#laventadorn

[ficrecfromscar]

Today I have been amusing myself with playing around on Canva and making book covers for some of my favourite fics.

Each of these fic can be found on AO3.

[urupotter]

Fic Review: The Never Ending Road

By Laventadorn (@laventadorn) 

I was extremely torn for a long time over reading this fic, because although I had loved one of the authors previous works, the pairing made extremely leery. Like, unbelievably leery. I thought that pulling off a Snarry in a way that I didn’t find creepy was impossible, the age difference was too big, Snape had once loved Lily, he was a teacher, there was way too much baggage there. But one day I was bored, had nothing to read, and after seeing how obscenely popular the story was on AO3 I decided to give it a try. And I’m glad I did. Somehow, the author has managed to pull it off, delivering an astounding story and not making it creepy at all.

The story premise is that Harry Potter was born a girl, and is now Harriet Potter, and the differences that would arise from that. The main one in this story is that Snape now sees her as just another teenage girl, who he also has to protect, instead of seeing James Potter born again. He’s still an asshole, but not anymore than he usually is to anyone. 

I’ll get this out of the way for those who are still wary. The story as is written up to now is basically a gen fic, and Snape has yet to say or do anything creepy. The most that has happened up to now is Harriet having an unwitting crush on him, and when Snape finds out he is horrified and disgusted, and tries to crush it in various ways (which end up accidentally backfiring).  

The prose is technically excellent, and never fails to set the the tone. The authors ability to evoke imagery is fantastic, and individual character voices each feel distinct. Laventadorn has an excellent handle on use of metaphors and turns of phrase.

Characterization is superb. Harriet feels like Harry, with believable changes due to the gender switch. Snape is excellently done (If perhaps a bit too dickish at times than what I felt the canonical character was) and even some non canonical additions (Snape swearing like a sailor) end up being worth it for the humor they add to the story.

Dumbledore is perfectly characterized. If writing a good Snape is hard, writing a good Dumbledore is even harder, and I’ve found that not a single aspect of his character is missing, which is rare. The author even manages to deliver his charm and sense of humor perfectly, which is I believe the hardest aspect of his character to pull off.

 Remus and Sirius are, again, excellently characterized. Sirius charm and recklessness come off perfectly, and Remus self pity and cowardice coupled with tenderness as well. One aspect that I felt was missing however was Remus ability to gaslight. In canon Remus repeatedly gaslights Snape, and this isn’t present in this story. This is a minor aspect of his character however, so I’m not complaining. The story also features a background wolfstar, and it’s great in that it deals with the canonical issues wolfstar has in astounding ways and makes their relationship feel real.

Another thing which this succeeds in doing is showing how all of Harry’s relationships would have changed if he were a girl instead of a boy. As an example, while in canon Harry was close to both Ron and Hermione, it was the former to whom he was closer and considered his best friend, due to both being boys. In this story, while Harriet is still friends with Ron, she is much closer to Hermione and considers her her best friend. Their friendship is portrayed marvelously. It is an inverse of the canonical situation. 

The only character which I didn’t really enjoy was Narcissa Malfoy, who I felt was a bit try hard. The narrative constantly goes on and on about how cunning and manipulative she is, while never really having any scenes where she shows it. To sell me on Narcissa, Laventadorn should include a scene or two where her cunning shines, and not just leave it to the background (like the skeeter situation).

The fanfic is also frequently hilarious. The bit with the dog, Snape’s inner monologue, Dumbledore’s hilarious comments, I often found myself laughing while reading. There is one particular interaction between Snape and Sirius involving telescopes which almost had me pissing myself it was so funny (they’re all funny, but this particular one was next level).

While the story follows the stations of canon, it introduces enough variety that it doesn’t ever feel like a rehash.

Magic feels magical. While not the best representation of magic in a harry potter fanfic I have ever seen, (that particular crown goes to Taure’s Victoria Potter by a country mile) it is still among the best, and it easily evokes a feeling of mysticism and the occult.  

The story is completed and is 557k+ words long, while the sequel is a WIP on hiatus due to the author having problems in their personal life (I hope she gets better!). The first story can be read standalone I think, so if you only read completed fics you can read that. It can be found on AO3 and fanfiction.net. 

[nimadge]

(´▽｀)ノ♪ (does this count lol)

You get like all the lyrics 🤣

[weird-fictions]

laventadorn if they push back the release date again i will cry into my kitten :(((((

SAME. But I think we’re good, I keep seeing them hype up February 1st from their social media posts 

[setepenre-set]

Two Spoons 

a (nonexistent) romance novel by Fonda Tiramisu and Mynta Chocolate

(( @laventadorn based on that post about your romance writer name being your grandmother’s name + the last dessert you ate, because I REALLY ENJOYED the fact that ours were both puns LOL ))

[om-nom-berries]

rey and bb8 with porgs? (kylo can be there too if you prefer!) :3

I really like how @hsmt-blog draws porgs.

[lehdenlaulu]

@laventadorn replied to your post: @laventadorn replied to your photo: ...

♥️ it’s more that i hate the fic itself, or rather, that people find it so funny when they wouldn’t about their own ships.

I get it. ♥ But I always thought with r*ylo is not just hating the ship itself but more like everything it represents. That's the case with me, at least.

[inlovewithjackabbot]

@laventa this came out different than planned idk I kind of like it ?? I immediately saw 'I love you' and 'don't do that to yourself' and thought of Harriet and Snape and I made this tbh I wanted to for a while now but I'm shitty at this} {I'm in love with these fics, they are truly amazing and everyone should go read the never ending road and its sequel bc you wont regret it because laventadorn is such a talented writer like holy s h i t