Well, it's a very twisted and frankly retarded thing to say, no less so if it's said sarcastically. Most witch huntings were in England. In fact, there's never been a single witch burning in America -- a few witch hangings (only like sixteen total, if I remember right), but no burnings. Somewhat ironically, the only people ever to be burnt alive in the systematic way that we often think of witches being burnt, were by Native Americans. Tying people up to a pole or a dead tree and then roasting them alive was a common torture/execution method employed by several tribes. If you show any sign of pain, they would draw it out longer and make it even more painful.

Damn, did I just pity Spaniards? Someone kill me.


The point is that, even if he was saying it sarcastically (as in, speaking in contradiction with his own feelings/knowledge in an attempt at humor), he was still being a dolt.

 

I'm going to be crude here. What the FUCK I must of either browsed over that section of crap in an attempt to get to a decent scene, or I blocked it out of recollection. Thats just horrible.

 

Thank god its been taken down.

 

1. They're writing this for an exercise in what they think will never happen.
2. It's still better than 99.999% of the other shit out there. Honestly? I've only read one or two that have been better than it.

 

*cough cough* Umm. . . I know there's alot of crappy fanfics out there, but to say it one of the top three best FF's is just wrong.

 

Man you guys sure love to rip on this fic.

And while I can understand where you're coming from, I must say I disagree on a lot of it. The fact that they're all accepting "prophecy" as the reason they must do everything they do, does annoy me somewhat. And yes, it is ridiculously long for how little happens. I'm always bugged by the people that assume a story that takes them 150,000 words to say is going to be better than a 40,000 word story. Long fics frustrate me and I usually end up skimming over massive chunks just to get to something worthwhile. Sort of like how I skim over almost all the Harry/Hermione interaction in this fic. But romance I find about as interesting as Paris Hilton's opinions on foreign policy.

No matter how much you may hate the fic, how much it irritates you, how annoying and lacking a crying ass gimpy Harry with more power than anything ever before is, you should at least respect the efficiency with which they crank out these stories. I mean it's like literally a new 15,000 word chapter every week. And they have very few grammar or spelling errors. I doubt I enjoy the consistency of any WIP more. If it were finished, I doubt a fic of that size would even interest me to start reading it. But in terms of wasting an hour or two in the morning once a week when there is an update, it's hard to beat. While all the rest of the author's take weeks and weeks at a time for small updates of content more catered to your taste, Bob and Alyx (not 'Min', Bobmin = Bob, Alyx = the misses) somehow crank this stuff out faster than any other authors I can think of. Joe6991 was close for a little while, but even he has succumbed to the rigors of daily life.

Just my two bits (and why I am appreciative of the fic).

 

That's what makes this story so frustrating and why we're all bitchin' about it so much.

Bob & Alex are great writers, truly dedicated to their work and with some really nice scenes and ideas. That's what is so irritating about this story - wasted potential. If this was just another poorly written story with irregular updates, we would only say "crap" and move on. But Sunset could have been ove of the best HP fanfics ever, and thanks to the authors' screwups, it ended up like a boring angst-fest with an occasional good scene now and then.

 

I've never actually read this fic and the way you guys talk about it I don't know if I want to.

Is it really that bad?

 

Has it's peaks but you have to force yourself through all the wimpy, angsty and fluffy crap. If some good sould would take mercy on us and reedited this by deleting all the girly shit and repatched the rest, we would get rather good Godlike!Harry storry with 40-50,000 words.

 

Excellent points, IP's post following yours is exactly why I hate this so much. It just gets ruined by filler chapters of angst that seem to be cracked out only to keep their update count consistent. How many times I read about Harry's leg in that fic, or Hermione just lording over him.. ug. The last several chapters of Sunset, plus maybe the first 5 or 6, could be condensed into a story, leaving out so much of the filler, and you'd miss barely anything if I remember right.

It's not one of the top 10, but it's definetly in the top 20.

Yeah, they've cornered the market on that, asking Hermione permission for everything, fighting an incredible battle without his leg hindering him one bit then follow it up with him not being able to piss while standing by himself, etc.

