Manacled

This is a negative reviewnot intended to hurt anyone's feelings


My curiosity got the better of me and I read the first half (~45ish chapters), then skipped to the last few chapters when it was getting too boring with the flashbacks. I'll be frank - I'm surprised this fic is so popular. It wasn't really my fave, and not because of the dark themes (although I did definitely skip the rape scenes bc that's a personal thing). but Draco wasn't that interesting.
For context, the first third of this book is “present day” after the Order/good guys have basically lost the war to Voldemort. Hermione is sent to Malfoy for the breeding program. Then, the second third of the book is one long flashback of what happened before they lost the war/things went bad because Hermione has suddenly regained her memories of those years. It turns out Draco was actually a “good guy” and helping the Order, he was a tortured conflicted spy, and her and Draco were in love.

Except when I read the flashbacks... Draco still kinda sucks as a person back then. Like he treats Hermione a tiny bit better than some of the Order members but he's still not nice? IDK I was expecting something different since it was supposed to be such a foil to his image in the present, when he Has To Be Bad and Hurt Hermione and Be Abusive because otherwise Voldemort will know something is up. But in the past, he was just as dark and mean? At the very beginning of the flashbacks, years prior, he agrees to be a spy for the Order in exchange for Hermione. Literally. Exact words.
When I read that I was?????? Why??? I didn't see this get explained. Did he want her in a possessive sexual way? Did he just...want a friend? Why Hermione? Why couldn't he just be a good person and be a spy for the Order in exchange for BEATING VOLDEMORT and saving the Wizarding World? It was so weird. Kinda ruined the chemistry and made Draco even more unlikeable.

Finally, the last third of the book is them doing plot stuff in the present to stop the death eaters and free Hermione etc. This was the part I skipped the most since I was pretty bored at this point, so if something incredibly redeeming for the story happened in this third, I missed it.

Overal.... yeah. Not a fave.