SS/HP News 12 - 16 November 2006
Happy belated Holidays! One or two of these had me down for the count ;)
A Gift or Two by Stella Hargrove [NC-17] Reccish
The author set a nice tone and pace for this, so points for style! I was less enthusiastic about the content. This is domestic Snarry, that fanon incarnation built on the shoulders of previous fanficcers. This is a couple who remember anniversaries and birthdays, but being nominally Snape, brings snakes instead of roses.
I… don’t really get it.
I mean fine, if the point of your fic is to show the extreme character arc that brings two people who cannot stand each other to this marriage of chocolate frogs and serpent bouquets, awesome! I’ll join the line throwing scales at your feet. Or if you’re starting in this fairytale romance to tell a story that has anything to do with Harry Potter, again - I get where the writer is going. But taking two characters that share no characteristics with the originals, call them ‘Snape’ and ‘Harry’ and then set them up in a PWP - I guess I don’t understand how this is fanfiction - it really reads more like original fiction.
Houses of the Holy by eriador117 [NC-17]. Under-18. rec -, cliché GiantSlor
War!
Harry finds a contract where he was betrothed to Snape as an infant.
Am I the only one who read that and thought; Snape’s an infant? Is this a time turner fic? What an awesome twist on the forced bond plot! I imagined this Babie!Snape that behaved something like Stewie from the Family Guy acting out all of his teenage angst with his actually teen aged bride, Harry. I almost swooned!
Sadly, this was not to be.
I do think (having trouble remembering actually) that this author has made real improvements in her clarity and pacing. This certainly gets off to a running start. An action start might have worked better, but by the third paragraph Harry has reiterated HBP canon, disposed of Ginny and, oh-by-the-way, she’s a werewolf. Not just werewolf of course, she’s a slutty one!
Far from being the scenario for grate yay, this is a BAD THING and Ginny shows us that under that read hair and torn blouse she really has no redeeming qualities. That’s a shame, really because I was at least engaged with the few glimpses of Harry characterization strewn into the heavy mix of regurgitated canon. But Ginny reads as inconvenient canon disposed of… angrily. And Harry comes across as a prig and a misogynist, neither of which are particularly endearing. Nor does this really have anything to do with the story. Personally I think the fic would be better if it lost the first 3k words.
After that we have the cliché of Angry Harry unwillingly betrothed to Snape. No surprises here.
I cannot stress this enough: writers! We’ve read the books! We don’t need the 3rd year book report version in your fanfics! Um.
Kaleidoscope by slytherinandproud [NC-17]. Under-18. What the hell: Rec (ish)
Hogwarts
You know how some fics require you suspend your disbelief and just go with it? This is one of those. It’s a fun romp in the woods, but you have to be willing to buy the idea that Dumbledore would deliberately create scenarios to get Snape and Harry to have sex.
…I wanted to write Dumbledore would deliberately create scenarios to get Snape and Harry to FUCK, but I have so much trouble with the idea I just couldn’t type it. Not that Harry / Snape fucking part, of course - but the idea that Dumbledore would have a hand it…
…and that unfortunate choice of words just led to a whole ‘nother set of images I didn’t want.
I need to stop.
The fic is fun. Silly. Kinda like this review.
Not Least In Love by rakina [NC-17]. Under-18. Reccish OSS, DTT
War!
I think I love rakina a little bit. Not really for this fic, but because she started from a place I find myself at often: LALALATHEREISNOBOOKSIXLALALALA
Bless her for embracing it.
This starts off where these stories often do: with a new prophesy. From there we have a detour into various POVs I didn’t love, but it was thankfully brief. The story worked well enough without it, and I’m a bit confused why they were even there.
What worked less for me was the level of civility right off the bat. These are characters that despise each other. Snape has made Harry’s life hell, and somehow a 16 year old is able to set that aside and behave like a mature adult? OK maybe, but as a reader I wasn’t there yet. I wanted to see the transition.
I also could have used a little less BDSM for Dummies. Just, yanno - work the forced bonding story. Muddying it with consensual power exchange, wedding rituals and is, well, muddy.
