The Review Center

There are no words I could put into this review that I hadn't said in the previous review I did for Cruel and Beautiful World. I have kept up with the fic since the first update I had that Lena Phoria posted a new fic.

There are different climaxes in the story that keep you on your toes. The battles that Draco, Hermione, and the resistance fought after Draco and Hermione escaped London were just amazingly written. The deaths of so many characters broke my heart. Bronson was one of my most favorite characters and my heart still breaks knowing that he died in the fic. Yes, the deaths will ruin you. Lena Phoria just knows how to make her fics so heartwarming but also so heartbreaking and that's a huge reason why I love how she rights.

Like I've said in the warnings above, the description of all the violence, rape, torture are very graphic. I've read graphic fics, but this one had me cringing as if I could feel every part of it.

Draco and Hermione's relationship never faltered one bit as the fic was coming to an end. In my opinion, their relationship had grown stronger and stronger. 

The fic ends with an ending that gets you wanting more. Lena Phoria has said that she feels stories are best left open. And I am happy, extremely really, on how she ended the story. I believe she was right when stories are best left open, because now it's our turn to imagine how their future plays out.

Cruel and Beautiful World is truly an amazing, heartwarming, heartbreaking, heart pounding fic that you know you'll reread again one day.

I was pleasantly surprised by this remix. I've always seen Bridget Jones as a little too annoying for a grown woman (and maybe that's just me projecting myself on her, do forgive me), and to place her in the context of Hermione Granger seemed, at the beginning, like an impossible feat. Of course, Mark Darcy remixed with Draco Malfoy would always be charming, but the story's being delightful was yet to be seen.

And so I found myself not expecting to enjoy the story, but in the process actually rooting for how the story was being set up, expounded, climaxed and ended. It starts off with a party in which the essence of the title ("introduce people with thoughtful details") is brought to life when Hermione tries to shed off the guise of being socially awkward. Draco Malfoy seems to mock her, but there is tension in the air, and the story progresses from that establishment. 

This Draco is very endearing, because while he is usual charming but cutting self, we see that despite coming off as someone who you won't be able to force to give a damn, he does have moral standards. He is thoroughly entranced by this Hermione Granger, but he holds back, both because of personal trauma and, I think, in pursuit of being the kind of man she'd actually want. 

The character development is also commendable, because one of the things that I liked about Bridget Jones is that over the course of the story, there is growth - and this carries over to the way the Hermione is presented, characterized and made new to the readers. This is someone we could be, it seems to say. 

I highly recommend this fic to shippers, new and old alike. There's a light quality to it, and the length is enough to capture you but let you go when it comes to an end. I've read a lot from this writer since reading this, and if you have time to kill, I suggest you go and read others from her too. 

~ Bernice

A Fruitless Year is a story so characteristic of everythursday that you just get lost in the beauty of the language but ultimately find yourself in the end. It's about redemption, but the different kind - there is no talk of boulders (The Fallout) or ultimate power (Parade of the Sun). It's almost domesticated, in a sense. But someone is damned, and someone redeems, and there are power struggles and role reversals. 

It's a narrative of how we all screw things up regardless of how righteous the world thinks we are, and it's a story of how there is forgiveness, and of how it's there because of love. You'd think it's awfully cliché, the concept of how love fixes everything - but this fic takes that up, slips it inside a bottle and shakes it until you're not sure it's there.

The only cautionary thing I can say is that everythursday's writing is not for everyone. It's a little wordy - and yeah, it's beautiful but it's also very poetic. A Fruitless Year is not light reading, but if you do venture into taking it up, her stories would never leave you. 

Rating: 5 out of 5. 

~ Bernice

***

When this fic was requested to the review centre, I wasn’t sure what to think, to be honest.  I’d heard this fic mentioned a few times but never really knew what the plot was about.  As soon as I found out it an everythursday fic, I knew it would be brilliant, and I was not disappointed. 

The fic is very different from everythursday’s other popular works (The Fallout and Parade of the Sun) as it focuses on the domestic side of Draco and Hermione’s relationship.  I’ve found with past fics that it takes a while for the story to get underway but due to the length of this fic (3 chapters), the story was introduced pretty quickly. 

