Content Harry Potter

Reviews

uvarunr posted a comment on Monday 1st May 2017 9:26pm for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

It's a good story; by now I'd even call it a classic that most people in the fandom have read, at least the older readers.

There are some plot holes and inconsistencies here and there, but on the whole the world-building is immersive and satisfying. I think it's the third time I've read this story in 10 years, and I still like it.

The only thing that actually bugs me is this...why didn't Harry kill Lucius Malfoy when he captured him with his cousin? It just doesn't make sense, given Harry's goal of saving lives. That single death would have saved thousands and pushed back Voldemort's plans for months, if not derailing them entirely. Harry doesn't even let the student death eaters he caught go free, but he lets Lucius go with a warning? Sorry, but that's beyond silly.

Aryia6426 posted a comment on Saturday 3rd August 2013 7:02am for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

Did you know that in chapter 20, when Dan walks in on the naked duo and half-confronts Harry, you had Harry comment on the adult age in the muggle vs. Magical world backwards?

Feno3000 posted a comment on Wednesday 28th September 2011 12:20pm for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

Oh come on, was that really needed? Even the best beta can only find a certain amount of errors in your texts. Redacting that's 100% effective has simply not been invented yet.

For example you are constantly using banishing when it would properly be the vanishing charm (banish = opposite of accio, vanish = counter to conjuration) and seemingly nobody has found that during the writing process. And in the modern times there are certain kinds of errors that don't stand out so much, especially mixing up homophones so that every spelling checker will only find another legit word where you did in truth use a word not very likely to work in your sentence. That would be like the "feet/feat" example in your own Pet Peeves text. Another category you often don't really find on screen is words that were left out while tipping your text. I could swear that up till now Sunset has had at least three to five places where a NOT should have been used but wasn't. One of them should be in this chapter. If you don't tumble about such mistakes when reading (aloud) you simply won't find them. And not many people take it up them to print out a 200+ pages story just to be able to better find errors than on a computer monitor when going around a room citing the text out loud. That would not only mean a certain investment of money into a hobby but also much more time needed than simply reading over the story several times. And it still IS a hobby, so the amount of free time any author or beta editor might have at his her or its hands is limited and does only last so long until the fun is starting to get thinner.

Yes, sloppily edited texts are nothing one should be proud of and there are heaps of them out there. But it's not fair to generalize many faults to not having a trustworthy beta as the tasks of a beta don't simply comprise of spell reading checking and correcting, but also reach into finding logical loopholes, plot holes and different kinds of errors in a story.

and last but not least i'm not too trusty of all the software of our most visited story sites on the internet. Much of that number does rely on somewhat improvised special programming to enable the authors uploading and so many pages tend to eat words, sentences or even whole paragraphs. The site that may not be named is legendary for it's potential to ruin your formatting when they kill the more exotic characters in a story, often used as space holders or dividers so much of the sense of the story gets a little bit fuzzy when no more breaks between pov changes are visible... And i do know some other pages where the uploading duplicates random parts of a text while loosing some of the text overwritten by this duplicate. There simply is no way that so many authors share the same writing problems so it must be an error of that web site...


So... now, after having let out the most of the steam your pet peeves essay has caused to build up let me say that i truly enjoy your story, regardless of possible mistakes hidden somewhere in the text, but rather because it's been thought out in a nice way, has some intriguing ideas put into the plot and showcases some unique characterizations that are outright inspiring. The only thing not really amusing me about the story is the format of the "disclaimers" at the start of each new chapter, but i'd never let the rest of it slip just because i don't share that kind of humor, it's only some seconds work to glance over it and start the err "real text". And then the fun, the suffering, the wrothing and groaning, the envisioning and sometimes also the wishing to have a barrel of brain bleach handily near you can start.

In the spirit off your complaint...: I would forgive it, if your text were written halfway in english halfway in klingon and both with an ugly serbokroatian accent to start, as long as the story is so good. Maybe it's just a pet peeve when the rest of the story isn't very satisfying in and of itself so you start roaming around with your thoughts and collect the minor unpleasantries until they seem to make up a real important part of the story?
As a couple of demigods amongst the mere mortal fanfiction authors please have/show a little bit mercy with your lesser colleagues, most of whom would never err out of malevolence but only because of haste and superficiality while wanting to share their latest imaginative output with other fans that might be interested in it. Sharing is (more than) half the experience after all.

lwj2 posted a comment on Friday 29th April 2011 5:00am for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

So you're saying to "prof rede yurt work"?

;)

Great story, thanks for putting it up for us to read. Or is that reed? ;)

Procusi posted a comment on Monday 17th January 2011 2:03pm for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

Huh - a known Deatheater casts a potentially lethal spell at Rupin and Tonks response is to cast Stupify. And "the good guys" wonder why they are losing. Utter morons.

cassandramalory posted a comment on Sunday 18th July 2010 12:15pm for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

Aaarrrggg!!!! God, I love your story, but-but-but! they cannot just storm into the british museum and start repairing things!!!! Sorry, I understand why, they're wizards and do not know much of archaeology, and are used to repair everything that breaks, but I love those objects and it got me quite shocked. I had to share this with someone. Sigh.

mrslaura posted a comment on Monday 24th May 2010 8:59am for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

Hello there, just to let you know I caught an oops - or maybe an authors joke - When the PM Blair is setting the laws, you state an Dawn to Dusk curfew. Now that can be a big mistake if the real government did that, think of all the trouble this world would get in to - lol

Janneason posted a comment on Sunday 9th May 2010 1:28am for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

"In case no one understands at this point, Yes Dumbledore is evil. So is Ron and Snape." - do you know how much I love you for saying that bluntly?

