The Cadence of Part-Time Poets by Motswolo

Fanfiction. Marauders. Found Family. Romance.

I gave myself a migraine because I read for too long. Enough said.

Rating: 4.5/5

Pages: approx 3,200 (978,000 words, the equivalent of about 9 novels)

Started: 12 June 2023

Finished: 20 June 2023

Summary: 

    Remus Lupin has been expelled from every elite school in London due to a combination of fighting, smoking, and running. After all, his mother is dead and his father doesn't love him--why not try to escape and have fun? Finally, as a last-ditch effort, his father enrolls him in Hawkins Preparatory, a boarding school in the Scottish countryside. Though Remus is determined to get himself efficiently kicked out so he can return to his friends, a group of gang members and drug dealers living in a lively and lovely flat, Lupin's new roommates prove more interesting than expected. There's James, a kind-hearted boy and enthusiastic footballer whose been pining after the same girl for years. And Peter, a nervous boy with a wicked talent for chess. And finally Sirius Black, handsome and charismatic and as ravenous for music as Remus himself. As Remus begins pranking and partying and playing music with the other boys, quickly becoming a member of their close-knit group, he begins to realize that there's no where else he'd rather be, and no one else he'd rather make music with. 

Thoughts:

    This fic was the emotional bandaid I've been looking for. I read until very late most nights while finishing the book, and those fiction-glee-filled hours between one and four am were heaven. My thoughts on this book are scattered and more fan-ish than analytical, but they have a few categories.

    First, the writing: Motswolo's writing was not particularly poetic, and she needed a beta reader/ editor so badly (penultimate is 'the final few' not 'the previous few'!!) but her banter was written startlingly well. The rhythm, the characterization, the insults, the humor--it was all deftly and effectively done, and it evoked more emotion than I've gotten from a book in a long time. The writing got a little blunt and gritty at times, but the conversations characters had were hilarious and incredible. The chapter lengths were also perfect, long enough to feel substantial and short enough that it was 'just one more' and not 'is it done yet?' 

    The characters were obviously familiar to me, both from All The Young Dudes and from the Harry Potter universe (although we do not support JK Rowling and her shitty beliefs) so it was easy to slip back into enjoying them. Love Sirius, love James and Lily. Affluent Remus was odd, but it was done well, and I love the OCs that compensated for his wealth: Tomny and Tonya were both really sweet and I loved their relationships with Remus. The thing that surprised me the most in the fic was Regulus, though. He was quite possibly the smartest and most talented of all the characters, but despite my commitment to Remus and Sirius, I genuinely enjoyed him and all his talent. He was a really fun character to read, especially in his relationships with Remus and Sirius. I may try to find (aka let Ada recommend) more fics with him in it because I enjoyed his character so much. 

    This fic took place in a real-world alternate universe: a non-magical boarding school with Marauders who wanted to form a band. It was a cool way to capitalize on the Marauders fanon love for music, and provided some structure to make up for the lack of magic. The fact that music and friendship, not the war, seems to be the future endpoint of the work made it less angsty and more generally fun to read. I love some good suffering, and there definitely was a bit sprinkled in, but this was mostly a lovely and joyous fic and I didn't mind the lack of intense anguish much at all.