Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Let's Try That Again, Shall We?
Reviews
Let's Try That Again, Shall We?
(#) Cho_Fleur_Nymphadora 2012-04-28
It's quite an original time-travel story. Sybill Trelawney has nightmares which lead to the development of snitches that cause the 1998!Tonks to be transferred to the body of 1990!Tonks. Tonks introduces changes that lead to Harry being put in the care of Augusta Longbottom.
I like how this story isn't centred around Harry, but concentrates on minor characters like Sybill Trelawney, Nymphadora Tonks, Charlie Weasley, the Weasley Twins, the Defence against the Dark Arts professor (an original character; I like him), a few Slytherin characters (all original; it's nice to see Slytherin student being ordinary students).
But your original character Orin is a problem. He just annoys me. An Oren from 2015 goes back to 1990---that's 25 years compared to Tonks 8 years---and it's completely irrelevant for most scenes involving Oren!!! Why is Oren a time traveller??? He has 25 years of advanced knowledge and he's not using it!!!
Oren saves the diadem horcrux---but more because it's part of Britain's cultural heritage, than the fact it is Voldemort's horcrux. He hates that Dumbledore supporters destroyed the diadem, but is silent on the issue of Voldemort using it as a horcrux. He blames Dumbledore for the death of the Unicorns, but it is Voldemort possessing Quirrel that actually does the killing. He hates Dumbledore for reading people's minds. Yet, when he confronts Snape about reading peoples mind, he's satisfied when Snape states he isn't interested in teenage drama--- he just doesn't bother assigning the same reasoning to Dumbledore!
Sometimes Oren appears like he'll be the first in line at the Death Eater recruitment station. Other times he appears like a middle aged man having had a mid-life crisis and now having gotten the chance (literally!) to have a second childhood. He has no problem with having a young teen-aged girl in his lap. He has an irrational hatred for Dumbledore and his supporters. And he's only a passive supporter of Voldemort. I like him as a slice-of-life Slytherin character, but I dislike him as a time traveller, because by virtue of his action (or inaction) he's isn't one.Author's response
Your impression of Oren is pretty much as intended. He is not a hero or adventurer. His values are not mainstream, although he thinks they are. He isn't fully rational himself, although he believes the world is inherently rational and talks accordingly.
If the question is why did the snitch spell pick him, I'd point out that Acamar wasn't very experienced with that sort of intelligent magic and we don't _exactly_ what he told it to do. As the author, this is the MacGuffin for getting multiple time travelers working at cross-purposes.
As to the teenage girl, on the one hand that was more experience with girls than he had ever had in his previous life. He can pass for professional, but is socially very awkward. In the story he is going back and forth between exploiting his sophistication, covering up for his sophistication, and covering up for (or not thinking about) the fact that he's not all that sophisticated in the first place.
On the other hand, at the end of the day, ethics about that sort of thing are not exactly his strong suit.
I once went to a talk by Lev Grossman about his _Magicians_ books, where someone asked him why his characters were so irresponsible, and he replied that none of the characters were exactly "the cream of the ethical crop" (or maybe it was "swimming in the deep end of the ethical pool"; I forget). And that is exactly the case in _Let's Try That Again, Shall We?_, too -- there are characters (e.g. Arthur Weasley) who are clearly and reliably _good_, and who will go out and do the right things every time. This is mostly not their story.
This seems like a good time to reiterate that the opinions of the characters are not necessarily those of the author. :)Let's Try That Again, Shall We?
(#) Cho_Fleur_Nymphadora 2012-04-29
Hmmm, so Oren was designed to annoy me, huh :-p
A bit more seriously, the problem I had with Oren was not the fact that he wasn't the cream of the ethical crop. What made me sit up and notice was the reason why he had these opinions. If you know that someone has Tourette syndrome you won't be surprised at a cuss word that's out of context. But Oren lacks quite a bit of intrinsic motivation, so the reader has to make assumptions as to why he goes off on a rant and why he has some of these opinions.
It occurs to me while writing this, that Oren is a character that is anti-something, but not necessarily pro-anything. In other words, Oren defines himself by what he is against---not what he is in favour of. Which actually makes sense out of a lot of his behaviour. I'm curious whether you intended that.
I had briefly contemplated whether he was supposed to influence events, but that's so rare in fanfiction that I immediately rejected it. But if Oren defines himself by what he is against, it makes sense that he hardly influences events.
It doesn't really help that I read this story from start to finish. It makes it appear as if Oren is flipflopping.
Thanks for your reply.Author's response
When you wrote this review I wasn't sure how to comment on it without giving spoilers. Let's see:
I think the best I can do is to say that because Oren is a semi-antagonist to most of the other primary characters, I'm not writing about every single thing he does. (If you actually want spoilers, private message me. I don't have too many plans for Oren in the immediate future of the story, so many details will take a very long time to come out, both at the rate I'm writing and in word count.)
On the other hand, it's his story, or at least it is supposed to be 1/4 his story (there will be four time travelers eventually, one for each house). Besides the pieces of plot he has obviously driven (e.g. Tonks' inability to get a complete collection of horcruxes), I have used him for exposition and for humor, and I want him to be well-characterized beforehand at those times when I need to involve him in the plot.
On the third hand, the things Oren really, really cares about probably have a lot to do with art, and I expect to work them into the story only with great difficulty. :P I have spent a lot of words characterizing him and it's still woefully inadequate. (May all my characters have that problem!) More seriously, the fact that Oren has no real will to power or competitive spirit is very deliberate (e.g. he will always have some tension with Voldemort's faction, since Oren can't even imagine what it's like to give a damn about taking over the world).
As to reading the story from start to finish, I really appreciate knowing that! I value that kind of review very highly (although I appreciate all reviews!). :) Thank you!
Sign up to review this story.