Is anybody else reading this? I’m about 8 chapters in and finding it highly amusing (and probably the most well written Harry Potter fanfic I’ve seen). It’s very long and definitely not for everybody, but if you like HP and think you’d like an alternate-universe fanfic that pokes gentle (and very funny) holes in some of the inconsistencies of the originals, check it out!
I’ve been following this fic for some time - which is unusual for me; until I found this one I hadn’t read any HP fanfic in years. It is, in a word, fantastic. Since the OP is only up to chapter 8 I won’t post any spoilers, but some amazing things happen. But really what makes this so excellent for me is the characters are no longer the slaves to tradition that they are in Rowling’s books - they do things intelligently and practically. It’s the equivalent of a Superman fanfic where he makes an idle comment to himself about how silly it would be if all he needed to disguise himself was a pair of glasses before putting on his holographic illusion generator from Krypton.
Well color me surprised! :eek: I absolutely detest fanfic, but this is really very entertaining. I’m only to chapter 4, but I expect I’ll be caught up soon.
The characters talk like lecturers or textbooks, rather than like people. I’m in the middle of chapter seven, but doubt I’ll get that much further.
I have been enjoying this too. It’s hard when you reach the last chapter and you have to start waiting for each new chapter to be published, but he seems to write them at a good clip.
Both the plotting and the characterization are very impressive. I wonder if Roweling has read it.
I do find it hard to imagine this Harry as 12 years old even as a mental prodigy. In my mind he flips between 12 and 20.
To be nitpicky - if you’re going to set a story in England, use English terms. Oxford doesn’t have “tenured professors,” it has dons. And they teach maths, not “math.”
If you can make it through the first dozen chapters, that cuts down a lot. Not that Harry starts acting like an ordinary eleven year old, but he does lecture less.
The tone changes significantly, too. At first, it’s pretty much pure parody, but later it becomes a very serious, and quite well-done, story in its own right. Unfortunately, the transition is rather rough; until you get used to this being Ender Wiggins Goes To Hogwarts, the eleven-year-old characters are pretty unbelievable. Dumbledore’s pretty painful to read, too, since the author is firmly in the Dumbledore-is-an-old-fraud camp. There’s at least one chapter that’s basically Harry saying meaningless Zen Koans and Dumbledore lapping it all up, which feels awfully straw-mannish.
That said, it turns out that Ender Wiggins Goes To Hogwarts is actually a damn good read. Tight plotting, more surprises than I expected, and some characters I actually cared about.
I finished Chapter 60 the other day. Loved it, beginning to end, and I’m extremely eager to find out what happens to most of these characters.
I like the way that Harry’s relationship (and the value he places on it) with Minerva is more important than his relarionship with Dumbledore. It throws my epectations out of balance, and makes it easier for me to accept other apparent differences in plot points.
I absolutely devoured all 60 chapters over the past two days, really really enjoyed them.
So the biggest open questions seem to be:
What’s up with Quirrel? Obviously he doesn’t have Voldemort living in the back of his head, at least not the same way… but there do seem to be some parallels. On the other hand, he very clearly could have killed Harry any number of times up until now, and did not do so.
Who was the mysterious 5th party who was advising that Slytherin student? Mr Hat-and-Cloak?
Did Dumbledore really burn Narcissa to death?
Is Sirius Black innocent? And what’s with the “leakage” of stories from the “normal” HP universe? Is it just a few random jokes, or are we to assume that Bill Weasley was suspicious of Scabbers (who was NOT Peter Pettigrew) because of some echo or feedback or something?
What’s with Harry’s black rage? Leakage from his scar Horcrux presumably?
So, I’ve been hearing about this fic all over the place and I decided to check it out…
There’s a webcomic called Homestuck, part of MSPaint Adventures. There was a character who we’d only been introduced to through chat logs, and all the readers had formed various impressions of him. Then the author finally showed us what this kid looked like. Many people’s immediate reaction was that they wanted to punch this kid in the face.
That’s how I feel about this Harry Potter.
Oh, not at first, and certainly not constantly, but there are moments. Child-genius Harry often comes across (to me, anyway) as a snobby asshole. And most of the time, the author intends this as a deliberate part of his character. But sometimes it looks like the author believes Harry to be in the right. This Harry can be as frustrating as cannon Harry, but in a different way.
That said, overall I do enjoy this story very much. There are some jolting elements, like his dismissal of Ron, and it’s pretty obvious the author really, really doesn’t like Dumbledore.
The scene where he argues with Dumbledore about the afterlife was a real wallbanger moment. Harry was basically arguing against straw, and he was still wrong on so many friggin’ levels, and I agree with him! (at least on the point that there’s no afterlife). I just wanted to reach through the computer screen and pimp slap the insufferable prick a few dozen times. Half the time I like this character, the other half I want to kick him in the nuts. Great story… interesting protagonist. I can’t wait to see what happens past Chapter 45.
