So, I finally dipped my toe into fanfic. Now that we can review fanfic on here, I couldn’t really think of a reason to not give it a shot.
It’s something I’ve long thought about for my favorite franchises: Star Trek, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings…. But I’ve never actually tried it.
And it was both everything I thought it’d be, and so much more.
Not From Others is a novel, you guys. It’s over 130,000 words long, and was published in 2016. I downloaded it from here, but there are other sites.
It takes place during Deathly Hallows, and is “canon compliant” (meaning it fits within the established narrative of the books). And it’s not porn. Both of these, for me, were musts. I don’t want to read about Hermione falling in love with Draco, or Harry getting sorted into Slytherin.
It tells the story of what happened in that fateful seventh year at Hogwarts, but from the perspective of Ginny. So you see how the DA reformed under the leadership of Snape of the Carrows, and you see how everyone responds to Harry’s absence and the growing fear around Voldemort’s return and Dumbledore’s death.
Much of the book was kind of ‘meh.’ I enjoyed it, but I don’t know that it really added much. It was more of a novelty returning to this world and seeing these characters again. The author knows her stuff, and did a marvelous job capturing the essence of who these characters were.
And then I got to the Battle of Hogwarts. My wife and nephew were playing Settlers of Cataan (I had already won, but they were playing for second place), and I was on the couch cuddling with my son. He was watching a cartoon, so I opened the book and dived in. And it. Was. Amazing.
It hit all the parts that we didn’t get in The Deathly Hallows. You’re there for all the deaths. All the drama. All the action.
And the emotion. God. I fought back tears a couple times.
The coup de grace: no awkward epilogue. This book ends perfectly.
If you haven’t read any fanfic, I recommend giving it a shot. If you have, and haven’t read this, I also recommend giving it a shot.