Recent Reads: Secrets & Masks by Emerald Slytherin

Secrets & Masks by Emerald Slytherin 

Publisher: Self-pub 
Publication Date:  Completed November 12, 2022

  

Available at Archive of Our Own

Format: Ebook
Source: Downloaded from Archive of Our Own

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

9 years after the battle of Hogwarts, the war still rages on and everyone is much changed since their days at Hogwarts.

Hermione is the most lethal soldier in The Order, spending her days on rescue missions to free captured Muggleborn slaves and fight on the front line.

For years, she's been meeting in secret with a spy within Voldemort's ranks to exchange information.

But, when she's captured and made prisoner at Malfoy Manor, of all the dark and evil ways she'd envisioned Malfoy would torture her, she never quite imagined anything this horrific.

Review: 

I have been on a Draco/Hermione- ship fanfic kick lately, and I seem to always have one going in the background. I don't often review them becuase they are fan fic and I am reading them for me versus to really share opinions about them but this was a long one and I thought I would share some feelings about it. 

This fanfic follows the Harry Potter group after the war. Voldemort was not defeated but is still reigning with terror, with the help of his army, the mask-wearing elite of the dark order. The Order is trying to keep up and find Horcruxed with little luck. On one mission Hermione gets taken.  After her capture, she and Draco form a love/hate/spicy relationship with each other. 

I enjoyed this fanfic, but it was so long and the cadence had me all over the place. I had to amp myself up for the battles and possible losses and come back down for 'home time' and there was a lot of those ups and downs. The first third of this read was the best part- it all felt new and fresh and I liked the world build and the Voldemort army dynamics. Then things took a turn. Once Hermione and Draco where together, it just started to read like the originals - person in a found family group locates horcruxes to kill Volde.

The ending was so sad, I didn't really care for the real ending, the epiloge was the 'real ending' in myu mind. It was sweet but didn't fully pull back my love for the 1st third of the book. I am glad that I read it though.