Arkayas posted a comment on Wednesday 3rd February 2010 8:14am for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

Booo Booo Bad Writers. The Tonks & Remus dinner was badly handled. That mistake almost made me stop reading the story. Sadly Harry is no better than BumbleDoor at that point. Someone should have put him in his place. Don't care that he is angry, don't care that Remus got hurt, both he and Tonks are adults and if they want to go out to dinner who the hell is wannabe Dumbledoor Potter to say otherwise? It's ok for harry to take his girl out on the town but no one else? I seriously hope you have someone bitch slapping potter later in this story for that BS. He's a punk whinny bitch who needs to grow up.

Bexis posted a comment on Monday 12th October 2009 3:54am for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

Well, thanks for the move to correct the injustice done to Millicent Bullstrode.

As for stopping giants, turning the ground underfoot into quicksand can work pretty well, too - although your methods are more permanent.

jdworlow posted a comment on Sunday 16th August 2009 8:46pm for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

Your example of "test your beta" should be revised to:

Luna was stumped for the first time in her life. She knew she had to cross the river to follow Ron, but couldn't get her feet wet. She quickly searched the riverbank and was surprised to find a rope; tugging on the rope released a rowboat from the far shore, which glided magically across the river. With a very unladylike leap, she jumped into the rowboat for the trip to the other side.

Or something similar ;-)

kryptikk79 posted a comment on Saturday 6th December 2008 10:03am for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

on the beta note.... yours needs some work as well. nothing quite so terrible as your little examples, but there are some things that really should be fixed.

Matt Smith posted a comment on Friday 24th October 2008 9:40pm for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

I totally agree with the "test your beta" statement, though I suggest testing your own as a mistake was made in the example paragraph towards the end of the author's notes.

One simply cannot use a comma before the word 'but'.

RockBiter posted a comment on Saturday 23rd August 2008 3:56am for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

I can't resist. I just can't. In the sentence 'She quickly searched the riverbank and was surprised to find a rope, tugging on the rope released a rowboat from the far shore,' you have two independent sentences joined by a comma. Because those two sentences can be separated intact, leaving two complete sentences, that comma should be a semi-colon. (And that--using the word 'sentence' twice in the same 'sentence' is called 'echo.' Something to be avoided, especially with words that are unusual and eye-catching.

There is a article on CNN today that tells about two men who were fined over three thousand dollars and given a years' probation for correcting the grammar on a sign in --I believe--the Grand Canyon. Where do I sign up?

darthloki posted a comment on Sunday 6th July 2008 8:04pm for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

The Heritage Thieves emptied out several galleries of priceless paintings and managed to make off with the HMS Victory, as well. Scotland Yard, with help from the Royal Navy and the Coast Guard, were unable to locate the 2196 metric ton sailing ship anywhere in the area.

*rolls around laughing*

FenrisWolf posted a comment on Sunday 13th April 2008 3:08pm for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

Once again, I find myself reading this story, for the nth time and loving it every bit as much as the first.

I did notice one thing in this chapter that struck me as a continuity error, something no one has commented on in the reviews, though perhaps it's been brought up in a discussion group.

My question is on this passage:

The figure turned to Lucius again. "Lucius Malfoy, as per the Hogwarts Charter of 983, signed by the four founders and the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts and its environs are exempt from the Ministry's laws and influences. You have no authority within these walls to arrest anyone. Do not force me to remind you of what happened in our last encounter," said the figure ominously.

Now, my concern is,if the Charter forbids Ministry interference in matters that occur on Hogwarts' grounds, how was it that Ron faced criminal charges for his attempted rape of Hermione? I can think of several possible loopholes, but any that occur to me that allow Ron's prosecution would also allow Draco's. Sorry to be nitpicky, especially about one of my all-time favorite SuperHarry fics, but it just piqued my curiosity.

BTW, if I haven't commented on it before, I really admired the plot device of Harry's leg injury. Too often SuperHarry's 'Phenomenal Cosmic Powers!' are acquired without the requisite 'itty bitty living space' to balance them. Congratulations on managing it in a convincing manner.

Marvin posted a comment on Saturday 17th November 2007 7:49pm for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

Um, I think I like Minerva as Headmistress.
Good Chapter :)
Thanks!

Jenifer Winterbine posted a comment on Monday 12th November 2007 11:19am for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

I LOVED the mending of the 'broken' Rosetta Stone! Another great chapter.
BTW despite your story having been beta checked to a high standard I have noticed an occasional error of grammar and one or two Americanisms. If you would like an extra beta checker/nit picker I would love to do that for you so e-mail me on jenifer1 at iinet dot net dot au (Please note: jenifer has only one 'n' and it is followed by the figure one not a lower case L or I )

thisgirlreads posted a comment on Friday 6th July 2007 5:02am for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

...

Stealing the HMS Victory? Priceless. I cannot wait for the fallout when Hermione finds out what they've done :D

I am enjoying this story immensely, and can only bemoan the fact that my writing skills are not as good as yours.

Joyfullscroll posted a comment on Monday 18th June 2007 10:06am for Thievery, Surprises and Noodles

Hmmm. 'Testing Beta's' makes alot of sense. Also Thank You for whomever gave the idea of doing your 'time line' as chapter breaks. It helps alot for no longer guessing what the date or countdown for the 'big show' to start. There are some writers who say they are in college doing English Majors for some sort. (Two who are both Austrialian and Canadian. No British or Americans that I've come across as of yet.) Those who like reading the British Slang and such are not offering the fact that they are British and can help in some way. (Well other than 'google search'. Google does offer that in their website under 'Slang terms' for British, American and Canadian for those out there that 'read the reviews' of others on a storyline like myself.) Take care.