Best Harry Potter story around these days. Another top update. 8 chapters from completion, 20/28 chapters done. Really cannot wait to read the whole thing from start to finish, hope it does get finished.

 

I was in the same boat. I spent the last day or so re-reading it and its held up really well. I think the reason I stopped reading it to begin with was because at the beginning it skims over too much and it is pretty boring until fourth year. With that said this is definitely how you build a believable Dark Harry. The writing is absolutely perfect, it's a clinic on "showing vs. telling" and character development. Now the only problem is I'll probably have to re-read it in 8 months when it updates again.

 

Next to Forging the Sword this story is without a doubt the best in the making.

Just something I thought worth mentioning but is it just me overthinking some parts of the last chapter or did Luna find Ravenclaw's diadem?
The first time Harry went to the Hidden Room it was occupied and his friends waited outside, except Luna.
Furthermore she had done her experiments with the room and I believe she already found the storage room, which means she had enough opportunities to find it. And last but not least she wasn't seen or spoken to recently, so does that make her a Ginny MK II?

Or is it that obvious and it didn't need a comment?

 

I'm glad the author updated. Best story out there in my opinion, and I check it all the time for updates. Current update rate is around every 8-11 months per chapter. With 8 chapters or so to go we are looking at around 6 years to finish. So.... yeah. Not holding my breath. Whole lot of talking in this chapter, but next one should be the end to sixth year and it seems as if Malfoy's plot to get death eaters in via the vanishing cabinet is still going, since the RoR is in use a lot. So in about 10 months we'll have a great battle to read (The climax to year 5 was one of the best battle scenes I've ever read).

 

Have never seen Voldeluna. Do want.

Another good update. Unfortunately, one has to reread several chapters to go forward, but when its all done, it will be one fantastic story to read. A 5/5 if there ever was one. I read the first review in this thread today, that the story was a 3.5/5, and outright laughed.

As if it could ever be anything less than the best of its kind.

 

Just read the story and its great!

 

Well, Malfoy being so unfriendly at first doesn't make much sense, since he was pulling for Harry to "choose" Slytherin heavily in the first place. Needed more blatant asskissing/demanding of bootlicking.

 

You do remember that Harry chose Ron over him?

 

The only major non-canon screwup is that Azkaban was a total loss. Sure, it makes sense a bit, but not completely, seeing as how it was implied that Lucius didn't get out until Voldemort took over completely. I think.

Yeah and then Harry goes to Slytherin anyways. I'd expect a second/third overture before hostilities resumed.

 

And he still thought Malfoy a git, while Malfoy thought the same.

No. It was a good choice, keeping Malfoy antagonistic was the right way to go about the plot. The same with Snape.

 

I remember thinking this fic was average at best when it came out. The start really was nowhere near as good as how it's gotten recently, and a lot of the best classic fics (Not sure which but I think Stranger in an Unholy Land, Wastelands of Time etc) were being regularly updated and this fic was very much in their shadow (and had a terrible update rate to boot).

This fic honestly only hit 5/5 territory for me during the chapter where Harry obtained the Elder wand's allegiance.

 

This fic has always been better than Stranger in an Unholy Land.

 

Aw hell naw! I've come to really enjoy this fic, but Stranger in an Unholy Land is my favorite fanfic period, so I contest this point! I direct you to my review for further details.

Now, as I said, I've come to really enjoy On The Way to Greatness. I recently said that I hadn't read OTWTG and that I had my own thoughts as to the best Slytherin!Harry stories, but now that I have read OTWTG, I believe it joins the other two as the greatest of the genre.

The characterization is rather strong here; few of the characters really fall flat. I particularly like Harry's characterization; it feels like canon Harry if he were put in Slytherin, which is something that other Slytherin!Harry stories I've read fail at. The pacing of the story is greatly helped by the restriction the author has put on themselves of having as many chapters as the book number. I really have no complaints other than the update rate, but as I haven't updated FL2 in almost five years and SSS in over a year, I have little room to talk.

5/5 for rating purposes; I intend to keep a close eye on this fic from now on.

 

This story just keeps on getting better and better. I wonder whether Dumbledore would die this year or Harry's intervention pushed his death back by another year.There is just one chapter remaining this year, so its likely the latter. That would suck , Dumbledore needs to die for the full despair of war to set in and for Harry to really take over the responsibility of the war. Its about time he gets to take the final/crucial decisions.

I think its about time Mira kills off one of Harry's close friends - it is hardly fair that compared to canon Harry, this Harry has to deal with so little personal loss (Canon!Harry had lost both Sirius and Cedric by now , and was about to watch his supposed mentor die). It would be interesting to see how OTWTG Harry deals with the death of someone like Neville or Cedric . He seems to have regular troubles controlling his desire for using dark curses , I would love to see him loose it completely.

