Tom Riddle is here depicted brilliantly - he is here truly deeply intelligent, disciplined, a badass, even though he thinks of himself as someone who has been almost crippled by his decision not to give in to evil. And, in a way, he has been robbed of his true capacity. His struggle to come to terms with this, renewed by his trip to an alternate reality, is extremely convincing and also the main axis of the story's plot.
Tom is here given a believable chance to redeem himself. The author made this hard for him, a life-time commitment, but he/she still gave him that shot and this is, I think, a major accomplishment, and something I felt was lacking in canon.
The author's depictions of both Dumbledore and Snape are spot on, highly compliant to their canon counterparts, and the friendship between Dumbledore and Tom, as well as the interactions between Snape and Tom are highly amusing. The writing is very JKR-ish, but has more psychological depth, especially regarding Tom.
So what's more to say? Brilliant writing, brilliant premise, brilliant Tom.
Brilliant writing, brilliant premise, brilliant Tom
Tom Riddle is here depicted brilliantly - he is here truly deeply intelligent, disciplined, a badass, even though he thinks of himself as someone who has been almost crippled by his decision not to give in to evil. And, in a way, he has been robbed of his true capacity. His struggle to come to terms with this, renewed by his trip to an alternate reality, is extremely convincing and also the main axis of the story's plot.
Tom is here given a believable chance to redeem himself. The author made this hard for him, a life-time commitment, but he/she still gave him that shot and this is, I think, a major accomplishment, and something I felt was lacking in canon.
The author's depictions of both Dumbledore and Snape are spot on, highly compliant to their canon counterparts, and the friendship between Dumbledore and Tom, as well as the interactions between Snape and Tom are highly amusing. The writing is very JKR-ish, but has more psychological depth, especially regarding Tom.
So what's more to say? Brilliant writing, brilliant premise, brilliant Tom.