muscatlove posted a comment on Sunday 17th January 2010 9:46pm

For the love of all that's good, I should never have started reading your fics. The sheer level of detail and thought you put into these stories, even if they're incomplete, is amazing and will likely ruin me for most other HP fic. I want to read volumes upon volumes about the American wizarding society you've created and its functioning.. the sheer level of the governmental/societal/education apparatus you're hinting at leaves me begging for more. Completely awesome in every way, not to belittle the story, which is fascinating! <3

aemilyl24 posted a comment on Wednesday 25th November 2009 5:19am

How could you leave it there???? I do hope you plan on updating this fic soon. I can't wait to see what happens next. This is an awesome concept for a story :D

tmctflyboy posted a comment on Monday 16th November 2009 6:57pm

i have to say this story is awesome!!. i love history and depth that you go into with the classes and the new school. i really look forward to the next chapter

twilightwanderer posted a comment on Sunday 18th October 2009 2:14pm

Interesting story, I wish you would continue it (ditto for Fidelius). Also, out of curiosity, did you get the idea for Prof TwoBears from Terry Brooks?

silliepaulie posted a comment on Monday 20th July 2009 5:01am

this is a great story hope to see more soon.

james27 posted a comment on Tuesday 26th May 2009 3:16pm

You mention that the Cruciatus is not permanently damaging, but need I remind you of Neville's parents?

I would think that going insane would be considered 'permanently damaging'.

Sarah B posted a comment on Saturday 25th April 2009 1:53am

Wow, I've just finished reading this for the first time and it's great.

The characterisations are really good and I enjoy the way the characters interact. I've read other stories where Harry goes to another school but this is a great way of doing it so that he gets exposed to many different traditions and ways of doing magic. I also like the fact that because it's an exchange program organised by Dumbledore he's still in contact with everyone at home and they get to deal with new people as well.

I hope you decide to continue it at some point as I'd like to know what happens.

Franavu posted a comment on Tuesday 24th March 2009 5:21am

I love the story, hope it isn't abandoned.

Kelly Hilliard posted a comment on Sunday 21st December 2008 6:14pm

I've always liked stories which Harry goes somewhere else for schooling. This is a great story, better yet it has a fresh approach in this genre. I can't wait till the next chapter.

miahtech posted a comment on Sunday 14th December 2008 12:37pm

Love this one too. Look forward to more sometime.

csktech posted a comment on Monday 24th November 2008 1:18am

Great description of having a dislocated shoulder being reduced. BTDT have the Tshirt and the hospital bills to prove it.

One thing you missed, and since this is finished it really doesnt matter, is the sense of Joy you feel when its finally back in place.

Great story so far.

Thanks

bratling posted a comment on Saturday 8th November 2008 1:54am

Has this been abandoned? It's one of my favorites...

Carolyn Jinn posted a comment on Wednesday 5th November 2008 5:56pm

This story so far has alot of different storylines that tend to be interwoven. It has the makings of a great story.

Unfortunately, since it has been THREE YEARS since your last update, I am starting to wonder if you will ever get to finish it.

Please consider finishing this story( and your other ones you have started).

I, for one, can't wait for the rest of the story.

Anansii posted a comment on Sunday 2nd November 2008 1:24pm

Is there any chance this will be continued someday? I suppose after 3 years the chance is remote, but I'd REALLY like to read the rest of it.

bookaholic_au posted a comment on Wednesday 8th October 2008 8:57am

Another note: calling an Australian Aborigine an "Abo", is about as insulting as calling an African American a "nigger"

bookaholic_au posted a comment on Wednesday 8th October 2008 6:38am

Just a bit of Brit-picking - for historical reasons, what the Americans and Australians would call a private school is called a public school in Britain (I think it's because when they first started schools, private schooling was in the home and public schooling in schools)

Princess Fictoria posted a comment on Monday 25th August 2008 7:59am

I am very saddened to see how long it has been since you have been inspired to continue this remarkable story. The way you have interwoven different aspects of the magical and mundane worlds is awesome to read. You have created a world that is fascinating and fun to read. I eagerly look forward to learning just how Harry does on his vision quest as well as how his research into how to fulfill his destiny goes.