Orgasmic by slytherinandproud [NC-17]. Under-18. Rec- ish, WeEmo
Hogwarts
I loved the way the chocolate cakegasm was described. And I liked the idea of orgasmic dessert. I think I would have liked to see more done with it, and I did not love the Snape stream of conscious. I despise the word cum. The motivation was thinner than a mattress at a Hollywood motel. There’s some phrasing choices that made me giggle aloud:
"You know, you're my favorite professor." And Harry's tongue ran wetly up the entire length of his erect cock and he screamed.
But yanno? Orgasmic Chocolate Cake. There have to be points for originality.
Private Dancer by slytherinandproud [R]. Under-18. Rec -
Hogwarts?
Unlike the orgasmic cake story, this didn’t have that fun spark of originality to rescue it. I’m not sure what the point of this was,
And Harry came into Snape's sweat-drenched black shirt, howling into his lover's mouth as they bit each other's lips and gasped for breath and Harry clawed at Snape as one in agony as the orgasm hit him and he spurted ribbons of pearly white cum all over his lover's stomach...
But it sounds painful.
Seasoned Iron by ac1d6urn and sinick [Adult] Rec! YAY!
posthogwarts
Remember that scene from Ghost when demi Moore got all mucky in clay with Patrick Swayze? No? What do you mean you didn’t realize Demi did anything before Ashton?! I AM NOT THAT OLD
*cough*
Well anyway, for the rest of you seniors, this fic is sort of like that. Only with less clay and more Harry and Snape. And well, despite Whoopi (or maybe because of Whoopi. Who watched Comic Relief? That was just painful) it’s funnier than Ghost, and also there’s no weird co worker trying to kill them (well, except Voldemort of course) and no crazy seer (…except Trelawney ) and no shadowy dark soul sucking things… DAMNIT!
I give up. Harry Potter = Ghost, TRUFAX. This fic is the only thing the franchise was missing: hot clay cauldron sex.
Somnolence (Last Thoughts) by winoniel [NC-17] Rec.
PostWar
This was the hardest review of this series. Well, this and Sensible Garden, the reviewing of which was this drawn out Jell-O wrestling match between my mind and the knee-jerk emotions.
I liked winoniel's writing, it flowed, it was paced well, and though rich with adjectives I didn’t want to stab at the prose.
This was hard because it opened in such a dark place; the graphic and gory torture of Snape, and then spent the rest of the fic in to convalescence on Snape. Not that he didn’t deserve it, going through what he had, but I felt a little dirty afterwards, like when I watch movies from the seventies and there’s the gratuitous rape scene. Yes, OK the rape is critical to the plot (in that apparently the violation of white women is the only thing that motivates A Hero sort of way) But do we really need to see each violent moment?
I’m not sure if a better structure for this wouldn’t have been opening on the convalescence and then flashbacking or weaving in the relevant torture.
The (Happy) Half-Blood Prince by amanuensis1 [PG] Rec +
POstWar
I really enjoyed this - and was impressed by the author’s ability to not write to expectation. Or well my expectations, probably. I saw the name and my mind went immediately to a Very Dark Place, which isn’t at all where this fic went.
This is a quieter sort of story, a good read with joanwilder’s sensible garden in that it’s about the afterwards, the spent passions. You know how when an idea’s time has come, that idea is on everyone’s lips and minds? Our fandom brain is apparently in this grey, dismal place. It cannot just be the weather, and I don’t think it’s purely the canon that has us here. But for whatever reason we’re HERE and damned if the lot of us don’t need Zoloft.
I did love the quick and dirty back-story summation. Bless you! Writers who feel the need to explain All. Six. Books. In their opening three page paragraph take note: amanuensis1 managed all that, with humor, in ONE sentence. She managed to keep Snape a snarky bastard and make the reader empathize. Without kittens. Finally, this has a far more satisfying ending than I expected. It’s more than enough to stave off the anti-depressants.
For now.
The Model Student by slytherinandproud [NC-17]. Under-18. eh. Rec. ish.
