![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
HPValensmut Fic Recs!
I haven't done this in a long, long time (if I've even done it at all. I don't think I have?) but I've been following ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
hpvalensmut this year, and here are a couple of recs for you folks:
Title: The Mending of Things
Author: Anon
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Hermione/Luna
Word Count: 5467
Summary: When Hermione seeks Luna's help for someone else, she gets more than she bargained for.
Review: I think what I loved initially about this fic is how it took a piece of canon that JKR had neglected to expound or even consider, and wove it into the plot. I'm a fan (sucker, one might even go so far as to say) for post-war drama, and I do love hypothesizing on what would have happened to the wizarding world right after seventh year, and though most of that hypothesizing has been directed towards my beloved Slytherins, finding gems like this fic, which underscores how the war could have affected not only the Trio but also their families, was a truly pleasant surprise.
My favorite part of the story, however, is Luna. I confess I don't read a lot of Luna, and neither do I really even try to write her. She's one of the characters in the book that I vaguely get, but don't fully understand, so I simply stay out of her way. I do have a few ideas about what reads right for her and what doesn't, and I must say that her characterization in this fic was carefully crafted, cautious not to veer into outrageous madness the way some people seem to end up writing her.
This is a slow story, a quiet read, perfect for long rainy afternoons with a cup of tea.
Title: The Last Act of Desperation
Author: Anon
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Word Count: ~5,200
Summary: It is five hours until the end of the world, and Draco has decided to go in search of Harry Potter.
Review: The author is careful to warn about similarities between this fic and the film The Last Night, as the story was written as a tribute to it, but I have never seen the film and thus cannot say whether doing so spoils the reading experience or not.
The appeal of the fic for me was not Harry/Draco, although it was nice to go back to a ship I loved and find it still as engaging as I did when I first started in fandom. This story was set in another interesting 'what if'-- this time concerning the end of the world. It is ending, and Draco has set out to find Harry Potter. Along the way he comes across other people who are also preparing for the end of the world, and this is where I thought the fic had me: how would certain people spend the end of the world? Briefly we catch glimpses of Narcissa, of Blaise and Theodore, of Luna, of Ron and Hermione and McGonagall and even Rosmerta, and each vignette contributed to the shaping of this nearly dying world. (It is easy to get sucked in, to suspend disbelief, because the focus now is not on why, but on what these people are doing.)
Where Draco finally finds Harry, and what he wants to ask him, however, bring the fic to an even higher level of Jesus Christ oh my god. Beautifully character-driven, surprisingly visual, it truly does feel like a proper homage to a film I now intend to pick up and watch.
Title: A Series of Peculiar Mondays
Author: Anon
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Teddy/Draco, Harry/Draco
Word Count: 7500
Summary: In which Teddy Lupin works harder than he ever has in his life.
Review: If I managed to coax you into tea and stories and rain in the first two fic recs, you can forget them now; this fic won't give you time enough to savor word choice or detail, and it shouldn't. This one is fast-paced, thrusting readers head-first into the action (and when I say action, I mean-- ngh), leaving you to catch your breath only long enough to start again.
I must warn for infidelity, because this is set past the 19-years-later canon (when is 2018? close enough, at least), and the author doesn't treat the subject delicately, if at all. It's (not dismissed, but) treated as a fact of life, almost, which I don't mind at all-- it's that sort of story-- but I understand it may not be everyone's cup of (haha, no pun intended) tea.
The story focuses on Theodore Lupin, Auror-in-Training, and even though it is a plot-based story it takes care not to skewer characterization in its quest to make things happen. There are kidnappings happening, with Aurors disappearing, and when Harry becomes the latest victim young Teddy must now match wits with the mastermind. There is an impressive scene that details the intricacies of magic, which I always enjoy reading about in stories, as well as bits here and there of Hermione and Ron. The T/D and H/D are almost incidental, but that's how life works, doesn't it, and it does not at all deter from enjoying the ships as they happen. (In fact, the interaction between the characters are pretty damn awesome.)
hpvalensmut this year, and here are a couple of recs for you folks:Title: The Mending of Things
Author: Anon
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Hermione/Luna
Word Count: 5467
Summary: When Hermione seeks Luna's help for someone else, she gets more than she bargained for.
