For those who didn't know yet, DoD's sequel is up and a good six chapters into the story!

While Ri-kun's grammar obviously isn't the best seen, I think it's unanimous that he(?) has a gift for making likable original characters, and the new DADA teacher seems to be set up just as well as Rayne was.

 

A strange question: Did this guy rewrite this story (the first one) at any point?

 

Yeah, it was rewritten to be more HBP friendly.

 

Ah. I remember reading it once before a very long time ago and really disliking it.

 

Hmm. I remember reading this when this thread was opened. With the new story out, I guess I will give it a go and review.

 

Maybe I need to give this fic a bigger try, but i've read the first few chapters, and all I see (I read this fic ages ago, so going by memory) is a Mary Sue, and a wimpy Harry.

Does it actually get better?

 

Come on, in Chapter Two, the threatening vampire asks Harry for his autograph! Is that not one of the priceless moments of fanfiction?

But fuck, I hated what happened to that inquisitive and hilarious vampire. Worse than what happened to Fleur in Dagger and Rose. It's like killing Butters from South Park. The bastard. Never could work up momentum to get past that part.

 

I want to like this story because I like the idea of it, but the little things bug me. Such as the fact that the author puts an exclamation mark after what seems every other sentence.

 

Rayne's a dirty Mary Sue. 2/5, this story is just precipitously getting worse and worse as it ages.

Yeah, that coming from the professional vampire hunter. Plenty of lackluster action scenes though.

 

I think that sums up how I feel about her. =)

This isn't an award-winning fic by any means, but if the writing style doesn't turn you off after a few chapters I think it's worth going through it and the sequel. Although Rayne is supposed to unbelievably attractive to Harry, she does have faults and weaknesses and Darkholme's personality was original/creepy enough that I've liked all the scenes she was in.

Ri-kun does have a habit of keeping things a little too canon for me lately though. We'll be reading a concept, that in retrospect should be completely new, but it's ruined because it's basically a name change. (i.e. The Marauder's Book or "The Four Hollows") The fact that he stripped a lot of the original plot line he had going to incorporate HBP irked me a bit, but since I was pretty hooked on the original and like the characters enough I can't really seem to care too much.

Either way, it isn't a phenomenal story, but it's captivating enough to pass the time when you're bored or looking for just a slightly different twist on things.

 

I think that since he wanted to keep the story as canon as possible is admirable but I suppose it also shows a lack of creativity. That being said, I think the plot is original enough that keeping it HBP friendly does not completely ruin it. It's definitely worth a read but no, it would not be award worthy. Edit: To Galleon, that was a typo on my part. My bad....

My advice is to keep pushing. If you can tolerate the Mary Sue bit in the beginning of the first story, you'll find that the sequel is worth the suffering. Like I said before, you'll also have to tolerate a bit Harry/Ginny and the "warm feeling" Harry gets when he thinks about her in the sequel. But you find that while this story is mediocre, the creativity certainly shines through. While I do not think the trilogy as a whole is 4/5, I think that a 2/5 is a bit harsh. Give it a chance and read through it. I guarantee that it is a horrible read.

As for the lackluster action scenes, they are definitely not the best but I think they get better in the sequel. Just take your time and go through the first story knowing that everything will be alright in the end...or at the very least not downright nauseating.

 

HBP friendly is fine to a degree, but I'd rather he outright keep the concepts he feels like keeping/incorporating in the story and nix the ones he doesn't. I'm not as into this story as I was DoD (Which I am still stubbornly a big fan of) because of it.

The outright separation between Harry and Ron/Hermione was a good idea - it was reasonable, it made sense - I liked it. The HBP idea of having Harry stalk Draco at times was as well. However, Harry finding a Marauder book with a dangerous spell that causes that rift is stupid. He can change the spell, he can change the name of the book, but it's still Snape's old potion book to me - same with the Hollows.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that then. Ri-kun has a gift for crafting well-written original characters, but lacking originality in plot dissuades me from believing what he has of the trilogy so far is worthy of an award.