Hogwarts
This is one of those “lets throw something kinky at Harry and see what happens” stories. In this case it’s cross dressing, or well Harry manages to get naughty pictures into Snape’s potion stained claws. The writing is better than the plot, and the plot better than the characterization, but if you’ve a yen for fluffy smut featuring someone called “Harry” and “Snape” this may well be for you.
The Sensible Garden by joanwilder [NC-17] Rec +
PostWar
Oh you wretched, wretched woman. Here I was settled in for a lovely story, catching a chapter here and there when I had time, fixing my make up… and I’m bawling. Full on, crying my eyes out, ruining my mascara, puffy red eyes, late for work BAWLING.
This is a story about death. Premature deaths, that horrifying anti-nature when children pass before their parents, and the afterlife inhabited by the living.
Births and birthdays…Welcoming and Leaving Feasts…marriages and anniversaries…pinnacles of achievement…retirement and death. Each of them part of the cycle of life that was common to all of them…cycles that began and ended at a universal point. Every individual here was on a circle of his own, sometimes fortunately overlapping or, in some cases, regrettably transecting the circles that cycled alongside of them. How fitting, Severus thought to himself, to mark these occasions by coming together to acknowledge what had been shared along the way. Because, in the economy of life, no man traveled alone, even he himself, he soberly concluded.
By chapter thirteen I was reading somewhat warily. The repeated sucker punches left me emotionally battered. I felt oddly betrayed, like the writer had broken some unspoken covenant between us. She hadn’t followed the rules! And like a six year old whose candy has been stolen thrice by the same person, I just wanted to stamp my feet and howl. And then, to top it off, after that dramatic pacing, were in this grey. For the next 10 chapters.
I’m very conflicted about this fic to be honest. Because the structure really did annoy me, but if it was intended to be symbolic of the realities of life, genius! So I’m in this funk of feeling like the reading is good for me, even when the story wasn’t there for me. I was not in love with the heavy handed symbolism, and I think the ending was a bit of a cop out, but the fact that I’m even thinking these things is proof of the stories mastery. Even if I sort of want to go kick something.
A Gift or Two by Stella Hargrove [NC-17] Reccish
The author set a nice tone and pace for this, so points for style! I was less enthusiastic about the content. This is domestic Snarry, that fanon incarnation built on the shoulders of previous fanficcers. This is a couple who remember anniversaries and birthdays, but being nominally Snape, brings snakes instead of roses.
I… don’t really get it.
I mean fine, if the point of your fic is to show the extreme character arc that brings two people who cannot stand each other to this marriage of chocolate frogs and serpent bouquets, awesome! I’ll join the line throwing scales at your feet. Or if you’re starting in this fairytale romance to tell a story that has anything to do with Harry Potter, again - I get where the writer is going. But taking two characters that share no characteristics with the originals, call them ‘Snape’ and ‘Harry’ and then set them up in a PWP - I guess I don’t understand how this is fanfiction - it really reads more like original fiction.
Houses of the Holy by eriador117 [NC-17]. Under-18. rec -, cliché GiantSlor
War!
Harry finds a contract where he was betrothed to Snape as an infant.
Am I the only one who read that and thought; Snape’s an infant? Is this a time turner fic? What an awesome twist on the forced bond plot! I imagined this Babie!Snape that behaved something like Stewie from the Family Guy acting out all of his teenage angst with his actually teen aged bride, Harry. I almost swooned!
Sadly, this was not to be.
I do think (having trouble remembering actually) that this author has made real improvements in her clarity and pacing. This certainly gets off to a running start. An action start might have worked better, but by the third paragraph Harry has reiterated HBP canon, disposed of Ginny and, oh-by-the-way, she’s a werewolf. Not just werewolf of course, she’s a slutty one!
Far from being the scenario for grate yay, this is a BAD THING and Ginny shows us that under that read hair and torn blouse she really has no redeeming qualities. That’s a shame, really because I was at least engaged with the few glimpses of Harry characterization strewn into the heavy mix of regurgitated canon. But Ginny reads as inconvenient canon disposed of… angrily. And Harry comes across as a prig and a misogynist, neither of which are particularly endearing. Nor does this really have anything to do with the story. Personally I think the fic would be better if it lost the first 3k words.
