Title: Unspoken
Author: PhantasmagoricBlade
Rating: Mature
Genre: Drama/Angst
DLP Category: The Alternates/Dark Arts
Pairing: None
Status: Complete

Summary: In all things, there is balance. It is fragile, yet sometimes, the only thing that keeps us alive. Those that see this, inevitably, rise to protect it. By whatever means necessary. AU DH.

Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5121268/1/Unspoken

A nice take on the Unspeakable! Harry sub-genre. The character of Augustus Rookwood is well done and the idea of what the Unspeakables actually do is, while not totally new, well done . Harry's characterization was nice and I found his interactions with Rookwood to be realistic. The writing was good with little to no noticeable errors, and the author is accomplished.

4/5 from me, only because the format of the story was slightly confusing at first. Recommended.


Edit by Minion, Dec. 15, 2012
Dead link is dead. If you know where to find another copy of this story, please inform the library staff

 

This has some interesting concepts, but kind of reeks of super!Unspeakables. While OP found Harry and Rookwood's interaction realistic, I was annoyed by it. And the way Harry keeps failing at casting spells sucks.

Confusing, and not in a good way.

3/5, and I'm being generous.

 

Heh. Not bad. Definitely interesting, and different from my usual fare. The writing is decent, if not always clear, and manages to travel in (mostly) straight lines. The actual story here is pretty bare bones, though.

I'll give it a 3/5, mostly for the awesome mental picture I got when Augustus Rookwood explains the tenets and whatnot of the Unspeakables. Think Liam Neeson as Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins, explaining the League of Shadows just before setting fire to Wayne Manor.

 

You guys are right about the whole super Unspeakables thing, but I felt that the overall story managed to cover it mostly.

Phoenix: The mental picture you described is perfect.

 

I think I've read this one before. It could have been in recommended fiction...
As to the story itself, I have to agree with everyone in here - the concept is a good one, but uber!unspeakables go way over the line of plausibility.

3/5

 

Coherence is the big problem.

Such poor taste.

The Rookwood-Harry interaction is also pretty over-the-top.

Finally, the structure is only there to make something that is really quite simply confusing.

I beta'ed this, but only edited the writing itself. If these other things were addressed, the one-shot would be a lot different, more substantive, and possibly less interesting.

3/5.

 

The Unspeakable cliche is getting pretty old. If the Unspeakables are like SWAT or SAS, we would have known about it from canon. The end was too obvious, with Harry surviving the Killing curse, even though it wasn't explained just how he did it. In the end, I'd say...

3/5

 

Rookwood = Ra's Al Ghul?

 

Yeah, Doc, that's how I pictured it.

 

>_> Rookwood is not nearly cool enough to be Ra's. He also lacks a suitably hot Talia-esque child to sex Harry. >_>