By Jeconais
Reviews
DebbieO posted a comment on Tuesday 15th July 2008 7:20am
I have just had more fun reading fanfic than I can remember having in a very long time. This story is a little bit of everything, and it was a blast to read. Thank you for all your hard work. This was some of the freshest, most original writing I've read in fanfic and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Cheers!
ladysavay posted a comment on Saturday 5th July 2008 6:10am
That was a brilliant story. Thank you so much! I avoided this story for a long time as the summary really didn't appel to me much, but I found as a read it that the summary really has only a little bit to do with it.
Maybe you could think about fixing that?
Anyway...great stuff!
Kruste posted a comment on Tuesday 1st July 2008 2:21pm
Lets make it just as easy as it is: My absolute Favorite Story. The God of Harry/Ginny Fanfics. The perfect Mix. I could write some more Compliments, but there is no Point. I think I've made myself clear xD
cmburleson posted a comment on Saturday 28th June 2008 10:28pm
Wow, three days of reading. I originally started on this story while it was attached to fan fiction.net. I stepped away after reading up to the last chapter for a day then was curious to see why there was no further updating on ff.net. My first recommendation to you is to step over to ff, edit your story to note that you have left the ff realm and point them here within the body of text that is your story. Not everyone is wise enough to actually clink the author name then read the reasoning behind the departure and realize their story awaits them on another perch.
I cannot commend you enough as a writer for the effort you have put into this story. While I am finicky with the ships I read, this is by far the most uplifting story I have read, regardless for how the real books ended, I will prefer your story over Rowling because I am not a fan over needless character deaths, which were unfortunately too prevalent in her books. It was nice to have the tears at the end of the story be happy tears of laughter, not loss over the reasonless bloodshed.I get Rowling's need to remind people that this is war... but us poor blokes on the other side of the pond deal with the loss and pain of hurts more than the rest of the world and don't need a careless Brit doing it again in a darn young adults book.
My only request is that you open up the opportunity for people to write the side stories and other stories you have availed to us from the creation, the other details and ships that you hint at but never go into.
Congratulations on a masterpiece and may a muse never leave you.
Shinobu Weasley posted a comment on Tuesday 24th June 2008 3:05pm
It was all funny, and it was all brilliant.
Shinobu Weasley posted a comment on Tuesday 24th June 2008 12:35pm
Cute!
Shinobu Weasley posted a comment on Sunday 22nd June 2008 10:01am
The games were awesome!!!
Shinobu Weasley posted a comment on Saturday 21st June 2008 10:05pm
This is Awesome!!!
Shinobu Weasley posted a comment on Saturday 21st June 2008 9:14pm
I like this; It's hilarious!!!
dimriver posted a comment on Tuesday 17th June 2008 6:03am
This is my second time reading and I only noticed one clue and it was a stretch.
Islander posted a comment on Saturday 14th June 2008 8:35pm
Finally, after reading your stories for over two years, I am getting around to reviewing them. Be warned, they will be LOOOONG reviews, but I know of no author who wishes his/her reviews were shorter.
"This Means War"... I have decided to bestow upon it the dubious honorific of the Most Flawed Masterpiece in fanfiction. Simply put, "This Means War" is brilliant... and it is a mess.
Now let's not be simple. The story starts out as a romantic comedy with fluff that is so fluffy and sweet you might as well be spinning cotton candy with your words. As your story progresses, and as your writing style changes and matures, the story takes on many different tones. Once Harry and Ginny's romance is established, it is never again questioned, so the normal ploys that a romantic comedy devises (one of which you successfully punctured when Ginny punches Cho) can no longer be used. So the comedy comes to the forefront as Harry battles the Weasley brothers in a prank war that is not quite a full-scale war, because at the same time Super!Harry begins to develop with a determined vigor, limiting the pranks to one large prank from each side. After this prank, though the Weasley brothers accept the Quidditch challenge, they have also accepted Harry and Ginny's relationship, so the entire conflict that pushed the initial comedy is gone. Well, there's the Super!Harry going on still, and he's suddenly finding himself equipped to fight Voldemort, so fight him he does.
But...! There's no conflict. Really, there's none. As early as Chapter 4 (which is extremely early, considering how long the later chapters are), McGonagall states: "We've already won. Voldemort doesn't stand a chance." And he sure doesn't. Neither do the Weasleys stand a chance against Harry. Nor Cho against Ginny. Nor Pansy against the Blaise/Susan/Padma/Parvati/Luna combo. Nor Snape's dark mark against Harry Potter. Draco becomes good. Pansy becomes good. Bellatrix becomes good. Narcissa becomes good. Cho becomes good. Freakin' DUDLEY becomes good. And Marietta, Pansy, and Pettigrew are all dispatched. This book is a gradual buildup of Harry succeeding, succeeding, and succeeding some more. Before I read this, I thought it impossible for a story to sustain my interest when the hero's eventual victory was made so explicitly clear.
Which brings us to a very important question: is "This Means War" a comedy, a romance, an action story, or a mess? Answer: it is all of these, and it is none of these. It is a story while at the same time ditching some of the most integral rules to making a successful story.
Most importantly, though, "This Means War" is an ideal. Its philosophical overtones begin to come to the forefront at around the time that the comedy and the romance lose their conflict. Harry is the most powerful person in the world; not because he has the skills, but because he has the mindset that does not impose limits. He has an incredibly iron will that will not be bent as he sets forward to achieve peace and happiness for the entire Wizarding World. He is the Ayn Rand version of a superhero--in fact, I suspect that you were influenced, whether consciously or subconsciously, by Ayn Rand; am I right in assuming so?