After that we have the cliché of Angry Harry unwillingly betrothed to Snape. No surprises here.
I cannot stress this enough: writers! We’ve read the books! We don’t need the 3rd year book report version in your fanfics! Um.
Kaleidoscope by slytherinandproud [NC-17]. Under-18. What the hell: Rec (ish)
Hogwarts
You know how some fics require you suspend your disbelief and just go with it? This is one of those. It’s a fun romp in the woods, but you have to be willing to buy the idea that Dumbledore would deliberately create scenarios to get Snape and Harry to have sex.
…I wanted to write Dumbledore would deliberately create scenarios to get Snape and Harry to FUCK, but I have so much trouble with the idea I just couldn’t type it. Not that Harry / Snape fucking part, of course - but the idea that Dumbledore would have a hand it…
…and that unfortunate choice of words just led to a whole ‘nother set of images I didn’t want.
I need to stop.
The fic is fun. Silly. Kinda like this review.
Not Least In Love by rakina [NC-17]. Under-18. Reccish OSS, DTT
War!
I think I love rakina a little bit. Not really for this fic, but because she started from a place I find myself at often: LALALATHEREISNOBOOKSIXLALALALA
Bless her for embracing it.
This starts off where these stories often do: with a new prophesy. From there we have a detour into various POVs I didn’t love, but it was thankfully brief. The story worked well enough without it, and I’m a bit confused why they were even there.
What worked less for me was the level of civility right off the bat. These are characters that despise each other. Snape has made Harry’s life hell, and somehow a 16 year old is able to set that aside and behave like a mature adult? OK maybe, but as a reader I wasn’t there yet. I wanted to see the transition.
I also could have used a little less BDSM for Dummies. Just, yanno - work the forced bonding story. Muddying it with consensual power exchange, wedding rituals and is, well, muddy.
Orgasmic by slytherinandproud [NC-17]. Under-18. Rec- ish, WeEmo
Hogwarts
I loved the way the chocolate cakegasm was described. And I liked the idea of orgasmic dessert. I think I would have liked to see more done with it, and I did not love the Snape stream of conscious. I despise the word cum. The motivation was thinner than a mattress at a Hollywood motel. There’s some phrasing choices that made me giggle aloud:
"You know, you're my favorite professor." And Harry's tongue ran wetly up the entire length of his erect cock and he screamed.
But yanno? Orgasmic Chocolate Cake. There have to be points for originality.
Private Dancer by slytherinandproud [R]. Under-18. Rec -
Hogwarts?
Unlike the orgasmic cake story, this didn’t have that fun spark of originality to rescue it. I’m not sure what the point of this was,
And Harry came into Snape's sweat-drenched black shirt, howling into his lover's mouth as they bit each other's lips and gasped for breath and Harry clawed at Snape as one in agony as the orgasm hit him and he spurted ribbons of pearly white cum all over his lover's stomach...
But it sounds painful.
Seasoned Iron by ac1d6urn and sinick [Adult] Rec! YAY!
posthogwarts
Remember that scene from Ghost when demi Moore got all mucky in clay with Patrick Swayze? No? What do you mean you didn’t realize Demi did anything before Ashton?! I AM NOT THAT OLD
*cough*
Well anyway, for the rest of you seniors, this fic is sort of like that. Only with less clay and more Harry and Snape. And well, despite Whoopi (or maybe because of Whoopi. Who watched Comic Relief? That was just painful) it’s funnier than Ghost, and also there’s no weird co worker trying to kill them (well, except Voldemort of course) and no crazy seer (…except Trelawney ) and no shadowy dark soul sucking things… DAMNIT!
I give up. Harry Potter = Ghost, TRUFAX. This fic is the only thing the franchise was missing: hot clay cauldron sex.
Somnolence (Last Thoughts) by winoniel [NC-17] Rec.
