Interesting. I am on the fence for whether I'd recommend this entire series or not, but in the end I think I fall into saying that yes, I suppose I would. If the writing in the first story was as good as that in the fourth, then it would be a yes, but despite a somewhat interesting story it's just hard to get through the start due to the writing style. Keep that in mind if you decide to try them, but it does improve somewhat.

I just read all four of them in the past week. I must admit to being captivated by the story, even when it was being poorly told. If the author was to go through and re-write this story I think it would make my top 10 list, but only if.

I think one thing that helps is that these stories were written in between GoF and OotP. I honestly believe that's a great time frame for great fiction, and I wouldn't mind if some authors would go back and do AUs at that point now, despite having further canon material to work with. It seems to inspire more creativity as there isn't an Order, Horcruxes, or Prophecy.

Let me give a basic rundown of the story. No big spoilers outside of the spoiler tag though, so don't worry if you keep reading after it.

Spoiler

Harry leaves the Dursleys to go with Sirius after his fourth year because Sirius has gotten his name cleared. As soon as Harry is away from the wards at Privet Drive, Voldemort begins his manipulations of Harry. Harry leaves to go to Voldemort to protect his friends and family, and ends up negotiating their safety with Voldemort in return for coming back later to learn things that Voldemort has to teach him.

Harry continues to be manipulated by Voldemort, who wants Harry to join him. Harry does a damned good job of resisting for years, but the contract he has with Voldemort to keep his friends safe has him returning to Voldemort's presence somewhat regularly. Harry is brave and powerful, though not overly so until the end when he becomes Voldemort's equal. The bond that develops between Harry and Voldemort is intriguing, and in the end they have come to care for each other somewhat. This appears to have happened despite either of them wanting it as a result of the connections they share.

Draco and Harry become friends. It is mostly a "we are both being manipulated by Voldemort, it's nice to realize that someone else sort of knows how it feels" type of friendship trigger. I think it is well done.

Harry kills Voldemort at the end of the third story, which corresponds to Harry's 7th year. He expects and intends to die but does not. Because of the manner in which this took place, Voldemort returns as a ghost in the fourth story.

Voldemort is very, very manipulative and has a brilliant mind. I really do like the way he is written. If Voldemort was going to try and get Harry to join him, this is how he would probably go about it. He realizes that he needs Harry to join of his own free will, and he attempts to make that a reality.

There were a lot of things I didn't like about the story, and one of them is that Voldemort seemed to go a bit "soft" at some points when Harry was around. That could be attributed to his not wanting Harry to know about certain things, but it still makes it seem like Voldemort is less dangerous than he should be.

Also, gah, I just can't get away from some of the uninspired writing at the start. I kept reading to see what would happen next, but the writing itself drew me in not at all. It did get better, but it took a while and I just had to say that again.

The story is Harry/Ginny, that is true. Like a previous poster said though, there really isn't that much of it at all. It's quite easy to ignore or just read through. Ron and Hermione remain Harry's friends. Ron is portrayed as a loyal friend, but not much else. Hermione is portrayed as brilliant and capable of talking with Voldemort without being trapped by word games. The story in the end is about Harry and Voldemort though, and they are the primary players.

I guess this has gone on long enough for a review. I think I will give it a 4/5. It's not 5/5 because of some of the writing at the start and some of the plot points that needed to be fleshed out and/or fixed. That said, whatever list of things I could make about the problems I had with this story, it *did* keep me reading to the end. That says something too, for me at least.

It's been a long while since anyone posted here -- has anyone else read these stories? I'd be curious about other reactions.

 

Am I too stupid to figure out how to edit my posts or did I somehow lose the ability to do that? I swear I've done it before on this forum. There used to be a little EDIT button somewhere in the vicinity of the post you made. It's making me mad ^^

?! I edited this one just fine? Why doesn't my earlier post have an edit option by the quote option then? Is there a limited number of edits? Now that I am looking I see that I edited that one before too...

What I wanted to edit into my post was an agreement that this probably is more a 3.5/5 than a 4/5, and that I'm glad someone else read it. Like you said, and like I sort of said, one of the biggest issues is that Voldemort just doesn't seem to be out causing mayhem or spreading fear. You said it better by describing it as unrealistic in places.

 

Thanks, that makes sense. :awesome