#significant digits

31.07

i'm pretty far in- i just started arc 3 of 3. i'll probably post more substantial thoughts once i'm done but:

i really enjoy the perspective switch interlude bits, especially that one with the Shichinin where they do this whole ridiculous Mission Impossible car chase for a while. it's really fun getting different perspectives on all the plot stuff, largely staying away from Harry's POV.

i kinda predicted the twist with [REDACTED], and was kinda disappointed that was what was up. like, there was some real meat on the bones of that conflict that i'd have liked to see play out! we're still kinda getting that with Tír inna n-Óc, but they seem more like generic shadowy badguys than an interesting ideological conflict currently. still time for it to develop, though!

unicorn goddess hermione and her cadre of traumatized almost-cultists occupy this very weird and interesting social position and honestly a story just about them would be pretty compelling if it had room to breathe.

lmao pip you try so hard at trying hard but fail so badly all the time. i'm rooting for you but boy do you not deserve it.

I don't think I can hold enough praises for this story. It is undeniably a far superior product than hpmor ever was in many regards, and a lot of those regards are in the realms of the things hpmor tried to do. But not all.

Hpmor feels like a book written by hjevp, this one feels like it was drafted by Hermione and Draco.

It feels incredibly mature, at a level that I rarely see in online fiction. It feels like a book written by adults, about adults, for adults. It feels like the type of book every English college graduate dreams of writing. I can't even begin to fathom the level of research into obscure literature that this probably involved. And not just western lit, this is one of the most international cosmopolitan books that I've read, to the point that If I were to guess I would say the author in not American but I cannot know.

Regardless this book demonstrated that ratfic doesn't all have to be epic for the win HFY tier teenage power fantasies. There can be a level of elegance and true worldly culture and sofistication brought into this genre. Without for a single second sacrificing a deeply humanistic and powerfully rationalist outlook in life.

And if you need any proof of this I'll spoil the fact that Harry wins the day merely by persuading the omnipotent antagonist to apply bayesian reasoning in order to realize he can't win.

There is so much more to say, personally I derive deep profound satisfaction out of the fact that Rowling keeps getting clowned on by a continuous succession of writers that come and completely blow her out of the park executing her world far better than she ever could. This version of the Wizarding world has thoroughly replaced in my head the space that used to be occupied by the far inferior children's toy I grew up with. I see the original story and characters and they are just weird, it takes me a few seconds to remember that that is the mainstream version.

But I digress.

Absolute masterpiece of writing, I will chase greedily for whatever this author wrote next

For the first Valentine’s Day in 153 years, there will be no Sweethearts candies, those little chalky heart-shaped delights with short but sweet (lol) messages on them. Necco, the candy’s maker, went bankrupt and its factories are closing.