A Second Chance at Life by Miranda Flairgold

This is a trilogy.

Book One: A Second Chance at Life
When Voldemort’s assassins find him Harry flees seeking a place to prepare for the battle. Bloodmagic, wandless magic, necromancy, fae, a thunderbird, demons, vampires. Harry finds the strength & allies to win a war. Singularly unique fic.
Harry Potter – Rated: M – English – Adventure – Chapters: 35 – Words: 246,879 – Reviews: 3605 – Updated: 7-22-06 – Published: 7-17-05 – Complete

Book Two: Changes in a Time of War
Sequel to A Second Chance at Life. Harry is training in bloodmagic/necromancy, he is becoming a basilisk with a thunderbird’s soul, there’s a plague in Europe, demons are about to invade Earth, and Voldemort needs to die. Fae, vampires, new magics and school
Harry Potter – Rated: M – English – Adventure/General – Chapters: 30 – Words: 340,607 – Reviews: 4997 – Updated: 5-22-09 – Published: 7-31-06 – Complete

Book Three: A Magical World
Last fic in the trilogy! Demons invaded Earth intent on enslaving all magical life. But they miscalculated…the Earthling’s magic is stronger than they suspected, and far more dangerous. Now the survivors regroup in the new magical world, to fight back.
Harry Potter – Rated: M – English – General – Chapters: 1 – Words: 17,239 – Reviews: 157 – Published: 8-20-09 WIP

My Thoughts:

You’ll either love this series or hate it. Personally I love it and I can’t wait until she finishes A Magical World. By the time you get to Book Three, the story is only tangentially related to the Harry Potter-verse. Harry has a new name (Rahkesh), a new school in Canada (Akren), new friends (vampires, ancient humans, a dragon, and a vampire turned demon to name just a few), two powerful animagus forms, and unusual, non-canon magical abilities. It wouldn’t take much for Flairgold to strip out the minor HP-verse references and turn this series into original fantasy. I particularly enjoyed all of Harry/Rahkesh’s time at school and the author’s take on Bloodmagic. Plus Rahkesh’s Vampire mentor/professor Namach is quite a hottie.  If you are looking for a fascinating, well-plotted fantasy trilogy with likable characters (maybe you’ve just finished re-reading Lightning by the Wave’s Sacrifices Ark and want more?), check this one out. 5/5 stars.