Title: Twist of Fate
Author: FirePhoenix8
Rating: M
Genre: Adventure/Romance
Status: Unfinished
Pairings: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Summary: Harry is taken the night Dumbledore is about to leave him with the Dursleys. With forces meddling in the timeline, Harry and Tom become the Riddle brothers. Follow the boys from the 1930s, WWII & Grindelwald, to canon years and a much changed future. Slash.
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5925524/1/Twist-of-Fate

This is a long story, with much plot development and relationship between the two main characters.
Problem is, Tom Riddle is canon Tom Riddle

 

lol. lmao even.

I hate to admit that I'd ever even encountered it, let alone read enough to remember it 11 years after the fact, but we've all done things we regret, I'm sure.

The SPAG alone means I can't give it more than 2.5, and the characterisation means dropping another .5, and the directionless plot and questionable characterisation brings it down even more. Not to mention it's been abandoned (or, sorry, on hiatus) since 2013.
1/5.

 

Naw, this isnt a 1/5 really. It shouldn't be in the library but its not horrible in that sense. I read this years ago mind. And obviously the slash just will make it no go for some, though as I recall i was hundreds and hundreds of thousands of words in when i dropped it and it hadn;t happened yet.

Mmm so again read it ages ago. But as I recall some things it did well and some were very cliche. As I recall its strength was the characterization of tom riddle and harry's early infleunces on each other. TR is still tom riddle but you can see the more positive impact harry had on him. I remember thinking his possessive-caring with harry was realistic. Likewise I remember liking how they handled harry here.. he wasn't 'dark' harry but essentially you could see tom's influence and he wasn't as 'good' as in canon either. That was really the strength of the story, showing how the influence of each other nudged the characters out of their lanes of 'good and evil' but that there was still a core of whom they were in it.

The weakness of the story is the plot kind of went wild at one point which is where I dropped it. It was never amazing but at some point started to get so convoluted and over the top i lost interest. TBH even the earlier plot was more like you ignore it to get to the character interaction. But it really went off the rails at one point.

While I liked how the harry-tom influence and characterization was done, most of the other characters were not as nuanced and more paper thin or cliche.

Also there were certain themes it hit very well. But it kept replaying those themes again and again.


In other words: This is not a horrible fic at all, and I dont think a fair review will give it 1 star (I suspect most of those are people who just review slash or certain themes as 1 star regardless of the writing which i always find a stupid approach).

Neither is it library worthy or anything special though. Maybe 2.5 stars? Rounded down.

If you are looking for what it does... a harry-tom relationship where they are the same age and you see them influence each other and bounce off each other as 'brothers'... harry navigating slytherin (iirc) and being a bit more dark but still harry.... tom being influenced a bit by harry... then this is for you. It will have that characterization and interaction and some angst to keep you going.

Its not going to reinvent the genre and i suspect like me most readers will lose interest as it is way too long. But if those 'themes' interest you, its a fine enough pass the time for a few hours type fic. You'll read for a bit and probably drop at some point but be entertained (if you like the themes)

If you aren't specifically looking for that theme (harry-tom same age relationship and influencing each other) then dont bother.