The Boy from M.A.C.U.S.A. [HP Cold War FanFic]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

1947: The magical world is rebuilding from the Great Wizarding War, but storm clouds gather in the East. Jack Semmes, a cocky fifteen-year-old American, becomes the first student from Ilvermorny Academy of Magic admitted to Hogwarts. He expects bad food and incomprehensible accents, not becoming a pawn in a shadow war between magical superpowers. The old-guard British Ministry clings desperately to its empire, America's MACUSA pushes its growing influence, and the Soviet MaChk arrives from beyond the Iron Curtain, mobilizing student idealism for revolution. Grindelwald's defeat has brought no peace. An ancient feud between Ravenclaw and Slytherin erupts into open hostility, the castle wards weaken, and someone within is plotting to destroy the fragile peace between magical Britain and America. In a castle where walls spy, ghosts take sides, and trust is a dangerous gamble, Jack must navigate house rivalries, cryptic allies, and a deadly conspiracy that could ignite a war between both wizard and Muggle worlds. The Boy from MACUSAis a tale of Cold War magic, murder, and betrayal, where wands aren’t the only weapons and the stakes are the future of two worlds. NB: This is a slow-burn character drama with highly-realistic political intrigue and intricate world building. Not a power fantasy or rapid-progression story.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2024
Author: Percy Runner

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 430
Views: 261,459

What readers say about The Boy from M.A.C.U.S.A. [HP Cold War FanFic]

“Contains no spoilers.This is, if not the best, one of the best stories I've read on Royal Road, and would not be out of place as a mainstream published work. I think that it far outstrips its source material and kept me enthralled the whole way. To echo oth…”
SordeRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Really enjoyed this read and surprised it doesn't have more reviews. It's definitely a cool take on the wizarding world, we get the bonus of familiarity with it being Hogwarts based but with some fun added in with an MC from MACUSA giving some different per…”
WombatoRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

SordeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Contains no spoilers.This is, if not the best, one of the best stories I've read on Royal Road, and would not be out of place as a mainstream published work. I think that it far outstrips its source material and kept me enthralled the whole way. To echo other reviewers, this story has kept me up till the wee hours on many occasions. I highly recommend.It's a Harry Potter fanfiction in the sense that it takes place at the same castle and features a roughly similar magic system. From then on, it's basically unique. New characters, new organizations, new plots, and yet it all feels cohesive and well put-together.The worldbuilding is a key highlight here, with intricate and believable explanations and tie-ins to real life 'muggle' events. I especially appreciated all the little footnotes the author put into the story, explaining tidbits of history, period slang, and literary references. I didn't even know you could do inline footnotes on royal road!Speaking of, the attention to detail for historical events, slang, and literary allusions is just wonderful. I got sent on multiple wikipedia rabbit holes as a result of this story and feel slightly more informed on Shakespeare and English poetry.I found zero faults with the grammar or writing style, so fives across the board there. The characters were well written and engaging, I could easily believe all the friendships and relationship dynamics throughout the story. They inspired me, frustrated me, and made me laugh in turns, and never felt like contrived tools or cliches. I will say it sometimes becomes difficult to remember all the side characters, but I didn't think it was worth docking any points.The only aspect I take some issue with is the story, solely for the pacing at times. The author admits this at the end (since it's apparently their first full-length novel! what a debut!) but there are parts in the middle where the plot feels a bit aimless. It clearly picks up and pulls you right along by the third 'book', but
WombatoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Really enjoyed this read and surprised it doesn't have more reviews.
It's definitely a cool take on the wizarding world, we get the bonus of familiarity with it being Hogwarts based but with some fun added in with an MC from MACUSA giving some different perspectives, takes and even a lil magic from the states. The story setting itself has a ton of potential given its Cold War era setting, introducing a cool immediate plot between the fall of Grindlewald and before the rise of Voldamort.
Excited to see where this story goes with the next book the author is working on.
Genuinely recommend giving this story a shot!
KaillicSterlingRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It’s absolutely not fair how much sleep I’ve lost over the last week reading this story. Riveting. Best written story on RR or any other site I’ve come across thus far, hands down, and at least as good as JK’s own WW2 books (better, in my personal opinion, since I never really connected with Scamander). First non-religious fiction book I’ve read since I was a kid that made a point out of NOT demonizing religion at every opportunity, and actually respected the Christian religion. Pretty much nobody (who isn’t an overtly religious author) does that anymore, because the backlash is usually so powerful and poisonous. My profound respects to the author for their courage to do so.
Fortes fortuna adiuvat.
Character development is exquisite, with the MC being relatable, engaging, likable, chivalrous, and flawed in ways that make you root for him and admire his progress. His foils are excellent, not strawmen to be knocked down, but genuine obstacles that are ever-so-satisfying when overcome. Side characters are fleshed-out, real, and contribute strongly to the story with their own interests and personalities instead of serving as mere props for the main character’s rise to glory.
Plot twists in the story (and there are some DOOZIES!) are earned, satisfying, and exponentially enhance the tension of the story, with a tremendous amount of re-readability potential due to exceptional use of foreshadowing without making the clues too obvious.
The romance in the story is incredibly satisfying, slow-burn, and full of surprises; never inevitable, but always leaving you enthusiastically shipping the MC without him seeming like a prat, boor, or stiff.
Finally, the world building. This is easily the most true-to-canon written Harry Potter world I’ve ever seen. A near-adult, period-correct version of the original story set in post-WW2 with so much historical knowledge, style, world immersion, and political insight it will take you directly into the post-war era and make you feel the thri
AdvocadotRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
TL;dr
Amazing. Great politics, structure, and humorous dialogue.
First, the few flaws:
The Main Character (Jack) is constantly bashed throughout the books. There is a logic to him, and he is intelligent, but his peers and friends almost always are able to outclass him when debating or in his fights.
This would be fine, if Jack grows through the story and returns to show the differences and his growth (which I'm pretty sure the author intended), but despite his growth, we never see a payoff in terms of his debates and fights. We never properly get the catharsis we were promised.
The author very cruelly did not pick my ship.
Now, onto the many amazing sections:
The Worldbuilding and political climate is really, really amazing. There's a lot behind it, and small details and changes due to the presence of magic, etc.
Also addresses a lot of actually valid concerns the Pure Bloods had regarding the Statue of Secrecy and also different regions other than Britain (mostly the US, but still the US has a drastically different relationship with Muggles/No-Majs than Magical Britain, which the author made up and was really interesting).
Character wise, I'll be real, the main characters friend group sort of bled together a lot of the times. They were like one amorphous group rather than individual characters despite their varying backgrounds and still being interesting. The Bully, and Cyprian (no real way to talk about him other than his name) were well done.
I really enjoyed the flashbacks to his time as a Cadet, honestly some of the funniest parts of the story were just him and his friend being hazed to the ground, and the sharp contrasts they provided to Hogwarts showed a lot about Jack his backgrounds, and how he thinks.
DCdictatorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There is absolutely no reason why this story should be this good. It is replete with character and charm and poetry and cleverness and delightful cultural references and if you should try it.
The author is committed to a number of period-piece bits that are both wildly unnecessary and deeply appreciated.
Adding an American to a classic "School Days" type british boarding school story would be a decent premise to begin with but the author's gone much further.
The most puzzling thing about the story is the choice to set it in the Harry Potter universe honestly.
If you're here looking at reviews, stop and just start reading the story. It's terrific in a way that very little RR fare is terrific and you'll have a good time.
Pattywack19Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
TL/DR: If you enjoy period accurate characters engaging realistically in a fantasy world, this is well worth your time.
I thoroughly enjoy this story for engaging with the implications of the wizarding world in a way the original series never bothered to. The characters display actual maturity commensurate with their age and explore the tensions of a world in transition. The author does a wonderful job of immersing the reader in the time setting and not indulging in anachronisms. So far, it is a good balance between slice of life sections fleshing out characters and greater events impacting relationships. The Hogwarts house are far more fleshed out in their character and much more interesting than the original series. For any fan of the original series who wanted Slytherin to be more than just a house of arrogant baddies, they will enjoy the treatment in this story. The main character being an outsider also allows the reader to appreciate the setting with new eyes decades after the original series. This series also presents a unique take on American wizardry that allows an interesting juxtaposition between the Old and New World. My only issue is that I wish the release schedule was more rapid.
Give the series a shot. I guarantee you will be hooked after the first 5 chapters.
RyelRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I could sing this book’s praises for years and still not to do it justice. The interweaving of real world elements with the absolutely fantastic take on the wizarding world during the time period. The characters have outstanding dialogue- I found myself cackling away at their quips. Also the author’s notes are amazing. Some of them entertaining while others were very informative.
SaintDjordjeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Is it long, yes.
Is it a slow burn, yes.
But it is enthralling. It is always fun to see someone take the world Rowling wasn’t a good enough writer to fully stock and flesh it out in their own way. This is done beautifully. Don’t skip the end of chapter notes as they are fun and clever and I only understood about 1 in 3 movie references so the help was necesarry.
Fair warning, there is a twist that seems so hopeless that I drove home truly miserable the other day. No hope available and only slowly grown back.
Still, I’d recommend it to my brother so I’d recommend it to pretty much anyone (who wouldn’t judge me for enjoying fanfic more than the source material).
Mr. WeathermanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Let me start by saying I've never read any Harry Potter books, nor watched any of the movies. But this got me waiting for more chapters. The worldbuilding is extremely well done, the story is also well written, the characters had that depth so much that they become relatable, especially to teenagers.
Overall, it's a 10/10 for me
askeriRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style: A cold-war era story with intricate attention to detail on the culture of boarding schools, military school, history, global politics, the UK's wonderful weirdness- seriously, this is better than existing HP canon stories. Masterful. The attention to detail in the footnotes alone is incredible. This is probably the best historical fiction I've ever read in any format just in terms of the genre of snarky pseudo-archival history.Story: The pacing lags a little as the author seems to struggle a teeny bit with multiple storylines and balancing teen drama/slice of life/politics/action, but overall it's compelling.Characters: The characters live and breathe. Once in a while I find some of the teenage antics annoying... and then the author hits me in the feels or reminds me they're all teens basically so it's normal.Grammer: No issues, unless you count the few chapters where the footnotes aren't at the bottom- which is a real shame since those are some of the best parts!Overall: Definitely worth the read! It's in the vaulted level where being a fanfic actually enhances the story because it doesn't have to do as much worldbuilding and immersion, but then doubles down hard to make the world feel even more alive without having an annoying level of easter eggs.