7 August, 2002
Lust over Pendle
A. J. Hall
2002
948 KB
I wasn't sure I was going to write this one up (I read it a week or two ago), since technically it's not a book. But, since I spent more time reading it than The Bad Beginning, and since I read it because of what Kate wrote about it over on her own book log, I figured I might as well say something.
So, this is Harry Potter fanfic. (Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a lot better than some of the "real" books I've read this year.) The author labels it as "slash," but I wouldn't refer to it that way; while it does feature an unlikely romantic relationship between two male characters (Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom), it lacks the pornographic quality I associate with the term. There is only one really sexy scene in the story, and that takes place between two different (heterosexual) characters entirely, and it's not even very explicit. All that is by way of saying, "don't let the 'slash' epithet scare you. It doesn't apply in any way which truly matters.
The story takes place quite a few years in the future of the Potterverse, after the characters are all grown up, and the conflict with Voldemort has been resolved. Draco and Neville are outed by a wizard tabloid, and all manner of complications, adventures, and tribulations ensue. I refer you to Kate's writeup for a comprehensive description, while I jump right ahead to the analysis.
Fan fiction in general doesn't really appeal to me, because of my perspective on such things: I tend to get attached to fictional characters, I become very interested in what happens to them in their proper plotlines. I don't care so much for depictions of characters which have no bearing on their "real" stories, as determined by their proper creators. I only read this one because the bit Kate quoted sounded like the start of a really good story, so I gave it a try to see if I could overcome my inherent dislike of fanfic.
I was mostly successful in that, and I did enjoy the story. As characters, the Neville and Draco of Lust over Pendle have little in common with the corresponding characters in Rowling's books, apart from having the same history through their fourth year of wizard school. For one thing, Hall's versions are much more interesting and three-dimensional. Their relationship is believable (in the context of Hall's story-- the real Draco and Neville would never get together in this way!), and I found myself rooting for them to overcome their difficulties so they could live Happily Ever After (or something). The quality of writing was quite good overall, especially in emotional scenes and humorous ones.
The story does have flaws, most of which stem from it being fanfic. It falls prey to a foible which irritates me a lot, both in fanfic and in similar endeavors like shared-world anthologies. The author tries too hard to tie his work in with the Potterverse; in places it seems like he's going out of his way to include a character, spell, or setting element from the books, either to make an in-joke, or just because he can. The best parts of the story are those where Hall lets his own creativity go free, and doesn't depend on what Rowling's written before him. For example, this bit, where Draco reflects on his family history, and Voldemort's politics, is wholly unconnected to the Potter canon, rather, it's an excellent tie-in to the real world:
Apart from the fanfic issues, my only complaint about the story is that the ending felt a little rushed and abrupt. There's little in the way of denouement; while the epilogue is cute, it doesn't do much to give me the sense of closure I like to have at the end of a story.Because, of course -- strange, how insight finally catches up with you, long after it might have been some bloody use -- for all the Dark Lord's proclaiming his intention to avenge the wrongs of witches and wizards at the hands of brutal, ignorant, long-dead Muggles, the whole history had been much more complicated than the crudely painted child's picture book he set out before his followers. The ruthless internal divisions and struggles for power within the wizarding world over the centuries had seen to that. During all the various upsurges of Muggle oppression of witches and wizards the only times the Muggle authorities had ever actually managed to kill anyone other than their own by all their zealotry was when they had active connivance from the wizarding community. Oh, the motives for collaboration varied: weeding out Squibs and other black sheep; struggles for inheritances; the hope of Royal patronage -- sometimes, desperate denial and self-loathing, an effort to integrate into Muggle marriages and Muggle families by bringing a blood sacrifice to seal the pact. Dirty stories, all of them. Not many dirtier than that of his many-times great grandmother. They had made up a ballad about that one. Neville, once, had told him even the Muggles still remembered it: that he'd heard someone singing it in a Lancashire pub on a folk night.
By the time she was nine
She'd committed a grave crime
For her family from the gallows swung dead.
He looked across at the grim pile of the Castle. Somewhere inside that mass of stone, 313 years ago almost to the day, Jennet Device had stood in a courtroom and sworn away the lives of her mother, sister and brother. Her grandmother-- imprisoned on her testimony and dead in gaol -- had been already a rotting corpse buried somewhere about the prison precincts. No wonder the blood-guilt reflected back at him from the stones.
The meat of Lust over Pendle would make for an excellent "real" novel(la), if it could be divorced from the fanfic elements. The characters of Draco (bored English aristocrat cum disowned rebellious heir to the Dark Lord's second in command) and Neville (quiet, caring, not appreciated by his own family, deeper than he appears) are very compelling, and most of the secondary characters are interesting, too. The plot's good, and the dialogue is snappy.
In short, I liked it, even though I don't like fanfic.