Agreed. This chapter was a mix of battle and much needed character interaction/revelation. What's more, it's not the end of the school year yet, so essentially Riddle now needs a new defense teacher, and is obviously going to ask Harry to do it.

Dueling that worlds Dark Lord, wounding said Dark Lord, and surviving mostly unharmed I think are qualifications not many are going to argue against. Of course, this is the "no duh" type stuff. I'm interested in how Grindelwald is going to go on his offensive now.

 

This chapter was really well done, the flaws you all point out I completely disagree with.

Angst: It's a Necessary part of pretty much any story if it has a plot. There will be good time, there will be hard times, its a fact of life, and exists in fiction too. Besides, it is well written, you have to remember, like Sree has stated Harry experienced this about a year ago, wounds are probably still there. Then also the fact that while he might be merging with the Dark Knight, the Whimp!Harry that we started with is there as well; and while they are merging, it will still take more time.

Things are going to be starting to heat up now, and I can hardly wait for the next chapter. The duel was amazing, as are most of his duels, and I can't wait for more!

 

Nice monster of a chapter. (Over 50,000 words... might be the longest single chapter of fanfic I've read. Might be.)

It sounds like there's plenty of conflicting opinions on the angst and general wussiness. I wasn't crazy about the angst in OotP, but it didn't detract from the story in my opinion. Pretty much same thing here. Harry's got different guilt issues here, and I like how this time it stems from his role on the other side. Harry as the one with the knowledge, withholding it intentionally for "her benefit" supposedly. Perhaps blaming Dumbledore/Riddle a little less... it's kind of angsty, but at the same time it's almost more understanding and wisdom than the useless teenage prattle 99% of fanfic angst is.

The thing about Katie is that she's basically coming from exactly where Harry was in OotP. Still seeing the world in blacks and whites, knowing "killing" is wrong, and generally being something of a single-minded, arrogant annoyance. I don't see Harry's views on killing changing much from where they are. He wasn't trying to kill even in this chapter, but when forced into a situation where he has no other options, I don't see Harry hesitating for a moment. He just won't jump to the conclusion of 'must kill all' like some of the more bloodthirsty members of this board might wish. Never in this story has Harry killed when he didn't have to, as far as I know.

As for the potential for romance? Yeah... I don't see it going crazy but given the new prophecy I sort of see Katie and Harry getting closer and in the end it's up to Katie to say goodbye and somehow send Harry off to his own proper world. Not so much she "chooses" whether he lives or dies, but that she chooses whether to keep her boyfriend or never see him again.

Good update. This chapter probably bumped the sequel from around a 3/5 closer to a 4. I hope Jono can keep this up, even if it does take him way too many words to do it.

 

Was I the only person that found this last chapter utterly frustrating? The Dark Knight, conflicted, angst-filled... I can take that. I take it with a grain of salt, considering I find the angst a bit too overdone.

However, maybe it was only me, but the entire premise of Harry acting the same as Riddle is ludicrous.

"Hey Katie, just a by the way, I'm an inter-dimensional traveler, the BOY-Who-Lived, and I've witnessed all of this before, in fact I lived it. Let me help you out."

Katie's entire guilt trip towards Harry in Riddle's office made absolutely no sense. Harry could not have come out and told her anything as it would have gotten back to Riddle through at least her friends. They've proven they do have minds of their own (Neville telling Harry the prophecy, a rather large secret Katie kept from Riddle on purpose). Harry doesn't trust Riddle, who can blame him? Telling Katie just to be on level with her welcomed Harry into a situation with which he would not be comfortable or safe. He made his moves as he was forced to do. While I'm aware that may not matter to Katie, it should matter to Harry's inner monologue.

So while I didn't mind the angst and I loved the duel with Grindelwald, I think the premise for so much of the angst and arguments didn't exactly fit and were poorly thought out.

And finally, WHY is Sirius her Godfather? I understand to follow canon it needed to be done but I never understood the why. That's kind of important.

