rate_review Reviews

*snickers
Sev's so suspicious. Seriously, even with all this crap. Har is still a teenage boy.

http://bookmania.tumblr.com/page/13

From a blog promoting literature/reading which I just discovered, there is a post which features Alan Rickman reading one of Shakespeare's sonnets. The combination of the actor who plays Snape/reading literature aloud made me think of your stories. :) Hope you like!

It's been interesting in these past two chapters to really see the cruelty that Severus has to deal with (and perform) so often in his part as Death Eater. The little boy who got turned into a werewolf was the saddest thing to me, but Severus having to kill his father even though he didn't want to was equally as sad. It actually does make so much sense that Voldemort would give young Severus that task, especially if he saw Snape as a very promising follower: Voldemort also killed his own Muggle father. He probably saw this task as a way to prove that Snape was everything he wanted him to be, but also a privilege as well. It's interesting to think about, but in canon we don't see Voldemort and Snape interact much at all, even though Snape appears to be his most trusted (well, to a point anyway) confidante. Through Severus and the other Death Eaters in your fic, we get to see even more of Voldemort, and how he would work on an everyday basis with his supporters. Canon makes Voldemort look so unhinged that it's hard to imagine anyone, even the most bloodthirsty, following him for such a long period of time... willingly, at least. Although you seem to have explained at least some of this by making Snape suspicious that Voldemort was damaged by the fracturing of his soul.

There's been so much juxtaposition in the past two chapters in the way Snape seems to perceive Harry. He seems him initially as a nuisance that he can't wait to get away from, a pawn in a puzzle in order to keep Voldemort sated... it was a little horrifying how positively Snape reacted to Harry's subdued reaction to being in the closet and forced to eat dogfood. For all of his emotionless-ness, it was still shocking to see Snape react so callously. Granted, Harry had not really been hurt... but still.

But in the next chapter we have a whole new Snape, in a way. Thinking back to the very same incident and Harry's reaction to it, Snape seems more compassionate and reasonable. Perhaps the incident bothered him more than he was willing to admit to himself. It seems as though he's started thinking about Harry as more of an impetuous hothead than someone who is wilfully ignorant and arrogant.

The implication that he would only tell Harry about Lily when he was about to die was saddening; that doesn't make Snape's possible survival sound good. But who knows? *crosses fingers*

The explanation for why Voldemort insisted that Harry always be naked in the throne room made so much sense. There are so many things that get fleshed out looking at it from Snape's more knowledgeable perspective, like how quickly Harry warmed up to his nemesis and how calm he was (calming potions). Was this planned all along?

And ooooh, boy, was Severus' reaction to Harry touching himself funny! It's so hysterical how flustered he was! We really didn't see all that from Harry's perspective, who was just as flustered!

Anyway, great work! Can't wait for the next update!

Snapes conscience may twinge a bit (what he has left of it) but he's doing what he needs to for Harry to survive.

wow, i never realised how much Snape was mind f ing Harry. I know it's necissary and i've said it before it's just... wow.
Poor newly werewolf kid. sucks to be him.

I just wanted to review, since it seems that I haven't reviewed at least this story yet, even though I've been an unbelievably huge fan of your Nights of Gethsemane/Invictus series for a very long time. I should've reviewed sooner, and I always mean to, but I suppose I just ended up distracted. :/

But seriously. You are an amazing, amazing writer. Your characters have such depth to them, and have such compelling arcs and moments of personal growth. It still astounds me that a 65-chapter story with a minimum of characters besides the two mains is so addicting! And all the action takes place in one small house, essentially! Really, you are so talented.

I also love how you take the stereotypical Harry Potter universe and either add some new elements to it, or deepen it, like your scientific explanations of spells and common-sensical background reasoning for wizarding culture and norms. It flows really well with the universe and answers questions that older readers of Potter have, or should have had, in a way that smooths so perfectly into the canon universe. One of my favorite things is your portrayal of the role of "Headmaster" as being somehow magically and emotionally tied to the school despite the individual's natural inclination. That was brilliant!

Also, your characterization of Snape is wonderful! It builds so much on what is already there in the stories, and yet we get such an in-depth view of him, as well! I also love how you don't paint him as entirely altruistic even though he is a main character/love interest, which is a bit unique in my experience of fanfiction but gripping to read! The relationship between Snape and Harry is never exactly healthy, and yet neither is it malicious or cruel... just sort of skirts the boundaries. And yet I still root for them to be together! I do like how you didn't simiplify everything at the end of Nights, either, to make the story have a traditional happy ending. It was sad, but an ending that tied in well with the themes and feeling of the rest of the work, so it made sense. In much the same way that you tie literary elements into the fic, which works so surprisingly well.

I just finished reading your story for... the fourth time, I think, perhaps the first time all the way through since it's completion and then followed with what is written of Invictus, and it still blows me away how multi-layered your stories are! Invictus was even more engaging when I read the two back-to-back like that, because even now we still don't know how much of Snape was him manipulating Harry, but Invictus is slowly revealing all the things that Harry never knew for certain.

So, in a nutshell: Love, love, love your stories, and am consistently blown away but the superiority of your writing. I find it hard to believe that when you started writing Nights, you were just learning how to write, because you clearly have natural talent at storytelling.

Keep up the great work! :)

I still stand in awe of sev... but for someone who's been in, out and all over Harry's mind... he doesn't know him very well, either that, or he just can't make allowences for what made Harryt he way he is. Such a delicate game Sev is playing.

it still boggles me that so much is done behind the scenes. I can't wait to start getting into the bits where he aand harry start getting along.

Poor Sev. It was so much simpler from Harry's side.
It's like Sev is juggling and someone not only greased the balls but did so in a flamable material and keeps flicking matches at him. He never knows when one will catch fire and he can't drop em.
I wonder if Harry will ever know just how much he has been manipulated.

This is so fascinating and complicated when seen from Sev's side. He has to juggle so many things.