I have never read fan fiction. I had heard of it, but I truly didn’t know what it was all about.

This is why I Iove to recommend to readers that when they are in a reading slump, just ask their friends what they are reading. And that is what I did. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. My friend was reading Manacled by SenLinYu, and get this, there was no actual book. The only way that I could read Manacled was to read it online on a certain forum. No physical copies exist, unless you get the printed pages bound. And even that is looked down upon by the Fan Fic world.

Manacled is a Harry Potter FanFic story about an alternate world where Voldemort wins in the end. Not only has he won, but because so many of the Wizarding population has been killed due to the war, Voldemort has enacted a new effort to repopulate it. All of the characters we rooted for in the Harry Potter series are dead except Hermione. Harry, dead. Ron, dead. Tonks, dead. Moody, dead. All the other Weasleys, dead. Hermoine is left to rot in a dungeon cell, but is finally relased after months in solitary confinement. The new regime wants her memories because there is still someone out there who is causing havoc for those now in power. Maybe Hermione knows something that the Dark Lord has missed, but during her coninement, certain memories are locked behind a barrier within her mind that even Voldemort can’t penetrate. An idea crosses one of the interregators’ mind that Hermione should be used as a surrogate to help populate the diminished Magical population and through producing an heir, her memories would crack open. To Hermione’s horror, that is exactly what happens to her. With the help of special manacles, her magic is stiffled and cannot be used. She is trained and then is assigned to be the surrogate baby maker for none other than Draco Malfoy. And to help the Dark Lord, Draco will do anything – even sire an heir through Hermione – to get those memories she’s hidden and defeat, once and for all, the Order of the Phoenix.

I won’t lie. I was pleasantly surprised by this “book”. I was fearful of awful writing and unforgiveable grammar errors and spelling, but there were very few, if any. The writing style was also very different. The author didn’t have long paragraphs, but short snippets with paragraph spaces in between them which made reading the material somehow easier. Although the book was actually good, something didn’t quiet sit right with me. The author did an amazing job in making this alternate world. SenLinYu knew the world of Harry Potter extremely well, but to me something was off, and frankly the only thing off was that the author wasn’t J.K. Rowling. In my heart of hearts, its not what was intended. Harry is supposed to live. Hermione doesn’t end up with Draco, but with Ron. Draco settles with his struggles and Voldemort gets what he deserves. Manacled didn’t follow canon and that is why at the root of it all, I am generally not a fan of fanfiction.

But if you are . . . . .

Read this book! Or whatever it is.

Although I will warn any reader that this is definitely a book for adults only. There is gore, rape, toture and a tremendous amount of violence.

I still gave this book 4 stars because the story was very well developed even though I know Hermione would never love Draco!

You can read this book for free on AO3. Here is the link.

This book is 876 pages long. It has an astonishing GoodReads rating of 4.66. Over 56,000 people have rated this book. Words: 370, 256