Manacled

I never read fan fiction..

I made the mistake of going down that rabbit hole with this book..
Not in the way I expected.

The story has all the elements of a war torn or dystopia backdrop, while laced with dark magic, the fight for good, and of course many familiar faces.

I must have read and watched the Harry Potter series hundreds of times over my life and it never even occurred to me that I could fall in love with characters I'd long ago set aside due to their darkness.

I also never would have expected such a duo to be so fiercely and devotedly written about. As I said, I'm extremely new to this fanfic world, and I am shocked at how badly I wanted the story to devour my soul as I read page after page (so many pages), theoretically, I show more would have never paired Draco and Hermione up, good and evil combined together for a delicious, possessive and deeply broken relationship.

I felt the mannerisms of the characters deeply mirrored that of their counterparts and often found the words appearing in my head as though hearing the characters voices from the films.

I absolutely loved that the fate of the characters was so different, but now how am I supposed to watch the films in part of my obsessive compulsive rewatching periods, without being gutted our beloved duo don't really exist. With the void that now lives within me as I grasp for a follow on, that I have no idea of possibly arising.

While the story had some devastating effects on my mind and emotions, I found silent tears falling from the corners of my eyes as I discovered, through flashbacks, what the wizarding war truly wrought upon it's survivors.

There is such heavy themes throughout the story, things I couldn't look away from. But all the more realistic I suppose.. I can't say I've ever experienced them, but the storytelling leaves no stone unturned in its pursuit to drive home what being a survivor really means. The lengths one can go to survive the darkness and still exist, exist in a world that has never wanted you to be part of it. Of having such fierce passion and emotion that you would destroy yourself to save those you love.

So, without further ado, I do believe this is one of the best books I've read. I tend mostly to stick to ARC reading, but I'm so glad I decided to venture further afield to discover the Dramione world.

Full of spice, darkness, war and unexpected friendships and love.
Full of life.. and death.
A forbidden romance with a world of the brink of disaster.
I thoroughly recommend this story to mature adults who can handle any and all TW the author mentions.

I discovered this book after hearing the author will be releasing an uncopyrighted elements version. I am very excited to see what that shall end up being like. Same story different names etc.
I plan to give that a go when I can and see if I still enjoy the story as much.

I think I probably will.

5 shiny stars from me. I'd give it more if I could. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ show less

This was my first introduction into a fanfiction novel and boy did it not disappoint. My Harry Potter obsessed younger self is getting that little dopamine hit that I use to get when I read this series for the first time. I forgot how much I missed these characters!

I would say this book really had three main sections throughout it that all made me feel different things. The first quarter of the book relied on my previous notions and feeling towards the characters; specifically, Hermione and Draco. For anyone thinking of picking this book up, if you get an uneasy feeling, make it through chapter 6 and you're golden. There may still be some unease, but it gets much better.

Then the flashback section starts! I loved this potion, although show more I didn't realize it would be over 35 chapters of flashback haha. This big chunk of the book completely changed my viewpoint of what happened in the first quarter. Certain scenes made more sense, and I was able to see the plot through a different point of view. I personally loved this portion of the book, and it made me really excited to get back to the present-day part to see where this went.

After the flashbacks were over, I felt like the adventure started. I was rooting for a certain outcome and couldn't stop myself from reading to see if it would happen or not. I love how this story took a different approach to the Harry Potter ending that we all know but still seemed to keep true to the characters. And if the opinions on characters changed, we were given a rationale for the behavior we previously saw.

All in all, this was a great read. It's a long one, so be prepared! show less

This 2019 fanfic by senlinyu brings the central conflict in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series to a darker and more realistic conclusion. Departing from an intertextual relationship with The Handmaid's Tale rather than the genre of magic boarding school fiction, Manacled follows Hermione Granger facing the aftermath of the desperate, long wizarding war that Voldemort eventually won.

In addition to being an excellent story delivered stunningly, this work is a shining example of the power of fanfiction to transform readers' understandings and reveal the vulnerability of the author's perspective. The work tackles Harry Potter and the central conflict and plot points of the series through a more Slytherin sensibility, and it raises show more uncomfortable questions that the original series skirts or handles glibly. What dirty work are we blind to because we prefer to be? How do narratives reinforce themselves? Can love and light really win against darkness? Manacled uses its narrative to firmly answer: "no, evil will win and then call itself good; find personal meaning where you can." Ouch. But it's a perfectly in-sync message for the aging audience that came to this series as teens and whose experiences have driven a wave of dystopian media up through the age brackets.

Brilliant, transformative, powerful, intertextual. This is the fanfiction genre at its best. show less

I-

I can't understand why it took me so long to pick this book up but when I did I was sold. This is the best fanfic I have ever had the pleasure of reading and I don't think I could ever come back from this. Enemies to lovers, "who did this to you", the list goes on. It is dark, I will say that, but it has this sense of keeping me on my toes from start to finish. I never know how the next chapter is going to go and its thrilling. Such a great book, can't deny it. Will re-read again LOL

2,5 ⭐
Today we learned that fanfiction is really not my thing.
Yes there are very good bits but they are ruined with the bad writting... I know it's fanfiction, but yeah thats why I am saying that is is not for me in general.
The story in the general sense is very good, but the "fanfiction" aspect of it ruined it. The story drags way too much, there are soooooo many spelling mistakes and missing words to the point that I can not ignore them anymore.
The end made me cry, for all its worth

1/5

Absolute drivel.

I thought the beginning of this was very powerful. I had really high hopes in the first half, but the relationship did not develop in ways that worked for me. It just seemed unrealistic and over the top. (Also, the way that people are only interested in one another because they are touch starved made me sigh longingly for regency era romance.)

Also? Morally bankrupt Hermione only works if she is more shrewd and callous and less complicit imo

ALSO ALSO????? WHY DIDNT THEY EVER TALK ABOUT HOW MALFOY WAS GONNA LOSE HIS MIND ABOUT BEING A FATHER UNTIL AFTER! THE BABY! WAS BORN!?!??!?? Dude. These people are NOT equipped to be parents. They need to go to family therapy first.

reading update:
876 page fanfiction? Light work

DNF @ 28%

i couldn’t get past the fact that this is about harry potter characters. it’s hermione dude. i can’t be reading about hermione getting.. y’know. railed. just absolutely unacceptable behavior from SenLinYu. don’t let booktok talk you into this.