5 - 7 January 2006
Oh MAN the scrolling I had to do to get back to the right page of sshp_prophet to finish this.
None So Blind by snakeling Rec! Hot
Post War
I'm rather fond of the not quite muggle, not quite magical twilight zone genre. I think I first read it in The Dreaming Spires* - which isn't to say I'm comparing the two fics, just that Spires made me fall in love with the idea. This has a different take on it, and is lovely and complex without over burdening the reader in the short space she has us. I liked her fly by the seat of his pants virgin!Harry, and I loved how "Tobias" is "Tobias" by any other name:
Tobias threw him a towel, and Harry, rolling over on his back with a grunt, cleaned himself perfunctorily.
He dropped the dirty towel over the edge of the bed in an automatic move, only half-waking when Tobias pushed him into the wet spot.
Why yes, that does sound like something "Tobias" would do.
*the problem with being reminded of another fic while doing this is that I then *HAVE* to go back and reread, and by the time I'm done sshp_prophet has posted another 3 editions.
Morning Muse by Angeline Chan er. "membership pending"
The End: Legend and Reality (PG-13) by Lychee Rec -, OSS, BF&P
Post Everything
Stories within stories are rather hard to pull off, especially with dullish OC children driving the narrative. It's not that I dislike children - but I don't personally find everything they do automatically adorable and fascinating anymore than I find adults adorable and fascinating. So a domestic/babysitting fic retelling the fall of Voldemort repeatedly so that the Chris Columbus-Cute kids can say the darndest things? Pass.
Humbug by jadzialove Rec
Post War
A Potter retelling of A Christmas Carol which I enjoyed far more than I thought I would. jadzialove captured Snape's voice perfectly, and she was original enough in her interpretation that rather than grind my teeth (my normal reaction to rewritten classics) I became quite caught up, and at one point actually swooned (chapter two, 3/4 the way down as Snape watches his seduction out of body). Hey! Don't judge me! I fell for some well-written sap. Now leave me alone - "Roses are for the Rich" is on.
Badb Catha by elanor_isolda Rec HOT
Post HBP
This angsty, whiny Potter is so dead on in ways I didn't even catch until another reading. I can feel the belligerent teenageness oozing from him, and damned if I don't want to take house points from the brat. I love it when an author can make me empathize wholly with Snape's tormenting ways. I wanted to shake the boy and say, "Damnit Potter, you're the Boy Who Fucking Lived so suck it up and stop whinging already."
So I was kind of disappointed when I hit part two that the author decided to plow past this wonderfully heavy opening with some cheap and-then-they-fucked segway. Fire whiskey felt like a poor choice for what she had built up to that point. Don't get me wrong - this is a GREAT fic. But part one had a subtlety in phrase and action that part two lacked. On the other hand it was hot, and I'm a sucker for stories where the earth does not tilt on it's axis simply because Harry and Snape had (hot) sex.
Oubliette by RaeWhit see review here
Life and Death by snakeling rec? Hotish Andthen
This falls into that vaguely uncomfortable category of bad fic by a good author. I think part of the problem is, as Meg ( I think it was you?) put it: "Why does all BDSM fic suck?" This is of course an overstatement, but quite a few of these fics do fail. They fall into those common traps of characterization so bizarre that Potter and Snape are unrecognizable, the action seems... forced or the sex is the plot, making the fic a long series of "and thens."
In this fic Snape is the chattel of Potter, from the prerequisite arcane law and Azekaban plotline. Personally I was unable to suspend my disbelief enough to believe the pairing. There was no real effort paid to bridge the gap between Dom! Potter and Dom Potter who wants that greasy git potion's Master on his knees. While Snape well may be a natural sub, I'm sure the Potterverse has many such less greasy creatures.
Bell Book and Candle by unbroken_halo
This really is a WIP, and as such I will reserve judgment. Big warning for rape.
May/December by snakeling recish short
Post something
A bare pondering of being with Harry from Snape's perspective. It was too heavy in explanations of Snape's motives for my taste - but a show-not-tell fic would have been by necessity much longer.
stick by the_con_cept Rec
Post War
I adored this strange little fic. It immediately pulled me back to childhood and Shel Silverstein and warm cider on frosty nights. It's told in treetime, which is absolutely brilliant. It's that Treebeard slash that never quite worked in LotR. And God it was so much fun. or maybe not "fun" so much as peaceful.
Artificial Life (NC-17) by Empathic Siren Rec HOT
Post War
There's something so unHarry about referring to heroin as "horse". It creates an unpleasant image of Harry getting the "411 from the OG before ghosting to the gully". Yeah, I donno what that means either, but I've been assured it's "tight". I'll grudgingly allow that the slang sort of works: Harry is an undercover agent for some magical Special Forces unit. But dropping us in there like that, and then adding two OC's before we've read hide nor hair of Snape? Is probably enough to discourage most readers from continuing.
Once you get past the first chapter (Drug dealers and Vampires and Muggles, Oh my!), you have a better idea of what you're committing yourself to reading: a crime/adventure AU, complete with clubkid Harry, Draco Leatherpants and Count Sevula. Personally this type of fic is rather like marzipan to me. Some days I absolutely adore it, other times I wonder why on earth someone would do such horrible things to a perfectly nice almond. But if you're in the mood this fic satisfies. It's a fun silly read peppered with some pretty hot mindfuck.
I must add: This fic was abput 4 chapters too long. The wrap up dragged, and it would have benefitted from some Brit picking.
