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Reviews For When the Boat Comes In
Author's Response: Thanks for the review. Dudley is a squib- no magic in him whatsoever- but I can't tell you anymore (much as I want to) because I really shouldn't spill too many spoilers for the plot.
The revenge thing by a teacher (especially Severus) is a bit overdone, although you're doing it well and giving it some twists of your own. Still, could stand to be... individualized more. One little nitpicky thing (I'm really pedantic about factual stuff): in the year 1000, they wouldn't have been using Middle English yet; instead, they would have been speaking Old English (Anglo-Saxon), which was an entirely different language, not yet having been influenced by a dialect of Old French called Anglo-Norman (also had added a lot of German influences). Salazar's manuscript would have had to have been translated sometime after 1100, when Middle English started developing after the Norman conquest; preferably, late fourteenth century (vaguely intelligible at that point). (Information from a website on the history of the English language) Wow, I'm -really- prone to prattle on, aren't I? Sorry for the super-long review, but succintness is not my forte by a long shot (unless I'm trying to write long essays, in which case my brain only ever supplies the most concise way of wording something. Stupid brain). Anyways,keep up the good work! (My nit-picking aside) Author's Response: Thanks for the review. I know that my Vernon is rather 'Alternate Universe' but I really wanted to mirror Severus and Harry's lives. As for Slytherin's book, I have the problem that, if I wrote in actual Anglo-Saxon, I'd have to spend a couple of hours on the translation and then add huge long paragraphs in the End Notes, translating it back into Modern English. And then there is also the fact that Slytherin's phrasology, I feel, adds charm to his writings (which, if I used Old English, would be lost to any reader who couldn't understand Anglo-Saxon.) Therefore, I've compromised by germanic words (and spellings) where I can and throwing in the odd bit of Old Norse or Latin. Sometimes one needs to find a balence between authenticity and practicality. P.S. I have a BA in English Literature and I specialised in Old English ;) |
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