liquidfyre posted a comment on Wednesday 3rd September 2008 8:34am

Okay i just re-read HEA and it was just as good this time as before. That being said WHEN is CITS coming out
?

*whines and whimpers and begs and pleads before grabbing a small turtle and holding a miniature crossbow to its head*

Turtle, in a small scared voice says, "Hellllllp meeeee. Please put out the next story and save me."

Kalen Darkmoon posted a comment on Tuesday 2nd September 2008 2:44am

That was a lot of fun and a very enjoyable fairy-tale kind of story. I love the Harry/Gabrielle pairing and you are the author that made it my favorite pairing of all with Hope. I'm looking forward to Castles In The Sky.

Kalen Darkmoon posted a comment on Tuesday 2nd September 2008 1:35am

I'm surprised Hedwig died. Poor Harry. I can only assume that it was really because of sadness from missing Harry rather than simply 'old age' as Hermione states since snowy owls in captivity live up to 28 years or more.

As for Harry's prank after that? ROFLMFAO!!!

Jimbocous posted a comment on Saturday 30th August 2008 9:36pm

Funny, irreverent and generally good grins. Thanks for a fun read!

dennis1 posted a comment on Friday 29th August 2008 4:19pm

AWESOME
Thanks

Celebrithil posted a comment on Monday 25th August 2008 8:42am

Hmm, hi!

I feel a bit bad, because I never left a review before, but read almost all of your stories. I could say it was because I didn't trust my English but - well, to be honest, I probably didn't trust myself.

So I'll just tell you that I love your stories. Some of them have me thinking - which probably wasn't your goal, but, well, fairy tales weren't actually written for children. That sentence particularly:

"What was wrong with these people? Why did they have to be forced to be happy? Wasn’t that the point to life?"

got me thinking. About my life's goals, and being happy, and all that. And, yes, being happy should be a goal in itself. And I sincerely hope you are, because writing a fairy tale that got people thinking about their life probably isn't easy - even if this absolutely wasn't your goal in the first place. (Please note that I have my English dictionary right there with me while I'm writing this.)

So, er, thanks for writing fanfiction? Yeah, that's it. Thank you.

SassyFrass posted a comment on Saturday 23rd August 2008 10:51pm

So I absolutely love Natalie. The last bit with Minerva telling Dumbledore that she's friends with Harry because he apologized for using her in the prank is just hilarious.
But I have to say, the part about Hedwig makes me tear up every time. Sweet faithful Hedwig.

Islander posted a comment on Monday 11th August 2008 7:11pm

Hmm, pretty cool story so far! I can't yet tell if it'll match up to your other full-length fics, but I'm only on Chapter 2, so we'll see! I promise I'll leave a huge review at the end like I've done with TMW, WKGQ, and Hope.

For now, I just wanted to remark on how pathetic it is that I'm a male who's the same height as Gabrielle--5'7"--and that I actually weigh less than her. Wow. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. But I'm effing skinny, and I don't have any breasts to boost my weight. :D She sounds very desirable the way she is, though.

HappeeGoLuckee posted a comment on Sunday 10th August 2008 4:30pm

I've enjoyed this very much. Thank you for the time you put into it.

Robin Westerly posted a comment on Sunday 10th August 2008 5:04am

You have made every single one of my literary dreams come true!
Thank you so much!
That was amazing!

Crimson_sire1 posted a comment on Thursday 31st July 2008 1:00pm

I enjoyed this fic very much and hope to read more of your work

spurio23 posted a comment on Thursday 24th July 2008 11:55am

Red Riding Hood *snort* *laugh*. This story was great fun. Thanks a bunch.

Nanio posted a comment on Thursday 24th July 2008 10:13am

Your Harry reminds me a lot of Willy Wonka: he's tricky, moves too fast for others to properly object, does what he has to for the results he wants, and is willing to play/be played if it's worth it. our Harry has a tendency to play the game of life very easily, but the personality fits for his actions.

Daily Prophet Reporting posted a comment on Monday 21st July 2008 8:53pm

I'm impressed, Tim. There turned out to be a lot more substance to this than I expected. I don't think I've ever seen psychology play such a massive role in a story before and I thought it added a nice layer of seriousness to what was obviously such a fanciful fic in otherwise. It's also obvious you put a heck of a lot of work into developing that for Hermione's and Gabrielle's roles, so well done.

I can honestly say I never saw the evil psychiatrist coming. That's your usual creativity at work, but it really makes sense when you put the whole picture of Gabbi's character out there. He had the perfect weapon in his clutches and he developed her exactly the right way -- but for Harry's interference. Actually, now that I think about it, the notion of Gabrielle as the Dark Lady is rather facinating -- and the fodder for quite the fic -- but one with as different a tone as you could possibly get from this one.

But it's the fairytale angle where you didn't hold back. I thought it was a bit of a running joke for most of the first seven chapters, especially after Harry started to join in. But you lived up nicely in this last section. Little Red Riding Hood? The mirror on the wall? Slaying the dragon? Camelot? That's more than covering your bases! I especially loved McGonagall's role. Thinking of such a stoic character in as the keeper of Excalibur and the kind, fat lady in the woods was completely hilarious, especially considering it was at the direction of a castle.

All in all, though, this was an enjoyable read. You said all along that you we're even pretending to be serious or realistic (though I think you definitely pulled that off to a degree in your own way), and I'd say that suits your fics nicely. It gives you the freedom to move at the pace you like and to put your creativity to work.

Thanks for all your hard work.
-KC

Padfoot posted a comment on Monday 21st July 2008 6:02pm

Well Tim another story is done and in the books. I congratulate you and hope that Castles works out. I just have a few thoughts and observations.

