Title: The Forever Mage
Author: Darth Marrs
Rating: M
Genre: Drama / Sci-Fi
DLP Category: Crossover
Pairing: Harry/Multiple
Status: Complete
Summary: Harry Potter/ST:NG era post movies crossover. A young man with messy hair and green eyes finds himself in the middle of 24th Century Scotland with no memories. Join him as he tries to solve not only who he is, but where his people are.
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5402371/1/The_Forever_Mage

For quite some time have I know that this story was around but it was not until recently that I actually read it due to a lack of other stories. I am not really into the whole Star Trek universe and thought that it wouldn't be to my taste.

Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed it alot. The pacing is good and the author actually manages to tell the story he wants to without much trouble. Some of the characters felt slightly one dimensional but I think it is due to me not knowing them before hand from the ST universe. Sometimes the story gets a little confusing as the author tries to describe both present and past events at the same time with no clear indicators as to which is what.

The first story I thought about after I read this was Browncoat, Green Eyes by Nonjon as there is many similarities between the two stories.

All in all, entertaining. 4/5

 

For a start, it should be mentioned that this is a sequel to his other (pure HP) story, HP and the Four Founders.

It should also be mentioned that they are both harem fics.

The writing is okay. As harem fics go, it's probably one of the best.

But being the best harem fic is like being the best eunuch. It's still pretty sucky.

Like everything Darth Mars writes, the main emotion I feel when reading his fics is frustration: frustration that an author with a decent writing style (sure, he has little flair, but the writing is pretty solid) and perhaps more importantly, motivation to update regularly and finish fics, spends all his time on such mediocre ideas.

3/5. It's readable, and in the right mood enjoyable, if you have time to kill. But it's not good.

 

I pretty much agree with Taure. Solid writing at the micro-scale, less adept at putting together the larger, coherent, compelling story with dramatic tension, foreshadowing, etc. I think this is a function of the way he works: he writes two stories at once, updating each with a new chapter a week. Perhaps, because of this blistering pace, his stories can seem like a bunch of episodes bound by a loose plot that seems to go where it will. They lack the cohesiveness or focus of more carefully planned out story.

Presenty, he's working on an adaptation of one of my short stories (his story Defense for Two, which is based on my Detention in Defense) as well as the HP/Star Wars sequel to this one. Both are okay reads, but neither is likely to find a home in the Library.

Damn you!

Since I need to rate, I'll vote 3/5. It's properly placed in the Recycling Bin.

 

In general, I agree with both Taure and Pers, though I came away from the story feeling that this was one of his better works. Better than the first story in the trilogy and likely better than the third. Harem elements are fairly minimal in this one. I like this story more than either Bonds of Blood or his HP/SW crossover; things just felt a lot less forced.

 

Taure pretty much has the right of it. Hell, even Darth Marrs' Soul bond fic was readable to a certain point.

3.5/5 because I like the author.

 

Due to having next to no knowledge of Star Trek the plot of this story was unique and interesting to read. That said - I have two major complaints about the story.

First, Harry was ridiculously overpowered. While he was overpowered in the prequel... it didn't ruin the story for me. Harry generating a hurricane in the Atlantic in this story was a tad too excessive.

Second, the harem itself. I had trouble trying to track who was who with the OCs in the harem and found it relatively hard to care about them. At least in the Four Founders I knew who the characters were. And don't get me started on the Lord of Light - the HP/SW sequel to this story. While I know the characters, it just seems damn creepy at this point how Harry uses magic to compel the women to bind themselves to him...where after they die they'll join his harem of tens of thousands of other wives.

In short, the harem and the uber-Harry detracts from the story, but it does make for a fun read.

3/5.

 

Much like the first in the series (and the third), I enjoyed my time reading this. But objectively, it doesn't really stand out for much. It's a solid shot at a crossover, the author has knowledge of both universes, it's fairly well written, and the harem is not unbearable.

But that last point hinges on the fact that his harem actually has rules. He can't just walk down the streets of London yelling "Who want's my dick today?"

3.5/5, but I'll round down to 3/5 because it has a well deserved spot in the Recycle Bin.

 

It'd be easy to just agree with Taure and everyone else here, but I think I liked it more than most. First off, I'll admit that the title "Forever Mage" I thought was pretty genius. The story inside was kinda meh at times but it was enough that I went and found the first one and read it. Most harem stories are just wank fest crap from pubescent authors who can't pick their favorite supporting lady.

