I, like most people on here who gave this a go, may have got to the end of the first story but finally had to give up when the sequel came around and all this super-friends-forever-god-powerful thing just wouldn't end. The ancient powers, ever-increasing-wimp Harry and love of their lives partnerships really does just grate far too much in the end.

That said, the writing quality is good; it just lacks any form of emotion. The ward thing was quite intriguing and there were a few good ideas I remember.

Though again, some of it was just so unbelievable, especially the Dumbledore-come-barkeep bit. Plus, the guy just got beat on far too easily. Plus the H/HR was a downer.

Overall it was like being hungry and eating a dry cracker. It takes the edge of the hunger yet just fails to make a dent in it.

2.5/5 for the first story, 1.5/5 for the sequel.

 

Overall I thought the fic was fairly good. It was much better than his Dumbledore's Army Series, although not quite as good as his long oneshot, Parallels. I was really surprised that this fic got so many bad reviews on this site. Tough crowd.

Positives:

* Very well written.

* Harry is independent, powerful, and the leader of a secret organization.

* I liked the fact that Britain actually fell, the only time I have ever seen that in a fic. I also liked the line of death (very original). I also liked the fact that the muggle government got involved as well.

*Sex slaves - you know with the type of people the death eaters are, they are bound to exist although you almost never see them in fan fiction outside of adultfanfiction. And what's not to like about blowjob-queen!Cho.

*Ron and Molly bashing - never was a fan of either character. There was also Dumbledore bashing, but was done poorly (see negatives).


Negatives:

*A lot of the subplots were unnessary and tended to slow the plot down.

*Too many heroes. I felt it would have been better to reduce the number. I would have gotten rid of at least 3 sets (The Grangers, Terry&Susan, and Remus&Tonks). It seemed likes bobmin was sometimes finding it hard to find tasks for the other heroes.

*I thought that Voldemort, although definitely ruthless, lacked intelligence. He was portrayed as a powerful evil idiot. His followers weren't much better.
He should have also been more powerful. He is supposed to be Harry's equal after all.

*Final battle between Harry & Voldemort was somewhat disappointing and none of the "heroes" died. He should have at least offed Neville and Ginny. At least I know the members on this site would probably agree.

*I think they went to far with the Dumbledore bashing. Dumbledore was not only made to be evil, but also off his fucking rocker. Could have been done better and more believable.

*I could have done without the disclaimer crap. I personally liked it better when his did the "Hall of Shame" bit.


Overall I thought the fic was well-written and still better than 95% of what is out there and better that alot of what is already archived on this site. I give it a 4/5. Definitely worth the read.

 

This really isn't all that good when you consider how much fanfiction there is. No doubt the worst fic you've ever read completely through, no matter how bad, was probably still better than 95% of what's out there.

As for why there are so many bad reviews, I think it comes down to one main thing. Harry, no matter how powerful, no matter how uber bad ass he gets, he's still a pussy and remains Hermione's bitch.

 

I have to say this:

I believe that a lot of the bashing for HBP comes from people having read 1-5 and spending too much time reading fanfic to the point where they were expecting something more along the lines of your typical year 6 fanfic. More of the bashing is nitpicking. I read 1-6 all at once and didn't have too many problems with HBP because I had no time to build up expectations after OotP.

I am saying this, because despite all of that, I find this site to be a huge breath of fresh air. I'm not trying to start a HBP debate, because really, that's not what this post is about. What it is about is this:

I have gotten so sick and tired of reading review after review kissing Bobmin's ass, feeding the duo's collective egos, making them think their piece of shit is some kind of masterpiece. Granted, not many people say that it's simply not very well written, which is my criticism, but the opinions stated here are, again, a huge breath of fresh air.

 

There is now a short Post Voldemort story up on the sight. A bit on the emo side
but there it is....

 

This is one of those stories I could never quite tolerate. I liked it when I was younger, yes, but going back and reading it I find that it is slightly childish and Harry is Hermione's carpet muncher. A bit sad, honestly, and I remember reading one of their other works -Dumbledore's Army- when I started fanfiction and they were gloating about how people were calling them J.K.R incognito. I thought it was amazing at the time and, honestly, I still think that this story is okay, but just not up to par with how they are making it.

Anyways, they are friends with Keith 'Kinsfire' and his little wifey-poo Dorothy so that is an automatic downer on my respect list. Dirty pedophile.