I really enjoyed this fic because it has the classically beautiful writing style of everythursday but I could read it in an afternoon unlike her novel length stories. This fic isn’t an easy going one; it’s full of angst and at times had me screaming at Draco and Hermione.  One thing I did love about this fic was the fact that there were very few other characters, and while others were mentioned, the fic was based solely around Hermione and Draco’s relationship.  This meant that I, as a reader, fully understood the complex dynamics of their relationship.

All in all, this was another fantastic read from everythursday and I would definitely recommend it.

Rating: 5 out of 5

~ Isla

***

This is a story of second chances and the long process of mending something that’s been broken for a while. It’s about typical marital issues that leads to broken relationships and how Draco and Hermione are dealing with it and I promise you, everything will hurt. 

One of the many things I loved about this three-part fic is that Draco and Hermione didn't have a perfect relationship and yet, it made them real.They disagreed on a lot of things, one was a selfish lover, one cheated after they got engaged, the other cheated after the issue of divorce was raised, one wanted children but the other didn't and reacted badly to a false pregnancy alarm, etc. But what hooked me the most was that they were doing something to fix their marriage.

As the marriage counsellor had pointed out in the story, D/Hr didn't have any reason, other than the fact that they still loved each other, to be at Marriage Counselling. It just goes to show how much love they have for each other even after all the sh*t they've been through. And that, I believe, is true love. 

I'll second what Bernice (first reviewer) said about the story. It's wordy. This has three chapters and 40K+ words and, rest assured, every sentence counts. So prep yourself up for some heavy reading, make sure to gather tissues (the hopeful ending is so beautiful you'll at least tear up) and get comfortable because this is a fic worth losing sleep for.

Rating: 5 out of 5

~ Selina

***

This was my first time reading this fic, and I have to say that this has definitely made it to my list of favorites. I absolutely love how the fic transitions to different times in Draco and Hermione's relationship, especially the quote that follows the time frame. I don't know if it was the author's intention, but I felt that the quotes, that followed the year, were metaphors to their relationship. 

The fic also ended very beautifully. I really liked how, in some way, it came to a full circle -- from a happy relationship, to a close to destroyed marriage, then back to a loving relationship but better than before. Everything was just so wonderfully written, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Rating: 5 out of 5

~ Kathleen

***

As someone who doesn’t really read marriage fics, I can honestly say that that this story was definitely worth the read. It’s contrasts between past and presence are very effective. I loved the way Draco and Hermione’s relationship brings you down and lifts you up, only to bring you back down again. Their relationship reminded me very much of a plant (which I think the author was trying to perceive) in the way that some plants wilt and die but they are normally always regrown to something even better. 

It was well written and, I think, the characters were definitely not occ. A lovely fic with a lovely ending. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

~ Harmony

***

Faced with financial problems, a recently cheated-on and single Hermione agrees to marry Draco out of convenience to get her parents out of bankruptcy. Even though Draco made it very clear that he didn’t intend to be faithful to her, an agreement is drawn and an unbreakable vow is taken, in which she promised to marry him and carry the next male heir and remain married to Draco until their child is off age.

I’m not going to lie. I really didn’t like Draco in the first few chapters of the story because of his cheating, and the way he treated his second-born son a lot better than he treated his first-born daughter. I had half a mind to stop reading the story a few chapters in, but, seeing as it was the first Dramione ‘adultery’ fic I’ve read with Draco cheating on Hermione, I was too intrigued to stop. So I didn’t, and am I glad that I didn’t!

Draco came around eventually, albeit a decade of marriage later, after Hermione’s near-death experience that he inadvertently caused because of his infidelity. He realised his mistake, stopped his “extra-curricular activities” and yet he still made wrong decisions regarding Hermione and his children. At this point in the story, I was mentally slapping him multiple times across the face. 

Then, it started. Hermione up and left, children in tow, and Draco took a complete 180 turn and tried his very hardest to get the love of his life and his beloved children back. This part warmed my heart immensely and had me blubbering like a baby (no surprises there). The scene where he apologized profusely to his daughter, in particular, had me crying tears of joy. And all the chapters following that, had me grinning like a fool. 

All I can say for this fic is: give it a chance. I know that Draco is far from a likeable character in the beginning but his character development was wonderful. You will not regret reading it. 

And if you’re still not convinced, it has good smut in it that you can skip to if you really don’t want to read the ugly bits. 

