The Reading Spoonbill

Manacled has given me a bad hangover…

Alright, I was able to snag a (completely free and unpaid for) pdf of the fanfic Manacled by SenLinYu before it was taken off the interwebs. I’ve been seeing it all over bookstagram and have been very curious about it. Somehow, I avoided any spoilers, so other than knowing it was a Harry Potter fanfic revolving around Draco and Hermione and not an actual book, I went into it mostly blind. 

I have spent many an hour scouring the unhinged fanfics of all topics on Tumblr back in the day, and I wouldn’t consider any of it worthwhile. This however, wound up blowing me away, and I find myself suffering the same type of book hangover I had after Zodiac Academy and Throne of Glass. It also took me almost a week to read–granted the first week of 2025 was very busy for me so reading has been when I can squeeze it in. Now that I’ve finished it, I CANNOT WAIT to see how she develops it into an actual book. SO, without boring you any further, my Manacled review begins…

(reading further probably has a few spoilers…this is your warning)

The first chapter set me off, and not in a good way. I immediately got the ick. I felt like I’d been reading for hours (turns out I had) and barely made any progress. The story is loooongggg. Everything was feeling very repetitive and in desperate need of editing. Then add forced breeding and Handmaid’s Tale vibes into the story (dwindling magic population, fertile witches and testing their fertility, the outfits…I could go on) and I considered not continuing. By the time I’d finally made it through roughly 25% of the book, I contracted another ick: A Twilight-esque pregnancy. UGH. At least this one was a full 9-month term. But of course, it was at that point that the story finally started moving, and I couldn’t put it down.

After the rocky start (which probably was just matter of opinion and preference), things came together, the story became very emotional and gutted me as a reader. I felt like the flaying curse (I think that’s the one) hit me as I read on. I forgot I was reading a Harry Potter fanfic. 

The author beautifully withered these characters down from the hopeful and brave teenagers we all know, to grief and trauma-stricken adults that we do not recognize. She used political strategy, magic science, and moral dilemmas that gave the characters purpose. She wrote them to adapt and deal, and at no point in reading this story did I internally scream to the author, “Put me in!” (Which I frequently do because authors tend to create scenarios that are so obvious, but the characters miss what’s happening so that the story moves along with some conflict to make it more interesting.) She treated delicate topics (ex. rape and mental health) with care and was intent to offer trigger warnings at the beginnings of those chapters. 

Hermione, usually thought of as the rule-follower/shady shit avoider, was driven apart from Ron and Harry because she, unlike the two of them, found herself willing to tap into her dark side for an advantage in the war. No part of her was sacred enough to not sacrifice for the common good if it helped save them from Voldemort. Ultimately, that delivered her into the arms of Draco Malfoy, the Dark Lord’s protégé. Their beautiful and shattering relationship started off strained from their past, but they quickly realized just how alike they were, not only in skill and convictions about the war, but in emotional needs. They would do anything to see Voldemort’s defeat. Slow burns can get frustrating despite the satisfaction we finally get as readers, but this slow burn felt natural. They got to know each other and made efforts to put their prejudices aside. They tried to and finally did, understand each other. They each became the only person who would protect the other at any cost.  

By the end of the story, neither Hermione nor Draco had found a way to defeat a weakened Voldemort. The best they could do was save each other, and that was all they were trying to do: their best. They had tried and failed to protect those they loved and their only option to survive was to run away–if they could. Hermione found a way to remove Draco’s dark mark and sever his ties to Voldemort so that they could run away and find peace together with their unborn daughter (and Ginny and James). 

In the end, they got their wish, but it wasn’t by any means, a HEA ending. They had to live with their memories, guilt and traumas. To the rest of the world, they were largely forgotten, except for Draco who was the big bad villain in all the stories. They were the only ones who knew the truth of the other. 

This story rips your heart out, cuts it into a million pieces, and does not, by any means, put it back together. Sure, you feel at peace for Hermione and Draco, but in the end, you’re just as broken as they are. 

Overall Ratings: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🌶️