Theres just so much filler/angst filler =(

 

the way they crank out chapters should be admired... At least you can expect a chapter every week.

Some parts are boring though, lots of filler chapters. And basing everything off prophecies is tad bit stupid...

I enjoyed the story, maybe it's just coz i enjoy reading novel-length fics(not that im saying there are some bad short ones or ficlets though.)

Lots of fluff(boring!), angst(somewhat enjoyable) and harry has attained the status of a god IMO... I mean it's a bit stupid how he keeps all the death eaters inside britain when he can just knock down hogwarts by himself, like what he did with the ministry.

A good fic, if you enjoy killing time. One of the best H/Hr out there..

 

I'm not completely against Angst, but the way they're doing it is very wrong.

In all their stories they have a cycle of Harry getting hurt, then nursed to health only to get hurt again. As soon as you see few chapters with Harry gaining confidence and health, you know they'll bring him down and back to hospital wing by using some completely ridiculous and random thing, like Vernon attacking him on Hogwarts grounds or spider bitting him in his sleep, etc... It's all so artificial that it makes me sick.

If they really want to write angst, they should follow an example of some really good angst writters, like Fair Warning or Draco664. These authors use Harry's internal struggles and psyhological pressure as a basis for angst, instead of making him suffer by whacking him around at regular intervals.

Comparing Fair Warning's with Bobmin's angst is like comparing Pink Floyd with Britney Spears - both are considered popular music, but one is on the verge of a true art, while the other just a mindless gruel of ripped-off styles targeted at appeasing the lowest insticts of masses like a pretty girl dancing seductively, pretty lights flashing, rythym beating, etc... you get my drift.

 

I'm not sure I can say this right, but I do agree with the comparison of Bobmin's stories to Britney Spears. Or rather they are very popular and likable, but they've never felt really original. I think I used to compare it more to something along the lines of a thought-provoking intelligent independent movie, and Bobmin's fics are the big-budget Hollywood remakes that get far more recognition and accolades. Something about their choices and style feels way more polished, professional, and finished than 99% of other fics out there, but all of it seems geared towards appealing to the lowest common denominator and the widest audience possible. They seem to include a fair amount of nearly every genre (drama/angst/humor/action/adventure/romance/suspense etc...) and in doing so, they make them all good examples of those genres, but none of them great. I suppose it's something along the lines of being very entertaining for me, but not particularly satisfying.

That, and I'm still not sure why I'm enjoying this storyline so much, despite this Harry being a completely whipped cry-baby bitch. Must be the god-like power, because I don't think I'd still like this wussy-ass teary-eyed wimpy cripple in any other story.

 

Link not working

Hey could someone post a new link to this story, I clicked the one at the top and ff.net told me that it didnt exist. Then I did a search for both the title and the author and it gave me no results for either.

 

http://bobmin.fanficauthors.net/

There's a sequel too.

 

I completely agree. There are a lot of things that annoy me about the story, yes. But there are some truly good ideas in it. True, you could take it and throw away very big chunks of it to make a truly fascinating story, but hey, nothings perfect. Maybe we could even get permission from the authors to mutilate the story of all the crappy wimpy parts and leave the good stuff so we can post it here, eh?

If for nothing else, it’s a good distraction every time a new chapter comes out.

 

I have to agree with nonjon.

I admire them for a few reasons:
1. Their efficiency (though there hasn't been a chapter in a while) especially in cmparison to the no. of words.

2. The lack of grammatcal errors that make you groan and want to kill yourself.

3. Most importantly of all, the fact that they can write so well about something they don't believe in. It's all very well for us Independent Harry lovers to create independent Harry stories but the fact that they can do so well with something they hate makes this story creep into my top ten.

4. The humour. I can't help but chuckle at the author notes at the foot of their paras and the pet peeves are funny because they're true.

When reading this fic, I skip over 50% of the romantic H/Hr shit but the rest is pure quality.

 

Ah the infamous Pet Peeves. It's a shame they stopped writing them in their sequel...