TomRiddle
Friday 17th May 2019 17:50 | Vis Insita | Caleb S. Nova Esq.
Somewhere
Planet Earth
'Sup Caleb,
It's been ages since I read any of your work, and longer since I've commented to you about it. And, despite your somewhat irregular posting schedule, it's my fault. I've had a whole lot of things going on in life the last few years, and well, quite frankly I enjoy creating a bit of a backlog of your work so that I can binge through it all, and well, that backlog increased substantially as life continued to get in the way. I think the last time I'd been caught up was probably February 2017? Which, in retrospect isn't that far back in so far as chapters posted, but it's far enough back that it necessitated a re-read in it's entirety to catch back up.
You mentioned in one of your authors notes at some point that you didn't get as many long form reviews as you'd like, and hypothesized on why that might be - that it might be due to things your readers would comment on being forgotten by the time they went to review, and I find that I quite agree with that. When I did my re-read of TTM, I was reading an .epub version on my iPad and could highlight bits that stuck out to me mostly (read: entirely) consisting of bits that I thought were particularly amusing (Casual Cummerbund will never not be funny to me.) But even that doesn't allow quite the in-depth note taking that is necessary to provide the feedback that you seem to crave. Once I got to Vis, remembering things to comment on was further exacerbated by again, reading on my iPad but from PhoenixSong directly, with no way to record thoughts easily (I mean, aside from writing them down on paper with pen, but that seems so.... luddite.)
Thus I'm left after catching up with a reaffirmed sense of how much I enjoy your work, and for one of the earlier fanfics I'd read, how well in continues to stand up and how I'm perfectly happy to, and enjoy re-reading it. This (I assume) penultimate chapter is incredibly bittersweet, an end of an era if you will. Which, I'll admit is a bit ridiculous to say to you, as it's probably more of an important factor in your life than in mine. Anyway, bittersweet. I mean, TTM and Vis have been a constant (if irregular) in my life for the last almost decade if my first review date is anything to go by, and the quality continues to maintain and increase.
You've mentioned on several occasions your commitment to having your characters continue to be in character to the detriment to basically everything else in the story, which is something that I appreciate so much. Commit to the bit. If you can't remain internally consistent to your story, why should your readers continue to read it? Your job as an author is to make the reader believe. To set the terms from the beginning of what's going to happen, set the stage, tell me how much reality I need to ignore to believe this, and then stay true to that original suspension of belief. Of course Scott is going to do everything possible to save his Primes after the ambush at Privet Drive, and he's going to prioritize Harry. Once he and Hermione are taken, Scott is going to put himself in harms way to protect her, doing anything up to and including revealing his Kharadjai specific abilities.
I can't understate how much I respect and appreciate your commitment to the bit.
And now, specific feedback to things that I remember from the most recent chapters;
I really really like Kylie, hearing things from her perspective is such an amazing way to see her grow from the little slip of a thing we ran into on the boats into Hogwarts, to her panic attack about the cup to having a bit of Champagne when everybody was drinking. I also really liked the interaction between Trevor and Kylie about the flashlight, it was just the fucking sweetest thing and is really great to see that Trevor, as excitable and everything that he is, notices that Kylie isn't as headstrong as he is and that they're still close afterwards.
I had other feedback about other stuff, but seem to have forgotten it in my minirant about Kylie.
I want to thank you again, Caleb, for creating this world and allowing us to enjoy it. I'm sad that it's coming to an end, but all things must end. I hope you will move onto something else after this and I look forward to it with baited breath. I don't know how often you're still checking your reviews on this at this point, but I wanted to take some time and leave some thoughts for you.
I remain, as always
~TomRiddle | Dad
Sunday 2nd September 2018 18:53 | Vis Insita | | It must be some sort of record, but I have just worked out it is nearly eleven years since I started reading this series. Enjoyed it all. Thanks. | | Thursday 6th September 2018 19:58 | Vis Insita (Author Response) | | Don't remind me. And it's quite done yet, either. | lazzyman5540
Wednesday 29th August 2018 15:37 | Vis Insita | | Wow!! Awesome chapter! Been reading from the start and loved every bit of it! Tank you so much for the hours of entertainment. Is this the last chapter or will there be some aftermath? | | Thursday 6th September 2018 19:58 | Vis Insita (Author Response) | | There will be more to wrap things up. |
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