible. It's stilted, it doesn't flow naturally, and it just comes off as peripheral and pointless.

2/5

 

In all honestly who the fuck wants to read slash no matter how well it's written? Harry/Sirius--- Harry/ANYMALE on top of that. I'm not going to see him other then a 30+ Year old man, no matter if he is written as 16 years old.

Do not want. Not going to rate since I'm not going to read.

 

I'm fourteen chapters in and honestly it's amazing. I'm not even quite sure why I like it so much, the story is pretty compelling itself but the characters, while somewhat OOC, are what hold it together. Harry is far more competent and rational than he ought to be, but that's a plus in my eyes, Hermione and Ron are pretty much non-existent (which again I kind of like) and the other main characters have enough substance to step out of Rowling's two dimensional characterisation and take on a persona of their own.

Ironically the worst thing about this story so far is the slash. Not because it's particularly in your face, graphic or badly characterised— it's actually pretty tasteful as far as slash generally goes (14 chapters in and all I've seen is two people growing closer together in fairly innocent circumstances). However the reason it detracts so much is that despite being about as subtle as you can make it, it still feels shoe-horned into proceedings for no other reason than to have it there. As though the author is saying 'Look, not only can I write a good story, but I can write a good story despite the slashy undertones.'

I'm pretty conflicted in my opinions. It's beautifully written, with mature but approachable English that's quite honestly really enjoyable to read. That said, the romance while interesting and believable, feels tacked-on, to the point of displacing a character from the canon time-line just to make it fit.

Honestly I don't think this is library worthy, not because I dislike it but because it's slash and DLP isn't ever going to be the sort of place that welcomes it.

If you're not bothered by what gender your protagonist shares a bed with, read it, by any other measure it's a 5 or 4.

On the other hand, for the majority of you DLPers, though it might fundamentally change your mind about the whole thing, I really doubt it would.

Either way I'm going to hold off rating it until I finish it.

Thanks T3t, for finding something this good.

 

Lol, variety of opinions. Also a bunch of faggots rating it 1 without reading it - not like I didn't expect that, but it's somewhat disappointing. I'm not sure if it deserves the library but I gave it a 4/5.

Also, assuming you can get over the fact that some people are actually gay (or bi), I feel like there's more rationale for this relationship to exist than H/G - that's not saying a whole lot, really, but it's better than continuing in that vein after book 6.

 

OH HAY GUYS, SOMEONE DOESN'T LIKE THE STORY THEY MUST BE HOMOPHOBES.

Fuck off.

 

I haven't read it get, but do you really think that members of DLP would hold of rating something as 1 without reading it just because its slash? We're one of the most anti slash forums out there, of course it'll happen.

Normally i'd just completely ignore it, but NMB's post has convinced me to give it a go.

 

This is one of only a very few slash stories in HP fanfiction that I've read and thought was decent. (The other that comes to mind is the wolfstar in the General part of the DLP Library with Thomas Gaunt as Defense Professor).

I've not read this story in awhile, but I remember it being surprisingly good. I'm going to rate it 4/5 based on my memory of its quality. I expect it has around a zero percent chance of ending up in the Library, though its finding its way to the Recycling Bin wouldn't be wholly unreasonable.

 

Sure some people probably did that. But I'd bet most people who rated low without reading much of it did so because they remember the shit fic you recced only 5 days ago.

OT: It's ok, writing's technically fine even if it doesn't really draw me in. Plot's not terrible, but as nmb said the romance is tacked out because everything Copperbadge does needs slash or slash undertones somewhere. And the characters are OOC from the get-go, which is annoying as hell.

2.5-3/5

Some of his one-shot's and short stories are absolutely fantastic. This isn't anywhere near their level IMO.

 

You call people a faggot for rating a story without reading it? You do know you put a a SLASH story up for a review? I'd call you the fag over the people who rated it a 1 without reading.

So you think Harry getting with his fucking godfather is better then him getting with Ginny in-canon? Gtfo. I despise Ginny but I'd read a story with Harry/Ginny over Harry/hisgodfather/anymale any day of the week.

 

I genuinely don't know how you've managed to get quite so upset about it. So you don't like slash, you don't have to be offensive to the person who recommended it. It wasn't a slight against you, y'know.

Not the first time slash has been posted on DLP and not the last either.

Just relax. Like I said, no way it's getting into the library.

 

What the fuck is this shit? The sheer retardation of you calling people faggots for hating a slashfic, of all things, makes the mind boggle. This is DLP, so unless you're a complete neophyte to the site you should have expected this reaction in the first place.

As for the story, it's a good read regardless of the pairing, and a decent rec in general. I'd personally rate it a 4/5 since some of the more slashy scenes made me cringe. Just, less butthurt next time mkay?

 

I didn't read the story or rate it. I wasn't really upset, just kinda pissed because he's going to recommend a slash story (nothing wrong with that) but him calling people faggots (ironic) when he's reccing this fag shit.

A slash story imo and probably a few others can be rated a 1 just because it's slash. Ain't nobody a faggot in the books besides Dumbledore and to suggest Harry Potter fuck his godfather, draco or his potions teacher snape is ridiculous.

 

tl;dr: I don't care, it's your business.

If you can't even be bothered to read the summary why do you bother to post? I don't actually want to argue with you about this; I don't give a shit whether you personally read the story or not. I'm just wondering why you took the time to post your shit on a thread where you wouldn't even open the story.

 

Spoiler

"Trust me?" Sirius asked, looking up at him. His hand rested on Harry's other thigh, thumb rubbing small circles.

"Yeah," Harry said, running his fingers over Sirius' hair. "But -- oh -- "

Sirius had slid his hand up and was stroking him, a gentle light touch that was more tease than caress.

"More," Harry managed, and Sirius laughed.

"No fear," he replied, and Harry tilted his head back, writhing under and against Sirius until oh god that was Sirius' mouth...

There's 3 fucking gay-scenes in a row.

 

We get it Scott. You hate anything homosexual. So don't read the goddamn story. Stop getting butthurt about it and go join Alexeyy in an anti-gay circle jerk. At this point you've become more annoying than the slash in the story.