Some constructive criticism - I spotted a few spelling errors and wrong word choices throughout the fic. Some made me frown - I’m not going to lie. But due to the fact that the story, in general, was well written, it’s clear to me that the errors were just that… errors. I will not go into detail but STILL, give this story a chance.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (because of “before-revelation” Draco and errors)

First things first. In this fic, Draco Malfoy is memory charmed, living as a muggle and working as a stripper. Please do not be put off by this and think that this is just some silly story about Draco Malfoy getting his kit off for our Heroine. NO. Absolutely not. Far from it.

This is a story of hurt, angst, betrayal, psychological trauma, and most of all romance. Gut-wrenching, why-can’t-I-have-a-love-like-this, I’m-running-out-of-tears type of romance that will - if you’re anything like me - make your heart tighten in the most uncomfortable and painful way possible. The story is well thought out, from beginning to end, and the twists that we witness, like the fact that Hermione was “chasing her own tail,” left me stunned for hours after reading the revelation. 

The way Hermione was portrayed was realistic and “Muggle” Draco, beautifully. I cannot get over how well Pennilyn Novus developed their characters and expressed their thoughts and emotions. And this leads me to my…

WARNING! This is an important bit. If you are the type of person who does not like sad (or in this case, damaging) endings, or you just can’t handle them because, like me, you’re a cry baby, DO NOT - I repeat - DO NOT read the alternate ending and alternate epilogue. I cannot stress this enough. I didn’t heed the warnings and I thought that I could handle it and it turns out that I could not and I regret ever reading it. Though it was a bitter-sweet (and, in a way, beautiful) alternate ending, I just couldn’t handle my emotions while reading it and I was literally sad for days. So heed my warnings. It’s for your own good.

In conclusion: this is a wonderful read. The mystery was marvellously done; the romance as beautiful as a gem. I’ve read the story more than five times in the past two years and I don’t regret a thing.

Rating: 5 (or 6) out of 5 stars

Hannibal Lecter was a monster, yes, but he has been accepted as one of the most intriguing anti-heroes, both in literature and film. He's frightening, but it's easy to be attracted to his character like metal to magnet, and he has the strongest force in the room. Regardless, what would always register first is that he was not a good man. How then is he juxtaposed to Draco Malfoy, who - while being a bigot and a bully - was not a monster, not really? This question is answered in full by Painful and Necessary Acts. 

The fic, an entry to the fourth round of the Dramione Couples Remix, narrates the story from two third person-limited points of view: Draco Malfoy's and Hermione Granger's, respectively; and an omniscient perspective/journalistic narrative for the middle chapter.

It begins with Draco Malfoy's life in Azkaban, but not for the crimes that you'd expect him to be kept there for. His narration is fluid, regardless of his placement, and the language is harsh and cutting - the voice one that can be said is distinctive of the speaker. It paints a clear divide between how his life was, and how it is inside prison walls (Three years he had been locked up, and the part he still hated most was the lack of shoes. His feet had been beautiful once, soft and pale and pampered, rarely walking on anything rougher than fine-grained sand. But now his heels were thick with calloused skin and nearly black with grime, and his toenails, where he still had them, were cracked and broken). 

The characterization is commendable, because here we have a Draco who is so far removed from his convention, and we see how he retains a facet of his personality without contradicting everything that has changed. His ethos remains to be his, but it has expanded and grown, and once it could have been a shadow, but now it is the blanket of darkness at night. It's Draco, but it's also Hannibal Lecter - the fusion so faultless, it's scary and terribly enticing. 

The treatment of Hermione Granger, on the other hand, is just as interesting, although I suppose it only caters to a specific audience. Hermione is just as screwed up as the rest of them here, but she hides it better, or perhaps her reputation does. There is a scene where Draco flings her own history right at her, and as the reader with a canon grasp of what she's done, we're led to think, excuse my language, holy fuck, the logic. It's a canon representation of what Hermione has done, but it is rendered from how Draco has seen it and studied it, and it makes sense. It's a valid reading. 

My favorite aspect would have to be all the subtext. The Silence of the Lambs explores themes in psychology, and there's a lot that isn't said in Painful & Necessary Acts. Trying to recreate backstory with what is said is a great exercise, and it just presents the characters to you fully, because everything falls in the right place when it ends, even though it doesn't explicitly conclude. 