Madness in Vegas by jadzia7667 and the_minx_17 see review here
None So Blind by snakeling Rec! Hot
Post War
I'm rather fond of the not quite muggle, not quite magical twilight zone genre. I think I first read it in The Dreaming Spires* - which isn't to say I'm comparing the two fics, just that Spires made me fall in love with the idea. This has a different take on it, and is lovely and complex without over burdening the reader in the short space she has us. I liked her fly by the seat of his pants virgin!Harry, and I loved how "Tobias" is "Tobias" by any other name:
Tobias threw him a towel, and Harry, rolling over on his back with a grunt, cleaned himself perfunctorily.
He dropped the dirty towel over the edge of the bed in an automatic move, only half-waking when Tobias pushed him into the wet spot.
Why yes, that does sound like something "Tobias" would do.
*the problem with being reminded of another fic while doing this is that I then *HAVE* to go back and reread, and by the time I'm done sshp_prophet has posted another 3 editions.
Morning Muse by Angeline Chan er. "membership pending"
The End: Legend and Reality (PG-13) by Lychee Rec -, OSS, BF&P
Post Everything
Stories within stories are rather hard to pull off, especially with dullish OC children driving the narrative. It's not that I dislike children - but I don't personally find everything they do automatically adorable and fascinating anymore than I find adults adorable and fascinating. So a domestic/babysitting fic retelling the fall of Voldemort repeatedly so that the Chris Columbus-Cute kids can say the darndest things? Pass.
Humbug by jadzialove Rec
Post War
A Potter retelling of A Christmas Carol which I enjoyed far more than I thought I would. jadzialove captured Snape's voice perfectly, and she was original enough in her interpretation that rather than grind my teeth (my normal reaction to rewritten classics) I became quite caught up, and at one point actually swooned (chapter two, 3/4 the way down as Snape watches his seduction out of body). Hey! Don't judge me! I fell for some well-written sap. Now leave me alone - "Roses are for the Rich" is on.
Badb Catha by elanor_isolda Rec HOT
Post HBP
This angsty, whiny Potter is so dead on in ways I didn't even catch until another reading. I can feel the belligerent teenageness oozing from him, and damned if I don't want to take house points from the brat. I love it when an author can make me empathize wholly with Snape's tormenting ways. I wanted to shake the boy and say, "Damnit Potter, you're the Boy Who Fucking Lived so suck it up and stop whinging already."
So I was kind of disappointed when I hit part two that the author decided to plow past this wonderfully heavy opening with some cheap and-then-they-fucked segway. Fire whiskey felt like a poor choice for what she had built up to that point. Don't get me wrong - this is a GREAT fic. But part one had a subtlety in phrase and action that part two lacked. On the other hand it was hot, and I'm a sucker for stories where the earth does not tilt on it's axis simply because Harry and Snape had (hot) sex.
Oubliette by RaeWhit see review here
Life and Death by snakeling rec? Hotish Andthen
This falls into that vaguely uncomfortable category of bad fic by a good author. I think part of the problem is, as Meg ( I think it was you?) put it: "Why does all BDSM fic suck?" This is of course an overstatement, but quite a few of these fics do fail. They fall into those common traps of characterization so bizarre that Potter and Snape are unrecognizable, the action seems... forced or the sex is the plot, making the fic a long series of "and thens."
In this fic Snape is the chattel of Potter, from the prerequisite arcane law and Azekaban plotline. Personally I was unable to suspend my disbelief enough to believe the pairing. There was no real effort paid to bridge the gap between Dom! Potter and Dom Potter who wants that greasy git potion's Master on his knees. While Snape well may be a natural sub, I'm sure the Potterverse has many such less greasy creatures.
Bell Book and Candle by unbroken_halo
This really is a WIP, and as such I will reserve judgment. Big warning for rape.
May/December by snakeling recish short
Post something
A bare pondering of being with Harry from Snape's perspective. It was too heavy in explanations of Snape's motives for my taste - but a show-not-tell fic would have been by necessity much longer.
stick by the_con_cept Rec
Post War
I adored this strange little fic. It immediately pulled me back to childhood and Shel Silverstein and warm cider on frosty nights. It's told in treetime, which is absolutely brilliant. It's that Treebeard slash that never quite worked in LotR. And God it was so much fun. or maybe not "fun" so much as peaceful.
Artificial Life (NC-17) by Empathic Siren Rec HOT
Post War
There's something so unHarry about referring to heroin as "horse". It creates an unpleasant image of Harry getting the "411 from the OG before ghosting to the gully". Yeah, I donno what that means either, but I've been assured it's "tight". I'll grudgingly allow that the slang sort of works: Harry is an undercover agent for some magical Special Forces unit. But dropping us in there like that, and then adding two OC's before we've read hide nor hair of Snape? Is probably enough to discourage most readers from continuing.
Once you get past the first chapter (Drug dealers and Vampires and Muggles, Oh my!), you have a better idea of what you're committing yourself to reading: a crime/adventure AU, complete with clubkid Harry, Draco Leatherpants and Count Sevula. Personally this type of fic is rather like marzipan to me. Some days I absolutely adore it, other times I wonder why on earth someone would do such horrible things to a perfectly nice almond. But if you're in the mood this fic satisfies. It's a fun silly read peppered with some pretty hot mindfuck.
I must add: This fic was abput 4 chapters too long. The wrap up dragged, and it would have benefitted from some Brit picking.
Madness in Vegas by jadzia7667 and the_minx_17 see review here