As strange as it is, I have slightly more respect when there's a specific magical reason and finite number of bitches we have to deal with, rather than the random massive orgies making up most haremfic.

Anyways, this fic's story is really more an unfolding of events in the past as much as conflict in the present. And some of the past stuff is surprisingly engaging and compelling. But some of it is also just tedious. As a story on its own, I'd probably call it average. As the second story in an ongoing series, I think it's an excellent installment and has got me following the third in the series regularly.

Everyone else says 3/5 so I'll round up and say 4/5. Definitely better than the first in the series, though I think I like the third one better than this one.

 

I found this one out of the triology to be a bit boring to be honest- the first one I disliked because of the way he went about the Draco friendship- it seemed a little corny, but his ability with grammar and his update rate makes me like him as an author.

3/5, like the majority of everyone.

Is it me or are a lot of older storys being re-reviewed?

 

Found the writing to be too bland. Nothing to differentiate it from any other writing style. Couldn't bring myself to read any of the stories in the trilogy.

 

I actually never read the first story in the series, but I read and enjoyed Forever Mage. The sequel to it, "The Lord of Light" is rather entertaining so far as well.

 

Ehh, the story's "okay". I don't think a lot of DLPers here would like it, since it's got the whole ridiculous "soul bond" crap, and they all think it's "twue wuv" thing going on.

Edit: I'll rate this a 2/5 for being somewhat trashy on the romance, but it has decent literacy.

 

Ugh, I got to chapter 20 before I stopped. And I skimmed a lot of it before that.

Some of the ideas are cool, but there just isn't any such thing as character development, especially for the 5 women he is apparently to take as his wife. The only one with any remote character development was Naomi. Even then it was barely there.

I didn't care about a single character in this story, even Harry, the protagonist. I didn't care about the brief appearance of the parents of the girls and the drama involved. I didn't care about the setting, which could of been anything. Star Trek? The exact same story could of been written in the Stargate universe, and not a single thing would be different, apart from the terminology and dates.

The only upside to this story is that in some very rare places, the writing is good. This doesn't include the spellings of Grindlewald as Grendelwald, or Wizengamot as Wizengamut. Repeatedly.

2/5, for the writing being legible.

 

It's...not something you read if you want an engaging and compelling plot. Skimmed a lot, and I didn't have any familiarity with the StarTrek verse to draw me in. I had read the first story some time ago, so I vaguely knew what was going on.

The sequel, a cross with Star Wars is decent as a ride through the SW verse but with similar problems to Forever Mage.

Guilty pleasure fics if you're not looking for realism.

 

2/5 from the parts I actually managed to read. The story is just so bleh. I'm sure everyone has read much worse, but then again, we have all read much, much better. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, I'm not that cruel.

 

I cbf'd to read two stories before I jump to the one I really want to read, the SW cross. So can I just jump straight to it, will I miss much?

 

Tbh, you won't miss anything at all.

Spoiler

Coruscant turns out to be a planet that was settled millions of years ago by Harry and co. as a place to restart the wizarding race. Harry has lived through a large number of lives/wives and has legends and myths about him, leading to his resurrection each time. The timelines from the previous two fics are made to fit with a quick bit of explaining at the start of the SW cross.

It's kinda fun seeing him traipse through the SW verse, and he's already made waves. So there's promise that it won't be a complete rehash of canon.

 

Seriously terrible, I forced myself through 20 chapters before I gave it up.

I'd have more fun reading My Immortal, if only because it's so bad that I can find it amusing.

This is barely good enough that I can derive no enjoyment out of its miserable failure.

I'd give it a 1/5 for how much I liked reading it, but the spelling wasn't that bad, so I'll reluctantly give it a 2/5 for managing at least that much.

 

I read the first four chapters of Lord of Light, and wow.

Darth Marrs is like fanfiction's M.Night, a promising start at first but steadily getting worse.

As for the story, as someone said there's something not quite right about the way Harry binds women to him, not even the fact that he would die without it makes up for it in my eyes.

The only redeeming feature was the interesting discussion about the origin of Midi-chlorians and his grasp of EU material like the Celestials.

/me optimistically goes on to read The Last Jedi.