James Potter and the Hall of Elder's Crossing

Category: book Nook

Post 1 by Remy (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Friday, 29-Aug-2014 20:31:58

hello all. Has anyone red or heard the audio of this novel? I usually steer well clear of fan fiction for a number of reasons, but as this one appears to be somewhat sanctioned by Rowling herself, I thought it might bare looking into, considering its premmace. What are your thoughts?

Post 2 by Maiden of the Moonlight (Zone BBS is my Life) on Saturday, 30-Aug-2014 3:04:55

So I really, really want to listen to it. I see the ad all the time and I listened to the sample But I can't find a place to download it, and the contact us link didn't really work for me. If anyone was able to get it, let me know how please. I think I might have asked about this before, so for those who tried to help me, I'm sorry lol.

Post 3 by Maiden of the Moonlight (Zone BBS is my Life) on Saturday, 30-Aug-2014 3:06:30

Oh, and yes, I'm not a fan fiction fan either for the most part (the are jus too outlandish for me sometimes,) but this one sounds so interesting.

Post 4 by Remy (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Saturday, 30-Aug-2014 18:00:16

I agree, but I was just leary about it.

Post 5 by kool_turk (This site is so "educational") on Sunday, 31-Aug-2014 2:24:30

I have them as text files, but only read the prologue of the first book.

I agree, outlandish is putting it mildly.

Some are just ridiculous.

It's quite rare to find ones that are what people call canon.

One other series comes to mind and they were written before the Harry Potter books were finished so they're canon up to book 4.

I might just wait for the James Potter Series to actually be finished before I read them, cause I've made that mistake in the past, find a good series, only for the author to abandon it, not good at all.

Post 6 by Daenerys Targaryen (Enjoying Life) on Thursday, 04-Sep-2014 20:47:05

Its a good fic. The second part will be out at the end of October. I didn't think I would really like it because I usually do not like fics with OCs but actually the new chars played important parts in the story and I kept wanting to know what would happen next. The guy who reads it is good and does different voices for the chars. If someone needs help downloading it you can send me a message.

Post 7 by Shepherdwolf (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Saturday, 06-Sep-2014 20:48:18

You know, it strikes me rather funny that you can sign up for an account with these guys in order to get the audiobook, but they have a captcha image for doing so. Seriously? No sound captcha or anything? That's nuts. It would be like the CNIB sending you all of its documentation in print or image-based PDF files.

Post 8 by Daenerys Targaryen (Enjoying Life) on Sunday, 07-Sep-2014 14:00:22

Well when I got the book they did have an audio captcha that worked and that was on the first day it was out so not sure...

Post 9 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Saturday, 08-Nov-2014 20:54:27

How in character are the cannon characters, if they are not exact copies of the book characters, I do not tend to be a fan.

Post 10 by Remy (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 09-Nov-2014 18:56:23

Despite the ad being plastered on the zone, it seems like there isn't a lot of people who have oppinions.

Post 11 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Tuesday, 18-Nov-2014 11:39:47

I read the summary, it's not my type, The characters do not seem as in character as I would prefer. I rather prefer teddy to be much more similar to Remus. From the summary Ted seems too much similar to James Potter SR. I think both James would enjoy adventure however, I am able to see neither James be much of a hero type. If anyone would be heroic, It would be albus Potter. Why would the muggle and wizzarding worlds clash? Kingsley would be an excellent and effective minister of magic.

Post 12 by Shepherdwolf (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Wednesday, 19-Nov-2014 7:28:13

Having read the book, I can say that it does have its shortcomings, but characterization largely isn't one of them.

Teddy was very young when both of his parents died, so the way he turned out should be on his own merits...and it is. It's not as if he had Remus to look up to all his life.

Harry, during the original seven books, was mostly very lucky and quite brave. James is slightly more clever than Harry was early on and doesn't really fancy being a hero, but Lippert actually handles being in someone else's shadow fairly well.

The main issue I have with the book, actually, is classes. For some reason, first-years are often lumped in with characters in much higher years for what seems like arbitrary reasons. For a couple of the classes (which are normally not taught), I suppose I can see it, but for core curriculum stuff, I don't get it.

