Both bad, but not as bad as:

 

Yeah, i'm pretty much over this fic now. Twas decent to start with, but just went downhill between chapters 12-15. Chapter 5 was probably the peak.

 

Last chapter was... ugh.

I tried to make myself believe that it was supposed to show how Gullible Harry was, believing everything Snape told him even when it's a simplistic view and contradict what he knows of him, but his author note pretty much destroyed that hope.

It's interesting though that his Harry takes a lot of things 'as fact' and a lot of other things he try and dispute them when they don't have more indication of being wrong.

Guess it *really* is the author's view shining through, and not Harry being made flawed on purpose.

shit.

 

I haven't like this story from day one. But the latest chapter's reviews are making me :awesome.

 

am I seriously the only one to notice the sketch-to-the-max nature of Dumbledore and Quirrell!mort?

 

No, you're not. But after this author did the same damn thing with Hermione and (incredibly infuriatingly, at least to me) with Snape, I've lost any hope that this fic is going to get better. I mean, he took a character with a quasi-three-dimensional backstory (Snape) and turned him into a character who would spill his deepest secret to teach Harry 'a lesson'. No, that is not how Snape would behave, the man's much more intelligent than that, and the fact that LessWrong suddenly decided that Snape's backstory needed to be brought forth within this period with no buildup or even hesitation to support his big message ruins the character completely and does a fine job ruining the story along with it.

You know something I'm coming to realize? This fic feels like the ultimate 'Dan Brown/Twilight' cross for HP fanfiction. Flat, uninteresting characters except for the main character who can do no wrong. A plot by the numbers, with any mystery immediately abolished by the author surrogate masquerading as the lead, delivering speeches on his 'Methods of Rationality' every half-chapter so we all can get your message. Complete neglect for the mythos of the pre-existing beliefs surrounding elements of the universe (just like Stephanie Meyer turned vampires into sparkling emo pansies, LessWrong strives to convert every element of the HP-verse into his scientific mindset). A 'theme' or 'message' so blatantly unrealistic and ultimately infuriating that it needs to be reintroduced every single fucking chapter.

And finally, it's written just well enough so that it can garner a massive fanbase of clueless fucks who don't know enough real science or statistics or philosophy to know that LessWrong's message breaks down in the real world to a giant load of horse shit.

This story had potential (not much, but it had some), but that's gone. And, like the rest of DLP, we all saw it coming.

1/5

 

Finally did chapter 2, if anyone's following. Next updates will come faster.

 

@SilensCursor: actually, i disagree pretty much with *why* this story sucks.

It sucks because there are obvious blind spots that can't be forgiven anymore in people's 'rationality', not because Harry can't do no wrong- Harry so far hasn't been able to do anything right, and pretty much *only* did wrong things, so...

As for his snape, i liked how you precised 'quasi-three dimensione backstory' and not character... his Snape is actually much, much more intelligent than in Canon.

He just, like every other of his character, take a backseat to his plot and idea-of-the-moment. And yeah Snape is the type to make stupid and rash mistakes, that's pretty much all he did in Canon. He, however, wouldn't *confess* or *be perturbed* by Harry this easily- much too arrogant and blindsided for it.

 

Updated. Harry finally makes a discovery, doing something thought impossible. An interesting chapter, I think.

I still love this fic.

 

I fucking loved "Aftermath, 2", which, as far as I can tell, is an unrelated drabble poking fun at the Snape/Original Female Student genre.

The actual chapter felt more science-fictiony than HP, but was ok.

The author has changed the prophecy. I am not going to analyze why.

I wonder, how many wizards would it take to transfigure a satellite launch platform, and would it be cheaper than muggle tech?

 

I still like the fic, but this shit about Transfiguration dirty bombing pisses me off, and even if it makes good scientific sense it makes fucking awful logical sense. If this was the case transfiguration terror tactics would probably have defined Voldemort's first war, since it's apparently an indefensible uberweapon requiring all sorts of precautions if there's even a chance it'll go wrong.

 

The chapter was OK. I liked the disassociative process for accomplishing the impossible. STILL don't like the way that transfiguration is handled in this fic. It is unnecessarily rational and lacks the magical mystique. Would have made more sense to leave it canon and then contrast it with more rational notions.

 

So snape is the only professor who doesn't have bad intentions towards children?

 

Transfiguration.. If he's as intelligent as he seems to think he is, he should know that his rules of transfiguration would make that branch of magic utterly useless as it's shown.

Just because something's not a gas or a liquid, ie solid, doesn't mean it won't contaminate the air. It's downright retarded to not expect solids to interact with each other be it through oxidization or just through ambient temperature. He should know that even solid to solid transfiguration will cause "transfigured atoms" to cause a danger to the poor school children and Minerva.

Fucking stupid is what it is.

 

Well, here's what I posted in a magic review:

Easier than just rewriting all my thoughts again.

 

I agree with Sesc that the Bill Weasley thing is pretty dumb. If it were lampooning canon, that would be fine. But the Pettigrew betrayal is not one of the plot holes or cliche's that merit that kind of casual dismissal. In fact, much of this latest chapter is flavored like a canon parody. While I don't have a problem with that generally, it is getting harder to jibe the fluxtuating tones of this story.

 

Heh. I still think the characters in this fic are more three dimensional and intelligent than they are in the canon.
Kardikek: The quantities in those cases are too small to matter.

 

And updated again.

 

Arguably the most predictable outcome in fanfiction.

Spoiler

Hermione > Harry yet again because she's so amazingly clever in listening to her subordinates when neither Harry nor Draco would. Who'da thunkit?

 

Agreed.

Spoiler

The moment you saw Hermione make a seemingly stupid decision, the end outcome could be seen a mile away.

I've never really enjoyed fics where Hermione is made too competent at too much way too fast.