This is awesome. There are very few good stories with canon pairings, so extra points for that.

 

Fics always get extra points from me when they literally make me laugh, as opposed to just smile or think they're funny in my head. This one has a few, including one from a drunk Charlie Weasley that cracks me up more than it has any reasonable right to:

 

Charlie, extended:

 

For a oneshot, does anyone think Out of the Fire is library worthy? There's good characterization for such a small story, very few mistakes, and it's entertaining to say the least. Pretty hard to develop plot or character in 9000 words, but nevertheless . . .

 

I think so. The Wendall That Wasn't is in the library, and that's not even 2K words long. It's very funny, but it's short and it's apparently library-worthy. Harry the Hufflepuff is also in the library. It's longer, but it's basically the same in type as Out of the Fire and into the Cupboard - single premise well-executed. And funny.

Personally, I don't think length is any bar to quality. Hell, most of the time it's a lot harder to write with brevity.

 

I mean, if no one else is gonna go post it, I will.

 

There is no try by CycoMW > reviews
Harry Potter gets interested in Star Wars and after a small piece of accidental magic starts to believe he is force sensitive and his magic powers develop accordingly. Deviates from canon quickly and without apology. Multi-year story. First year is posted. Second year, and Luna's first appearance, will follow when it's finished. Currently only Star Wars fiction influenced.
Crossover - Harry Potter & Star Wars - Rated: T - English - Adventure - Chapters: 8 - Words: 26,841 - Reviews: 265 - Favs: 953 - Follows: 1,281 - Updated: Mar 13 - Published: Mar 5 - Harry P., Hermione G., Luna L., Neville L.

The First Year story. I think it's a fairly amusing crossover. The idea behind the story is that Harry comes across a Star Wars book and discovers that he's Force sensitive. The Dursleys line, and the Dementors line is amusing, constant mind compulsions from Harry's part - not very much so. Do not expect to find much character interaction in this story. And, it wouldn't hurt the author to try to find a beta reader, to weed out some rare errors. Overall, I think the story is 3/5.

 

It's all right until Harry arrives at Hogwarts, at which time he immediately starts "fixing" everything. He magically manipulates Hermione's personality to suit his preferences, changes Neville's wand to suit him, does the same with Ron's wand, detects Voldemort possessing Quirrell, detects Wormtail, and prevents Neville from falling off his broom.

Urgh.

(Also, the way Harry goes around modifying people's personalities willy nilly is an element of horror that I don't think the author intended.)

He's more of a Sith than a Jedi, really. No respect for free will at all.

 

Or more of a Grey Jedi going on the wrong path?

 

That could actually be interesting if the Author recognizes that fact and it leads to actual plot and character progression. I mean, at least he's not killing people, and it's understandable given his upbringing. It's redeemable.

 

There is very little dialogue in There is no try, something that can be ok if done well but in this case I just find annoying. I'd give it 2 or 2.5 stars at most.

 

Harry with God Powers who has managed to solve the world's problems at 11... I feel like I've read this before. Terrible.

 

This is from the author who wrote Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? and Lily and the Art Of being Sisyphus. Personally I think it is weakest of her three fics, but like the Lily story, the premise here is unique. Harry, who is supposedly Death, finds himself in the past and befriends Tom Riddle. He stops World War II and Grindelwald's rise to power, in the process making himself out to be the Emperor of Ubik, a supposedly wealthy nation far, far away. There is no slash in the story yet, although it will presumably be Harry/Tom in the future. It is decent-ish, around 2.5/5 material, I suppose.

 

Wait what, how can you just casually declare yourself an emperor of an imaginary country. SOmeone would call you out on it.

 

Yeah, and then he makes one.

/deliberately vague

 

I've been following October for a while and I've enjoyed it for the most part. The author is decent at making the outlandish seem plausible and I personally liked where the story went, even if it got a bit... different.

 

I've been on a mentor!Snape mood lately and found this again, after a decade. It's not the author's best [that would be the R series], but it has some fun scenes. As well, the author has an almost unique ability at portraying characters in a way I enjoy very much. A small bit of angst surfaces a few times. The writing is a bit a unrefined - I'd give it 3/5 overall.

 

I like October, and it's original. I was surprised how deep this went and is going, considering how slash fics usually go. Definitely something to at least try.

 

Any mentor!snape recs that are more recent? I find that fanfics often ages badly -- although there are always exceptions.

 

Lots, I would assume.

The problem with this kind of story [for me], is that in the vast majority, Harry becomes subservient to Snape - fuck that. I can't read such an abomination. Thus those fics get the X treatment asap.

This is the highest quality mentor!Snape I remember reading:

Still dated [no horcruxes or hallows], but a good read.