I’m up to Chapter 20. This Harry is really an insufferable little prick and a bit of a Mary Sue, but I get the impression a good editor could make this into an excellent book.
I believe, a chapter or two later, Dumbledore indicates that he was only lapping it up entirely on purpose. Dumbledore isn’t a fraud and he isn’t dumb, he’s just playing a deep game. In fact, I’m going to say that, ignoring the ‘naked man’ part, I don’t think we’ve seen the real Dumbledore yet. Even in the amazingly Enderish immortality discussion.
That being said, I stopped reading once the skeleton was removed from the cell. (should be obvious where that was), and am waiting for a considerable bit more before restarting. I think it’s obvious Volde is also playing a much deeper game than the books showed him doing. I think it’s obvious what the Mysterious Dark Side is, and what happens to a villian once you remove his mysterious dark side.
What worries me is some backstory incongruities. Narcissa being dead, the issue of the Weasley rat, and Sirus Black. There’s something going on I’m not seeing at all.
Agreed. I just feel like it’s so arrogant sometimes that it puts me off. “Things HAVE to be this way because my books all say so and I’m so bright!” He really needs to have more inexplicable stuff happen or just get slapped by someone who doesn’t know science, but does know magic. Sometimes things are “just cause”. And am I the only one really pulling for him to
get into Hufflepuff? The poor snotty overly-intelligent kid needs it, and it’s the House everyone seems to kick to the curb and dismiss. Also he seems to worry about being Obliviated a lot.
Sometimes it’s tough going, though. He needs a genuine friend like Ron, ironically, as much of a load as he was. I haven’t gotten very far though yet.
I’m in agreement with those who say that Harry needs to be kicked in the head. The problem with the story I have so far is that I can’t stand the main character, even though I’m in agreement with a lot of what he says. The other part I can’t stand is that he talks about how logic and science is supreme, but then he makes a ton of logical fallacies/science mistakes.
My favorite part in the series so far (I’m up to chapter 50) is the moment when he’s in the conversation with Severus and shows vulnerability.
Major, MAJOR spoilers in partial answer to Max’s questions:
[spoiler]Voldemort is definitely living inside Quirrell, just in a much more practical way. Hogwarts is a renowned school, he would draw too much attention to himself by being a stuttering incompetent. Instead he acts like a (perhaps slightly over-) confident person. The clues to this are three: 1) The sense of DOOOOOM Harry gets when he or his magic goes too near Quirrell, 2) the zombie-like state Quirrell periodically enters and then instantly recovers from (possession is not perfectly efficient), and 3) Quirrell mentioned a spell he put on the Pioneer plaque that would make it last much much longer. This was Voldemort turning the plaque into a horcrux that was then sent very very far away. He hasn’t killed Harry yet because he has something bigger planned. Oh, and Word of Author says Quirrell isn’t wearing a turban in this story, because Voldemort is not so stupid as to have his own face sticking out the back of a head where it could be noticed.
Mr. Hat-and-Cloak was definitely Dumbledore. There’s a line somewhere about how he got in on the plotting fad everyone was doing.
I don’t have clear answers on the other ones.[/spoiler]
The thing to realize about this fic is this author is even more subtle about clues and foreshadowing than Rowling is, by a large factor. At some point during the current hiatus I intend to re-read everything with a fine tooth comb to see what I missed that’s already come up, and what might yet arise in the story.
It’s good when it’s not being preachy (at its worst with the Patronus explanations). This version of Harry is nothing like an 11 year old boy, but that’s OK. I like Draco, and the conversations with him and Harry.
Spoilery questions about Snape and Voldemort:
[spoiler]I really wonder what is going to happen with Snape. If Harry convinced him that Lily was nothing special and he gets over her, will there be anything to stop him turning to the dark side?
Voldemort/Quirrel is acting pretty strange. What reason could he have to mentor Harry?[/spoiler]
Weedy, I think I have an idea about your question. Spoilers up to basically the current point in the story, chapter 63.
Dumbledore mentions at one point, when he thinks it was Voldemort Returned and not Harry that was involved in breaking Bellatrix out of Azkaban, that Voldemort is watching and learning from Harry (cf. use of Muggle rocketry). I think that’s why Voldemort is actually mentoring Harry - he knows Harry Potter caused his downfall once before, and he wants to thoroughly study and understand him as a precursor to rising again.
Some of the Quirrel/Harry conversations reminded me of the Dubois/Rico conversations in the early part of Starship Troopers:
“That’s a very cogent analysis, Mister Potter/Rico. Thoughtful, detailed… and WRONG! YOU’RE 100 PERCENT WRONG! YOU COULDN’T BE MORE WRONG IF YOUR BUTT WAS ON BACKWARDS!”
I’m only on Chapter 6, but this is *exactly *what I was going to call this story!
Great fun. I’ve got a new addiction.