I'm pretty sure the mods have probably already checked.

 

Can you cite an example of him ignoring reasonable critique of the science in the story? I don't remember any of it in this thread.

He may or may not have questionable skills in writing, personally, I find it enjoyable enough not to be an issue and occasionally downright brilliant. For me, it doesn't detract because I'm not reading it for the writing. It's basically a puzzle in narrative form and as long as the parameters of the puzzle are set out in a clear manner, everything else is just bonus.

---------- Post automerged at 02:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:16 AM ----------

The purpose of writing is often for the enjoyment of *a* reader at least. No writer ever writes for the enjoyment of all readers and some write without caring about the enjoyment of any readers.

---------- Post automerged at 02:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:18 AM ----------

Like I said, I'm using "rational" in the very precise way that the author is. In a rational universe, you're perfectly free to set whatever free parameters you want and establish any invariants of the physical world. Thus, it's perfectly valid for him to define exactly what are the parameters of the world he's working in. But once he's set the parameters, he has to play within the rules that he's established. For example, if transfiguration really is as powerful an evil force as he claims it is, why did Voldermort not use it to kill Dumbledore? Why could he have not transfigured a large amount of arsenic into water and fed it into the Hogwarts water supply? Or into invisible air which he could blow in. Does Dumbledore have a way to protect himself from the negative effects of transfiguration?

If the author is unable to answer these questions, then his story fails the laws of rationality. If he can adequately explain them away, the the fanwank still holds.

---------- Post automerged at 02:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:24 AM ----------

Yes, it's *very easy* to destroy the HPVerse by applying logic to it. It's *very difficult* to *not* destroy the HPVerse while still applying logic to it. That's the challenge the author is trying to accomplish. It's impossible to bring the entire HPVerse in and not have logic destroy it. It's simply too irrational. But how much of the HPVerse can logic be brought to while not having the universe explode into contradictions?

 

Have you tried googling the story? This thread is the third entry. So if someone wants to discuss this story, they're easily led here.

 

Did you even read OotP? Most of Dumbledore and Voldemort's duel was transfiguration. I'm going to paraphrase HBP to you: "The problem is that they have magic too".

 

Frankly, I find the new dude's view to be a fair one, just not one that all of the members of this forum will agree with.

I think pretty much everyone in this thread has made their point, and may as well agree to disagree, as arguing it AGAIN is not going to change anyone's view.

 

I don't see why this fic has got so much attention (over 4000 reviews on ff.net in less than 3 months!), but admittedly I skimmed through the parts I read, and totally skipped over some useless and dry dialogue which ended up being about 3/4 of the total story.

The writing is ok, but the presence of silly errors and Americanisms annoy the fuck out of me. The two most annoying things, however (which have probably already been mentioned in this review), are the projection of the author as the protagonist and the pretentious application of logic onto fantasy. And that's a problem; for it seems that the entire fic is geared towards that style.

Perhaps my first lesson on DLP was that logic and magic do not mix (I believe it was in a thread about magic being a form of energy), and with just reason; it is fantasy. You shouldn't try to apply logic to that which, be definition, is illogical.

Perhaps this is supposed to be a crack-fic, and if so I found no humour in it. I know that most of us here find many faults in the Harry Potter series, hence why we strive to find high standard stories for the Library, but the extent to which the author is butchering the HP!Verse is rendering it as something which does not belong in the realm of HP-Fanfiction. It is taking away far too much from fancy, and instead replacing it with reality.

Do not want. 1/5

Dark-Stallion.

 

I like this story. I think I'll just continue to pretend that this is a slightly crack!fic whose protagonist's application of rationality to HP Verse is entertaining because of the inherent contradictions. I'm pretty sure that is what he's intended, rather than some serious philosophical or scientific treatment.

 

Yes.

Individual episodes in this piece are interesting and I've said as much here and in reviews to the author. As a whole, it lacks narrative cohesion and any realistic hope that it will be brought to a satisfactory conclusion once the author feels he's had his say. A better format for this type of writing would have been the collection-of-related-one-shots format employed by others, e.g., Big D with WWSHD, or Sarah1281 with Run That By Me Again.

 

Fair point. I've just generally avoided ever ever googling the story, so I wouldn't have known.

 

Why do I get the feeling that this thread's 3 star rating is because there's about 60 1-stars and about 60 5-stars?

 

Because it's a story people either seem to love or hate.

I personally think it has its moments, but the slow pace and the lecture mode the author switches into once per chapter are a real killjoy for me.

3/5

 

Can you provide me with some examples? I'm not trying to be antagonistic, I'm genuinely curious.

 

I'm guessing his answer will once more be 'yes'. I think what you want to say is "may you provide me with some examples?" or "can you please provide me with some examples?".

Dark-Stallion.

 

Or, more accurately "Please provide me with some examples."

 

He phrased it as a question, not a statement/command. I saw no reason to correct him in this, as it's more polite as a question.

Dark-Stallion.

 

I just found out there is a TV Tropes page for this story.

Just when I think the level of ass-kising going on couldn't increase, Yudkowsky's yes-men have to prove me wrong...

 

Have you looked at their site's list of HP fanfic recommendations? That just discredits the story even more.

 

The fanfic recommendations on TVTropes is almost uniformly awful - although there are SOME good ones. Not many though.

 

By virtue of saturation. Recommend enough and you'll get a handful of good fics.

It's mostly for fans of slash and obscure characters. According to them, the Army of Darkness/Sluagh fic is one of the most popular fanfics ever written.

 

I won't be antagonistic by saying, "Yes," though it's a device used frequently in the story proper (which is why I did my first response as I did--I figured you'd appreciate it).

Sorry, but I regard replies to reviews as personal messages, which I don't share publicly as a matter of principal. A very benign and public example of what I mean can be found by noting the author's A/N response to the whole truth/beauty vs. top/bottom quark thing, which boils down to, "You might be right in fact, but really I'm right because that's how I learned it."

For what it's worth, part of my own sordid scientific history is having worked on the detector that first discovered the top quark. (I installed strip chambers to detect direct photon events on the Fermilab CDF detector during the summer of 1991). I'm not exactly ignorant of the deprecation of Murray Gell-Mann's antiquated terminology and I think that it's a little silly that the author would insist upon sticking to his guns over this.