Incredible story!!!! Love Willow and Sirius and the idea of Harry seeing both of them as parents its too sweet! Mystery, suspense, horror, romance and friendship all rolled into one well done!!

That was good. I liked it.

I commend you on keeping everything straight in your head (or your notes), as that was one hell of an involved story that had an metric buttload of characters, plots, subplots, and foreshadowed hints. I did catch some of them, and I was fairly certain who your two spies would be right from the get-go.

I'm a little worried that Willow putting extra pickles on her sandwiches may lead to the inevitable pregnancy storyline -- here's hoping Sirius is responsible enough not to forget the charm, at least for a while yet; pregnancy stories tend to turn me off. I guess I'll find out after you finish "Willow's Choice" -- I rarely read WIPs, except by accident.

I think the problem with writing a supermassive story like "Willow's Thief" is that you (that is, writers in general) have a problem giving it a suitable ending. I've seen this happen in two of my other favorite pieces, "I Am What I Am" and "See Noir Evil", where the story was brilliant but the ending was a bit of a letdown. I wasn't let down by your ending per se, so much as I had the air taken out of me by the epilogue. Very little actually _happened_ except for the conversation between Willow and Sirius; I personally would've preferred another 2-3 chapters wrapping everything up (if you've read my stories you know this is a technique I use fairly often).

Also, another one of my favorites (a WIP from AFF called "Pansy's Volcano") highlights something I noticed about this story: though it began one way, you told us in your A/Ns that it went in an entirely different direction. Therefore, by the end, "Willow's Thief" wasn't really an accurate title. Not that I mind; just something I noticed.

If I had a criticism, it was that the story was TOO huge -- just when I thought I had a handle on everything, you introduced more characters, more red-herrings, more locations, more STUFF. And of course that Dawn didn't stay dead, and that we didn't really have a Big Death (a la Wash) at the end of the story. I think someone we really cared about needed to die. Additionally, sometimes the fan service (reviewer/rec insertions) got a bit obtrusive (the "Christy Trekkie" line made me put down my phone and do a Double Picard Facepalm) and occasionally the humor seemed out-of-place.

Overall, though, I definitely enjoyed the time I spent reading this story. It made some of the slower hours at work go by much, much faster. I look forward to reading "Excellent Adventure" (since it's done), and I await finding "Willow's Choice" in the Completed list so I can read that too.

Thank you for letting Dawn be killed. I didn't want her to die or anything, but I think all stories need a big death, and I guess we got ours. Plus, a last minute rescue would've been contrived - - too many writers do those.

Onward.

EDIT: After reading the next chapter? GRR ARGH. I mean, I can see why you did it, but still... GRR ARGH.

I would be very interested to hear about what you think after the following chapter :)

Thank you for reading.

I rarely review mid-story, but the bitca line was priceless.

*grins* Well I'm glad you did! It's always nice to hear what people say. I rather enjoy that line as well ;)

Damn.....I knew my ears were toying with me with the whole wedding thing....

Don't think there was ever made any mention of a class of unpowered male Slayers (to boil it down to its oils, as the whalers of long ago were fond of saying) but that's an interesting prospect, a whole series devoted to them...perhaps a collaborative effort with an eventual tie-in to the Slayerverse? One could write about Bobby the tattoo artist who Hunts, another could write about Robin's Hunts during his youth, his quest to avenge his Slayer mother and his eventual arrival in Sunnyhell and the war with the First, Robin's POV. And each story could begin with a thing describing how, after the first Slayer was created by the Shadow Men, they got the men together and began to train them as Hunters, to support the Slayer in her time of need, but never to reveal themselves to her.

Then the whole thing should be able to take off with others...idea? Plot bunny? Musie getting hungry yet?

HOOOLEEEEE FUU- yeah that one.

They don't need a miracle, THEY NEED A SITH!!

Come on Willow time to go dark and wreak havoc!!!

Am I starting to hear wedding bells faintly? *ding dong, ding dong,* hmm, that's weird, but not surprising...

Hope is of the good, but I would personally luuurrrrrve to see Willow have some sort of epiphany and learn to reconcile her light and dark halves instead of constantly trying to keep the Dark One down under...

Speaking of Down Under, perhaps one day you could write in a walkabout for her as part of her magickal recovery? After all, life is a constant learning experience, are we agreed on this point?

Good for Harry too, think here he's starting to move on from the loss of his parents in embracing Willow as a possible...(fill in the blank, it all works)...

Absolutely loved the terror! Not the shark terror either, I'm talking about what I shall ever refer to as the horror of the Sith. And now perhaps Willow has come closer to mastering both the angels and devils of her nature...and summoning the power of both at will, soon Buffy and her friends will need the help of both Willow and Darth Hera. Ya think?

"With each passing moment you make yourself MORE my servant..."
-Darth Sidious to Luke, Return of the Jedi...

or Darth Hera to Willow....

Oooooooohhhhhh (shudders with delight and fear for our beloved gingerhead) can't wait

Marvelously done! Though a bit more on Andrew's killing of Jonathan would have rounded it out quite nicely, let us not forget that he HAD been influenced by the First Evil, some expression of guilt on having allowed such influence to occur would probably give it the strong emotional overtone it needs...

So did Dawn actually die and resurrect or did that unholy wanker's curse rebound? Way to throw everyone for a loop...

And a grief-maddened Slayer...almost as terrifying as Darth Hera!

Oh, as an aside I noticed you wrote a female voice into the MAX line...bit of a Star Trek guy so I immediately thought Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. Sound about right?

All told, Max Kudos!

Way to throw everyone for a loop, huh? Now the Niblet has a mark of destiny...she and Potter gonna be in on it together when they finally tangle with the First?

Oh, as an aside, bit of a Star Trek fan, and when you wrote in a femme voice forthe
AX I immediately thought Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, you know, "authorization not recognized"?

And a grief-maddened Slayer? Almost as frightening as Darth Hera!

Max Kudos!

Okie doke, good on you girl. Loved it, still licking crumbs from last cookie.

One detail though, we Yanks/Colonials/whatever you choose to call us Americans do not refer to Cabinet level positions as Ministries, nor the heads of such agencies as Ministers, they are Departments and the heads of same are known as Secretaries.

Thusly, the arm of the American Executive branch that would purportedly deal with all things magical would be known as the Department of Magic or Department of Sorcery, and we love our acronyms here too, so calling it DOM or DOS would go over quite nicely.

That having been said now, moving right along, bring on the First!

Still making with the warm and fuzzies over chappie numero 28, to use a Luna-ism if you'll permit me...

Indeed this is a very important chapter for Willow in terms of defining her sexual identity. Buffy was most deff a big help there with The Talk.

Liked it very much, bloody well done! Oh and thanks! *munches cookie* :P

I have a name for your "Dark One". She is a Dark Lord of the Sith named Darth Hera. Reference my stories Rise Dark Sisters and Balance of Powers.

reply: Exactly. Darth Hera is Willow. Or rather, she is Willow's Sith alter ego. I invite you to read the above referenced stories

Hera is a good name, especially since I've always enjoyed that particular greek goddess.

Of course, the "Dark One" in this story is Willow.