Holy necropost, Batman! The last post in this thread was before I joined DLP (granted, only eight days before, but still before). What a time it has been...

I saw this story in a story search thread and, since I obviously have nothing better to do during my first week of a PhD program than to sit down and read a million word fan fiction, I dove right in. I was not disappointed (by the story, at any rate).

This story is well written and very well plotted. The mystery driving the story keeps you guessing at every corner, and you don't figure everything out until the last chapter of the third story, at which point you wonder how you missed it. That's what a good mystery story should do in my opinion, and this one does it very well.

The story is also pretty grand in scope. I find myself reminded of Joe's Hero trilogy at more than one point, though the story never quite jumps off the deep end of epicness that Joe's did, which is a good thing in my opinion. The main villain is suitably threatening and his backstory neatly ties together the whole Harry Potter mythos.

The story isn't perfect. The characters are aggravating at times, making me at some points want to throttle the main characters. There are a few errors, such as mixing up Quidditch teams and thinking at one point that Keepers are the ones who catch the Snitch (the Quidditch World Cup serves as a backdrop throughout the three stories). These quibbles are pretty minor though, so I give it a good 4.5/5, rounded up.

 

Starting my masters next week... this seems like a perfect thing to do!

 

I've been recommending this story for years in various story search threads. It's one of the first epic-length fics I've ever read. I think I first read it in the summer of '09, right when I started reading fanfiction. And, to this date, it's still one of the best. I reread it completely about 3 months ago, and I can say that it has aged very well, which is something that can't be said about a lot of fics that are 10 years old. It's truly one of the most underrated (and possibly just unknown) stories in the fandom, possibly because some people getting blinded by it starting from Ginny's POV, but it is truly an excellent trilogy and I will recommend it to everyone.

 

I had great hopes for the fic, and forced myself through the first two books and the first four chapters of the third in a surfeit of boredom, hoping the investment would pay off, given the few nuggets of potential awesome I found.

The problem is it doesn't have any real payoffs, or anything that makes the minutiae rewarding. In the first book I lost count of how many times characters were described eating toast at unnecessary length, let alone the repetitive and only demi-believable Quidditch and governmental intrigue... Having skipped to the final chapters for a skim, it's all moving towards a cyclically repeating ancient evil incarnation with the main characters as symbolic archetypes/reincarnations, which never feels properly presaged, developed past trope levels, or perhaps even explained by the end.

It has plot and suspense in spades, layers upon layers upon layers. The writing is lucid and marred only by the occasional typo. The characterizations are realistic but generally un-relatable/unlikable. The OC's and ancillary characters feel forced. It's just not my cup of tea, but I'd give it a 3/5 for a worthy and ambitious attempt with unrewarding pacing and plot.

I normally wouldn't post in such an old thread, even with a necro "reviving it," but I thought I'd warn others who might have been optimistic, given a general dearth of epic, frequently updated stories.

 

I am a sucker for mystery stories, international thrillers, politics that isn't painfully forced and Harry/Ginny stories, so this fic is right up my alley. There are the layers upon layers of mystery and suspense and intrigue, and if you are the kind that wants all the answers right away, then this story isn't for you. I thought the story did a very good job of progressing the plot in stages and giving occasional answers, but the big picture eludes you until the very end. The story does a good job of exploring other countries, there's Romania and Egypt and several different sites and settings that prevent the story from being monotonous. The lore and symbolism is integral to the plot, and generally well executed. Most importantly, upon reaching the ending the main plot makes perfect sense, and that, as mknote said, is the hallmark of a successfully written mystery story.

On the other hand, the story has definite flaws. The writing is decent and typos are rare, but there is still something missing; it feels like a story as well thought out as this should come across better than it does. In particular, it feels that the emotional moments should come across better than they do. The author's occasional use of passive voice grates as well.

I like most of the OCs. You can probably make a case for most of them being overly mysterious, since almost all of them have unknown motives, and how much you like them (and this story in general) depends upon how much mystery you can stomach. The author gives out detailed backstories for most of his OCs, and I take it as a sign of good characterization. Harry, Ron and Hermione are decently characterized in general. Ginny starts out pretty strong and I like her characterization in book I, but once things start going over her head her agency is reduced and she feels like some sort of passive spectator, a leaf in the storm that she unwittingly created.

I didn't really like the ending of the second book either. I think it put me off from reading it the final book for a month or so. The enemy of the third book is very intriguing though, and it suckered me back in soon enough.

Overall impressions are quite positive. This is easily the most detailed and intricately built mystery in the fandom, though I think The song of the Trees was better written in general. It is definitely excellent by 2006 standards, better than almost every story in the library from that period. Even by today's standards, I give it a strong 4/5.

 

It does seem to be set up to do that, doesn't it? However, it turns out that this isn't the reality of the situation, which makes it yet another (in my opinion) nice departure from expectation.