One thing I wasn't completely satisfied with, though, is the story arc of Theodore Nott. He was characterized wonderfully in the first part, but the writer abandons the character in pursuit of the narrative - which I understand completely. However, while I believe that she has done a marvelous job with the story, the context of Theodore Nott and how he plays in the prose would prove to be an effective device in the reading of Draco Malfoy as related to Hannibal Lecter. 

Also, the only "sexy times" in this fic are the scenes where Draco is present, because Draco Malfoy is one sexy bastard (pretty, agreed, but shaggably unholy, too). Other than those though, Malfoy and Granger didn't get it on, if you know what I mean. And yes, you have reached the part of the review where the reviewer is half-delirious. 

That self-insert aside, Painful & Necessary Acts is a painful but necessary fic, because the writing is just wonderful, and we Dramione shippers are given written proof that our beloved couple is more than the sum of their parts. I highly recommend this fic (though if your faint of heart, tread lightly, and don't say I didn't warn you). 

~ Bernice 

This little piece of perfection is an example of why I absolutely love rzzmg's work. It's well-written; the dialogue is superb, realistic and sexy; and if you're looking for good smut, there's no need to look any further because this has it. 

I would also like to express how much I like Desperately Infatuated/In-love!Draco, so that was an added bonus. His "voice" in this piece was realistic. Hermione, on the other hand, made me unconsciously lift my eyebrows in intrigue in more than one occasion. Sex-Goddess!Hermione is always a delight. And when her Slytherin-worthy scheme was revealed at the end after she gave birth, I couldn't help but be impressed. 

To conclude: I absolutely adore this story. Brava, rzzmg! This is a story that I've already read more than 5 times and I most probably will continue going back to it to.

Rating: 5/5 stars

I've always been a fan of phlox. Ever since her False Dice pushed me over the edge and into an almost three-year(-and counting) long Shakespeare phase, her fics have always been included in a box of pretty and sharp and harsh Dramione things in the shelvings of my heart. Slowly Toward Desire is no different. 

The fic starts with a Goblet of Fire timeline, and right off the bat, we have a Draco Malfoy that is more than just the bigoted prat whose idea of fun is taunting the Golden Trio. And while the first part doesn't completely take that away, we're still left with a three-dimensional character: someone whose pureblood upbringing has made a chivalrous young man out of an elitist boy. More of his character is revealed in the succeeding part, which carries on in an Order of the Phoenix timeline. 

The next part, their sixth year, is where things really start to take off. And what's really fantastic about this fragment is that it's more than Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger interacting. There is discourse about Muggle wars and its parallels to the Wizarding world, and there's too much subtext to ignore. There's a particularly sublime quality to it, and the prose is elevated - not in its flowery use of language, but in the way it can survive multiple readings. It's a different writing style altogether from, say, everythursday, or pir8fancier, but it carries the same weight without sacrificing its own voice. 

Its exposition continues on to provide a glimpse on how Draco works for his redemption, and the readers can see and decide for themselves that yes, it's time, you deserve to be absolved. His salvation doesn't come abruptly, because the circumstances are fleshed out enough to provide the grounds on which he is accepted. 

What I really adore about this fan fic is that it's not an extremist way of depicting the characters. There's nothing flat about narrative, because it takes its time, as its title suggests, but not to the point that the prose is dragging. There's time to breathe, to appreciate the aesthetics and watch them fall into their canon molds while permitting this what if? 

And while I'm not dismissing OOCs (some fics make them work, after all), something has to be said for the reiteration that this ship really could have been by retaining who they are, and phlox keeps Draco, Hermione and the rest of the characters in-character with so much skill that it just leaves me in awe. 

There are sexy times, yes, and though I've favored angsty/angry/desperate smut more often than I have otherwise, the one in Slowly Toward Desire is just the right amount of sweet and hopeful. It makes for a great ending, because it's an ending that signifies beginning again. 

Slowly Toward Desire is a story that I stumbled upon a revisit to phlox's page, and I'm glad that I chanced upon it. I highly recommend that Dramione shippers read it, because you would have missed a lot by quite a margin if you don't. 

~ Bernice

Only Once, and Forever remixes Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger into the story of Vlad the Impaler and Ilona Szilágyi, and that premise itself provides the story with a dark setting. The merging of characters to provide something new is on point, and the writer doesn't disregard the historical prompt in pursuit of a fluffier depiction of the angsty ship we all love.