Review: I think what I loved initially about this fic is how it took a piece of canon that JKR had neglected to expound or even consider, and wove it into the plot. I'm a fan (sucker, one might even go so far as to say) for post-war drama, and I do love hypothesizing on what would have happened to the wizarding world right after seventh year, and though most of that hypothesizing has been directed towards my beloved Slytherins, finding gems like this fic, which underscores how the war could have affected not only the Trio but also their families, was a truly pleasant surprise.
My favorite part of the story, however, is Luna. I confess I don't read a lot of Luna, and neither do I really even try to write her. She's one of the characters in the book that I vaguely get, but don't fully understand, so I simply stay out of her way. I do have a few ideas about what reads right for her and what doesn't, and I must say that her characterization in this fic was carefully crafted, cautious not to veer into outrageous madness the way some people seem to end up writing her.
This is a slow story, a quiet read, perfect for long rainy afternoons with a cup of tea.
Title: The Last Act of Desperation
Author: Anon
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Word Count: ~5,200
Summary: It is five hours until the end of the world, and Draco has decided to go in search of Harry Potter.
Review: The author is careful to warn about similarities between this fic and the film The Last Night, as the story was written as a tribute to it, but I have never seen the film and thus cannot say whether doing so spoils the reading experience or not.
The appeal of the fic for me was not Harry/Draco, although it was nice to go back to a ship I loved and find it still as engaging as I did when I first started in fandom. This story was set in another interesting 'what if'-- this time concerning the end of the world. It is ending, and Draco has set out to find Harry Potter. Along the way he comes across other people who are also preparing for the end of the world, and this is where I thought the fic had me: how would certain people spend the end of the world? Briefly we catch glimpses of Narcissa, of Blaise and Theodore, of Luna, of Ron and Hermione and McGonagall and even Rosmerta, and each vignette contributed to the shaping of this nearly dying world. (It is easy to get sucked in, to suspend disbelief, because the focus now is not on why, but on what these people are doing.)
Where Draco finally finds Harry, and what he wants to ask him, however, bring the fic to an even higher level of Jesus Christ oh my god. Beautifully character-driven, surprisingly visual, it truly does feel like a proper homage to a film I now intend to pick up and watch.
Title: A Series of Peculiar Mondays
Author: Anon
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Teddy/Draco, Harry/Draco
Word Count: 7500
Summary: In which Teddy Lupin works harder than he ever has in his life.
Review: If I managed to coax you into tea and stories and rain in the first two fic recs, you can forget them now; this fic won't give you time enough to savor word choice or detail, and it shouldn't. This one is fast-paced, thrusting readers head-first into the action (and when I say action, I mean-- ngh), leaving you to catch your breath only long enough to start again.
I must warn for infidelity, because this is set past the 19-years-later canon (when is 2018? close enough, at least), and the author doesn't treat the subject delicately, if at all. It's (not dismissed, but) treated as a fact of life, almost, which I don't mind at all-- it's that sort of story-- but I understand it may not be everyone's cup of (haha, no pun intended) tea.
The story focuses on Theodore Lupin, Auror-in-Training, and even though it is a plot-based story it takes care not to skewer characterization in its quest to make things happen. There are kidnappings happening, with Aurors disappearing, and when Harry becomes the latest victim young Teddy must now match wits with the mastermind. There is an impressive scene that details the intricacies of magic, which I always enjoy reading about in stories, as well as bits here and there of Hermione and Ron. The T/D and H/D are almost incidental, but that's how life works, doesn't it, and it does not at all deter from enjoying the ships as they happen. (In fact, the interaction between the characters are pretty damn awesome.)