This story is not a conventional story with the good characters and the bad characters and the ones in between and the intense conflict that leads to the happy resolution. Nor is it a gritty realistic story. It is rather a story of how things could be, if the people in Harry Potter were ALL honorable and upright and united in the cause of defeating evil. It is a very indulgent thing to write, but also very fun to read.
Now, finally, I am coming to the compliments! Yes, this story is a blast. I have read it five times now. However unrealistically happy Harry and Ginny find their romance, it is still VERY romantic and massively enjoyable. Also, I love the way you juggled a dozen plots at once, especially in the forms of M-mails, yet still kept them all afloat (okay, so you dropped the Amorous mode and the spamming, but that's no biggie). The M-mails made a compact format that allowed even more information to squeeze itself into an already complex tale.
The pranks were genius. Any part with sex in it was very sexy without being graphic or cliche. The kiss chase in Chapter 1 was truly funny. In fact, almost all your stabs at humor brought up some laughter in me, or at least a chuckle. Draco's humiliation was also genius, but not as genius as Terry's line: "How do you know if you've never tried?" I found Dudley and Sheryl to be one of the sweetest couples in the story, only a step or two away from rivaling Harry and Ginny. Honest Abe's Original Butterbeer was as edible as a plotline as it was a drink. Heck, ALL the subplots were pretty dang spectacular.
Now for the philosophy. Like I said, it was an ideal. We all know that most humans don't really act so nobly as Harry, and we all know that the general populace won't so universally follow someone of that sort. The split between support and nonsupport would be much larger, and the conflict would be much rougher. However, it is always quite comforting to dream of the world as the way it should be. Nothing could beat the idyllic days in the Garden of Eden, but "This Means War" might very well be my second choice. And as for that Ayn Rand comparison? That was a compliment. I love Ayn Rand.
I will make no complaints about non-canonity and OOC behavior. EVERY fanfic author writes somewhat OOC and non-canon. The only author I can think of who even approaches In-Character is Melindaleo, who is the queen of successful Harry Potter canon fics. Everyone else diverges greatly either in writing style, plot style, or character style. And that is not a bad thing--at all.
Overall, there are a million things about this story that shouldn't work, many of which have NEVER worked in a story before. But somehow they do. They create a trail of litter as the story shifts gear three or four times throughout the story, trailing plotlines and ditching formulas. But, thanks in part to the charismatic characters and your irresistibly indulgent writing style, the story storms along as a rather cohesive whirlwind. And I enjoy every minute of it. I said I reread it 5 times, didn't I?
the-ravenhaired-one posted a comment on Friday 6th June 2008 4:27pm
as someone who discovered the first chapter on the "recently added" page on fanfiction.net, i must say its amazing to finally get around to reading the ending of it. i've always thought you're a brilliant writer and though i dont really read fanfiction any more, i couldnt NOT read this one. must admit, you're getting me drawn into that harry/gabrielle fairy story you're releasing at the moment. which reminds me... i'm next after gabby, or possibly just next if fleur has her way ;P
azrael91 posted a comment on Wednesday 21st May 2008 6:32pm
that might have been the funniest thing i have ever read! holy crap, i'm laughing my ass off.
azrael91 posted a comment on Wednesday 21st May 2008 2:10pm
my only problem so far is the lack of explanation on a few things. i think the story is hilarious.
Aberbadger posted a comment on Saturday 10th May 2008 3:26am
SPOT!!! Gotta love that Hermione. If she ever got it into her head that nundus, lethifolds, and blast ended skrewts were getting a raw deal, she'd probably try to form the Committee for the Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society!!!
Drifter950 posted a comment on Thursday 1st May 2008 3:42pm
What is it with the odd, awful use of sniggering?
I always thought sniggering was what those with a limp wrist, those that simper, or those gossiping and/or older ladies, all did with their hands over their mouths.
I had my English teacher in high school point out that "snickering" at the back of the class was not a good idea (cost me an essay). I hope that explains my question/statement - point of view.
But that's "my" opinion. I'm from Northwest U.S. of A., and definitely can't claim to be the oracle for the rest of the world.
Other then that, I again state that I think this, in its entirety, is very well done. Even better, it's FUN!!!
SO, thank you for a very good read, and NOW state, for those who read reviews first, that all the other stories by you that I have found are just as good.
May the MUSES always be with you!!!
^_^
Cassie_Heart posted a comment on Sunday 27th April 2008 9:12am
great chapter. luv this tale
noylj posted a comment on Sunday 27th April 2008 4:25am
Well, re-read story. Still great. I forgot, though, that you still included those damn horcruxes, but I'm not sure when anyone had the time to collect and destroy them all.
Too bad Draco got to live. Too bad Snape had to be good and live.
Here's hoping that in a few years, Ginny realizes that she needs to share and lets Gabby join her. I can't see Gabby thinking of Harry as a BROTHER. She's Veela. Her Veela drive must be to the most powerful wizard, right?
You also gave Bill and Charlie the two most sexy females in the story. Must be that Weasley charm (or their family charms).
Cassie_Heart posted a comment on Saturday 26th April 2008 10:43pm
OMG how funny, i luved the prank. what the hell i luved the whole chapter. keep writing
goddessa39 posted a comment on Tuesday 29th July 2008 4:40am