Manacled

By Senlinyu

2025 seems to be a year of firsts, and I have one more to add to the list – my first book review of fan fiction. Manacled (or mana-cled, as my sister likes to call it) is a Harry Potter (HP) fan fiction that I have been unhealthily obsessed with. Reading fanfic is not new to me, but I have never written about it because it doesn’t feel like a book, or sometimes even worth a review. But this one is one of the best fanfics I have ever read (dare I say better than some of the full blown novels on Booked) and it needed to be spoken about. Given as a hesitant recommendation from a close friend, I was on the fence – it was supposed to be dark and disturbing, but also addictive and excellent. On a long flight, I finally acquiesced and began and I have been unable to stop thinking about it ever since. Over the course of 5 days I ripped through the 2,000 page (yes, you read that right, 2,173 pages on Apple Books to be specific) fanfic with my heart in my throat and I feel like my insides are being churned in a washing machine.

Context and Some HP Spoilies

Manacled is sort of HP meets The Handmaid’s Tale story. It’s set after the 5th HP book in a dystopian world. Voldemort has won, Harry and the rest of the Order is dead, and Hermione is one of the last few survivors. In order to help the wizarding world recover from the war, a forced repopulation program has been initiated and Hermione is one of the surrogates. This fanfic is a Draco Malfoy x Hermione Granger ship, and essentially explores how their relationship evolves over the course of 70+ chapters. It is dark and violent and disturbing in parts, but it is equally riveting and captivating and makes you want to keep going even if your heart tells you to stop. It explores Draco and Hermione’s characters with unbelievable complexity, moving them beyond stock good/bad people into multi-faceted personas that have varied, and sometimes conflicting, priorities, tendencies, and motivations. From a psychological perspective, it is perfect. It understands and explains the deep-rooted phenomena that shapes all their actions and makes so much sense that I sometimes think this is better/more plausible than the actual story.

The Ship

Dramione isn’t a new ship (or at least I’ve seen other fanfics about it before). I think it’s a far more accurate ship than Ron and Hermione ever were or could be, because there is something fundamental about these two that just work, specifically in the version of who they are in this fanfic. They are both incredibly clever, competent, and capable. Their intellect and thoughtfulness is only paralleled by their stubbornness and drive to do what it takes, at all costs. They both possess an unending reserve of resilience and strength, which is bolstered by their keen and nuanced ability to map out hypothetical futures and understand what needs to be done without the veil of emotions. They are rational and clear-headed but at the same time feel things so intently and passionately. In short, I think their deep similarity as people draws them together, even though they employ it towards different ends and causes. This kindred spirit, and their mutual respect and admiration of each other’s skill and intelligence, makes it nearly impossible for there not to be an attraction or some force driving them together.

This is not to say that it is a perfect relationship. There is a lot of pain and hurt speckled throughout – some intentional and some unintentional. By being on opposite sides, there are innate ideological disagreements and there is often active and outright conflict. Beyond this, they are put in situations where they are forced to hurt each other, and there is a lot of trauma mingled with their relationship. What I like about them is that they choose to work on being with each other despite the pain, and hurdles they have faced, and their unwavering commitment to each other and trust in each other tides them through a barrage of difficulties. At the same time, their love is selfless. It is not “I want you to be happy with me”, but instead it is “I want you to be happy and safe (and alive) wherever you are, and I am willing to bear the cost of it; whatever it takes”. They are almost self-sabotaging in their selflessness, just to ensure that the other is alright, and despite its intensity and sometimes frustration, there is something truly pure about it. It’s difficult to say more without providing spoilers but I want to maintain the sanctity of this; not just for all the people who may read this review and then want to read the fanfic, but also for a future version of myself who remembers it being good, forgets the details, and has the pleasure and pain of reliving it in its entirety.

The Cost of War

I think I was so focused on their relationship while reading the fanfic that I sort of ignored the backdrop against which it takes place. While re-reading parts of it (yes, I’m well and truly addicted), I realised what an important theme the idea of war is for the book, so I’ve edited this review accordingly. The core of the fanfic (Voldemort winning, the good side loses) hinges on a very interesting debate – do the means justify the end? Hermione argues that it is important to start using Dark Magic and that simply being good and believing that innate goodness will save them is not enough. This argument is sustained for a large part of the story (with Hermione ultimately being right) but it posits an interesting moral dilemma. Does the goal, of creating a better world without Voldemort, justify anything that is done to reach it? If yes, if it’s for the “greater good”, how is this different from Grindelwald? While the definition of what the greater good is might vary across parties, at the core of it, they advocate for the use of dark methods in creating a better world (it doesn’t matter how they define what a better world is). This becomes a slippery slope, both in terms of whether one definition of greater good justifies this more than the other (and who gets to say who is right), and in terms of what the line is for how much Dark Magic is permissible to reach a certain end.

The counter-argument is that winning a war has a price attached to it. You need to be willing to pay that price, and bear the cost of something, if you truly want it. You cannot take the easy way out, and rely on naive optimism and purity (while other people do the dirty work for you) to get what you want. In short, no pain no gain. It’s difficult to find a balance between the two. I want to believe that pure goodness, light, and love is enough to succeed, but I’m also pragmatic enough to understand that sometimes things have a price and the end goal is more valuable than the means. Whatever way you swing, it’s an intriguing idea to think about – both in the book and carrying on into your personal life and the decisions you make.

Take-away

I feel like this is one of my least cohesive or articulate reviews but I am still so swept by the emotions I feel after reading this that I can’t think straight. While the core of this is the Dramione relationship, all the characters are explored with thoughtfulness and depth. This is the first fanfic where I feel like they make complete psychological sense and are all so complex in their own ways. Beyond the people, the book touches on the idea of good vs evil, the cost of winning a war, and how history is always written by victors. It is nuanced, reflective, and deserves more acclaim beyond the hallowed halls of AO3. I know I cannot stop gushing but it is simply wonderful. If you enjoy fanfic or Dramione or frankly any intense, slow-burn romance book, this is for you (with the necessary trigger warnings of sexual abuse and violence). Heads-up, if you do read it, block out 3-4 days where you don’t have to do anything else because you will be unable to think of anything but this. I hope you enjoy it and are sucked into it the way I was and I’m so excited for you to experience this incredible world.

P.S. It is now a published book, scrubbed clean of any Harry Potter references, called Alchemised. If you want to read the original fan fiction, let me know and I can send it over!

Rating: 9/10