oOuch? OUCH?

HMMMMM HMMMM THIS IS ISNSIAJSOJD OMG

Did...did you just call World War ll... "World War Second?" Are you- really?

This was really good! But I can't help but be slightly sad that Harry and Tom's relationship had got to shit, I'm fine with a bit of conflict but Damn...

Wow

I always thought that Tom grew up in Wool's orphanage tho

So, this is a highly reviewed fic, that evidently a lot of people enjoyed. With that said, I'm going to get into some negatives, so other people thinking of reading this can know what they are getting into:

1. It uses the old 'the Horcruxes drove him nuts' cliche to excuse his actions, but it dampens this by having Tom crucio someone in the second chapter and the fact he committed murder in the first one four times already! This causes the moment where he cries over learning he killed Harry's parents to frankly seem out of character.

2. The above could be okay, if Harry interrogated this and thought critically about it and realized things didn't quite match up and that he was still a really shitty person. The crying could have been excused by Tom still caring about purebloods at that point, and being a shit to everyone else. My problem isn't with that, it's that Harry for some reason doesn't seem to actually give two fucks that Tom is a murderer who frames Hagrid beyond wanting Hagrid to be freed. Like... wtf? If this had been a slow burn turn of Harry's morals, that would be one thing, but this is in the FIRST CHAPTER.

3. Minor pet peeve / failed characterization. Tom is excited over his name of Voldemort being known to Harry already... and then completely fails to demand that Harry use the name.

4. Harry decides to sleep with the guy wearing the face of his parent's killer way too fast for my personal tastes and is, as noted above, super-forgiving of Tom but not other parties - if the forgiveness were general to everyone and he was like 'no tom, do not crucio your deatheaters!' then at least it would be a consistent characterization and I could forgive that OOCness better, but it is not.

It's hard to blame this fic for 3 when 3 is so incredibly rampant in the 'Harry time travels and meets Tom' subgenre, but, combined with the other flaws it just goes to further show the rampant characterization issues this fiction suffers from.
[This review was crossposted to my Detailed Reviews forum; my email doesn't work so other users who wish to direct comments may do so there. Or they could leave reviews of their own, since ff review system is often more like a comment system than proper reviews.]

Cj

Oomph the previous chapter made me cry. Sad this story has been dropped for so long. There was a lot of interesting things. Harry and Voldy having a bond or connection made in the past causing Voldy to go insane with his absence is something I've seen before. And I think I read this when it was new and had less chapters...feeling my age lol. But this was pretty great and interesting with snippets of world building while still being mysterious and allowing for us to know life goes on for everyone in the story, even if we are unaware of it. Like why would Ginny be at all famous? What have the twins been doing with their implied silent support? Why would Neville avoid Harry when he's known for confronting his friends in fandom, when he should be aware his gran and family are supporting Harry? Has Theo the kid gone back to school at all and what does his mark look like? What task has Harry claimed he'd have Draco work on and is it working yet? Why don't they have any secretarial minions to at least delegate the lesser paperwork to? Does McGonagall still teach along with being headmaster or did she have a dickens of a time securing about 3 new teachers and a new deputy for the school? What kind of paperwork does the ministry have that they apparently have plenty that was specifically made to stop dark lords? What has the quibbler been printing that has left the public still largely confused a bit scared but unhostile? What exactly are all the things they have listed as their political goals? Is the lack of the bond vow renewal part of the reason why Tom got so ludicrously jealous of Harry for...essentially keeping his word in doing all he could to help Tom achieve his goals(since he seems to be rational again after they renewed them)? Like how Harry's morals and mannerisms can sometimes seem jarring when you think about it or the story points it out...until you remember he aged and changed in the span of almost half a decade whilst knowingly being manipulated into changing in certain ways by Tom and his associates, the details of which are spare but enough to get the idea. And so on and so forth. It's pretty great how you mostly keep to the continuity well while still leaving things open for the reader to imagine despite all the details. Like, I imagine that the reasons why you cut to Albus and Gellert in their cells WASN'T bcuz you'd have something dumb happen like Albus being able to escape to become a problem but instead to set up a parallel of how the two are and were to what they could've been as seen by Harry and Tom. Well anywho, thanks for keeping this story up. Its goin in mah favs.

Okay, I haven’t read the first chapter yet, but I had to scroll down, and comment that I always enjoy Intelligent!Harry. I mean I can’t really imagine, Harry & Tom getting together on equal ground unless Harry was at least slightly more intelligent then in the books. (So essentially good choice!) My favorite stories always have Harry more intelligent then in cannon!

When I read this chap I was near

This story truly was a subversion from pre established tropes and a breath of fresh air. The portrayal of Harry and Tom's relationship as something that isn't 100% sunshine and rainbows was amazing. Most people write relationships as being perfect, but despite the immense love they held for each other it didn't stop them from fighting. Hate and Love can often intertwine when it comes to those who feel strongly for one another and you really nailed that.

I also loved the portrayal of the actual work behind being a dark lord. The way it's so busy and something is constantly needing attention rather than just some meaningless tile. It gave depth to an otherwise flat topic.

I'm bad with words but I really wanted to say that I loved this fic loads!

Hope to read more soon.

D

So; I’ve read the whole thing. I’ve digested it, and a few things:

1) You’re a damned amazing writer. Even though this is an old story, and likely one of the more prominent of the later “firsts” of the HP/TR variety it’s crafted with genuine development of the characters and the initial suspension of belief needed for Harry to fall for Tom in the 40s is only somewhat rushed. Your characters developed but after Azkaban, I’ve kind of been unable to make sense of the plot...or where it’s going from here, or if this is the true ending what the point was to develop the character of Tom so much in your quest to redeem him.

2) this was a very enjoyable read, but I was very interested in seeing how Harry would have developed as the Light Lord, truly, and not the deputy dark lord the situation with the ministry was forcing him to be while Tom was ill. I like your concept of ying and yang intrensic to Harry/Tom and wanted to see more of that developed with the New Order. Where did the Manifesto come from? I may have skimmed over it, but I don’t recall 40s Harry ever discussing if and only as it on his return.

3)The entire sub plot with political parties literally had me fervently reading this to the early hours of the morning as my degree is in politics and I have a bare bones understanding of British history and politics...just enough to see your story as an analogy to the hostilities between the IRA and Britain, and your manifesto and ministry recognition at Azkaban as a parallel of these events in a sense. I really wish we could see more of the effects of the New Order in everyday life and not just the snippets of Harry grumbling over paperwork.

I could go on, but I don’t want to be negative. I truly hope you pick this up again and continue to share your stories.

this story is absolutely phenomenal. you write with such depth and your characters are extremely complex. this is one of the best fanfiction’s i have ever come across. amazing work.