Darth Marrs? Alright, I'm down to be somewhat interested in the first half of this, then increasingly disappointed. Let's do it.

 

Huh, I guess I'm the only one here who likes the trilogy. I think it is refreshing to have an antagonist you hate with all your heart (I mean, does anyone really hate Voldemort anymore?) and God, does DM make you hate the Ministry. I don't think I've wanted anyone to die so badly since canon Umbridge.

Also, what do you mean by running out of people to root for? If anything, Harry is too principled- much more than should be possible in that fucked up world. All of Harry's friends and the Order are sympathetic, as is Dumbledore. There are two main antagonistic groups- The Ministry and Voldemort, same as in OOTP canon. I don't see the problem here.

 

One of the many problems that I have with Darth Marrs is that reading his forums creates a much higher level of understanding of his stories than the actual stories themselves. And there's something wrong with your storytelling when that is the case.

Secondly - in particular to The Firebird Trilogy - he addressed multiple guest reviews in those forums who asked the valid question as to how Harry could be "the guiding light for the muggleborn" when 3 of his 4 wives were purebloods. Instead of addressing that flaw, he ranted and raved about how cowardly the reviewers were because they hadn't signed in and "how dare they critique an author with actual written words" (or something to that effect) and therefore they didn't deserve answers. What a dickhead.

Lastly - he trolls here regularly (it seems) looking for commentary on him and his stories so he can hold that up to his readers as to how edgy his work is, despite sticking to the same predictable formulae. And while I don't mind rambling on about his work, I'm afraid he's misinterpreting the attention. So I'll just limit my criticism to "Meh" on both the Firebird Trilogy and the new Stars Wars Xover.

 

"Meh" is probably the best word to describe Darth Marrs' stories. The Firebird series is just so depressing, it started out as a kind of interesting idea but every single chapter he just piles more and more shit on top of everyone, it's pretty much the definition of a slow motion trainwreck story.

The biggest problem I have is that Harry and his group who are supposed to be fighting against the fucked up traditions of the magical word are just as guilty as following the fucked up traditions as the people they're fighting.

In the chapter he posted today

Spoiler

Astoria gets pregnant because she and Luna decided to stop taking birth control without telling Harry and he's perfectly okay with it. The whole reason they're fighting a war is because of the problems caused by their society where men are viewed as cattle, yet Harry's "wives" treat him like a mushroom and nobody gives a shit, Harry just rolls over like a little bitch! Not to mention the bit where Luna uses a spell that basically tortures Hermione for a week because of "tradition" and everybody thinks it's a brilliant idea.

At this point in the story, I just want the muggles to invent an anti-magic bomb that destroys everything magic-related and then remove all records of it, so the magical world can fade into oblivion where it belongs.

The story can be summed up with a quote from the latest chapter:

Spoiler

"Of course I will," Voldemort said as he leaned over, like a mum with her new-born babe. "But Harry, surely you must know there are degrees of death. There is the quick, painless death of the Killing Curse. And then there is the horror of having a fourteen-inch long troll dick shoved up your cunny while a goblin eats the flesh off your arm. If you'd like to see what that looks like, there are some Veela nearby who can show you."

 

That fucking quote/spoiler. Why did I highlight it when I could guess it would lead to nightmare-fuel?

 

wtf

/10char.

 

I don't know how to feel about the fact that many years back that would be the stuff of nightmares and now it doesn't even rate...

 

I think what disturbs me the most is Voldemort saying the word

Spoiler

cunny

outloud.

 

What I hate is having an antagonist who escapes their well-deserved punishment time and again, not because they are that skilled, powerful, or prepared, but because the author protects them, sometimes with absurd and contrived means. I almost never think that Voldemort, for example, should have really died in the Ministry. His escape fits his reputation adn what we know of him.
But Draco often is written as a weak idiot with the self-preservation instinct of a suicidal lemming and the morals and goals of a mass murderer (aka canon), and yet is kept alive no matter how much he messes up and what crimes he committs. It'd be better if Draco would either committ less crimes, or be more skilled. Umbridge being untouchable in canon until Fudge is gone is ok. Umbridge being untouchable even after Fudge is gone is stupid. Umbridge surviving after torturing an alternate (aka Dark, Grey, whatever anti-hero tag you prefer) Harry who already killed a few death eaters without anyone being the wiser is again a stupid idea.