I rather enjoyed this story when it started out. Gabrielle is a fun character to watch grow and develop her own traits.

One thing seemed to stick out in my mind however. You have this penchant for plot devices. HEA was very similar to This Means War. And by that I mean you had a plot going one direction with the characters reacting accordingly, but a few chapters towards the end you just changed direction. Your original plot got left behind and almost forgotten.

Correct me if I'm wrong but this story was about Harry waking up from an 8 year coma and changing the world for the better within days and weeks of his awakening. We never even got to see what actually happened. This over the top princess cliche just took over. Mind you I found this chapter to be interesting and worth putting in, but not as the finale for the piece. Instead of the story being about Harry, it was about Gabrielle or Gabby or Gabbi that's been seen, and her psychological problems. We got enlightened on how Gabbi wasn't a sociopath, merely a child genius, and that was the end of the story. The Weasley projects along with Narcissa and Sirius and all those plans that Harry was making just got thrown out by the wayside. Just like the main plot of This Means War. The friendly feud between Harry and the Weasley boys was dropped for a lot of mush between Harry and Ginny.


Don't get me wrong, I love your stories and this website is nothing short of genius. I guess i just want to know WHY you abandon your plot to go off on a tangent and end the story like you do. My only guess was that Castles is meant to pick up where this left off and all the plans and events and everything that was the first 7 chapters of this story gets picked up again. But that shouldn't happen. Those plot points should be solved in THIS story not a sequel. After all we do have Hermione and Ron telling the story to their grandchildren about living happily ever after. So we know the ending already.

I can't wait to read Castles and anything else you have in store for us.

Cheers
Padfoot

tthief posted a comment on Monday 21st July 2008 4:19am

imo the last chapter was the best, it was what i hoped for all along. And while some of it definatley reminded me of shrek it was simply awesome. Looking forward to 'Castles in the sky' (which if its title is to be taken as literally as the dragon, is already shaping up to a good'n)

Kortir posted a comment on Sunday 20th July 2008 4:37pm

That was, as always, frickin' awesome. I look forward to the sequel, and I know that I'll be re-reading this story for some time to come. Now that was a true fairy tale, and worthy of the rest for certain.

joncooper posted a comment on Friday 18th July 2008 4:39am

HEA was a lot of fun to read as well, thank you!

I'm looking forward to "Castles in the Sky" - with added interest having now seen Camelot.

Daily Prophet Reporting posted a comment on Thursday 17th July 2008 1:10am

"Gabrielle has literally trained her subconscious to believe that she is in a fairy tale."

I'm probably leaping too far out with tangential thinking here, but that's one of those lines that set off alarm bells in my mind. My immediate instinct is to think this isn't one of those character imagines the whole things stories, is it? I doubt it, but seeing as it's you doing the writing, I wouldn't put it past you. You have said this is a fairytale, after all. ...

Elsewhere, Harry's distinctly odd personality is starting to make more sense in light of the admissions here. At first I was surprised Harry's not more upset that the two women closest to him have spent years subliminally manipulating him, but considering he's having fun at the moment and that he didn't have to go through the OotP showdown with Dumbledore, I suppose that would give him a lot less reason to be suspicious (at least, of the people he's not programed to be suspicious of ...).

Your Gabrielle is an extremely interesting character. She's so arrogant and elitist that, like Hermione, I really don't want to like her. And I'm a bit put off by the fact she's fallen in with Harry so easily like so many of your past female heroines. But that odd combination of cunning, determination, innocence and conceit has certainly helped keep things exciting, unpredictable and surprisingly humorous. I've particularly enjoyed her aside thoughts/comments about the other, "non-princess" female characters, and her ability to manipulate everyone around her is quite enjoyable, too.

I also see you starting down the inevitable lets-reshape-the-world stage so familiar in your stories. Here it's got incredible energy and it's made for a couple fun, light moments, with the goblins and twins. I can't help thinking you might be moving too fast, though, because you haven't given us much of a chance to see and comprehend the problems you're trying to resolve except through the occasional comment or anecdote. Perhaps a bit more depth in that area might have helped because, unlike in many of your past stories, the AU setting makes the conflicts here different from those familiar in canon.

Anyway, I can see I'm rambling and over-analyzing so I'll leave this at the fact that I'm enjoying the enjoying the energy and creativity of this story -- and that I appreciate the effort you're putting in on our behalf.

Thanks a lot!
-KC

Daily Prophet Reporting posted a comment on Wednesday 16th July 2008 12:36am

Tim,

It's always a treat to see a new story from you. Nobody I've read in the fandom is more consistently creative, and it's looking like you're out to prove that once again.

I'm a bit mind-boggled that you portrayed the entire second war -- complete with the Horcrux thread -- in the span of about five minutes and perhaps a half dozen spells. But then again, all you had to change to accomplish that was a slight increase in Harry's caution and reaction time so it's not so outlandish.

Plus, I can see it pushing the story where you want to go. I know I've complained at times about you reshaping the characters to fit the story in the past, so I understand the desire to do something that allows you to change the landscape so drastically. I can see that giving you a bit more freedom, and that can only be a good thing.

Or, at least, I think so. ... I was put off a bit by the pace of the action after Harry's pleasant awakening. I see how you used his parents to push him in the direction of living his life to the fullest, but you didn't give him any time to process that consciously. Relishing the attention of a beautiful girl I can buy, but the immediate prank -- while interesting (if not exactly to the Village Weasleys level) -- was a bit too sudden for me.

So, I guess I'm going to reserve judgment for now. But I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where you take this next.

-KC

PS -- And thanks, as ever, for all your hard work. I greatly appreciate it!