PostWar
This was the hardest review of this series. Well, this and Sensible Garden, the reviewing of which was this drawn out Jell-O wrestling match between my mind and the knee-jerk emotions.
I liked winoniel's writing, it flowed, it was paced well, and though rich with adjectives I didn’t want to stab at the prose.
This was hard because it opened in such a dark place; the graphic and gory torture of Snape, and then spent the rest of the fic in to convalescence on Snape. Not that he didn’t deserve it, going through what he had, but I felt a little dirty afterwards, like when I watch movies from the seventies and there’s the gratuitous rape scene. Yes, OK the rape is critical to the plot (in that apparently the violation of white women is the only thing that motivates A Hero sort of way) But do we really need to see each violent moment?
I’m not sure if a better structure for this wouldn’t have been opening on the convalescence and then flashbacking or weaving in the relevant torture.
The (Happy) Half-Blood Prince by amanuensis1 [PG] Rec +
POstWar
I really enjoyed this - and was impressed by the author’s ability to not write to expectation. Or well my expectations, probably. I saw the name and my mind went immediately to a Very Dark Place, which isn’t at all where this fic went.
This is a quieter sort of story, a good read with joanwilder’s sensible garden in that it’s about the afterwards, the spent passions. You know how when an idea’s time has come, that idea is on everyone’s lips and minds? Our fandom brain is apparently in this grey, dismal place. It cannot just be the weather, and I don’t think it’s purely the canon that has us here. But for whatever reason we’re HERE and damned if the lot of us don’t need Zoloft.
I did love the quick and dirty back-story summation. Bless you! Writers who feel the need to explain All. Six. Books. In their opening three page paragraph take note: amanuensis1 managed all that, with humor, in ONE sentence. She managed to keep Snape a snarky bastard and make the reader empathize. Without kittens. Finally, this has a far more satisfying ending than I expected. It’s more than enough to stave off the anti-depressants.
For now.
The Model Student by slytherinandproud [NC-17]. Under-18. eh. Rec. ish.
Hogwarts
This is one of those “lets throw something kinky at Harry and see what happens” stories. In this case it’s cross dressing, or well Harry manages to get naughty pictures into Snape’s potion stained claws. The writing is better than the plot, and the plot better than the characterization, but if you’ve a yen for fluffy smut featuring someone called “Harry” and “Snape” this may well be for you.
The Sensible Garden by joanwilder [NC-17] Rec +
PostWar
Oh you wretched, wretched woman. Here I was settled in for a lovely story, catching a chapter here and there when I had time, fixing my make up… and I’m bawling. Full on, crying my eyes out, ruining my mascara, puffy red eyes, late for work BAWLING.
This is a story about death. Premature deaths, that horrifying anti-nature when children pass before their parents, and the afterlife inhabited by the living.
Births and birthdays…Welcoming and Leaving Feasts…marriages and anniversaries…pinnacles of achievement…retirement and death. Each of them part of the cycle of life that was common to all of them…cycles that began and ended at a universal point. Every individual here was on a circle of his own, sometimes fortunately overlapping or, in some cases, regrettably transecting the circles that cycled alongside of them. How fitting, Severus thought to himself, to mark these occasions by coming together to acknowledge what had been shared along the way. Because, in the economy of life, no man traveled alone, even he himself, he soberly concluded.
By chapter thirteen I was reading somewhat warily. The repeated sucker punches left me emotionally battered. I felt oddly betrayed, like the writer had broken some unspoken covenant between us. She hadn’t followed the rules! And like a six year old whose candy has been stolen thrice by the same person, I just wanted to stamp my feet and howl. And then, to top it off, after that dramatic pacing, were in this grey. For the next 10 chapters.
I’m very conflicted about this fic to be honest. Because the structure really did annoy me, but if it was intended to be symbolic of the realities of life, genius! So I’m in this funk of feeling like the reading is good for me, even when the story wasn’t there for me. I was not in love with the heavy handed symbolism, and I think the ending was a bit of a cop out, but the fact that I’m even thinking these things is proof of the stories mastery. Even if I sort of want to go kick something.