Stephan Sokolow's Blog

Stranger Than Fiction by DsirinWsdm

Length: 12 Chapters, Ongoing
Sources: Naruto
Rating: 5/5

“What if, during the time skip, Naruto wrote an autobiographical novel which became a runaway best-seller?” That’s the question “Stranger Than Fiction” asks, and it does a masterful job.

Like most really good character-centric stories, this story works to elaborate on existing characters in a canon-compatible fashion, rather than creating an alternate universe. It doesn’t succeed as wildly as “Pet Project” (Harry Potter) at convincing you that the facets were there all along, but it’s still a very nice read. Of course, I am rather biased in favor of stories which reveal a character’s true depth to the other characters, rather than just to the reader.

The author occasionally mixes tenses, and makes the odd homophone-related mix-up, but all in all, a very nice story and one that’s definitely worthy of it’s 5/5 rating.

The Demon Prince of Konoha by IEatChicken

Length: 14 Chapters, Ongoing
Sources: Naruto
Rating: 5/5

Some people (my brother, for example) consider OOCness to be unforgivable while others (myself included) are willing to overlook or even applaud such a change if the story is written well enough. In truth, the only difference between OOCness and an entertaining alternate universe is quality.

In “The Demon Prince of Konoha”, the aspects which are altered are Kyuubi and Naruto. However, in this story, I didn’t care. The author had successfully worked around that by plotting and writing well enough that it became unimportant. It also helps that it’s one of those few stories which chooses to be a shipper and dedicates itself to the task, rather than seemingly waffling as it tries to make up it’s mind.

The basic plot is that, as a little kid, Naruto was driven from the village. Kyuubi took pity on him and, now that the canon-timeline Chuunin exams have rolled around, he has become a legend: The Demon Prince of the Forest.

Of course, don’t take my word for it. This is one of those stories where the writing style is very important to the end result. The best I can do is to say that this story gets much of it’s quality from deliberately contrasting this Naruto with his canonical counterpart.

Heck, my only complaint about it is that the author included a chapter or two which are just author notes. Irritating, but only momentarily.

True Hyuuga Genius by Nightblade888

Length: 13 chapters, ongoing
Sources: Naruto
Rating: 4.5/5

The Plot: Namikaze Minato (the fourth Hokage) had no newborn son and Uzumaki Naruto is really Hyuuga Haran, Hinata’s twin brother, under a seal which changes his appearance. Hyuuga Hiashi gave Haran to Minato under the condition that he be given a new identity so that he could be spared the caged bird seal.

It may sound cheap and cliché at first, but this is one of those cases where the author seems to have done it because they wanted a challenge worthy of their skills.

From dodging “How could a village of shinobi not see through the disguise” by using a seal crafted by the fourth himself and later, using hair-dye and coloured contact lenses, to avoiding mediocrity by deviating just the right amount from canon events, this is a very nicely done alternate universe.

Haku does die in an anti-climactic manner, so if you’re a rabid Haku fan, this isn’t the fic for you, but if you’re willing to look past it, you’ll probably agree with me that it was a necessary evil.

While this story isn’t meant to be a comedy and you won’t laugh out loud, it does have it’s moments and, unlike some stories which are obviously trying too hard, the light sprinkling of humor in this story is a paragon of originality. Have you ever seen Aburame Shino sing “Pretty Fly For A White Guy” before?

Finally, I should warn Sasuke fans that this story doesn’t cast Sasuke in a very good light. Of course, the original Naruto story doesn’t either.

Culture Shock by Ruskbyte

Length: 2 Chapters, Ongoing
Sources: Harry Potter, Culture by I. M. Bank
Rating: 5/5 so far

In this case, I think the author’s summary says it best:

Harry Potter has just received his Hogwarts letter, but really doesn’t want to go. After all, who would want to live on a planet of all things? Especially one where the inhabitants still think nuclear energy is an advanced technology. And let’s not forget the 42,000 light year commute.

In my eyes, what gives this story such potential is that it’s the only one I can think of where the sci-fi series being crossed is neither Star Wars nor some other science fiction story incorporating a magic analogue. This is a true crossover between sci-fi and fantasy and that shows both enormous originality and enormous potential.

From what I’ve read so far, I’m greatly looking forward to how Harry and his companions will react to wizarding culture. “The Culture” is just so technologically and socially advanced that wizarding Britain is alien to Harry in the truest sense.

Of course, it was also amusing to watch Dumbledore utterly befuddled by how the various tracking charms react when their target is 42,000 light years away.