Your characters are true to life and believable. I very much like Two Bears and think that he will be a very good mentor for our young warrior chief.

Please search for your muse and add more to this story. I would send you cookies if it would help?

Dragon63 posted a comment on Friday 8th August 2008 7:40pm

Darn, there doesn't seem to be any way to edit or change a review once submitted... meant to add in a guess that the green-haired girl in the exchange program is part Dryad, similarly to Fleur being part Veela. Don't remember if she sorted into the Bear Clan (healers) or not, but IMHO that would be a good fit for a part-Dryad with the whole Earth-Mage/Herbology thing going on.

Ishtar replied:

Good guess, but she's not a dryad.   What she is, is the result of a wish gone wrong.   Are you familiar with the Hawaiian caves that are sacred to Pele, where if you do a certain ritual and request a child, you'll concieve?  (I knew a couple who did this, and then weren't sure they'd done it right the first time so they recited the prayer again - you guessed it,  they had twins.)  Meg's mother did that, but got flustered - she wanted a child with red hair and green eyes but accidentally  reversed the words  ...

Thank you very much for your very thorough and thoughtful  commentary on the story so far.   I haven't read the Lackey book, so any resemblance is purely coincidental; the Heinlein/Wiccan/libertarian influences were spot on (though I prefer to take my libertarianism as a personal philosophy and not as a political stance - my experience with the political Libertarians is that most of them are tin-foil-hat-wearing whackos who are just as much control freaks as the rest of the politicians in this country).

Dragon63 posted a comment on Friday 8th August 2008 7:28pm

Wow! I *love* this! So much wonderful background detail that's missing from canon that was really *needed* in canon to fully flesh out the framework of the Wizarding universe.

I loved the Weasleys' tree-planting ceremony/spell for welcoming new members into the family, whether through birth, fostering, or adoption. It clearly had a well thought out emotional, logical, and magical basis and just *felt* right.

And following right on the heels of that, the whole Garden of Avalon experience, with the twining trees and the symbolism of the cut apple to summon the relevant spirit, and the sharing of a meal to welcome those spirit(s) into a discussion. I also noticed in your little picnic ceremony the use of balanced female-male "poles-of-power" (so to speak) at each of the four sides of the square picnic blanket, three living sides and one spirit side. Very well done!!

Being myself a long-time Heinlein fan (I myself first read "Stranger" in 1970, and it had a powerful effect on me), I was delighted to see Harry first interested in reading it (if only because the title struck a chord in him), and also to see it included in a list of fiction that shows how Mundanes (thee and me, lol!) regard Magic.

The "Ethics" class also struck me as being influenced by Heinlein... those "10 Rules" in that booklet struck me as an interesting melding of "Starship Troopers" (the book, *not* the movie dreck), Wicca, and some of the basic tenets of the American Libertarian Party.

I think I also recognized what appeared to be influences from Mercedes Lackey's book "Sacred Ground"... although I suspect (as I am writing this) that these are coincidental because of the similarities in subject matter between that story and parts of yours, particularly Lakota (and other Native American) Medicine and shamanistic practices.

And it looks like Harry is learning that he is going to *have* to become a "Chief" in order to have a chance of defeating Voldemort and the DEs. If he tries to remain a Warrior, then all he will *ever* be is a weapon wielded by Dumbledore... and he is slowly realizing that, because a weapon never needs to be told "why", nor does it really need any information other than "kill the evil one!".

I am hoping that you can return to this story at some point, it stopped at such an interesting place (Tommy is part of Dumbledore's "crew" that meets and defeats Grindewald?!?!?), and leaves so many things dangling and unanswered... However, I can certainly understand the vagaries of Real Life and an uncooperative Muse.

Thank you for what you have shared so far; it is complex, rich, detailed, thought-provoking, and enjoyable!

rogue7 posted a comment on Wednesday 30th July 2008 2:09pm

Eghad what a place to pause the story...
Is there any hope of continuing this great story ?