Honest Review time.
If you want, you can skip the detailed criteria and just read the general evaluation and conclusion.
I usually go easy on fanfic and give it 4 or 5 stars unless there's some major or annoying problem that I can't let go, but that's not the case with this fic. I'm giving it a 2,4 because I'm evaluating it mainly on the criteria I use for an original novel and not for a fic. As an original novel, I would give it 3.5 but this fic lost stars for failing in some points as a fanfic.
The reason for this is that in addition to being a top-ranked fic, the author actually earns more than a thousand dollars from it on Patreon, charging much more per advanced chapter than an original novel charges per chapter.
General Rating:It's an interesting story that's worth reading, but nothing very special., but it's heavily AU to the point where a simple change of name of some locations, spells and characters would make this a generic original novel that begins in an academy and system setting. I don't highly recommend it for those who hope to read a good fic about Harry Potter because they love the original work.
I recommend readers start this fic thinking of it as an original novel rather than a fanfic.
As an original novel this is an average story, but when placed among fanfics this becomes a top work in the webnovel where chapter releases need to be frequent and this is a great challenge for amateur authors who write for pleasure or as a hobby.
Webnovel criteria:
1- Writing Quality - 3 stars: The writing quality is good, at the level of a good author, but there are some problems that anyone who read the entire fic at once notices and that's why I'm giving 3 stars in this category. It is worth mentioning that the author does not even correct errors such as a wrong name even when readers point it out.
Examples are like when the MC was undercover and introduced himself to a character using a fake name, but that character called him by his real name, a skill that suddenly changed its name, another skill that should have been the next one to be unlocked in the class progression but it seems like it was simply forgotten as the MC didn't even mention the reason for never picking it up, and finally but most importantly the system became more and more irrelevant as the fic progressed.
The system is still there, but it never gets screen time other than giving missions and rewards, and although it still helps the MC progress in some ways, this progression is rarely shown, the system status screen simply no longer appears in the fic.
2- Stability of Updates - 2 stars: It's not very stable, the fic has already gone through long hiatus, the chapters are currently released every two or three days and although it's very good for a fanfic, it's not the case for what it is almost an original novel where the author profits from it.
3- Story Development - 3 stars: It's average, the MC being a thief in a world where everyone is a wizard was interesting, but then ninjas and warriors were added and suddenly the MC is no longer special, just better than the rest, that added some more interesting fights but it took away what was special about MC as the author didn't do a good job of differentiating the Arcane Thief class from a Thief in a generic fantasy setting.
As it is a completely AU scenario, there is no way to evaluate how well the author portrayed the events in relation to the original work since nothing more than names, some basic mechanics and some locations follow the original HP so I am once again evaluating it as an original novel and disregarding it. how well the author used the source material to write his fic.
4- Character Design - 1 star: To be honest, in an original novel I would give something like 3 stars since all the heroines are interesting and well written, but the rest of the characters are not developed and totally forgettable. I'm giving this one star because not even striking and easy-to-use characters like Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore were relegated to characters with no presence who barely appear, so in addition to taking off 2 stars because only the MC and Heroines have presence, I'm taking more two for failing as a fanfic to use even something basic from the original material.
5- World Background - 3 stars: It is a generic fantasy setting where we have the world of darkness, the world of light and the weaker human world in between. In the human world we have Atlantis, an advanced and reclusive magical civilization that lost much of its past heritage due to disaster. Nothing bad, but nothing original here.
Conclusion: This is less of a fic and more of a generic original novel that is interesting and worth reading, but would never top the rankings when competing with other original novels. When compared to other fics instead of original novels, this one ends up standing out.