It's not Rowling. The writing itself is better, the issues brought up in the first book are pretty weighty for an eleven-year-old to tackle, and there is more emphasis on character. People are not quite as black and white, which I really appreciate. Slips aside, I actually recommend this book to people who want to see how someone else might have dealt with the series. If you're wanting Harry Potter #8, in theme and execution, then don't bother, but if you're willing to jump seventeen years or so into the future (or right after that ungodly epilogue in Deathly Hallows, if you will), and can have a bit of an open mind on how things would have changed, you might really like it.

Now, I have a question. I heard the second book was supposed to be available by Halloween. Any word on that?

Post 13 by Daenerys Targaryen (Enjoying Life) on Wednesday, 19-Nov-2014 19:30:29

Yes it is available now.

Post 14 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Thursday, 20-Nov-2014 11:34:39

I tend to enjoy Rowlings writings. I think she did quite some excellent work with characterization. I can appreciate the tendency as she had had Harry possess the tendency to possess some traits of his parents. I prefer and think that Teddy Lupin may also have these aspects.

I am much prefer strictly Cannon if you were to do a continuation. I prefer strict in characterness and story style as well. Yes, I prefer a continuation to match much of what the books has already laid out. If you are going to write fanfiction, this aspect is rather important to me.

Rethinking it I think teddy would resemble either Tonks's tendencies or Nevilles. However neither seems to be what teddy is portrayed as in this book.

Post 15 by Daenerys Targaryen (Enjoying Life) on Sunday, 23-Nov-2014 18:02:30

I read some of the second part and they just killed off a char who didn't die in the original HP books. I don't really feel like reading it anymore.

Post 16 by Shepherdwolf (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Monday, 24-Nov-2014 7:42:21

See, this bugs me, guys.
People get older. People die. People have bad stuff happen to them. Also, people aren't necessarily going to be like their mom or dad just because it would be cool if they were.
To be perfectly honest here, Rowling's sole excellent character, in my opinion at least, was Snape, and even he had a few warts. Some other characters got good as they went, but many of the HP characterizations were weak, or at the very least one-dimensional. This is, and was, a series aimed at children or young adults, so perhaps some leniency on this should be permitted, but I daresay Rowling's real strength is in her ability to tell an engaging story. She does this extremely well, and because of it, we can forgive her occasionally annoying characterizations or her horrid use of adverbs. At least, I can.
Now, G. Norman Lippert ramps the writing level up a notch, improves the characterization quite a bit and still tells a pretty good story. He seems to favour action over cleverness thus far, and he's definitely made some pretty notable mistakes, but I think he's at least in the same class as Rowling as far as creating an enjoyable book in the Harry Potter universe.

Speaking of the second book though, I figured out how to get an account at livingaudio.co.uk, which is all well and good, but I can't seem to actually click the "add to basket" button if I want to get the second book. Frustrating.

Post 17 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Monday, 24-Nov-2014 15:44:37

ah, to each their own. I happen not to agree with you. I prefer rowlings characters and ideas of them, at the least, I think it may need a degree of development, however, I do not believe in changing the characteristics.

Post 18 by Shepherdwolf (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Monday, 24-Nov-2014 22:49:02

If you were talking about making a Rowling character, who had a clearly defined character, different, that would be one thing. Teddy Lupin was a baby though, so we had no idea what he was like. As for anyone else, I mostly agree with you; unless there's a really excellent reason to change a canon character's personality it shouldn't tweak overly much. I mean, obviously Ron and Hermione and Harry and Neville are all going to grow up and get a bit wiser, but they're probably still going to have their dominant character traits. That much, I agree with. I just don't think making Teddy an amalgam of his mom and dad when he was orphaned so young makes sense, and I don't think we need a whole slew of one-dimensional Rowling imitations in order for it to be enjoyable.

...and, I think that's the crux of it. Some people read and write fanfiction as a means of imitation, nothing more. They want a beloved thing to continue, so they seek as much similarity as possible. The other reason - and in my personal opinion the better reason - to write fanfiction is because you want to do a service to something you enjoyed by expanding on it. This doesn't mean Harry Potter in space or something, but it does mean that new characters, new scenarios, new conflicts and expansion are the goal, not nostalgia. You seem to be a fan of the former, and I of the latter. You want more of the same from what Rowling gave; I respect Rowling but am open to see what honestly happens next. I want new, you want recycled. To each their own, as you say. I'm not trying to be mean about this.

Post 19 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Tuesday, 25-Nov-2014 2:28:04

I am of the former school, I develop the character to a slight degree slightly les
one dimensional however the same rowling characters. This is however my
preference.