The world-building in this fan fic, separate from the HP-verse, was done marvelously - because on the outset, it's just another Marriage Law fic, and yet it's rendered with a prose that is founded on a credible backstory that it's a familiar thing you won't recognize at face value.

The premise of the fic is reminiscent of the setting in everythursday's The Fallout. Voldemort is dead, but the war continued to rage on. It's a setting that I favor, because really, war doesn't begin and end with one man and his death. I've got to applaud writers who take into consideration this reality, and the writer made time to explain this in the prologue. Also, it gives the other characters enough space sans the Boy-Who-Lived to be their own heroes, and so we have Draco and Hermione.

The banter between Malfoy and Granger (Zabini, she'd remind) is something you'd expect, in the sense that they fall into their rightful postures, and had they been canon, we know that's exactly how they'd sound like. Throughout, they remain in-character and it's not hard to imagine that that's really them, years after the war. The sexy times don't hurt either, and the writing style with which the writer provided the smut only serves to accentuate the themes she finds herself writing about.

What is really interesting though, is how the writer gives us an alternate background to the otherwise infamous Malfoys. I especially adored the scene in the first chapter where Draco tells Hermione an anecdote about his grandparents. It was his point of view, and so we see the Malfoys in a positive light - as not just pureblood elitists, but as humans capable of love and loss. 

I guess my only critique of the story is somewhere near the end. We all like our happy endings, but while Astoria and Blaise happening simultaneously was a good thing, I kind of feel like the ending is a cop-out, in that it's all too sudden. Don't get me wrong, I love how it ended, but it was abrupt. I feel like Blaise and Astoria deserve more than a sentence or two, especially because their relationship might prove to be an effective device in the characterization of the main characters.

That aside, I really do recommend rzzmg's Only Once, and Forever. It's a delightful entry to the third round of the Dramione Couples Remix, and it would be a great read to Dramione shippers, especially to history buffs such as myself. It is truly a wonderful piece of literature. 

~ Bernice

Like Lena Phoria's other two fanfictions Summer of the Dragon and Fighting for the Malfoys, Cruel and Beautiful World will leave you wanting to know what happens next after finishing one chapter. Each chapter always seems to have a major climax in them that will always keep you on your toes wanting to keep going until it's finished. Lena Phoria's portrayal of both canon and original characters is just amazing. 

Draco as a defected Death Eater has always been my favorite type of Draco in fanfiction, but I fell in love with Draco in this fic so instantly after what he did for Hermione. Lena Phoria takes you into a life that you never thought Hermione Granger would have to deal with and it just breaks your heart having to read what she went through in the slave trade. The relationship between Hermione and Draco in this fic doesn't happen in a snap of your fingers, it develops so perfectly that you don't even know or expect when it'll happen. I love how the relationship between Draco and Hermione developed in this fic, especially when he learnt of the things that happened to Hermione during the slave trade and of the many who owned her before her escape.

My most favorite thing about this fic are the original characters. They are just to die for and so easily to fall in love with. Lena Phoria incorporates Bronson and Quigley into the Harry Potter universe swimmingly in this fic. Bronson is my absolute favorite character, apart from Draco, in this fic. From the first time I read about him, I fell in love with him.

That is always the highlight to my reading when it comes to Lena Phoria's writing. Her incorporation of things or people we don't know just fit the Harry Potter world.

Cruel and Beautiful World is definitely a fic I would recommend to any Dramione shipper out there who loves angst, romance, violence, and all those things fit together. This fic, although it isn't finished, is just an amazing read. It'll take you to places in the Wizarding World that you never thought you'd venture. It'll take you to a universe that has the 'What if' written all over it.

Read this amazing fic

Review:

This is the first fic I've ever been asked to review and I’m glad because people could have easily sent in fics that I’d read a thousand times before.  This fic is new and it’s refreshing.  I love the style of writing as it takes you straight into the action when needed but leaves you guessing at all the right places.  The first chapter is definitely one of the best first chapters I’ve read in most fics.  It leaves you guessing and wanting more.  I definitely think people should check this fic out and it may be one to look out for in the future.

Rating: 9/10

The fic is quite long, but an amazing read. It isn't just pure smut; but there is a fair deal of that. People aren't paired up for the sake of it (You don't see Ron and Pansy getting together, just because the author wants everyone to have a happy ending), and a sweet ending. It's uniquely written - I've never seen the Angel and Devil thing in any other fics.

Rating: 9/10

Rating: 8/10