Not sold on it...

Hillariously good Harry Potter fic by Honu_Wahine on 2011-02-07 01:02:00 UTC Reply

Okay, so I'm still avoiding doing anything resembling homework this weekend (Go Greenbay!). Instead, I went trawling for fics on the Pit in the HP fandom (I have masocistic tendencies), and found this jem of a story there. It's called DADA Boycott, and it's by Midnighter 13.
The story is fairly unique in its approach to getting rid of Umbridge in the fifth book. Hermione gets the idea of emulating Gandhi, the Civil Rights movement, and various passive-resistance movements from around the world to get rid of the toad. Needless to say, everyone takes to the idea like ducks to water, and then a prank war starts up as an adendum...and snowballs from there.
Trust me, if you need a laugh or two, it's fairly good. (Fair warning though, the first two chapters are a bit boring. Rest of the story's okay.)
-H_W

Not sold on it... by Ugolino on 2011-02-07 01:45:00 UTC Reply

It's certainly an interesting idea, but the execution leaves much to be desired. The author's strange focus on America, dubious understanding of what those passive-right campaigns actually involved, questionable characterization, and sudden switch from pacifism to murder of Death Eaters (!) mean that, while it's readable, it's not my type of story.

That said, it could be worse, and the idea's certainly original enough.

Eh. by Honu_Wahine on 2011-02-07 02:38:00 UTC Reply

It's an acquired taste, I guess. At the time, I'd only read up to chapter 5--that was before the "Let's kill the Death Eaters" thing came up. There are still bits of humor in it, but not really after that bit. The author is American--you wouldn't believe how little the schools actually teach us about the world, unless you sign up for electives. Oh Hades, but the American school system really sucks some days.
/rant
It's at least not a bad fic, and the author does make some good points in their notes about the story's birth. That being said, I'm still looking for a fic where a Ravenclaw puts up a message board that takes requests for accidents to befall Umbridge--it was actually fairly well-executed, and Umbridge tripped off the stairs as they wer changing (and it was a one-shot, I think.)
-H_W

Re: Eh. by Ugolino on 2011-02-07 03:04:00 UTC Reply

The author could still have made an effort to localize it, and obviously has at least some knowledge of world history. Instead, (s)he essentially said "don't like, don't read", which is rather annoying.

I'd say it's decent at best, even if some of the notes make sense.