Title: The Life and Times
Author: Jewels5
Rating: M
Genre: Drama/Adventure
Chapters: 36
Words: 613,762
Updated: Aug 31, 2013
Published: Jul 8, 2009
Status: Abandoned
Library Category: General
Pairings: James / Lily
Summary: She was dramatic. He was dynamic. She was precise. He was impulsive. He was James, and she was Lily, and one day they shared a kiss, but before that they shared many arguments, for he was cocky, and she was sweet, and matters of the heart require time.
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5200789/1/The-Life-and-Times

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I'm quite surprised that this story hasn't been recommended anywhere on the site. (At least to the extent of my limited working knowledge with the DLP Search function.) Easily the most "popular" Marauders' Era story on FF.net, it's inspired a dedicated following and could easily be taken as pre-HP canon.

We get a sense for James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Snape as people--why things happened the way they did, all the events referenced in canon: Head Prefects, joining the Order, James saving Snape's life, Death Eaters, etc.

I'm definitely biased, but in my opinion:

Pros:
Characterization: Bad-ass and charming Marauders/Lily/Others. The characters themselves are fantastic, but it's the chemistry between them that makes this truly great. Actual character development.

Dialogue: This story is filled with it, yet still manages to be tight & cohesive.

Storytelling: There's refreshing variety to how chapters are structured. The author finds creative alternatives to the standard third-person chronological narrative. (Though it remains the default format.)

Realism: There's a complex cast of supporting characters who act as more than just foils. Snape. Frank. Alice. Kingsley. Regulus. Andromeda. The Potters. OCs mentioned but never fully introduced in canon.

Theme: This spans James & Lily's 6th and 7th year at Hogwarts. Much of the drama is focused on various relationships, but the entire story is shadowed by the coming war, and how individuals take their stand in the wake of Voldemort's rise.

Ending: Author has a plan for the ending. Estimated total length of 50 chapters.

Feels: There are absolute gems scattered throughout; some are laugh-out-loud funny, whilst others are brilliantly poignant.

Cons:
OCs: This is make-or-break for many. Given the lack of information in canon, there are a number of OCs who are central to the story. Some people can't stand OCs, but I can't see this sort of story succeeding without a larger cast.

Start: The first few chapters are light and introductory, perhaps a bit slow. Once it hits its stride though...

Drama: Everyone has differing tolerances for drama. The majority of the fan-base for "The Life and Times" is female, whilst the majority of DLP users are male...

Sad: Given what we know from canon, the story could almost be seen as tragic. Events becomes progressively darker, and even the triumphs are dampened by things-yet-to-come.

Hiatus: Update times have become LONG. Though there are only an expected 14 more chapters before the end. From the Authors' website, we know she's still active and plans to finish this, but progress has been slow.

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The closest analogue I can think of is "The Girl From Whirlpool" by SilverShine, from the Naruto fandom. (Rated 5-stars on DLP.)

The only other WIP fic I anticipate updates from to this extent is "The Game of Champions" by Lamora, from the Pokemon fandom. (DLP link here.)

I'm basically saying that if you don't mind drama, this takes the cake. 5/5.



Checked by Minion, Jan. 30, 2016

 

The summary doesn't really tell me what the story's about, and with a 600k word count I'm reluctant to just dive in.

 

Well it clearly sounds like the story of James and Lily, and with his additional info, their 6-7th years. At 600k+ words it better have a ton of 1st war goodness to it though.

 

Hm, I wasn't going to read it, but then I saw...

... So I might give it a shot. That being said, I'm halfway through Harry Potter and the Third Key (Which needs to be in the library,) so I wont be able to read it for a while yet.

 

Yes but do you see every other fic leave a summary that tells you only that it deals with Harry Potter?

I was just wondering if the fic follows canon as a prequel, what James and Lily actually do for a living or if they just do Order things, are they raising a young Harry or dealing with the prophecy, is the fic primarily about their relationship or the war, are they independently fighting or just two lieutenants under Dumbledore etc.

Something tangible to make me decide if the fic interests me.

'600k words about James and Lily' doesn't draw me in at all.

 

Just finished reading this. Outstanding fic, which really deserves to be in the library imo. It might not be the standard DLP cup of tea but i've now joined the many many fans of TLAT who consider this headcanon now. The characterisations of 16-17 year old marauders and friends are superb and it's not just James/Lily with side characters, each one has their own unique story which draws you in.

Worth the necro so that people who've read all 600k words (and not just 3 chapters) can give their $0.02 and highlight this gem.

 

Really frustrated me when I was halfway through the story and noticed the lack of recent updates, but I stuck through anyways. The characterization of James, Lily and all their friends is superb and I really enjoyed it.

The author didn't make James into a pussy or Lily into a flat character with no substance, and the whole plot with the mysterious suicide attempts actually moved the story along rather than force it to be awkward dialogues between characters all the time, like so many other J/L stories do.

 

I just went ahead and read this behemoth. It's not bad at all, the characterisation is superb. The last two chapters certainly were quite the downer considering the rest of it had been pretty light fluffy and happy. But that was inevitable I guess. The author did a great job of creating atmosphere throughout the fic.

I wish it hadn't ended where it did, but the same could be said about all incomplete fics I guess. Solid 4/5 from me. I feel quite sad now.

 

It's been a long time since I've read this fic, but I still remember it clearly. One of the great marauder fics out there. I actually found it through some gifsets on tumblr, notably this, and this (those are pretty gif-heavy, so be warned if you're reading this on a 3G connection). It stands out with some great moments, making me really feel like I'm at Hogwarts as I read along. Something that I haven't found since the shoebox project.