 

I will grant you that one thing the books did well was inspire genuine loathing for the Ministry (Voldemort as well, but my main recollection of book 2 is that that Sabbit or whatever it's called needs to pretty much be burnt to the ground.) He's good at building that negative energy, he just fails for me to do anything productive, narrative-wise, with it.

I mean it literally: I have no one left to root for. The Ministry is fucked up beyond belief, and the two main dark horses for groups who could fix it - Muggles, and Voldemort/that gay American cowboy wizard (yeah it's been a long time since I read these), were shown to be just as awful. So, we're pretty much down to rooting for Harry and his Harem to fix the entire crapsack world's problems. And yet it's hard to root for Harry when he's a doormat to four genuinely unlikable, and I don't use this word lightly, bitches.

I consider myself a feminist. I like powerful female characters, I like the exploration of gender politics, and I'm a pretty fair-minded person - but for a few chapters I was actively rooting for Harry to pimp-slap a bitch. The shit Luna, Hermione, and the others pull is just... well, it gets to the point where I don't care what happens to those characters anymore. The reason I linked Darkness Induced Audience Apathy is because of this quote:

 

Haven't seen this story mentioned yet and didn't find it after a quick search:

Title: Harry Potter and the Warrior's Code
Author: bballgirl32
Pairing: None, yet
Rating: T
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10673953/1/Harry-Potter-and-the-Warrior-s-Code
Story Summary: An odd, dark-haired man rescues Harry from the Dursleys when he's nine years old. Harry would have been thrilled if his saviour didn't claim to be a disillusioned madman come back in time to stop his other self from taking over the world. Add to that his apparent belief that Harry is important to his plans, and things become just a little bit complicated.



Stumbled on this story by accident. It has quite a few things that were seen before: Harry in a different House and perhaps a bit too smart, different trio (seems like for now), bit of a First Year rehash so far. But Harry's new guardian is someone I haven't seen like that before and their interactions do feel interesting. The story's not bad so far, though not really brilliant, but it's written fairly well and a good time waster. Also, no bashing so far.

Spoiler

I'd actually like to know how Tom Riddle develops in this. I haven't seen many stories where Tom actually consciously tries to be good instead of evil. He's perhaps what could make this fic really interesting, though with Harry now in Hogwarts, it remains to be seen what comes of it.

 

It's an interesting take on the Peggy!Sue bit, but

Spoiler

I'm struggling to reconcile the fact that it's Tom Riddle making the decision to change things of his own volition. I think we can agree that he had little to no humanity left by DH (as the author has him admit) so four or so hundred years of ruling the world wouldn't really make much of a difference, I'd think.

In any case, I'd like to see how it pans out - and as you said, it is fairly well-written.

 

Came across this the other day. Title/summary is a little misleading - it puts you in the mindset for something worse than it is.

It's basically a nonBWL story set during GoF.

Ben Potter = canon Harry Potter
Harry Potter = 3 years older, Ravenclaw, more thoughtful/better at magic

There are several things that might be a turn-off for most, and there isn't any one mind-blowing thing it does well, but the writing is fairly solid, and the interactions between Harry and Fleur are romantic without being (too) fluffy, though YMMV.

More of a tentative recommendation than an enthusiastic one.

 

Recced almost a year ago...

Link

It was an idea that had potential... just not sure the author is actually going anywhere with it. Still a decent read, though.

 

Ah, thanks. I did a search for the title and didn't see it; must have missed it.

 

I really, really don't like it. Especially because how well the author tries to portray Ron as a loyal and good friend, who did more for Harry, or in this case his twin, than he did in canon, and yet when his name gets pulled out of the Goblet, same, if not worse, shit repeats itself and oh look what a convenient way to pair off the Potter twin with Hermione, because he sees nothing wrong in it now that he's estranged with Ron.

God, how I hate this. I genuinely hate it.

 

Please tell us how you feel.

 

Search for "9880708" out of the url you posted.

 

Just gave this a read. It is well written, but there are some glaring faults, mostly Voldemort seems way too not-crazy and is not characterized well in general. Also, Harry managing to change Draco's lifelong beliefs in five minutes almost made me drop the story.

There are better stories with a similar premise (Tom raising Harry) and far better Voldemort characterization:
1.Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Harry raised by Diary!Tom)
2.The Counterfeit Cousin (Same premise as above)
3.Prince of the Dark Kingdom (Mentor!Voldemort. Slightly controversial here at DLP, but it has the best Voldemort characterization ever. Harry-Voldemort interactions in the story are always Gold)

 

Dairy!Tom. Heh. Cows with wands.