Also , what on earth happened to Harry's quest for increasing his power ? The elder wand wasn't even referenced in this chapter. Is it too much to hope that harry gets to kill Dumbledore instead of Snape and take the elder wand for his use ? Too few fics have Harry actually using the elder wand , though that might be most people's general dislike of the last book than anything else.

I've never read a fic that has been easier to rate . Hands down 5/5 . This has to be at least in running for the the best Harry Potter fanfic of all time.

 

If my theory concerning Luna and the diadem is correct, then I'm certain shit will hit the fan. Let's say Harry recognizes the horcrux-symptoms or Volde-Luna seeks him out or whatever and suddenly he alone gets confronted by this terrible situation. He knows what to look for, he knows what needs to be done and he knows of the consequences if he hesitates now. The question is, is he really capable of such a monstrous deed? Can he really kill sweet innocent Luna for the greater good? I personally think he can and he will, but it's gonna break him and everything around him.

Remember Scrimgeour's worries about a killer sharing dorms with children? Now turn it up to eleven. You can't sweep the murder of a girl under the rug, if said girl's father is the publisher of an independent newspaper. You can't reveal the reasons, otherwise Voldemort will know of their horcrux-search. Dumbledore doesn't want Harry to kill, now he killed an innocent girl essentially in cold blood. Who's gonna take the fall for this? Harry himself, Dumbledore, Snape or will thèy pin it on someone else? So on and so forth, the more I think about it, the less I can wait for the climax of year six.

And then I remember the update rate...:facepalm

 

So. I decided to see for myself what all the hype is about.

For what is arguably one of the most popular fics around DLP, I'm just not seeing the it. To be clear: I read 10 chapters, so until end of year 4.

First, the basics. I have to say that on the technical side, the writing is damn near flawless. There is an odd missed space here and there, but no glaring mistakes. Major bonus points for that.

But then we come to the story itself. Forgive me for crapping on many members' favorite Slytherin Harry, but if I want to know what happened in canon, I'll go read that. The structure of the fic is a pretty clever idea - it avoids the boring first year rehash and expands as more stuff happens in subsequent years.

But in the first three years, nothing really interesting happens. Here the pacing kind of plays against the fic. Harry is kidnapped to CoS out of fucking nowhere. He's smarter, more careful and angrier than canon Harry, but everything plays out almost exactly the same.

Third year, Sirius jumps out in a similar, out-of-the-blue fashion and I hardly give a fuck that Peter dies and Harry isn't Sirius' biggest fan, two things that you'd expect to majorly affect the story, but which end up not mattering after all.

Fourth year, I am waiting for the ball to drop. Never mind that the investigation, involving what? ten characters doesn't change a fucking thing either. What I read so far is a story of how it doesn't matter what Harry does, because he really is just a kid. I get it that some healthy realism is desired, but it ends up turning the fic into another canon rehash. Yes, probably the best one there is, even with some supporting characters I care about that aren't used that often in ff to such good effect, but it is still a canon rehash. And the worst offence this fic commits seems the execution of Slytherin self-preservation instinct. The troll incident is mentioned, but Harry isn't remotely involved. CoS is opened and Harry cares about staying as far away from the issue as possible. He would gladly wash his hands off everything if he could. No sense of adventure in this one. I dunno, maybe that's just the Slytherin way.

The biggest change was, of course, afterlife 3 years early and with Harry's parents instead of Dumbledore, but that's hardly much innovation at this point. The author might as well have started there in medias res, or put the undoubtedly considerable effort that had gone into the first 9 chapters into writing a more exciting Triwizard Tournament.

To sum up: it's well written, but just plain boring. Even if something happens differently from canon, it doesn't matter. I know, I only read 10 chapters, but the fic had dedicated fans on DLP before it reached that point. Does anything happen in this story or does it just continue to rehash canon?

 

Yeah... I've read this fic three times, but couldn't tell you a single thing that happens in it other than the fact that Harry is in Slytherin (thus why I've had to read it three times, as reading updates requires a reread). It's well written but utterly lacking in strong content.

 

I would suggest you keep reading to find out. The story starts to deviate quite a bit in the fifth and sixth year while most of the stuff before that is building Harry's character (which is refreshingly, but not needlessly different from canon) and introducing the characters who were barely touched upon in canon.

I think the difficulty you're having is that there is only so much canon rehashing we can stomach these days. Totally reasonable after all these years of HP fanfiction, but I'd strongly suggest you at least read to the end to understand our fascination with the story.

I have to wonder, if it had never been posted on DLP and you found it, would you feel as indifferent to the fic? You say yourself that it is very good writing, though you're not emotionally attached to some of the characters. Peter? Glad he died. Sirius? Barely a blip in Harry's life rather than someone he turns to with all his problems.

3 things you'll like about this if you keep reading:

Fleshing out Neville and Cedric's characters.
Quoting IBG:

Quoting sirius009:

 

Keep reading until the end. That is all.