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A review by lilith1501
choices by MesserMoon
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
where do i start?
i never quite understood when other people would criticise marauders fanfcition for their poor writing of female characters until i read choices.
the author spends a lot of time telling you how "badass" the girls are, but not a lot of proof of them actually being fully fletched characters.
Lets start with Marlene and Dorcas cause i have the least to say about them. For how strong Dorcas is IN THE CANON she really was a nobody in this, same for Marlene, absolutely nothing but a friend to Lily.
Lily was...well she was there. She was there, as a girl, that is in love with a boy....and thats about it. Ok thats a little mean at least she had a subplot with her dad and her mum but still. she was boring.
Which leaves us with Mary. All mary did was sleep around and be rude. Now, im not one to slutshame, but the book does that for you so dont worry. Its not like the author specifically slut shames her but all the characters do, and its hard to enjoy Mary when all you know her for is sleeping around and...getting sexually assaulted. Which leads me to my next point. What a stupid and pointless plot point. It did absolutely nothing except make me hate the Slytherins more and give Evan, Barty, Snape, AVery and Mulciber LESS of a character. Yes they were evil i get it but to have them be awful in every aspect of life made them very flat to me. I like a little bit of grey in my characters SUE ME.
Now next point, and probably most important. I fucking hated Regulus and i fucking hated James. The audacity of james to be broken up with reg for years but still mourn their relationship on the DAY OF HIS WEDDING TO LILY????? i didnt even care when reg died, yes it was sad but in the end i hated his character arc so much. I understand that fear is a driving factor but ive read many canon compliant jegulus fics by now and never was reg so compliant to his family. Yes he stays with them, yes hes not like sirius and thats not even what i want!! i wanted the scheming, helping james behind the scenes, overthrowing voldemort from the inside, letting them now peter is the secret keeper or JUST ANYTHING. but no all i got was him basically killing effie and fleamont.
What a waste of words. this really did not need to be 2000+ pages and i think the author knew that.
the sad bit is, it was really enjoyable the first 25 chapters, then it went downhill. probably why it took me 6 months to finish it.
i never quite understood when other people would criticise marauders fanfcition for their poor writing of female characters until i read choices.
the author spends a lot of time telling you how "badass" the girls are, but not a lot of proof of them actually being fully fletched characters.
Lets start with Marlene and Dorcas cause i have the least to say about them. For how strong Dorcas is IN THE CANON she really was a nobody in this, same for Marlene, absolutely nothing but a friend to Lily.
Lily was...well she was there. She was there, as a girl, that is in love with a boy....and thats about it. Ok thats a little mean at least she had a subplot with her dad and her mum but still. she was boring.
Which leaves us with Mary. All mary did was sleep around and be rude. Now, im not one to slutshame, but the book does that for you so dont worry. Its not like the author specifically slut shames her but all the characters do, and its hard to enjoy Mary when all you know her for is sleeping around and...getting sexually assaulted. Which leads me to my next point. What a stupid and pointless plot point. It did absolutely nothing except make me hate the Slytherins more and give Evan, Barty, Snape, AVery and Mulciber LESS of a character. Yes they were evil i get it but to have them be awful in every aspect of life made them very flat to me. I like a little bit of grey in my characters SUE ME.
Now next point, and probably most important. I fucking hated Regulus and i fucking hated James. The audacity of james to be broken up with reg for years but still mourn their relationship on the DAY OF HIS WEDDING TO LILY????? i didnt even care when reg died, yes it was sad but in the end i hated his character arc so much. I understand that fear is a driving factor but ive read many canon compliant jegulus fics by now and never was reg so compliant to his family. Yes he stays with them, yes hes not like sirius and thats not even what i want!! i wanted the scheming, helping james behind the scenes, overthrowing voldemort from the inside, letting them now peter is the secret keeper or JUST ANYTHING. but no all i got was him basically killing effie and fleamont.
What a waste of words. this really did not need to be 2000+ pages and i think the author knew that.
the sad bit is, it was really enjoyable the first 25 chapters, then it went downhill. probably why it took me 6 months to finish it.