3/5

Kolskit

 

I got halfway through the Sunrise when i couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't take it seriously. I enjoy a good trainwreck as much as the next guy, but this Kafkawannabe style started to make me sick. Sure, the setup was great, and there's a lot of great devices, twists and turns but they just keep piling up! After a while the plot just got lost under all the layers of intrigue, wise ghosts, elf sergeants and hideous 007 parodies. It just grew too large for it's belt. Elves, angels and halfgods, oh my. I keep expecting him to become a Jedi knight, forge an alliance with the Vulcans and use a bloody stargate to attack the Monster Dumblemort on board the lizard mothership called Plan 9. And it started out so well. *sob*
g

 

A Happy ending chapter has been posted. And some author notes.

 

By 'Happy Ending' thepagan means a fluff-filled load of shit. Seriously, the last 3-4 chapters sucked more ass than I could have imagined. The battle w/ Voldemort was hack writing at best, and the pointless filler, which could have been replaced with various thoughts about the reconstruction of Britian, got really fucking annoying.

The ending, however, took 1st place in the shittiness category. Harry, yet again, becomes a whining pussy. Never mind that he killed hundreds in the Ministry when he filled it with fucking lava, tore Voldemorts mind to shreds via Legilimency, and witnessed some of most horrific shit at the concentration camps, he can't watch a couple of pensive memories of people getting executed?

This story had promise at the beginning, even if it was HHR. There were some good plot devices and good ideas. However, the pointless filler and disgusting fluff between every single person and their dog just made me wanna puke. As a final rating, this story gets 1/5.

 

I gotta agree totally. The fic was good in the beginning and there is nothing wrong with H/Hr if its dont well. But this went to hell when they decided Harry needed to be abused. I gave up on the fic a long time ago.

 

Hey Muttering, That "fluff filled load of shit" wasn't what I was thinking when I posted, But I just went back and looked at the chapter titles, and to some degree that statement could be used to describe the whole story. I think your rating is a bit harsh, but I would give a one out of five for the last 4 chapters
so I could be wrong. Hopefully he improve on his next story, but I said the same thing about Dr.T and that just did not happen.
Thanks for the wake up call.

 

I realize I'm necro-ing this thread, but this is the library and and I think this fic has been treated a bit unfairly. While I agree that the two fics combined don't belong in the library, I think they need to be separated.

The first fic was excellent--"only" 300k words compared to 800k for the sequel. The "magical puberty" idea was interesting, at least, and Harry kicks some serious ass here--rescuing the Grangers while brutally taking out the DEs, then filling up the Ministry with Lava. It is somewhat fluffy, but the characterizations are well-rounded and plausible. This fic imagines a "complete" Harry Potter world that is lacking in many other good fics.

It's only in the second fic that the wheels come off. Eocho the Celtic warrior ghost, Animagi divisions, teleportation devices, Chinese Dark Lords, etc. It's just too much to hold together. That said, the sequel is still entertaining and this is the only fic I've seen that made fun use of crumple-horned snorkacks.

Anyway, 2/5 for the whole thing is a bit harsh...what I suggest is that these two fics could be separated and judged on their own merits. I would personally give the first fic a strong 4/5 and put it in the library.

 

It's been awhile since I read the first story, but I agree that Sunset probably doesn't deserve a 2. What I recall would be a solid 3/5 by today's standards.

Bobmin's writing is competent and technically polished, but it lacks any real spark and never fails to lose my interest fast.

I've wondered for awhile why I don't enjoy his work and I think it comes down to how his super-Harrys are just so over the top that the essential conflict boils down to "will Harry get his head screwed on straight with the help of Hermione and the adults in his life so that he can get off his ass and do the inevitable?" After the mega-power-up Harry got early on, Voldemort's demise was never really in doubt.

I could read a story like this once, and I did: Sunset. But the story idea just doesn't hold up for a million words. I bailed before I got 100k into Sunrise, skimming more than half of that, since it just got painfully boring. I agree, darklordmike; he should have pulled a sib and ended it with the first story.

His X-men crossover is basically more of the same, with a double-dose of Super-powered Harry, Ron-bashing, Dumbledore-bashing, and Hermione-preaching. I can understand why he appears to have gotten bored with it and hasn't updated in ages. (It's basically the same tale he's written over a million words of already).

 

Strike that: I'm an idiot. I misunderstood what was written. Apologies to Bob. I confused him with someone else.

 

Shows what little I know.

I wish him good health and a speedy recovery (but still don't enjoy his stories).

 

That's rough. Do you know if he'll make a full recovery? I thought he and his wife were fairly young.

 

Strike that: Apologies to Bob. I was reading the yahoogroup and misunderstood one thing for another.

 

Sunset over Britain's link is broken, but can still be found on FFA. http://bobmin.fanficauthors.net/Sunset_Over_Britain/index/

 

Thanks. I updated the first post