 

I just finished reading A Stranger in a Unholy Land, and the first 4 chapters of the new fic, and i can say it's one of the best fic's I've seen.
Harry isn't much different from cannon, just like Dumbledore and some other characters remain canon-like. It has probably the best Voldemort I've ever seen and some excellent original ideas (I loved how Snape dealt with Parkinson on the end of Unholy).

Could someone please email-me the chapters from 4 onward of A Stranger in the Promise Land? I've asked to join the group but so far i've got no answer. My mail is the_phalanx@msn.com

 

The machinations really made the first story. They're very nicely complex and beyond the capabilities of most writers on FFnet. But then Harry's just a sack of hammers. Who - who - wants such a mentally limited protagonist? Luckily, Harry's stupidity is overcome by the other elements of the story, but still puts a sour taste in the mouth.

It's like the author can mentally calculate 17^34 but not 2+2.

 

I have to agree with Joschneide on the point he makes about Katies emo-ness. I know the author is drawing parallels to the same situation Harry faced, but the fact remains that they are two different people. Even though they grew up in similar environments the fact that one is male and the other is female will force them to perceive situations differently.

I have to admit though, that the fight scenes are the best I've read in HP fandom. I reread the fight scene a few times and simply loved it! Neville's reaction was simply classic, and the dialogue between Harry and Grindewalde was very fluent and well crafted. The updates are a bit slow, but the author types like 25k words a chapter.

 

For those of you that aren't a member of the yahoo group, I thought with the recent posts you'd like a heads up that the newest chapter is in beta as of the 14th an should be released soon. Hopefully it will develop Katie into a stronger figure if not at least less willing to blame everyone.

 

I know lol. The last chapter was like 50k words. Thats half the length of some novels.

 

Yeah, it's like, awesome fight scene! Great action! Enemies about to die! Suddenly, Harry stops and has an existential debate about whether he's truly more "moral" than Voldemort. Can any of us truly be moral in a gray world? What do morals mean anyway?


...meanwhile Voldemort sneaks away to go get lunch...

 

Heh, very true.

During the whole overcooked scene I was wondering where the fuck is Tom Riddle.

And gawd, when he shot some spell to the ceiling so that he could use altitude to escape a spell, I was like.... 0_0

 

The way the author uses all three dimensions is classy. Another thing is that the fighting isn't like most stories where its pokemon on your gameboy all over again.

*Harry fire expeliarimus spell

*Voldemort uses dodge .... SUCCESS!

*Harry fires exxpeliarimus

*Voldemort shoots cum .... SUCCESS!

*Harry blinded by cumshot in his eyes .... returns to pokeball.

I forget the exact schematic, having played it 12 yrs ago in grade school.

 

No it isn't. A large part of the battle seemed far too premeditated to me, with way too much thought and theatrics involved. Anyways, it doesn't much matter. On the whole, it is still a very interesting series. I just hope the editors are a bit more comprehensive for the next chapter.

 

I'm trying to join too, but so far, nothing. Did anyone PM the author to update FF.net?

 

He/She posted a while ago that he/she would be busy for some time and couldn't write a lot so it's possible that he/she doesn't check who he/she still has to accept.

I think this is one of the better stories that I'm currently following.
And it's massive, always a plus.
I would give it a 4,5/5, I think

 

Sucks that joining his/her site takes so long. Ah well, I can wait.

 

Fixed that for you. At least according to his profile, he's male. Although he lists his occupation as 'Pirate'...

Second, chapter seven should be finished soon (update in the yahoo group says that, as of April 14, chapter 7 has been submitted for beta).

I hadn't realized that he hasn't posted chapters five and six to ff.net.

Too bad I read them months ago, otherwise I'd tell you what happened.

 

Any chance you could help us out with posting the story a bit?

 

I will. I'm still at work right now, but when I get home I can put up a mirror of the two chapters.