FanficRecs An example of why J Bern is a professional writer.
I'm going to start off with the good
- Amazing dueling in this story, J Bern really knows how to write fight scenes.
- Surprisingly good look at a medical emergency with inventive uses for things like the bubblehead charm and switching spell.
- A good and unmanuplative Dumbledore.
- The Triwizard tournament having more than three tasks.
- The Triwizard tournament scenes in general, they are all amazingly written.
- The Harry/Fleur pairing
- Bad Krum? Bad Weasley twins?
- The story is very mediocre until the Triwizard tournament takes off, be prepared to trudge through the first few chapters.
- The sorting hat could be in this section if you don't like a LOT of cussing.
- The ending cut off, there is supposed to be a sequel but J Bern has been more interested in original works of his at the moment and i'm not sure we will see one.
- Worth the price of reading just for the triwizard tournament scenes, they are that good.
FanficRecs Good read overall, but flaws emphasized.
Agreed that this is quite well written. heck, for the triwizard events alone, it's fantastic. There's plenty of other interesting developments, too, and a pretty believable Harry/Fleur romance (thanks in part to James Potter's courtship skills...)
Might not be for everyone, as nearly everybody is slightly OOC. The Sorting Hat the being the most, while nearly everyone else seems to have sprouted some character flaws. Perhaps the author felt that this made them "deeper" but you can expect at least one character you like to be doing something you don't approve of.
FanficRecs What if Harry James Potter was more than he seemed?
"A very interesting take on what really occurred the night Voldemort attacked. The story involves a vastly expanded Triwizard Tournament at its core and a really spiteful Sorting Hat. Good pacing and a realistic environment lead to some events being a bit of a shock. This story is finished however a sequel is in the works."
FanficRecs It takes a good author...
"It takes a good author to challenge what you think you know about a character"
And this guy ain't it.
One of the biggest problems is that the characters have arbitrary villian qualities tacked on. No explanation as to why they're suddenly bad guys or why they'd behave this way. Bad people do bad things without a whole lot of thought, sure. But someone who's never shown themselves to be overtly malicious suddenly... Everyone is entitled to their own interpretation of characters. But if your Hamlet suddenly decides to marshal an army and challenges Fortinbras then you have wholly missed the mark.
And on that note there's the shipping aspect to this fic. The whole thing smacks of turning Harry into the lead of one of those terrible CW dramas from the early 2000s. He's suddenly this charismatic rogue with enough game to net the exotic French beauty. Really it's all kind of insulting. A hero is only worthwhile if he's the sort of idiot who'd star in a summer action film? Screw that noise. And I spent half the actual books wanting to slap Harry for being stupid.